Monarchy of Greece in the context of "1974 Greek republic referendum"

A constitutional referendum was held in Greece on 29 July 1973. The amendments would confirm the abolition (on 1 June) of the monarchy by the military junta and establish a republic. The proposal was approved by 78.6% of voters with a turnout of 75%.

Otto I (Greek: Όθων, romanized: Óthon; German: Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Wittelsbach; 1 June 1815 – 26 July 1867) was King of Greece from the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece on 7 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed in October 1862.

The second son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Otto ascended the newly created throne of Greece at age 17. His government was initially run by a three-man regency council made up of Bavarian court officials. Upon reaching his majority, Otto removed the regents when they proved unpopular with the people, and he ruled as an absolute monarch. Eventually, his subjects' demands for a constitution proved overwhelming, and in the face of an armed (but bloodless) insurrection, Otto granted a constitution in 1843.

Consorts of the Kings of Greece were women married to the rulers of the Kingdom of Greece during their reign. All monarchs of modern Greece were male. The monarchy of Greece was abolished on 1 June 1973.

Greek consorts bore the title, Queen of the Hellenes and the style, Majesty. The following queens were spouses of the kings of modern Greece between 1836 and 1973:

Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, Prince of Denmark (Greek: Παύλος Ντε Γκρες, romanized: Pavlos de Grèce; born 20 May 1967), is a Greek financier who is the former heir apparent to the defunct throne of Greece, becoming the Head of the Royal House of Greece upon his father's death on 10 January 2023. Pavlos was Crown Prince of Greece and heir apparent to the Greek throne from birth until the monarchy's abolition.

Pavlos was born in Athens as the second child and eldest son of the last King of Greece, Constantine II, and his wife Queen Anne-Marie. Pavlos was born into an unstable era for Greek politics, just shy of turning eight months old when he and his family were sent into exile, after Constantine II staged a failed counter-coup against the military junta. They first lived in Rome, before eventually settling in Copenhagen, where his family lived with Pavlos's maternal grandparents, King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark. Although they were in exile since December 1967, his parents continued to officially reign as King and Queen of the Hellenes from 1967 until 1973, when the military junta abolished the Greek monarchy and established the Third Hellenic Republic as its successor state. Following the abolition of the monarchy, Pavlos and his siblings grew up in London.

Ioannis Metaxas (Greek: Ιωάννης Μεταξάς; 12 April 1871 – 29 January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who was the dictator of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for the first four months of his tenure, and thereafter as the strongman leader of the 4th of August Regime following his appointment by King George II.

Born to an aristocratic family in Ithaca, Metaxas took part in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and the Balkan Wars (1912–13), and quickly rose through the ranks of the Hellenic Army. As a monarchist during the National Schism, Metaxas unsuccessfully opposed Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and Greece's entry in World War I, most famously leading monarchist forces during the Noemvriana; he was exiled to Corsica in response in 1917. On his return, Metaxas moved into politics and founded the Freethinkers' Party, but had only limited success under the Second Hellenic Republic.

The Liberal Party (Greek: Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων [ˈkoma filelefˈθeɾon] , literally "Party of Liberals") was a major political party in Greece during the early-to-mid 20th century. It was founded in August 1910 by Eleftherios Venizelos, winning a landslide victory in the November 1910 legislative elections. This began an era of Liberal-dominated politics, with the party winning 9 of the 12 elections between 1910 and 1933 and Venizelos serving as Prime Minister for a total of 12 years.

The party's platform was broadly modernising, liberal, social, and nationalist; a set of policies referred to as Venizelism in Greek politics. Though the party contained a social-democratic wing, it became increasingly anti-communist in the 1920s. Originally ambiguous on the issue of the Greek monarchy, the party became decidedly republican following the National Schism and went on to dominate the Second Hellenic Republic. Among its most well-known members, apart from Venizelos, were Alexandros Papanastasiou, Nikolaos Plastiras, Georgios Papandreou and Konstantinos Mitsotakis.