Aspasia Manou (; 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 some of the only ethnically Greek members of the Greek royal family, which originated in Denmark. 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. 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 birth of her daughter Alexandra on 25 March 1921 and was later recognized with the title of Princess Alexander of Greece and Denmark after a decree issued by her father-in-law. Nevertheless, her situation remained precarious due to the dislike of her sister-in-law Elisabeth of Romania and the political instability of the country. Although they were the only members of the royal family to be allowed to stay in Greece after the proclamation of the Republic on 25 March 1924, Aspasia and her daughter chose to settle in Florence, with Queen Sophia. They remained there until 1927 then divided their time between the United Kingdom and Venice. 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.
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).Manos family 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),Colonel Petros (Thrasybulos) Manos, 9G Grandson in: christopherlong.co.uk [retrieved 16 July 2016]. 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.
Early years After the divorce of her parents, Aspasia left Athens to complete her studies in France and Switzerland.Mateos Sainz de Medrano 2004, p. 176.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 117. 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.
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.Mateos Sainz de Medrano 2004, pp. 176–177.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 118.
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.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 89–101. 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.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 106–107.
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 wait until the end of the war to marry. In return, the deposed King promised to be his son's witness at his wedding day. In these circumstances, Alexander agreed to postpone his projected marriage until the restoration of peace.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 117–118. Two days later, Constantine and his relatives arrived at the small port of Oropos and went into exile; it was the last time that Alexander was in contact with his family.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 110–111.
A bond considered unequal Once his family went into exile, Alexander I found himself completely isolated by Eleftherios Venizelos and his supporters.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 115. 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".Van der Kiste 1994, p. 112.
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.Van der Kiste 1994, p. 113. Under these conditions, the only comfort of Alexander was AspasiaGelardi 2006, p. 292. 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.Llewellyn Smith 1998, p. 136. 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, the relationship of Alexander I and Aspasia did not only have enemies. The Greek royal dynasty was indeed of German origin and to find Byzantine ancestors to them they had to go back to the Middle Ages. In these circumstances, the union of the monarch and his fiancée would effectively Hellenize the dynasty, which would not displease all the Greeks. Finally, in the same foreign powers, particularly the British Embassy, the assumption of this marriage was seen favorably. Indeed, the influence of Aspasia on the sovereign was found to be positive,Mateos Sainz de Medrano 2004, p. 177. because she gave to him the strength to remain in the throne. The official visit of Alexander's great-uncle Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, to Athens in March 1918 also confirmed the support of the United Kingdom to the marriage project. The son of Queen Victoria in fact requested to meet Aspasia and then told Alexander I that if he had been younger, he too would have sought to marry her.
Scandalous marriage
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.Van der Kiste 1994, pp. 118–119. Through her marriage, she and her descendants would become the only ethnically Greek members of the Greek royal family, which originated in Denmark.