GREECE THE KING WANTS TO TRAVEL THE KING WAS WORKING IN THE 
GARDEN . HE SEEMED VERY GLAD TO SEE ME . WE 
WALKED THROUGH THE GARDEN . THIS IS THE QUEEN, HE SAID 
. SHE WAS CLIPPING A ROSE BUSH . OH HOW DO 
YOU DO, SHE SAID . WE SAT DOWN AT A TABLE 
UNDER A BIG TREE AND THE KING ORDERED WHISKEY AND SODA 
. WE HAVE GOOD WHISKEY ANYWAY, HE SAID . . . 
IT WAS VERY JOLLY . WE TALKED FOR A LONG TIME 
. LIKE ALL GREEKS HE WANTED TO GO TO AMERICA . 
THUS, IN JUST ABOUT THE SHORTEST STORY HE EVER WROTE, ERNEST 
HEMINGWAY 40 YEARS AGO DESCRIBED KING CONSTANTINE AND QUEEN SOPHIA AS 
THEY WERE CLINGING TO THE UNSTABLE THRONE OF GREECE . LAST 
WEEK CONSTANTINE'S SON, KING PAUL, WAS ALSO IN HIS GARDENED PALACE 
AT TATOI, OUTSIDE ATHENS, AND THE WHISKEY WAS STILL GOOD . 
BUT UNLIKE HIS FATHER, PAUL DID NOT WANT TO GO TO 
AMERICA . HE WANTED TO GO TO BRITAIN, AND HIS PREMIER 
WOULD NOT LET HIM, THEREBY PRECIPITATING A FIRST-CLASS POLITICAL CRISIS . 
PRIVATE REFUGE . THE PETTY-SEEMING ISSUE OF THE TRIP IS ACTUALLY 
PART OF A WIDER, MORE COMPLEX PROBLEM . PREMIER CONSTANTINE KARAMANLIS, 
56, IS A TOUGH, STAUNCHLY ANTI-COMMUNIST, PRO-NATO POLITICIAN WHO IN HIS 
EIGHT YEARS IN OFFICE (THE LONGEST TENURE FOR ANY GREEK PRIME 
MINISTER) HAS GIVEN HIS COUNTRY STABLE GOVERNMENT AND A CONSIDERABLE MEASURE 
OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS . BUT LEFTISTS AND LIBERALS ATTACK HIM FOR 
ALLEGEDLY HAVING RIGGED THE 1961 ELECTIONS, WHICH RETURNED HIM TO POWER 
FOR A FOURTH TERM, AND FOR KEEPING ABOUT 1,000 POLITICAL PRISONERS 
JAILED WHO WERE ARRESTED MORE THAN 15 YEARS AGO DURING THE 
COUNTRY'S BITTER AND VICTORIOUS WAR WITH RED INSURGENTS . COMMUNISTS AND 
WELL-MEANING LIBERALS OUTSIDE GREECE, PARTICULARLY IN BRITAIN, THIS YEAR STARTED A 
CONCERTED CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE KARAMANLIS REGIME, AND AGAINST THE ROYAL FAMILY 
NOTABLY QUEEN FREDERIKA, WHO WAS ACCUSED OF NAZI CONNECTIONS . BERTRAND 
RUSSELL'S BAN-THE-BOMBERS JOINED THE FRAY, AND LAST APRIL, WHEN FREDERIKA WAS 
IN LONDON FOR THE WEDDING OF HER THIRD COUSIN PRINCESS ALEXANDRA, 
SHE WAS SET UPON BY A CROWD OF DEMONSTRATORS AND FORCED 
TO SEEK REFUGE IN A PRIVATE HOUSE . BRITAIN'S ANTI-GREEK CHORUS 
WAS SWELLED BY LORD BEAVERBROOK, WHO, FOR REASONS OF HIS OWN, 
SCURRILOUSLY ATTACKED HER IN HIS NEWSPAPERS FOR HER GERMAN BACKGROUND . 
WITH ALL THIS IN MIND, KARAMANLIS ADVISED THE KING BELATEDLY AGAINST 
A PLANNED STATE VISIT TO BRITAIN IN JULY . THERE MIGHT 
BE SIMILAR INCIDENTS DURING THE TRIP, HE SAID, AND THE GREEK 
RIGHTISTS, RESENTING LEFT-WING ATTACKS ABROAD, MIGHT MAKE TROUBLE, TOO, AS THEY 
DID IN SALONIKA RECENTLY, WHERE A LEFT-WING MEMBER OF THE GREEK 
PARLIAMENT WAS KILLED . THE KING'S PLAINTIVE REJOINDER WAS THAT HE 
HAD ACCEPTED THE INVITATION LONG AGO AND IT WOULD BE UNGENTLEMANLY 
TO BACK OUT NOW . THE BRITISH HAD PROMISED ADEQUATE SECURITY 
. BESIDES, HE DID NOT WANT TO APPEAR TO GIVE IN 
TO PRESSURE FROM THE LEFT . KING PAUL WAS REINFORCED BY 
PERT QUEEN FREDERIKA WHO, LIKE HER GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER QUEEN VICTORIA, STRONGLY FEELS 
THAT SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN HER MINISTERS WHAT IS GOOD FOR 
HER COUNTRY . EMBARRASSING REDS . REBUFFED, KARAMANLIS HANDED IN HIS 
RESIGNATION . USUALLY KNOWN AS LOYAL TO THE KING, HE WAS 
NEVERTHELESS TRYING TO PUT THE ROYAL FAMILY IN ITS PLACE, BECAUSE 
OF WIDESPREAD FEELING IN GREECE THAT THEY HAVE TAKEN A SOMEWHAT-TOO-ACTIVE 
PART IN POLITICS OF LATE . AT THE SAME TIME, KARAMANLIS 
WAS TRYING TO BRING ABOUT NEW ELECTIONS, CONFIDENT THAT HIS NATIONAL 
RADICAL UNION, WHICH HOLDS 180 OF 300 SEATS IN PARLIAMENT, WOULD 
BE VICTORIOUS . INSTEAD OF CALLING ELECTIONS, HOWEVER, KING PAUL AT 
WEEK'S END WAS ATTEMPTING TO PATCH UP A COALITION OF PRESENT 
PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT THE 20 COMMUNIST MEMBERS, OUT OF DISLIKE OF 
KARAMANLIS, ARE EMBARRASSINGLY BEHIND THE KING . BUT THE ATTEMPT IS 
DOOMED TO FAILURE UNLESS SOME OF KARAMANLIS' DEPUTIES JOIN THE COALITION 
. KARAMANLIS SEEMED UNDISTURBED BY THE ROYAL MANEUVERING . " THEY 
ARE TRYING TO BREAK UP MY PARTY, " HE SAID SCORNFULLY 
. SNAPPING ONE FINGER ACROSS HIS PALM, HE ADDED : / 
BUT I HAVE GOT MY PARTY LIKE THAT . " MEANWHILE, 
WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT, THE KING AND QUEEN QUITE LITERALLY DID NOT 
KNOW WHETHER TO STAY IN THEIR GARDEN AT TATOI OR START 
PACKING FOR THEIR TRIP . UNDER THE GREEK CONSTITUTION, THE MONARCH 
CANNOT LEAVE THE COUNTRY WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF HIS GOVERNMENT . 
