[2] A military junta, presided over by Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, had ruled Greece since a group of middle-ranking officers staged a coup on 21 April 1967.

King Constantine II reluctantly endorsed the coup, but started preparing for a counter-coup by elements of the armed forces loyal to him.

In the aftermath of the royal coup attempt, the King was replaced by a regent, General Georgios Zoitakis, and Papadopoulos assumed the post of Prime Minister.

On 16 December, Papadopoulos announced that the new constitution, which had been prepared by a committee of legal experts under Charilaos Mitrelias, President of the Council of State, was to be formally presented to the people on 16 March 1968, and subsequently confirmed by a plebiscite in summer.

In its final form, as presented on 11 July 1968, it retained the monarchy, but granted the armed forces autonomy from governmental and parliamentary control and entrusted them with the role of guardians of the status quo, it imposed restrictions on political parties and established a constitutional watchdog, the Constitutional Court, with wide-ranging powers, to regulate the country's political life.