The King & the Fox

By day, while the temperature hovered near 90DEG, Athenians lounged at the beaches, sipped iced ouzo in cafes, and only the straw-hatted tourists defied the heat, toiling up to the Acropolis to commune with history. By night, the history was happening down below.

Thousands of students marched through Stadium and University streets, arms locked, chanting "Pa-pan-dre-ou," and passing out leaflets exhorting, "Young men of Athens, help us for the triumph of democracy. Down with traitors!" Finally, the demonstrations became riots, and police were forced to quell a stone-throwing mob with clubs and tear gas.

The man whose name was the rioters' rallying cry was ex-Premier George Papandreou, 77, who had just been abruptly dismissed by King Constantine, 25, in the first crisis of his 16-month reign. A royal crisis it was. Papandreou, known as "the Old Fox," had held power since November 1963, with his massive Center Union Coalition, which controls 168 seats out of 300 in Parliament. His rule was based on a series of adroit backstage deals with rightists and leftists--especially the leftists, whose influence has worried a nation that still vividly recalls the bitter 1946-49 civil war with the Communists. The young King fired Papandreou because he believed the Premier was intriguing to neutralize even the passionately royalist Greek army. Nonetheless, his action brought savage cries of "coup d'etat" in a land that still regards its 135-year-old monarchy as an imported institution, and which since 1917 has sent both Constantine's uncle and his grandfather off into exile.

Shield on Cyprus. The conflict dates back to last May, and oddly enough it began in Cyprus. There, General George Grivas, commanding the Greek-controlled National Guard, reported to the King and Defense Minister Petros Garoufalias, 64, his discovery of a secret army-officer organization called Aspida (shield). Aspida, said Grivas, was a nationalistic leftist movement, one of whose aims was Greece's withdrawal from NATO. It appeared to be connected with K.Y.P., the Greek CIA, and to have been extended to Cyprus in November 1964. It was about this time that Andreas Papandreou, the Premier's 47-year-old son, who is his spokesman and a member of his Cabinet, had visited the island.

The conservative Defense Minister wanted to investigate Aspida's leftists further, but Premier Papandreou said no. Instead, he named two colonels from the K.Y.P. to purge right-wing army leadership, which he indicated he suspected of plotting a coup against him. Garoufalias crisply refused to take his orders from the two colonels, and so Papandreou decided that Garoufalias had to go.

A Word Was Enough. Papandreou needed the King's approval; to get it, he spread word that he would resign and call elections if rebuffed. Constantine remained grimly silent, calmly biding his time at his summer palace on Corfu until the birth, fortnight ago, of his first child, Crown Princess Alexia, to 18-year-old Queen Anne-Marie. Among his visitors on Corfu was Parliament's dapper president, George Athanassiadis-Novas, 72, a senior member of Papandreou's own Center Union, a former Interior, Press and Education Minister and a well-known poet (sample titles: Song of the Mountains and Simple Souls). Smiled Athanassiadis-Novas: "I was just telling the King about a short poem I had composed in honor of the baby."

Finally, last week, Constantine flew home and called Papandreou in for a showdown at the royal palace in Athens. He refused to dismiss Garoufalias, and Papandreou said he would hand in his resignation the next day. Smoothly, the King replied: "Your word, Mr. Premier, suffices. I consider you as having already resigned." Within an hour after Papandreou had driven away in his official black Chrysler, Constantine swore in Athanassiadis-Novas, in white tie and tails, as the new Premier.

Papandreou was furious. "I said I would resign tomorrow, tomorrow!" he stormed. He called for "peaceful demonstrations" against "the government of traitors" in defiance of the new Premier's order banning all demonstrations. The riots in Athens were the response, with 30 policemen and 53 demonstrators injured, and at week's end police in Athens and Salonika battled fresh mobs armed with sticks and stones.

Questionable Chances. Athanassiadis-Novas was already hard at work putting together a 15-man Cabinet from Center Union party members, including seven men from Papandreou's old Cabinet (but not Garoufalias). His chances of staying in office were obviously questionable, particularly since the wily and influential Papandreou had vowed to defeat "the court slaves" with every means at his command. Still, the fact that the new Premier was able to form a Cabinet showed that some Center Unionists have become disenchanted with Papandreou's policies, and the 99 Deputies of the right-wing National Radical Union were ready to vote for the new government, at least for the present.

The test would come swiftly, for the new Premier must go before Parliament for a confidence vote within two weeks. If he loses, the king will have to choose another candidate for the job. If that fails, the monarch may have to call national elections--which could have the embarrassing result of placing power once again in the hands of Papandreou, who won in a landslide last time. All of which makes young King Constantine's position hardly an enviable one. So far, he has operated skillfully, and even Papandreou's forces have carefully refrained from blaming him directly for their problems. Considering the monarchy's slender roots in Greece, a single misstep could bring him serious trouble. Already a few scattered slogans were appearing on walls in many parts of Greece: "Down with the King!"

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