The Greek Constitution of 1952 established a parliamentary monarchy with the king as head of state and the army, based on the principle of the separation of powers.
[1] The Constitution of 1952 brought stability in the 1950s since the political institutions of Greece had been significantly weakened by the Metaxas' dictatorship (1936-1941), followed by the devastation of Axis occupation of Greece (1941-1945) and by the Greek civil war (1946-1949).
However, the king maintained considerable powers, such as dissolving the government and parliament and calling new elections.
Moreover, article 31[2] stated that the king hires and fires ministers (Greek: Ο βασιλεύς διορίζει και παύει τους υπουργούς αυτού).
Two prime ministers in the 1950s had raised the question as to who governs the state, the king or the prime minister,[3] echoing the disagreements between Eleftherios Venizelos and Constantine I during the National Schism.