insulting in which the King expressed his discontent because Papandreou refused to meet with him. Papandreou replied to the King bitterly but carefully and politely. The King, following his advisors' advice, refused to accept the prime minister's appointment as defense minister. Some historians and journalists believe the court sought to control the military for a number of generations . The argument was that there was a conflict of interest since the son of the prime minister was accused of involvement in an alleged scandal, which the new defense minister, his father, would have to clear up. In turn, the King proposed the appointment of any other person the prime minister would like. Initially, Papandreou seemed willing to consider the King's proposal, but during their last and bitter meeting, he refused Constantine's proposal and threatened to resign if he was not appointed defense minister. Constantine refused Papandreou's demand and accepted his subsequent resignation. The political turmoil began from then on and arose from the fact that the King had already decided upon Papandreou's successor, Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, who was waiting in an adjoining room during the meeting. The fact that Papandreou's successor was sworn in just a few moments after the resignation caused a great amount of criticism and created the impression that the King had wanted to get rid of Papandreou all along. Events Papandreou then appealed to public opinion with the slogan "the King reigns but the people rule" and called upon the people to support him. King Constantine made several attempts to form new governments, but none of them lasted for long. He appointed Speaker of Parliament Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas as prime minister, who was followed by many dissidents from the Center Union (the infamous apostates, most prominent among whom was future Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis) and conservative ERE MPs but not enough to gain a vote of confidence in parliament. He was replaced on August 20 of the same year by Ilias Tsirimokos with similar results. Failing to gain a vote of confidence, Tsirimokos was dismissed on September 17. Constantine II next induced some of Papandreou's dissidents, led by Stephanos Stephanopoulos, to form a government of "King's men", which lasted until December 22, 1966, amid mounting strikes and protests. When Stephanopoulos resigned in frustration, Constantine appointed an interim government under Ioannis Paraskevopoulos, which called elections for 28 May 1967. The government did not last even until the scheduled elections.