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Though his constitutional duties were largely ceremonial, Paul often showed a strong hand in domestic politics. In 1948 he laid claim to the British island of Cyprus, later publicly supported Greek Cypriots in their fight for independence. In 1955 he bypassed senior government officials and asked obscure Public Works Minister Constantine Karamanlis to form a government. Karamanlis won three elections, stabilized the government, beefed up Greece's anemic economy. But when he tried to block a royal visit to Britain last summer after anti-Greek demonstrations in London, Paul went anyway. Karamanlis quit in a huff.
Solemn Vows. Last week, as high government officials, the hierarchy of the Greek church, leading judges and Members of Parliament gathered solemnly for a candlelight ceremony at the royal palace, new King Constantine kissed a silver-bound Bible, then took the royal oath. "I succeed my father to the throne with the firm determination to follow his lofty example," Constantine declared. "I pledge to serve my country with wholehearted devotion, and all my powers as a vigilant guardian of the free institutions of the democratic regime. My only thoughts and cares will always be the true and supreme interest of our fatherland." When the vows had been spoken, Premier George Papandreou shouted "Long live the King!" and the assemblage echoed the words. At 23 the world's youngest monarch, Constantine will be tutored in statecraft by the foxy Papandreou,* 76, whose Center Union coalition won a landslide victory over Karamanlis' Conservatives last month. A tall, athletic youth who won an Olympic gold medal in 1960, Constantine can rely for some time on sympathy for his father and the good feeling engendered by his impending marriage next January to Denmark's Princess Anne-Marie to facilitate his task. But ultimately Constantine can calm Greece's latent antimonarchist feelings only by calling, like his father, on the motto of his royal house: "My power is the love of my people."
* Whose own son Andreas, 45, gave up U.S. citizenship and a University of California post as an economics professor to run for election and join his father's Cabinet as chief aide to the Premier.