HISTORY OF ATHENS

The Greek Military Junta
(Regime of the Colonels)
The Role of King Constantine II

The three plot leaders visited King Constantine II in Tatoi, the summer palace and estate of the former Greek Royal Family 15 kilometres north of Athens. It also was surrounded by tanks effectively preventing any form of resistance. The King wrangled with the colonels and initially dismissed them ordering them to return with Spantidakis.

Later in the day he went to go the Ministry of National Defence, north of the city centre of Athens, where all plotters were gathered. The King had a discussion with Kanellopoulos, who was held there as well as with leading generals. None could be of much help since Kanellopoulos was a prisoner and the generals had no real power, as was evident from the shouting of lower and middle-ranking officers, refusing to obey orders and demanding a new government under Spantidakis. The King finally relented and decided to co-operate.

To this day he is claiming that he was isolated and did not know what else to do. His excuse has been that he was trying to gain time to organize a counter-coup and oust the junta. He did organize such a counter-coup. However, the fact that the new government had a legal origin, in that it had been appointed by the legitimate head of state, played an important role in the coup's success.

Later, the King regretted his decision. For many Greeks, it served to identify him indelibly with the coup and certainly played an important role in the final decision to abolish the monarchy, sanctioned by the 1974 referendum.

The only concession the King could achieve was to appoint a civilian as Prime Minster rather than Spantidakis. Constantine Kollias, a former Attorney General of the Areios Pagos, the highest court in Greece, was chosen. He was a well-known royalist and had even been disciplined under the Papandreou government for meddling in the investigation on the murder of Gregoris Lambrakis.

Kollias was little more than a puppet and real power rested with the army and especially with General Papadopoulos who was emerging as the coup's strong man and who became Minister of Defense and Minister of the Government's Presidency. Other coup members also occupied key posts. Up until then constitutional legitimacy had been prevented, since under the then-Greek Constitution the King could appoint whomever he wanted as Premier, as long as Parliament granted a vote of confidence or a general election was called.

It was this government, sworn-in in the early evening hours of 21 April, that formalized the coup by adopting a "Constituent Act", an amendment equal to a revolution, that cancelled the elections and effectively abolished the constitution, to be replaced by one to be drawn up later. In the meantime, the government was to rule by decree. Since traditionally such Constituent Acts did not need to be signed by the Crown, the King never signed it, permitting him to claim, years later, that he had never signed any document instituting the junta.

Critics claim that King Constantine II did nothing to prevent the government, and especially his chosen Premier Kollias, from legally instituting the authoritarian government to come. This same government formally published and enforced a decree instituting military law already proclaimed by radio during the coup's development. Constantine claimed he never signed that decree either.