Greece - US Department of State

666 Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX
259. Letter From the Chargé d’Affaires in Italy (Stabler) to the
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and
South Asian Affairs (Rockwell) 1
Rome, October 13, 1969.
Dear Stuart:
I refer to Rome’s 6315 giving an account of my talk with King Constantine
on October 11 with respect to the Karamanlis initiative. 2 There
were several other comments which the King made which I thought I
would pass on to you.
1. The King referred to his various trips to see Pipinelis in Switzerland
last summer. 3 He said that curiously enough, his calls on Pipinelis
had taken place on June 28, July 28, and August 28. The first two had
been entirely secret. However, the third one had leaked, possibly because
by this time Pipinelis had moved to a hotel. In any event, shortly
thereafter the regime had launched press attacks on the King and
Queen Frederika, accusing them of being involved in a plot with the
military to overthrow the regime. When the King had seen this, he had
immediately called Pipinelis and told Pipinelis that he saw no reason
for Pipinelis to remain in the government and that he should resign
forthwith. He demanded that the attacks on him should stop immediately,
or otherwise the regime would force him “to the wall,” in which case
it was hard to know what the results might be.
2. The King also told me that some weeks ago the Greek military
attaché, who has since been transferred, had called him at his house
around midnight to say that General Angelis had heard reports that
the King and his sisters were on the Ionian Islands. The King said he
responded that he assumed the General was calling on instructions,
that he was surprised at the regime’s bad intelligence if they did not
know that unfortunately he was still in Italy, and that if indeed, he were
in Greece, it would be none of the Attaché’s business. The King then
recalled his talk with General Angelis in late June and the proposals
1 Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 30 GREECE. Confidential;
Exdis; Official–Informal. A copy was sent to McClelland.
2 Telegram 6315 from Rome reported on the King’s pleasure with the Karamanlis
initiative. (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 593, Country Files—
Middle East, Greece, Vol. I Jan 69–Oct 70)
3 The Greek Foreign Minister, whose health was deteriorating, had spent much of
the summer in Switzerland and reportedly held a secret meeting of Greek representatives
abroad there August 26.