868.01/595: Telegram
The Ambassador to the Greek Government in Exile (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 17—10:15 a.m.]
Greek 195. In a long talk which I had with the King yesterday evening, he said that the Prime Minister had persuaded him to consent to the Government’s recent declaration (see my Greek 192 of June 1392) by showing it to be an advisable immediate move in the campaign for national unity, but that he does not himself regard it as necessarily final or as having been so presented to him. He said that since he has personally made no declaration in the matter (and will not do so) he remains free to urge his Government to alter its present attitude and, furthermore, that he believes it may well do this later under stress of changing circumstances, with or without his instigation. In this connection, he said that he feels that Royalist sentiment is still very strong in Greece, and may become much stronger if EAM continues its opposition and the danger of a Leftist dictatorship becomes clearer to the population at large. In addition he appears genuinely to believe that among the delegates to the Lebanon Conference, from among whom the present Government has been largely constructed, only the extreme Leftists and a couple of radical Republicans without any real following in the country were against [Page 124] his returning to Greece before the plebiscite. He said that Mr. Papandreou himself told him this.
By way of comment, I would say that perhaps Mr. Papandreou, in his diplomatic efforts to secure the King’s consent to his declaration, somewhat overstressed its immediate, as opposed to its long-term implications, and played down the practical unanimity of the delegates on the essential issue. In addition, the King has since been visited by various individuals offering him many brands of advice and thus contributing to his difficulty in appraising his situation. He appeared to be desperately perplexed and unhappy, at one moment talking rather wildly about returning to his country as a private citizen, and at another of possibly leading an invading force in the Balkans as Commander in Chief. In general, however, he seemed chiefly concerned with convincing himself that his personal position remains unchanged and that he still has a chance of entering Greece before the plebiscite if he so wishes. Unfortunately for his state of mind, however, public opinion appears to be taking the opposite view. In this connection it may be interesting to note yesterday’s issue of the local Royalist paper Phos carried a long editorial congratulating Papandreou on having definitely “solved the question of the regime” and praising the King most fulsomely for having made a great and patriotic gesture in accepting the solution.