JULY 6TH:

On this day in 1827, the Treaty of London, which helped establish the modern Greek state, was signed by the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. These three main European powers had called upon Greece and the Ottoman Empire to cease hostilities that had been going on since the Greeks had revolted against Ottoman rule in 1821. After years of negotiations, the European allied powers finally decided to intervene in the war on the side of the Greeks. The Treaty declared the intention of the three allies to mediate between the Greeks and the Ottoman Turks. The base arrangement was that Greece would become a dependency of Turkey and pay tribute as such. Additional articles were added to detail the response if the Turkish Sultan refused the offer of mediation and continued hostilities in Greece. The articles detailed that the Turks had one month to accept the mediation or the Allied powers would form a partnership with Greece through commercial relations. Measures were also adopted stating that if the Ottoman Sultan refused the armistice, the Allies would use the appropriate force to ensure the adoption of the armistice. The Ottoman Empire declined to accept the Treaty, believing that they had a superior naval force. Thus, as outlined in the Treaty, the three European nations were allowed to intervene on behalf of the Greeks. At the naval Battle of Navarino (October 20, 1827), the Allies and Greece crushed the combined Ottoman-Egyptian fleet in an overwhelming victory that forcefully and effectively created an independent Greek state.

JULY 9TH:

On this day in 1956, the island of Amorgos as well as other islands in the Cyclades were shaken by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The damage on Amorgos was significant, as was the damage on the neighboring island of Santorini. It was the largest earthquake in Greece in the 20th century (up to that point). The shaking of the earthquake and the destructive tsunami that followed demolished 529 houses and left 53 people dead and 100 others injured.

JULY 10TH:

On this day in 1965, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark was born in a house called ‘Mon Repos’ on the island of Corfu. The house had served as the 18th century home of the English Governors of Corfu and was owned by the Greek Royal Family. It was also the birthplace of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1921. Princess Alexia is the eldest child of Constantine II and Anne-Marie of Denmark, who were King and Queen of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in1973. Between her own birth and the birth of her brother (Pavlos) two years later, Alexia was the presumptive heir to the throne of the Hellenes. She was educated at the Hellenic College in London (which her parents had founded in 1980) and then at a division of the University of Surrey, where she earned her BA in History and Education. One year later, she received a Post-Graduate Certificate of Education and became a primary school teacher in the inner city area of Southwark in London before moving to Barcelona, where she became a teacher of children with developmental disabilities. In July of 1999, Alexia married Carlos Javier Morales Quintana, an architect and champion yachtsman. The couple has four children: Arietta, Ana Maria, Carlos, and Amelia. The family lives in the Canary Islands in a house designed by Carlos Javier.