by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2020
On March 18, 1913, King George I of the Hellenes was shot and killed while out walking in Thessaloniki, Greece. His assassin, Alexandros Schinas, died six weeks later under somewhat mysterious circumstances.
King George I of the Hellenes. source: Wikipedia
King George I of the Hellenes
King George I was born Prince Christian Vilhelm Ferdinand Adolf Georg, a younger son of the future King Christian IX of Denmark. His siblings included King Frederik VIII of Denmark, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia.
In 1863, at just 17 years old, he was elected unanimously by the Greek National Assembly as King of the Hellenes, replacing King Otto who had been deposed to the previous year. Taking the name George I of the Hellenes, he was enthroned in Denmark on June 6, 1863, and arrived in Greece in October of that year. He married Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia and the couple had eight children. King George I went on to reign for nearly 50 years and was much loved by the Greek people.
For more information, see Unofficial Royalty: King George I of the Hellenes
The Assassin – Alexandros Schinas
Not much is known about Alexandros Schinas’s life before the King’s assassination. Born in Greece, it was reported that he had left the country and moved to New York City for several years. Shinas stated that he had been deported from Thessaloniki because he was “a good Greek patriot” in 1910. However, in a later interview, he stated that he had sought financial assistance from the palace in 1911 and been turned away, suggesting that he had remained in Greece. What is known is that by 1913 he was back in Greece, and told authorities that he had contracted tuberculosis and had suffered from fits of delirium.
For more information, see Wikipedia: Alexandros Schinas
The Assassination
A depiction of the King’s assassination. source: Wikipedia
Thessaloniki – Greece’s second-largest city – had been under the Ottoman Empire until the Greeks successfully took the city on November 9, 1912, during the First Balkan War. Several days later, King George I, accompanied by his son Crown Prince Constantine, rode through the streets in triumph.
By March 1913, King George I was approaching his 50th year on the Greek throne and was planning to step down in favor of his son, Crown Prince Constantine, in October of that year. On March 18, the King went for an afternoon walk through the streets of Thessaloniki. As he was known to do, he went out with just an aide-de-camp and very little security protection. That day, it would prove to be a fatal choice. Various reports exist of exactly what happened – some state that Schinas was lying in wait and leaped out from hiding to shoot the King. Others, including Schinas’s interviews with authorities, state that he wandered from a nearby cafe, happened to see King George I and in a fit of delirium, pulled his gun and fired. Either way, the result was the same. The bullet entered the king’s back, piercing his heart and lungs, and exited through his abdomen. The king collapsed and was quickly put into a carriage and taken to the hospital but died before arriving.
What happened to King George?
Tomb of King George I. photo by Kostisl – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25375493
The King collapsed following the attack and died in the carriage before arriving at the nearby hospital. His family traveled to Salonika, where the king’s body lay for a week. On March 25, a grand procession took place with the King’s coffin being borne on a gun carriage and accompanied by the rest of the Greek royal family, making its way to the Royal Yacht Amphitrite and sailing for Athens.
In Athens, the King lay in state for three days in the Metropolitan Cathedral followed by a lavish state funeral. The coffin was then interred in the Royal Cemetery at Tatoi Palace, the summer home of the Greek Royal Family.
What happened to the assassin?
Alexandros Schinas in custody. source: Wikipedia
Alexandros Schinas made no attempt to flee after shooting King George I and was quickly subdued and taken into custody. In an interrogation, he claimed that he had no prior plans to kill the King, but stated that he was delirious due to his tuberculosis. He stated that he simply saw the King walking just behind him, and pulled his gun, and fired. However, it was also widely reported that he held some animosity toward the King, having been turned away when seeking financial assistance at the palace.
Six weeks later, on May 6, 1913, Schinas died after falling from a window in the Magistrate’s office. The guards claimed that he jumped, while others claimed that he was thrown from the window.
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