"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" Part II

The monarchs of occupied Europe

The first part of our article ("Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown") dealt with the monarchs of Westerns and Northern Europe whose nations were overrun by Nazi Germany. Some of them fled to lead their governments-in-exile abroad; others stayed with their people. Some were lauded as heroes, others reviled as collaborators. The second part of our article takes a dive into the murky stories of Eastern and Southeast Europe's monarchies.

Albania. Ahmed Muhtar Zogolli became involved in Albanian politics at an early age, participated in the Albanian Declaration of Independence in 1912, spent some time in exile after a leftist revolt, and eventually returned to become Albania's first prime minister then president (in 1925), using the more Albanian-sounding name Zogu. President Zogu enjoyed practically dictatorial powers at the head of a police state with no civil liberties or freedom of the press. He implemented sweeping reforms across the backwards nation. His efforts were financially supported by Mussolini's Italy, which received a greater role in Albanian's fiscal policy in exchange.

In 1928, Albania was transformed into a kingdom, with Zogu ruling as King Zog I. He swore an oath before the Parliament, swearing on both the Bible and Quran to unify the divided population. He replaced Islamic law with a civil code, and introduced the country's first paper currency, backed by his massive personal hoard of gold coins and precious stones.

Albanian culture had always been big on blood feuds, and some 600 reportedly existed against Zog, who survived over 55 assassination attempts. The Great Depression made Albania dependent on Italy for economic aid, and Mussolini was quick to try and collect on the debt: he wanted Italians in charge of the Albanian Gendarmerie, a customs union between the countries, control over several Albanian monopolies, and the teaching of Italian in all Albanian schools. Zog defied the demands, and Italy invaded Albania in 1939, with no meaningful resistance from the Albanian army.

Zog's family fled into exile, carrying off most of the state treasury's gold. Zog fled through Greece, Turkey and Paris, and eventually settled down in Britain. The Allies supported communist revolutionary Enver Hoxha over King Zog, and the latter was formally deposed from the Albanian throne in 1946.

Yugoslavia. Peter II Karađorđević was born in 1923, and was only 11 when his father was assassinated in 1934, so a regency was set up under his father's cousin, Prince Paul. Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic state with deep-running historical conflicts between various ethnicities, mainly the Serbs and the Croats. Paul's pro-Axis decisions made him unpopular, and his announcement in March 1941 that Yugoslavia was going to join the Tripartite Pact between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan (which would have favored the Croats) was the last straw. A pro-British Serbian general launched a coup to depose the regent and place Peter, still only 17, on the throne.  When Peter, under guard at the Royal Compound, saw the general approach with his men, he escaped by climbing down a drainpipe to greet the rebels.

The coup was popular with the people, and Peter II was sworn in on March 27, 1941. On the same day, Hitler gave orders to invade Yugoslavia to keep it in the fold Axis. The invasion began on April 6, and the government had to surrender on the 17th, with Peter and his ministers fleeing to Britain.

Peter completed his education at Cambridge and was commissioned in the Royal Air Force. He initially enjoyed great popularity, and even appeared as a heroic figure in a comic. He soon learned, however, that a government-in-exile's stature and influence was proportionate to the amount of military force it could bring to the Allied war effort, which in his case was essentially none. Squabbling, ethnic tensions and incompetence in his government left him powerless, and his outreach to the Chetniks, Serbian royalist and nationalist guerillas, backfired when it turned out that the Chetniks themselves have committed quite a few war crimes, and were also fighting the communist guerillas.

In the end, Peter could never return home, as the communist partisan Josip Broz Tito became the new leader of Yugoslavia. Peter's later attempts to pursue his lost throne were pathetic; he lived beyond his means and accrued such debt that he had to take the first job of his life, at a savings and loan association in Los Angeles, in 1967. When asked if this hurt his image as a king, he replied: "I think it raises my stature a little."

Bulgaria fought and lost on the side of the Central Powers in World War I, and was forced by the victors to cede or return some of its territory to Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania, and to pay crippling war reparations. Tsar Ferdinand I abdicated after the defeat, leaving the throne to his eldest son, Boris III, who proved himself a capable general during the war.

Bulgaria was an unstable nation in the wake of the Great War, with a military coup against the government, an assassination attempt on Boris, terrorist attacks, and a short war with Greece in the early 1920s. In 1934, a military and political organization named Zveno seized power, abolished all parties, and reduced the tsar to a figurehead. The following year, Boris organized his own coup, taking back the throne and keeping a near-dictatorial hand on the yoke of the nation afterward. He reintroduced a semi-parliamentary system, but without restoring the political parties. In 1930, he married the daughter of Italian King Victor Emmanuel III, with Mussolini officiating the civil marriage.

Despite the lack of modern democracy, the second half of the 30s was something of a golden age for Bulgaria. Boris enjoyed such popularity that he could drive around the countryside, talk to peasants and workers, and give pedestrians a ride in his car without a need for bodyguards.

Boris tried to remain neutral in World War II, but Bulgaria was eventually drawn close to the Axis, partly because of the influence of several anti-Semitic ministers, and partly because Hitler offered to return the territories Bulgaria lost after World War I – a promise he kept in 1940-41. Hitler's support, of course, was not without a price: Bulgaria had to adopt anti-Semitic laws similar to the Nuremberg Laws, and was expected to declare war on the Soviet Union and send troops to the Eastern Front.

Boris was reluctant to cooperate. He ordered all able-bodied Jewish men in Bulgaria to join hard labor units to build roads. The measure was harsh, but it allowed him to claim that he couldn't deport the Jews to concentration camps because they were needed for work. Though a controversial step, his choice saved most of Bulgaria's Jews.

In August 1943, Hitler summoned Boris, furiously demanding (not for the first time) that he join the war effort against Russia. Once again, Boris refused, though he did consent to "symbolically" declare war on Britain and America instead, a decision that turned disastrous when the Western Allies began launching bomber raids against Bulgarian cities.

Boris died, apparently of a heart attack, shortly after returning home from his meeting with Hitler. The two doctors who attended him believed he was killed by a slow-acting poison. The matter was never laid to rest: Hitler, the Soviet secret police, and even the Italian regime were all suspected of committing the murder, though an actual heart attack was also a possibility.

Boris III was succeeded by his six-year-old son Simeon, who never ruled: Stalin invaded Bulgaria in 1944 and established a communist government after the war. Simeon attended Valley Forge Military Academy and College in the U.S. and graduated as a second lieutenant. He lived most of his life as a businessman, then returned to Bulgarian politics after the fall of communism, serving as the country's prime minister from 2001 to 2005. He is still alive today.

George II of Greece came to power in 1922, after more than a decade of chaos in the country that included a coup against his grandfather, a brief exile, and an ongoing crisis of leadership. He was passed over in favor of his younger brother, went into exile, and returned after the younger brother died of an infected monkey bite. His father took the throne, abdicating in George's favor to avoid even more unrest

George himself considered abdicating after his father's death in 1923, but was convinced by General Ioannis Metaxas to stay on the throne to reduce instability in the country. He went into exile again in the same year, after a coup attempt was blamed on him, likely unfairly. Greece abolished the monarchy in 1924, then restored it 10 years, 23 governments, 13 coups and one dictatorship later. George returned to the throne after a plebiscite in which the voters were intimidated into voting for him.

At the time, Greece was a dictatorship under Ioannis Metaxas, the general who encouraged him to stay on the throne, and who was "serving" as prime minister. George approved of Metaxas's methods, and the two dissolved the parliament, banned political parties, and abolished the constitution.

Italy invaded Greece in October 1940 after the latter refused to allow Italian soldiers to be stationed there. Greek forces repelled the invasion and launched a counterattack, which forced Germany to lend Italy a hand in conquering Greece. Meanwhile, the dictator Metaxas died of natural causes; George appointed a new prime minister, but that one committed suicide, leaving George as the head of government.

With the defenses of Greece crumbling, George fled to Egypt and later to Britain. The British found him difficult to deal with, as he refused to restore the constitution and do away with dictatorship until February 1942. Once Greece was liberated in late 1944, George insisted on returning at once. Greece, however, didn't want George to return, as the acts of left-wing partisans during the war strengthened republican voices. George eventually took his throne back after a fraud-heavy referendum in his favor in 1946. He died of arteriosclerosis on April 1 the following year – some people thought news of his death were an April Fool's joke.

Romania had not one but two kings during World War II. In 1925, Crown Prince Carol, the heir to the throne, renounced the title due to an unpopular affair with his mistress, making his own (legitimate) son Michael the new heir. Michael I ascended the throne at the age of 5, after the death of his grandfather in 1927. Being too young to rule, he was placed under regency.

The ineffectiveness of the regents led to a coup in 1930 which recognized Carol as the new king, who essentially deposed his own son to rule as Carol II. Carol was intelligent, cultured, cynical, corrupt and power-hungry, assuming dictatorial powers in 1938. With World War II on the horizon, Carol walked a fine line, giving Germany access to valuable Romanian oil on one hand, but also suppressing the fascist Iron Guard organization on the other.

In 1940, Carol decided to give in to Soviet demands and hand over the region of Bessarabia without a fight. Soon after, he also gave up territories to Hungary and Bulgaria. Accepting such losses flew in the face of the massive personality cult he had built up, and caused widespread protests. Carol stepped out of the limelight, appointing Fascist Marshal Ion Antonescu as the new prime minister and handing him most of his dictatorial powers in September 1940. Learning that two generals loyal to Carol were planning to kill him, Antonescu promptly used his new powers to force Carol to abdicate and go into exile. Carol's son Michael succeeded him as a figurehead, and king for a second time.

In 1944, with the Red Army approaching the border, King Michael joined a coup against Antonescu. He had the dictator arrested on August 23, 1944, and made a radio announcement the same day about accepting the Allied armistice and changing sides, just as Soviet troops were breaking through the front.

Michael's surrender helped avoid additional deaths, but did not stop the Red Army from rolling into the country and assuming control, and a communist government was soon put in place. In 1947, Michael was forced to abdicate at gunpoint by the Communist prime minister. Michael went into exile and only returned a few times after the fall of the socialist regime, but was repeatedly forced to leave again by political actors who were afraid of his popularity. He was only allowed to return properly in 1997.

Finally, Hungary's story is unique, as it was a kingdom without a king. The Trianon Treaty after World War I banned the Habsburg dynasty from the throne of the defeated country, but did not forbid Hungary to seek a different king. After a brief republican experiment and a communist takeover in the aftermath of the war, a clear candidate presented itself in the person of Admiral and war hero Miklós Horthy, who played a major role in the anti-communist reprisals after the Red takeover failed. Horthy, however, refused the crown. For one, he swore an oath to the Habsburgs as a military officer, and thought that taking their throne would violate that oath; two, he had to appease a major parliamentary faction that was willing to accept him as a regent, but not as a king.

Horthy held almost all of the powers of a king, and used them to navigate a dangerous course between the demands of Nazi Germany, far-right parts of the Hungarian political spectrum, the looming threat of the Soviet Union, and the nation's desire to recover some of the territories lost after World War I. He entered into an uneasy alliance with Hitler and Mussolini, which dragged Hungary into another war to lose when World War II started. German influence achieved the passing of anti-Jewish legislation, and the eventual death of over 500,000 Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust. At the same time, Horthy was secretly seeking to establish connections with either Britain or the Soviet Union and negotiate a change to the Allied side. These attempts were eventually found out by Germany, which occupied Hungary, took Horthy's son as a hostage, and eventually removed him from power altogether, replacing him with a fascist quisling. It is believed that he avoided post-war reprisals for his role as head of state on Stalin's request, who knew he was trying to change sides and considered him harmless.

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