Copyright The Columbia University Press
The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. The Columbia University PressConstantine II (king of Greece)
Constantine II, 1940–, king of the Hellenes; also known as Constantine XIII. He was appointed regent in 1964 and succeeded to the throne the same year on the death of his father, King Paul. In 1967, after a military junta had seized political power in Greece, Constantine made an abortive attempt to overthrow the generals. When the coup failed, he and his family fled into exile. The junta declared him formally deposed in June, 1973, and established a republic. In Dec., 1974, after the overthrow of the junta, the Greek voters chose not to restore the monarchy. Constantine was stripped of his Greek citizenship in 1994. In 2002 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Greece had to compensate the former king for property nationalized after the royal family fled the country.
Copyright The Columbia University Press
The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. The Columbia University PressConstantine II (Roman emperor)
Constantine II, 316–40, Roman emperor, son of Constantine I. When the empire was divided at the death (337) of Constantine I, among the brothers Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II, Constantine II received Britain, Gaul, and Spain. Maintaining that he had been cheated, he demanded some of the territory given Constans I. In an invasion of Italy intended to win some of that territory, he was killed in an ambush.