Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/158

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158
THE STRAND MAGAZINE.

THE KING OF GREECE.

Born 1845.

Age 18.
From a Photo. by Southwell Bros., Baker Street, W.
Age 28.
From a Photograph.
Present Day.
From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey.


G EORGE I. (Christian William Ferdinand Adolphus George), King of the Hellenes, second son of the King of Denmark, and brother of the Czarina and of the Princess of Wales, was born December 24th, 1845, and served for some time in the Danish navy. After the abdication of Otho I., the late King of Greece, in 1863, the vacant throne was first tendered by a majority of the Greek people to Prince Alfred of England, whose nomination the English Government refused to accept. It was then offered to Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who declined it; and eventually to Prince Christian, who, with the concurrence of his own family and the consent of the Great Powers, accepted it, and began to reign as King George I. on June 6th, 1863. Since the year 1876, when active trouble broke out in the Balkan Peninsula, King George's position has been very difficult; but as yet he has maintained it without going to war.

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