Leopold of Greece (Napoleon's World)

Leopold of Greece was the first King of Greece, ruling from his accession to the throne in 1831 until his death in 1865. Of German birth, Leopold was the widower of Princess Charlotte of England, whose death devastated England shortly after it had lost in the Imperial Wars against the French Empire. Leopold was viewed as an acceptable compromise candidate to England, France and Poland in acceding to the Greek throne after the small new Hellenic state earned its independence from Ottoman Turkey.

Leopold converted to Greek Orthodoxy and his capable, competent administration of Greece earned him broad acclaim in his newly adopted land. His Coburg dynasty rules Greece to this day, although all his heirs took traditionally Greek names, starting with his son Phillip I.