Читать книгу Elita and her life with F.W. de Klerk - M Meiring - Страница 10

Elita was barely fifteen when she became aware for the first time of the turbulent and unpredictable nature of Greek politics. Overnight, in April 1967, a group of army colonels carried out a dramatic coup d’etat. There were no demonstrations in Kolonaki, but Elita learnt from her parents of military barricades in the streets, and protesting students had been ordered back to their homes. The Lanaras household staff also reported disturbing changes in some neighbourhoods and that soldiers were threatening people in the streets.

The coup was greeted with both great joy and deep gloom. Many Greeks feared another civil war; others were afraid that the country would wind up with an oppressive military regime. The working classes, however, generally believed that their lives would be better under the colonels.

The coup had been preceded by a three-year-long political crisis. A clash between King Constantine and Prime Minister George Papandreou led to the king banning elections. Disputes between various factions gave a group of army officers, under the command of Colonel George Papadopoulos, the opportunity to carry out a lightning coup. Papadopoulos assumed dictatorial powers, but allowed Constantine to remain as king in name only.

In December 1967, with the help of a few old naval friends, Constantine made a futile attempt to overthrow the junta and he and his family had to flee to Italy. In 1973, shortly before the removal of the junta, Papadopoulos issued a decree ending the monarchy and declaring the country a republic. Constantine would never return to Greece.

The junta dismissed civilian judges and set up military courts, jailed numerous people for alleged opposition and imposed a strict conservatism. Miniskirts, long hair for men and any form of excess were banned. A new formality ruled in Greek social life. Uniforms and formal evening wear were the approved dress at stiff, joyless receptions. Press freedom was restricted and censorship of books was taken to absurd lengths. The junta’s efforts to rewrite history for prescribed books in schools were another aspect of this major upheaval.

Although the country was gripped by uncertainty, the junta’s regime did not initially cause any major ripples in business activities, except for the tourist industry. According to George Lanaras, the junta were well aware that they could not run the country without a successful business sector. So, in spite of the strictest of regulations imposed elsewhere, surprising liberties were sometimes allowed in the all-important business world.

In the midst of these dramatic events a new excitement entered Elita’s young life. George Lanaras had become increasingly involved in shipping. He rapidly made a name for himself in this dynamic industry and was elected President of the Shipowners Association. This was an environment in which names like Aristotle Onassis, John Latsis, Costas Lemos and Stavros Niarchos had come to dominate world shipping and amassed fabulous fortunes.

George also played a significant role and Elita recalls with pride how she launched one of his ships, breaking the traditional bottle of champagne on the stern as the vessel slid into the water.

This new direction in George’s life brought about a reunion with his old schoolfriend Minos Colocotronis, who at the time was in control of one of the biggest shipping lines in the industry. A new ship was due to be launched in Portugal and the Lanaras family were also invited to the ceremony. Nitsa and fifteen-year-old Elita attended a lavish celebration where she was introduced to the 22-year-old Anthony Georgiadis, a student at Oxford.

Vassos Georgiadis, Tony’s father, had died when he was seven years old. His mother Clio, a sister of Minos Colocotronis, subsequently married Sir Frederick Crawford, former British governor of Uganda, who was working at that time for Anglo American in Zimbabwe. Lady Crawford had homes in Europe as well as Salisbury, now Harare, and was well known and popular in international social circles.

Nitsa and Lady Crawford had met before, but whether they liked each other is a matter of doubt. They were too different. Clio was a powerful personality, outspoken and flamboyant, while Nitsa was much more reserved and decorous. Both were later to deny emphatically that the idea of a possible romance between Tony and Elita had occurred to them at that first meeting.

Elita did however succumb to a severe case of calf love. This Georgiadis was not like her friends in Athens. In fact, she had never met anyone like him, so self-assured and sophisticated — and he would also soon have an important place in his uncle’s shipping line.

For the time being her youthful passion for Tony would remain her secret. She was unaware that he had noticed her. In fact, he already had a plan, but much water would have to flow under the bridge before that plan could be acted upon.

A few months after their meeting, Elita was sent to the Eastbourne Business College in England for a course in business administration. There she and a friend broke out again. Dressed up in extravagant outfits and heavily made up, they went to a restaurant and coolly stole a bottle of wine as they walked out.

This escapade amused neither the college authorities nor Elita’s parents. George and Nitsa flew to London immediately, summoned Elita, cross-examined and scolded her and then took her to see the musical Man of La Mancha, based on the adventures of Don Quixote. When Elita heard the song “The Impossible Dream” sung on stage, something crystallised for her. At the age of sixteen, she felt that she at last had an idea of what life should be about, reaching for an impossible dream. In later years she would go again and again to see performances of Man of La Mancha.

Meanwhile her dreams would continue to revolve around a life with the attractive, mysterious, worldly-wise Tony Georgiadis. Dreams of a life full of adventure, in which she would do surprising and wonderful things; dreams in which her uncertainly about herself would vanish. And dreams of escaping from her mother’s oppressive world.