Otto of Bavaria becomes King Othon I of Greece

Background. The Kingdom of Greece was established in 1832 by the Treaty of Constantinople, which formally recognized Greece as an independent state following the Greek War of Independence. That year, Greece agreed to become a kingdom to avoid escalation and strengthen ties with the great powers. After Kapodistrias' assassination in 1831 destabilized Greece, British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston convened the London conference, and the London Protocol of 1832 recognized Greece as a fully independent state with Otto as its king.

Bavarian Regency. Upon his arrival, Otto was a minor, so his government was initially run by a three-man regency council composed of Bavarian court officials. These regents ruled in his name and attempted to impose German ideas of rigid hierarchical government. Their policies, including the unilateral declaration of the Church's autocephaly in 1833, made them unpopular among the Greek population.

Arrival in Greece. Otto arrived at the provisional capital, Nafplion, in 1833 aboard a British warship. The kingdom he came to rule succeeded the First Hellenic Republic and had been internationally recognized by the Treaty of Constantinople, through which Greece secured full independence from the Ottoman Empire after nearly four centuries. The supplied passages date his kingship from the kingdom's establishment on 7 May 1832 and do not specify a date or place for an assumption of the throne.