Alexandros Mavrokordatos

Alexandros Mavrokordatos was a Greek politician and statesman who played a prominent role in the Greek War of Independence and the formation of the modern Greek state. He was a member of the Mavrokordatos family, a prominent Phanariot Greek clan that had served the Ottoman Empire as governors and diplomats. He studied at the University of Padua and became involved with the Filiki Eteria, a secret society that planned the uprising against the Turks. He joined the revolutionaries in the Peloponnese in 1821 and was elected as the first president of the provisional administration of Greece in 1822. He also drafted the first constitution of Greece, which established a republican form of government. He was a close friend and ally of Lord Byron, the famous English poet who supported the Greek cause. He participated in several military campaigns and sieges, most notably the defense of Missolonghi, where he resisted the Ottoman forces for several months. He was a leader of the pro-English party in Greece and advocated for British protection and intervention. He was sidelined by the rival faction of Ioannis Kapodistrias, who became the first governor of independent Greece in 1827. After Kapodistrias' assassination in 1831, Mavrokordatos resumed his political career and served as the prime minister of Greece four times under King Otto. He also held various diplomatic posts and represented Greece in Munich, Berlin, London, and Constantinople. He was a moderate liberal and a supporter of constitutional monarchy. He died in Aegina in 1865 and was buried in the First Cemetery of Athens.