When Otto of Bavaria became the first King of Greece in 1832 when the great European powers forced the militarily chastened Ottoman Empire to formally accept its independence, he brought with him from Bavaria some of his ancestral Wittelsbach dynasty crown jewels: a crown, orb and sceptre which he declared to be the Crown Jewels of Greece. However, when he was overthrown in a coup in 1862 and fled, he took "his" jewels back with him to Bavaria.
In 1959, Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria presented the Greek Crown Jewels (also called the Greek Regalia) back to King Paul of Greece. Greek monarchs since Otto had not been crowned. Nevertheless the Crown Jewels of Otto were accepted and remain in Greece.
Famous quotes containing the words greek, crown and/or jewels:
“In the Greek cities, it was reckoned profane, that any person should pretend a property in a work of art, which belonged to all who could behold it.”
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