Aspasia Manos

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Aspasia

Aspasia Manou (Greek: Ασπασία Μάνου; 4 September 1896 – 7 August 1972) was a Greek aristocrat who became the wife of Alexander I, King of Greece. Due to the controversy over her marriage, she was styled Madame Manou instead of "Queen Aspasia", until recognized as Princess Aspasia of Greece and Denmark after Alexander's death and the restoration of King Constantine I, on 10 September 1922. Through her marriage, she and her descendants were the only ethnically Greek members of the Greek royal family, which originated in Denmark.

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Aspasia

Family Background Daughter of Colonel Petros Manos, aide-de-camp to King Constantine I of Greece, and Maria Argyropoulos (Petros Manos and Maria Argyropoulos were both descendants of most prominent Greek Phanariote families of Constantinople and descendants of ruling Princes of Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldavia and the Byzantine Empire). Aspasia grew up close to the royal family. After the divorce of her parents, she was sent to study in France and Switzerland. She returned to Greece in 1915 and met Prince Alexander, to whom she became secretly engaged due to the expected refusal of the royal family to recognize the relationship of Alexander I with a woman who did not belong to one of the European ruling dynasties.

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Adult Life Meanwhile, the domestic situation in Greece was complicated by World War I. King Constantine I abdicated in 1917 and Alexander was chosen as sovereign. Separated from his family and subjected to the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, the new ruler found comfort in Aspasia. Despite the opposition of his parents (exiled in Switzerland) and Venizelists (who wanted the king to marry a British princess), King Alexander I secretly married Aspasia on 17 November 1919. The public revelation of the wedding shortly after caused a huge scandal, and Aspasia temporarily left Greece. However, she was reunited with her husband after a few months of separation and was then allowed to return to Greece without receiving the title of Queen of the Hellenes. She became pregnant, but Alexander died on 25 October 1920, less than a year after their marriage. At the same time, the situation in Greece was deteriorating again: the country was in the middle of a bloody conflict with the Ottoman Empire, Constantine I was restored (19 December 1920) only to be deposed again (27 September 1922), this time in favor of Diadochos (Crown Prince) George. Initially excluded from the royal family, Aspasia was gradually integrated after the…Citește mai mult

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Aspasia

After the Restoration of the Monarchy The restoration of the Greek monarchy in 1935 did not change Aspasia's life. Sheltered by her in-laws, she made the Venetian villa Garden of Eden her main residence, until the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in 1940. After a brief return to her country, where she worked for the Red Cross, the princess spent World War II in England. In 1944, her daughter married the exiled King Peter II of Yugoslavia, and Aspasia became a grandmother with the birth of Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia in 1945. Once peace was restored, Aspasia returned to live in Venice. Her last days were marked by economic hardship, illness and especially worry for her daughter, who made several suicide attempts. Aspasia died in 1972, but it was not until 1993 that her remains were transferred to the royal necropolis of Tatoi.

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Aspasia

Family Aspasia was born in Tatoi, Athens on 4 September 1896 as the eldest daughter of Petros Manos, a Colonel in the Hellenic Army, by his first wife, Maria Argyropoulos (1874-1930). Petros Manos and Maria Argyropoulos were second cousins, both being descendants of the most prominent Greek Phanariote families of Constantinople and the descendants of the ruling Princes of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia (commonly known as Danubian Principalities). Named after her maternal grandmother, Aspasia Anargyrou Petrakis, daughter of Anargyros Petrakis (1793-1876), the first modern Mayor of Athens, she had one younger full-sister, Roxane (born 28 February 1898), wife of Christos Zalokostas, former Olympian athlete, writer and later an industrialist. From her father's second marriage to Sophie Tombazis-Mavrocordato (b. 1875) (daughter of Alexandros Tombazis and his wife, Princess Maria Mavrocordato), she had one half-sister, Rallou (1915–1988), a modern dancer, choreographer and a dance teacher, who was married to a prominent Greek architect Pavlos Mylonas.

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Early years After the divorce of her parents, Aspasia left Athens to complete her studies in France and Switzerland. Having returned to Greece in 1915, she came to live with her mother. Shortly after, she met her childhood friend, Prince Alexander of Greece, at a party given by the Palace Stable master, Theodoros Ypsilantis. Described by many of her contemporaries as a very beautiful woman, Aspasia immediately caught the attention of the prince who then had no other wish than to conquer her.

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Secret engagement Initially, Aspasia was very reluctant to accept the romantic advances of the prince. Renowned for his many female conquests, Alexander seemed to her untrustworthy, also because their social differences impeded any serious relationship. However, the perseverance of the Greek prince, who travelled to Spetses in the summer of 1915 for the sole purpose of seeing Aspasia, finally overcame her misgivings. Deeply in love with each other, they became engaged but their marital project remained secret. Alexander's parents, especially Queen Sophia (born a Prussian princess of the House of Hohenzollern), were very attached to social conventions, making it unthinkable that their children could marry persons not belonging to European royalty.

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World War I and its consequences Accession to the throne of Alexander I During World War I, King Constantine I (who ascended to the throne in 1913 following the assassination of his father, King George I) kept Greece in a policy of neutrality towards the German Empire and the other powers of the Triple Alliance. Brother-in-law of Emperor William II, the Greek sovereign was accused by the Allies of being pro-German because he spent part of his military training in Prussia. This situation led to a rupture between the sovereign and his Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, who was convinced of the need to support the countries of the Triple Entente to link the Greek minorities of the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans to the Hellenic Kingdom. In the end, King Constantine was deposed in 1917 and replaced by his second son Prince Alexander, considered more malleable than his elder brother Diadochos George by the Triple Entente. On the day of his accession to the throne, 10 June 1917, Alexander I revealed to his father his relationship with Aspasia and asked him for permission to marry her. Very reluctant to approve what he considered a mésalliance, Constantine asked his son to…Citește mai mult

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A bond considered unequal Once his family went into exile, Alexander I found himself completely isolated by Eleftherios Venizelos and his supporters. The entire staff of the crown was gradually replaced by the enemies of Constantine I, and his son was forced to dismiss his friends when they were not simply arrested. Even the portraits of the dynasty were removed from the palaces, and sometimes the new ministers called him, in his presence, "son of the traitor". Prisoner in his own kingdom, the young monarch took very badly the separation from his family. He regularly wrote letters to his parents, but they were intercepted by the government and his family didn't receive them. Under these conditions, the only comfort of Alexander was Aspasia and he decided to marry her despite the recommendations of his father and the opposition of the Prime Minister. Indeed, Eleftherios Venizelos, despite being previously a friend of Petros Manos (Aspasia's father), feared that she used her family connections to mediate between Alexander I and his parents. Above all, the Prime Minister would have preferred that the monarch should marry Princess Mary of the United Kingdom to strengthen the ties between Greece and the Triple Entente. However,…Citește mai mult

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Secret wedding Faced with the complete opposition of both the government and royal family, Alexander I and Aspasia decided to marry secretly. With the help of Aspasia's brother-in-law, Christos Zalokostas, and after three attempts, the couple managed to be wedded by the Archimandrite Zacharistas in the evening of 17 November 1919. After the ceremony (which also included a civil wedding), the archimandrite swore to keep silent about it, but he quickly broke his promise and confessed the whole affair to the Metropolitan Meletius III of Athens. Through her marriage, she and her descendants would become the only ethnically Greek members of the Greek royal family, which originated in Denmark. According to the Greek constitution, members of the royal family are not only obliged to obtain the permission of the sovereign to marry but also of the head of the Church of Greece. By marrying Aspasia without the consent of the Metropolitan, Alexander I had not complied with the law, causing a huge scandal in the country. Although the marriage of the young couple was retroactively recognized as legal (but non-dynastic) following Alexander's death, Aspasia was never entitled to be known as "Queen of the Hellenes"; she was instead styled "Madame…Citește mai mult

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Unequal marriage Despite his anger at the wedding, Eleftherios Venizelos permitted, initially, that Aspasia and her mother move to the Royal Palace with the condition that the marriage not be made public. However, the secret was soon discovered and Aspasia was forced to leave Greece to escape the scandal. Exiled, she settled first in Rome and then in Paris. Alexander I was allowed to join her in the French capital six months later. Officially, the monarch made a state visit to the Allies' heads of state gathered at the Peace Conference. In reality, the stay was something of a honeymoon for the couple. Finally, Aspasia and her husband received permission from the government to get back together in Greece during summer 1920. In the Hellenic capital, "Madame Manos" was firstly in her sister's house before moving to Tatoi Palace. It was during this period that she became pregnant, an event that caused great joy to the couple.

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Death of Alexander I On 2 October 1920, King Alexander I had an accident when he took a walk on the lands of the domain of Tatoi. A macaque who belonged to the manager of the vineyards of the palace attacked Fritz, the German shepherd dog of the sovereign, and he attempted to separate the two animals. As he did so, another monkey attacked Alexander and bit him deeply on the leg and torso. Eventually, servants arrived and chased away the monkeys (which were later destroyed), and the King's wounds were promptly cleaned and dressed but not cauterized. He didn't consider the incident serious and asked that it not be publicized. Beginning on the night of the event, Alexander I developed a high fever: his wound had become infected and soon developed into septicaemia. With the rapid evolution of his illness, doctors planned to amputate his leg but no one wanted to take responsibility for such an act. Operated on seven times, he was cared for only by Aspasia during the four weeks of his illness. Under the effect of the blood poisoning, the young King suffered terribly and his cries of pain were heard in the entire Royal Palace.…Citește mai mult

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Kingdom without a King Four months pregnant at the time of her husband's death, Aspasia withdrew to the Diadochos Palace at Athens. In Greece, the unexpected death of Alexander I had much more serious consequences: it raised the question of succession and even the survival of the monarchy. Because the King had married without his father's or the head of Orthodox Church's permission, it was technically illegal, the marriage void, and the couple's posthumous child illegitimate according to law. Maintaining the monarchy therefore involved finding another sovereign and, as the Venizelists still opposed Constantine I and Diadochos George, the government decided to offer the crown to another member of the royal family, the young Prince Paul. However, he refused to ascend the throne, which remained resolutely vacant. With Aspasia's pregnancy approaching its end, some plotted to put her child on the throne and rumours even assured that she was a supporter of this solution. The victory of the monarchists in the elections of 1 November 1920 changed everything. Dimitrios Rallis replaced Eleftherios Venizelos as Prime Minister and Constantine I was soon restored.

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Gradual integration into the royal family The restoration of Constantine I at first did not bring any change to Aspasia's situation. Considered intriguing by part of the royal family, especially by her sister-in-law Princess Elisabeth of Romania who hated her, she was under the suspicion that she wanted to put her unborn child on the throne. The royal family feared the birth of a male child, which could further complicate the political situation at a time when Greece was already at war against the Ottoman Empire. However, not all members of the royal family shared this distrust: Princess Alice of Battenberg, aunt of the deceased Alexander I, chose to spend Christmas of 1920 in the company of Aspasia. For her part, Queen Sophia, who previously strongly opposed her son's relationship with Aspasia, approached her daughter-in-law and awaited the birth of her first grandchild. The birth of Alexandra on 25 March 1921 caused a great relief to the royal family: under the terms of the Salic law (which prevailed in Greece), the newborn could not claim the crown and she was unlikely to be used to undermine the dynasty. King Constantine I and Dowager Queen Olga therefore accepted easily that they…Citește mai mult

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From Athens to Florence Despite these positive developments, the situation of Aspasia and her daughter did not improve. Indeed, Greece experienced a serious military defeat against Turkey and a coup d'état soon forced Constantine I to abdicate in favor of Diadochos George, on 27 September 1922. Things went from bad to worse for the country, and a failed monarchist coup d'état forced the new King George II and his family into exile in December 1923. Four months later, on 25 March 1924, the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed and both Aspasia and Alexandra were then the only members of the dynasty allowed to stay in Greece. Penniless, Aspasia, with her daughter, chose to follow her in-laws to the exile in early 1924. They found refuge with Queen Sophia, who moved to the Villa Bobolina in Fiesole near Florence shortly after the death of her husband in December 1923. The now Dowager Queen, who adored Alexandra, was delighted, even if her financial situation was also precarious.

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From London to Venice In 1927, Aspasia and her daughter moved to Ascot, Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. They were greeted by Sir James Horlick, 4th Baronet and his Horlick family, who harbored them in their ancestral seat Cowley Manor. With her personal savings and the financial support of Horlick, Aspasia bought a small property on the Island of Giudecca in Venice. Former home of Caroline (sister of the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll) and Frederic Eden (a great-uncle of the British Prime Minister Anthony Eden), the villa and its 3.6 hectares of landscaped grounds were named the Garden of Eden, to the delight of Greek princesses.