After Greece gained its independence fighting off the Ottoman Empire, the Greek insurgents called upon Ioannis Kapodistrias, a former foreign minister of Russia, to take over the governance of the fledgling state in 1827. Kapodistrias ruled until 1831, when he was assassinated by a family of Greek landowners in response to the imprisonment of one of its members. His younger brother, Augustinos Kapodistrias, took over Greece’s governance but after six months the country plunged into chaos.
In May 7, 1832 the London Conference between Bavaria and Greece’s protecting powers Russia, Great Britain, France) decided that the country should become an independent kingdom and have its own king. Otto of Bavaria was only 17 when crowned King of Greece, but Bavarian regents ruled for him until he came of age to assume the throne of Greece in 1833 and continued to do so until 1837, due to his young age.
The regents became very unpopular trying to impose German ideas of rigid hierarchical government on the Greeks, while keeping most significant state offices away from them. Nevertheless, they laid the foundations of a Greek administration, army, justice system and education system. Otto was sincere in his desire to give Greece good government, but he suffered from two great handicaps: he was a Roman Catholic ruling a Greek Orthodox populace, so he couldn’t be crowned under the Orthodox rite, and he couldn’t have children with Queen Amalia, so he couldn’t establish a dynasty.
After 1837, the regents were recalled and Otto appointed Greek ministers, although Bavarian officials still ran most of the administration and the army. Greece was poor, royal taxes were high and still had no legislature and no constitution. Greeks were not happy at all with the “Bavarocracy,” as they called it.
Discontent Greeks revolted on September 3, 1843 demanding a liberal constitution. The Greek army camped out in the main square of Athens in front of the palace. Otto was forced to accept to grant them a constitution and convened a National Assembly that met in November of the same year. The square in front of the palace (now the Greek Parliament) was named Constitution (Syntagma) Square.
The Greek Constitution of 1844 created a bicameral parliament consisting of an Assembly (Vouli) and a Senate (Gerousia). Power then passed into the hands of a group of Greek politicians, most of whom had been commanders in the War of Independence against the Ottomans.
Source: greece.greekreporter.com