A posthumous memorial service is being prepared for the deposed king and members of an exiled dynasty.
On Thursday, March 22, 2012, the Government of Serbia made the decision to form an organizing committee for the exhumation and transfer of the remains of seven members of the Karađorđević family to the mausoleum of the Church of St. George in Oplenac.
The remains of Queen Mother Maria Karađorđević, who has been resting in Frogmore in Windsor since 1961, should be transferred to the crypt of the Church of St. George on Oplenac; King Peter II, who was buried in the Sveti Sava Monastery in Libertyville in 1970; the youngest brother of King Peter II, Kraljevic Andrej, who was buried in the Nova Gračanica monastery near Chicago in 1990; of Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia (in which she never set foot), who was buried in Greece in 1993; Prince Pavla, who died in 1973 in Paris, and was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland, where his wife, Princess Olga, and their fallen son Nikola also lie.
Exhumation procedures are different in different countries and at this moment it is difficult to say when the Karađorđevićs who rest outside of Serbia could be buried on Oplenac. For example, in order for Queen Maria, Princess of Romania and Hohenzollern (1900–1961), to be transferred from Windsor to Oplenac, permission from the English Crown would be required.
As member of the Crown Council Dragoljub Acović stated for "Večernje Novosti", the Karađorđević family asked the British Queen Elizabeth directly for permission on two occasions. The first time, the British Queen Elizabeth answered in the negative, and the second time she answered with the question: "Do you know if Serbia is ready to accept and bury Queen Maria Karađorđević?" Elizabeth previously declared that she had obtained all the necessary permits for the exhumation of her father Pavle and mother Olga and that she is not sure that she should wait for the others to finish the procedures.
Crown Prince Alexander recently requested for the second time that the members of the Karađorđević family be buried with state honors, and he asked the patriarch for his blessing.
That request should be fulfilled by a committee headed by the President of Serbia, Boris Tadić. The committee will also include representatives of the Government, the Crown Council, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts: Minister of Religion and Diaspora Srđan Srećković, Minister of Culture Predrag Marković, State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Slobodan Homen, MP Srđan Milivojević, historian and academician Dragoljub Živojinović, Bishop Jovan of Šumadija, member of the Crown Council Dušan Babac, Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević, professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences Slobodan Marković, ambassadors of Serbia in France, USA and Switzerland - Dušan T. Bataković, Vladimir Petrović and Milan St. Protić, Vojislav Pavlović from the Balkanology Institute and historian Bojan Dimitrijević.
THERE AND HERE: As reported by the AP agency, Aleksandar submitted the request for the transfer of Karađorđević's ashes back in March 2007. Journalists asked if the Serbs in Chicago, who are estimated to number between 350.000 and 500.000 (according to the US Bureau of Statistics, in the US, would oppose this 169.000 stated that they have Serbian origin, but it should be taken into account that some Serbs declare themselves as Americans, some as American Serbs, Serbian Americans, etc.). Alexander then replied: "They have no other option." Peter II is a head of state buried in a foreign country... he belongs here, it's his home. No one can stand up to that."
The agency also quoted Uroš Ocokoljić, a priest from the Chicago region: "At the end of the day, everyone knows that he belongs more there than here." A place is provided for him there."
As it happens with dynasties and deposed kings, the fate of Karađorđević has long been the subject of historical and ideological controversies, political battles, emigrant disputes, columnists, popular journalism and light media.
HE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING: According to the historian Branislav Gligorijević, Peter II told his brother: "I am the king of an accident..." At the time of his father's death, when he became king, Peter was eleven years old; and seventeen on March 27, 1941, when he heard the voice of corvette captain Jakov Jovović on the radio, similar to his own: "I have decided to take the royal power into my hands." The governors, who understood the justification of my decision, resigned themselves... My faithful army and navy are already carrying out my orders. I invite Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to gather around the crown..."
He was 21 years old when he decided to marry while the war was still going on and angered the refugee government, which was already in a state of confusion.
Crnjanski writes sarcastically about his wedding: "The wedding therefore took place in the embassy of Yugoslavia, at a time when Europe was suffocating in blood and horror and the whole of Yugoslavia was in a cemetery." As for the wedding, it was very cheerful. While the prime minister of the marriage ministry, Purić, was coming down, handsome as a beautiful gypsy, Milan Gavrilović's wife said: he only needs more čemen. Petar got married in an aviator's uniform, which was neither according to our nor English regulations. Churchill said, 'it's only natural that Peter II gets married on the eve of going to war'." Crnjanski also wrote that Peter "was grinning all the time and didn't understand anything". And that he drank a lot.
The Prime Minister in exile, Slobodan Jovanović, not approving of the marriage, resigned, and at the wedding he said that it was "bringing a roast to the wedding table prepared to be given to Serbian patriots".
Minister of Foreign Affairs Momčilo Ninčić believed that the people "will never forgive Petar for marrying in the middle of the war". Queen Maria, angry, did not even come to the wedding, under the pretext that she had a toothache.
Petar wrote to General Draža about his intention to marry, and he replied that he should wait until he prepared the people through his commanders. Montenegrin Chetniks sang to him: "Marry a beautiful girl, Stalin's Georgina!"
BAD BOX: On the island of Vis, on June 16, 1944, the Tito-Šubašić agreement was signed between the partisans and the royal government, by which the partisans were also recognized by the royal government for the regular Yugoslav army. On August 29, 1944, King Petar II dismissed General Mihailović from the position of Chief of Staff of the JVuO and on September 12, 1944, he gave a speech on Radio London when he addressed the Yugoslav and world public and called on the units under the command of General Mihailović to placed under the direct command of Josip Broz Tito. In January 1945, he tried to remove Šubasic, but then he still recognized that government. At the beginning of March 1945, King Peter II appointed the Viceroyalty and transferred his powers to it. The Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DFJ) was formed on March 7, 1945 by members of the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia and members of the royal government in exile. It lasted until November 11, 1945. The president of the provisional government was Josip Broz Tito.
Historians Momčilo Pavlović, Ljubodrag Dimić and Čedomir Antić are currently disputing the thesis that Petar II actually abdicated by appointing the Viceroyalty which called elections for the Constituent Assembly on November 11, 1945, which on November 29, 1945 proclaimed the republic and abolished the monarchy.
Out of 8.383.455 voters, 7.432.469 (88,66 percent) turned out for the elections, whose revolutionary election conditions were dictated by the winners of the war. The list of the People's Front of Yugoslavia received 6.725.047 (90,48 percent), and the box without a list ("blank box") received 707.422 (9,52 percent) votes. It was the abolition of party pluralism and the introduction of monism, as Kosta Čavoški and Vojislav Koštunica write. And the revolutionary abolition of the monarchy, with the slogan "King of Peru on the flagpole!".
In one report on the situation in Yugoslavia, a document of the Royal Viceroyalty dated June 9, 1945, sent to His Majesty King Peter the Second, there is a seal of the Viceroyalty Office - with a pentacle. It hardly represents anything more than a historical curiosity now. Both the provisional government and the Viceroyalty without major powers were institutions of a temporary nature.
The aforementioned historians also quoted a letter dated April 27, 1945, which Dr. Vladimir Ribar addressed to King Peter the Second, in which it is pointed out that the Viceroyalty in Belgrade is interested in the imminent birth of Queen Alexandra and announces that they will send a commission that will draw up a protocol on the birth Crown Prince Alexander II.
Alexander was born on July 17, 1945 in suite number 212 of the Claridges Hotel in London, which was declared by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to be the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, so immediately after his birth, Alexander was given the title of prince, since King Peter II was still was the king of Yugoslavia.
THE STORM BEARS CROWNS: It was a mere twist, while the war hurricane of that time carried crowns and scepters like fallen leaves, and endless arguments about the bizarreness of the novel's destinies change little. In fact, all Balkan monarchies were abolished during the 20th century. After the unification of Serbia and Montenegro in 1918, the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty lost the throne of Montenegro. Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania became socialist republics after World War II. The Greek monarchy was abolished by referendum after the military dictatorship and the return of democracy in 1974.
In the Balkans, the monarchist tradition was not long. The first kingdom of the modern era in the Balkans was Greece (since 1832), Romania became a kingdom in 1881, Serbia in 1882, Montenegro in 1910, although since the 17th century it has a previous tradition of theocratic hereditary rule of the house of Petrović Njegoš (nephews inherited uncles), and Albania in 1928. Everyone was looking for a foothold in further history, the Serbs in Nemanjići, the Bulgarians with their crowned heads gave the names Simeon, after Simeon the Great, the Greeks Constantine, after Constantine Paleologus Dragash, the last Byzantine emperor, and the Albanians after Skanderbeg.
According to historian Duško Lopandić, out of a total of 36 crowned rulers in the Balkans, only four were not overthrown, abdicated or killed.
Most of the Balkan dynasties of the 19th century (with the exception of Serbia and Montenegro) were of foreign origin. The Greeks received the princes of the Danish ruling houses of Holstein-Gottorp-Zondenburg-Glicksburg. The Romanians had the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family - relatives of the German imperial family, and the Bulgarians had the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family.
In the First World War, the Romanian Hohenzollern fought against their distant relatives - the German emperors, while the Bulgarian rulers, who were relatives of the British and Belgian royal houses, sided with Germany in both world wars.
The Greek king Constantine I, who as the son-in-law of the German emperor tried to draw Greece into an alliance with the Axis powers, was overthrown in 1917 in a coup d'état staged by the French. In May 1941, the Italian duke Emon of Savoy-Aosta was proclaimed King Tomislav II by the Croatian leader in the NDH Pavelić, who landed on the Dalmatian coast, but returned to Italy only five days later. During the Second World War, Mussolini produced the Italian king and the "emperor" of Ethiopia, Vittorio Emanuele II, as the hereditary king of Albania and Montenegro.
EXKRALJ AND MICCI LO: Tito revoked King Peter II's appanage in the summer of 1945, allegedly dealing the first blow to his otherwise unpopular marriage.
For a time, Petar traveled with a Yugoslav passport, which Yugoslav diplomats reported to Belgrade in dispatches, with the remark that they receive such notification when they protest about enabling his "subversive activities".
At the time of his death, Petar allegedly also had an old Yugoslav passport that he issued to himself, but it has not been found.
Petar II moved to the USA in the mid-1960s, when he was allegedly promised by the people of Ravnagora that he would get a palace in New York, on which the inscription "Peter II, King of Yugoslavia" would be written. In America, he allegedly had a company that failed, the media mainly claimed that he lived off his mother Maria's inheritance and the help of emigrants. Several sources mention that he was an unhappy, lonely ex-king who ruined his own health.
Peter II entered St. Clair Hospital in New York on February 18, 1970. He was ill for eight months. Mitzi Lowe and her ex-husband, doctor Frankie Lowe, suggested that he receive a liver transplant.
Before marrying the American doctor of Chinese origin, Frankie Law, Mitzi Law was called Milica Anđelkovic. Judging by the media testimonies (Bogosav Marjanović" Illustrated Politics"), in her native Vrnjačka Banja, she is remembered for her long black hair, green eyes, long legs and slim figure. Many stopped by her stepfather's tavern just for her sake. Some say that in 1944 she went to work in Germany through the TOT organization, and she claimed that she went to find her father who was a prisoner of war and to escape from the communists. After the capitulation of Germany, she got a job with the Americans, at UNRI, in the transport sector. She arrived in America in 1950 and got a job as a bookkeeper in a furniture factory in Long Beach, California.
Her grandfather was in the personal entourage of King Peter I, King Alexander visited their family. That is why she became friendly with Peter II when he came to America for the first time in 1954.
At Peter's funeral, Mitzi Lowe met Peter's younger brother, Prince Andrej Karađorđević, who married her, although his older brother Tomislav was against it. When she married the prince, she changed her name to Eva Marija Karađorđević. On May 7, 1990, Andreja Kraljevic was found dead in his car in Irvine, California. Heart attack.
Before his marriage to Eva Maria Anđelković, he married Princess Kristina von Hesse-Kassel (1956) in 1933, with whom he had two children: Maria Tatjana (1957), Hristofer (1960–1994), who died in a car accident. In 1962, he divorced and married Kira Melita, with whom he had two sons: Karl Vladimir (1964) and Dimitri (1965).
Milica, Mizzi Lowe, declared that she was the executor of Peter's will, in which he leaves $5000 to his son Alexander, two-thirds of his property to his wife Alexandra, and one-third to the church of St. Sava in Libertyville, where he wants to be buried.
LIBERTYVILLE CEMETERY: In Libertyville, a town of 20.000 residents five miles west of Lake Michigan, circumstances have changed from when Peter II died of pneumonia and other complications following a liver transplant in Denver and was buried at St. Sava Monastery.
Much has been written about the fact that Peter's funeral in Libertyville was not attended by his son, the heir to the throne Aleksandar, nor by his wife Aleksandra, with whom he separated and went to America, nor by his brother Tomislav. While King Petar II was dying on November 3, 1970 in a Denver hospital, two Serbian churches in America, various emigrant factions, and Queen Alexandra, from whom he was separated, were clamoring for his body. Some even say that the body was kept on ice for two weeks until it was decided where it would be buried.
Members of the then Free Serbian Orthodox Church suspected that Serbs close to Belgrade, the so-called federalists, intended to steal his body, take it to London and bury it there next to Queen Mary's mother. "The FBI gave us pistols and set up an honor guard to guard the late monarch," Mile Petrović, an emigrant from Los Angeles, told some journalists. Newspaper reports from that time, and later published recollections of various actors, spoke of very complicated conflicts in emigration, the diaspora, between the people of Ljotice and the people of Ravnagora, in the foreign dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and in the royal family.
At the time of the SPC split, King Petar II was sometimes with the federalists, sometimes with the schismatics, his brother Prince Andrej was allegedly with the schismatics, and Prince Tomislav with the federalists.
In this context, emigrants will always mention Udba first, especially the reaction of the Belgrade authorities at the time to the demonstrations of the people of the Plains against Tito during his visit to America in 1960.
The division in the Serbian Orthodox Church outside Yugoslavia existed since 1963, when one foreign part of the church remained under the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, i.e. the Patriarchate in Belgrade, and the other part organized the Free Serbian Orthodox Church, with its headquarters in the Monastery of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary "Nova Gracanica", Illinois, USA. The schism was overcome on April 23 and 24, 1991, when the Free Serbian Orthodox Church received the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate and agreed to change its name to the Serbian Orthodox Metropolis of Novogračanička.
Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović (March 27, 1956), colonel Sergije Živanović (1909–1966), Dragiša Kašiković (1932–1977), archpriest and professor Dimitrije Najdanović (1897–1986), commander of the Army of Niš, are buried at the monastery cemetery in Libertyville. , General Ilija Brašić, JVO officer in the fatherland Milan Šijački (1903–1985), royal ambassador Konstantin Fotić, member of the Yugoslav government in London, ambassador to the SSR Milan Gavrilović (1882–1976), organizer of the March 27 coup Živan Knežević (1906–1984)...
In 1991, the remains of bishop Nikolaj Velimirović and poet Jovan Dučić, who was buried in Trebinje in 2000, were transferred from the Sveti Sava monastery in Libertyville, USA, and buried in the Lelić monastery.
At the end of last year, in the organization and at the expense of the state that formed the organizing committee for the return, the remains of academician and member of the royal council Slobodan Jovanović were transferred from London and buried in the Alley of meritorious citizens in Belgrade.
WE WANT A KING: Karađorđević's return to the country dragged on for an entire decade. In the first years of multi-party monarchy, it represented a kind of political currency.
Before the 1990 elections, there was a proposal in the DS to nominate Tomislav for the presidency of Serbia. Aleksandar came to Belgrade in 1991 and 1995, and his citizenship was not regulated until the beginning of the next decade.
When the heir to the throne Aleksandar, accompanied by his wife Princess Katarina and sons Peter, Filip and Aleksandar, arrived in Belgrade for the first time in 1991, it was an emotionally charged event in that confused wartime era.
Aleksandar himself did not hide his emotions, crying and kissing a sod of grass from Topola, brought for the occasion to Belgrade Airport (Sešelj later made fun of it), with tearful eyes he passed by Terazija, crying as he entered the small Karađorđe church in Topola. As we wrote in "Vremen" in 1991, in that small village church, not so much in the mausoleum on Oplenac, that exiled family looked very sad while the four of them, with Jelisaveta in a light blue short dress, were baptized with a funeral prayer...
Jelisaveta used to come there before. As Bogosav Marjanović wrote in "Illustrated Politics", she went to Gazimestan with the rest of the world in 1989, stayed at the "Moskva" hotel and declared that she was going to the Institute in Jovanova to learn Serbian. Later, she went to Oplenac with a journalist who thought that she had not been there after the exile. Someone from the staff of the Endowment of King Peter I Karađorđević said that he remembered that this woman, who they did not know who she was at the time, had already been there on one occasion. They say that she hurriedly entered the church and left as quickly as possible, wiping away her tears, and immediately returned to Belgrade by car. Jelisaveta confirmed it. She also came with her then-husband, Peruvian Prime Minister Manuel Uljo, who came on an official visit to Yugoslavia. She wanted to visit Oplenac and the graves of her ancestors in Oplenac. The then president of the Presidency of the SFRY, Sergej Kryger, allowed it, and she and the driver of the Peruvian embassy jumped to Topola...
It must have been 1981, or 1982...
The mass of those who were waiting for Alexander and the princes in the streets of Belgrade in 1991 broke through the cordon, got between the cars in the convoy and ran after them from Terazije towards Slavija shouting: "Let's go to Dedinje!" One of the members of the Serbian Guard (SPO's of security) reached the hand of your bearded reporter at the Protocol (Krsmanović House, temporary residence of King Alexander in 1918): "Brother, hold me tight hand, to save his majesty's car!" Certainly, brother.
Some uncle bends over the guard and kisses the glass: "Oh, little princes..."
Somewhere near Franche-Deperet Square, someone from the crowd gasps with disappointment and states: "Well, this one goes to Avala!"
It seems that "Tomislav's case" played a role in Alexander's arrival in Belgrade. The then ruling SPS, with the help of Budimir Košutić, had already brought his uncle Tomislav, and later Linda Karađorđević.
During Alexander's visit, among the officials of the ruling SPS at the time, only MP Aleksandar Prlja with a candle in his hand stood next to the Minister of Religion Dragan Dragojlović in the Cathedral during the memorial service for his grandfather King Alexander I, and the opposition members later let Prlja through the railing and spat outside.
At that time, Patriarch Paul wrote to the crown prince not to come so as not to cause more tension. SPO activists Vuk Drašković, Slobodan Rakitić, Mikica Marković were considered the main monarchists at the time, but other members of the United Opposition at the time were also involved in bringing Alexander to Belgrade - the reformist Ivan Đurić, whose sister worked in the royal office, Vojislav Koštunica , who told the "Vremena" reporter that a group of experts close to the opposition was considering the legal finesse surrounding the regulation of his status and citizenship, Dragan Veselinov, Duško Kovačević and others. In the demonstrations, they shouted from the top of their lungs: "Long live the king!" and "You can't do without a king!"
In the political life of Serbia, the monarchy in 2012 plays a far smaller role than in the 1990s, and causes less tension than before, although the controversies surrounding the rehabilitation of Draža Mihailović indicate that they are hating from the 1941-45 civil war. and to this day they are not calm.
Vuk Drašković, the leader of the monarchist SPO, was once interrupted during a speech about European values with shouts: "We want a king!" He allegedly replied: "I want a king too, but I don't know if the king wants a king..."
DECREE 392. The Karađorđevićs remained outside the law for a long time. By decree of the Presidency of the Presidium of the National Assembly of the FNR of Yugoslavia U. no. 392 of March 8, 1947, the members of the Karađorđević dynasty were deprived of their citizenship and their entire property was confiscated. In the Decree published in the "Official Gazette of the FNRJ", no. 64/1947. it is expressly stated that the citizenship of Petar Aleksandar Karađorđević, Aleksandr Petr Karađorđević, Tomislav Petr Karađorđević, Andrej Aleksandar Karađorđević, Maria Aleksandar Karađorđević, Pavlo Arsen Karađorđević, Olga Pavlo Karađorđević, Olga Pavlo Karađorđević, Aleksandar Pavlo Karađorđević, Nikola Pavla Karađorđević and Jelisaveta Pavlo Karađorđević.
That decree, which was signed by Dr. Ivan Ribar and Edvard Kardelj, is based on the Decision on Depriving the Lawful Government of Yugoslavia of the so-called to the Yugoslav government abroad and the ban on the return to the country of King Petar II Karađorđević, which was published in "Službeni list DFJ", no. 1/1945.
The legal basis for depriving the members of the Karađorđević family of citizenship was found in Article 16, paragraph 3 of the Law on Citizenship ("Official Gazette of the FNRJ", No. 54/1946), where it was stipulated that "citizenship can be revoked from any citizen of the FNRJ who abroad by his work, or during the war he caused damage to the national and state interests of the FNR of Yugoslavia, or he refuses to perform his civic duties". Article 17, paragraph 2 of the same law stipulates that citizenship can be revoked by a court verdict, and exceptionally by a decision of the Presidium of the National Assembly of the FNRJ.
The revocation of citizenship also resulted in the confiscation of property, according to the already mentioned provision of Article 14, paragraph 3 of the Law on Types of Penalties. By the decision of U. no. 392 of March 8, 1947, numerous immovable properties of the former royal family were confiscated: palaces, houses, land and forests in Belgrade, Bohinj, Kamnička Bistrica, Sokobanja, Miločer, Cetinje, Bled, etc., so that 33 properties in various parts of Yugoslavia at the time. The state also appropriated all their immovable property, and above all cash and securities found with the administration of the Palace in Belgrade and abroad. Endowments established by the king were also confiscated, including the "Saint George" endowment in Oplenac.
The basis of this is the Decision of the AVNOJ on depriving the so-called Yugoslav government abroad of its right to legitimate government and on the prohibition of King Petar II Karađorđević's return to the country" passed in Jajce on November 29, 1943.
REHABILITATION: Those decisions were annulled by the Law on Repeal of the Decree on Depriving the Karađorđević Family of Citizenship and Property, which was passed by the Federal Assembly at the session of the Council of Republics on February 26 and the Council of Citizens on February 27, 2001. That's it de jure returned citizenship to the members of the Karađorđević family, listed in the repealed Decree and in the newly adopted law. "This act was illegal because confiscation is a criminal sanction that can be implemented after a legal procedure, which there was none. With the cancellation of this decree, all legal consequences are annulled, including the issue of property. There was a change in part of the property, and that is why this issue is related to denationalization, about which a separate law will be passed later," said the then Vice President of the Federal Government, Miroljub Labus.
By the decision of the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in 2001, the family of Aleksandar Karađorđević was granted the use of the palace complex on Dedinje in Belgrade, which is treated as a protected cultural property, which needs to be legislated. Funds for the protection and maintenance of the complex are provided by the state. Upon his arrival in Serbia, Prince Alexander assumed the role of head of the Karađorđević family, which caused opposition. He is involved in humanitarian activities.
THE END OF THE BALKAN MONARCHIES: None of the Balkan monarchies were restored to power, but their members were allowed to return. In 2001, Bulgarians elected ex-tsar Simeon II, after a long exile, as prime minister. In contrast to Simeon II, Mehmed Pasha Zogu was first the prime minister of Albania, then fled to Yugoslavia, only to return in 1924 and become president, and then became King Zogu I Skanderbeg III.
On July 12, 2011, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Law on the Historical and Moral Rehabilitation of the Petrović Dynasty, and Prince Nikola Petrović Njegoš, a Parisian architect, was in the focus of media attention after he and his family visited Montenegro for the first time after rehabilitation. When he was coming to Montenegro in the 90s, some witnesses say, they made him change in the car with the astonished comment: "The prince in a lilac suit..." The Greeks changed the law to allow the members of the deposed monarchy to recover forests and other property.
The remains of Nicholas II Romanov and Empress Alexandra and their three daughters, including the youngest Anastasia, were found and identified in 1991, and the remaining two children in 2008. They were buried in the Imperial Tomb in St. Petersburg.
Some of Karađorđe's descendants were buried in the crypt on Oplenac after 1945: Đorđe (1887–1972), who before the war was interned in a psychiatric institution in Toponica near Niš, and after the war lived in Belgrade; his wife Radmila (née Radović, 1907–1993); son of King Alexander I, Tomislav (1928–2000) and Persida Nikolajević (born 1860), the fifth child in line of Prince Alexander, who did not marry and dedicated herself to the upbringing and nurturing of the children of her uncle, King Peter I. She occupied the 1941–1944 . spent in Topola. She died on June 30, 1945 on Oplenac in liberated Topola and was buried in the crypt two days later, on July 2, 1945.
The following lost their thrones: the first Serbian prince Miloš Obrenović (1839), the first Greek king Otto of Wittelsbach (1862), the first Romanian prince Alexander Ioan Cuza (1866), the first Bulgarian prince Alexander Battenberg (1886), the first recognized Albanian ruler, Prince Wilhelm of Vid (1914), the first and last Albanian king Zogu left the country after Italy conquered Albania in 1939. year.
Out of a total of nine rulers (princes and kings) of Serbia and Yugoslavia in the 19th and 20th centuries, three of them were killed as rulers (Prince Mihailo, King Aleksandar Obrenović and King Aleksandar Karađorđević). The Greek king George I was killed in Thessaloniki in 1913, and the first Montenegrin prince Danilo Petrović Njegoš - in Kotor in 1860. As many as 55 unsuccessful assassination attempts were allegedly carried out on the Albanian king Zogu. The Bulgarian Boris survived several assassination attempts. King George II of Greece had to flee the country into exile three times (1917, 1924 and 1941).
In 19th century Serbia, the following abdicated: princes Miloš (1839) and Mihailo Obrenović (1842), prince Aleksandar Karađorđević (1860) and king Milan Obrenović (1889).
Out of a total of seven Greek kings of the 19th and 20th centuries, four lost their thrones, i.e. abdicated or were exiled. In Romania, out of a total of five rulers in the same period, only one ruled until his death (Carol I), and the others lost their throne. In Bulgaria, out of four rulers, three lost their thrones.
Except for Miloš, all Serbian rulers from the Obrenović family came to the throne as minors. Prince Mihailo Obrenović was a minor when he first came to power, and after his murder, his fourteen-year-old cousin Milan took the throne. King Milan abdicated in 1889, when his son Alexander was only thirteen years old. At the age of seventeen, Aleksandar Obrenović staged a coup d'état, arrested the regents and declared himself an adult (in 1893).
In Romania, King Michael I ascended the throne at the age of six (1927), the same age as Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria when he came to the throne in 1943. Petar II Karađorđević became king at the age of eleven (1934). Emperor Simeon II of Bulgaria ruled as a child (1943–1945).
There are 39 tombs in the crypt of the Church of St. George on Oplenac, and so far 22 members from six generations of the Karađorđević dynasty have been buried there, among them the founder of the dynasty Đorđe Petrović Karađorđe, his son Prince Aleksandar, King Petar I and Aleksandar I Karađorđević
The following are buried in the crypt:
Marica (née Živković), mother of Karađorđev (died 1811).
Karađorđe (1752–1817) (in the sarcophagus in the temple) and his wife Jelena (1764–1842).
Karađorđe's son, Prince Aleksandar, and his wife, Princess Persida (1813–1875), daughter of Jevrem Nenadović, Duke of Valje.
Nine children of Prince Alexander (18'6–1885) and Princess Perseda: Cleopatra (1835–1855), Alexius (1836–1840), Svetozar (1841–1847), King Peter I (1844–1921) (in a sarcophagus in the temple) , his wife Princess Ljubica – Zorka (1864–1890), daughter of Montenegrin Prince Nikola Petrović she was buried in a crypt; then Jelena (1846–1867), Andreja (1848–1864), Jelisaveta (1851–1852), Đorđe (1856–1888) and Arsen (1859–1938).
Children of King Peter I and Princess Zorka: Milena (1886–1887), Đorđe (1887–1972), his wife Radmila (née Radović, 1907–1993), King Aleksandar I Karađorđević (1888–1934) and Andrija (1890– lived alone 23 days).
Son of King Alexander I, King Tomislav (1928–2000).
The fifth child of Prince Alexander and Princess Persida, Persida Nikolajević (born 1860), died on June 30, 1945 and was buried in the crypt two days later, on July 2.
Of the ten children of Prince Aleksandar and Princess Persida, only daughter Poleksija (1833–1914), who was married to the historian and minister Kosta Nikolajević (1821–1877) and had six children with him, was not buried in the crypt.
Prince Aleksandar, son of Karađorđe (1806–1885);
Princess Persida (1813–1875), his wife, daughter of Valjevo Duke Jevrem Nenadović;
King Petar I Karađorđević (1844–1921), son of Prince Alexander. Princess Zorka Karađorđević (born Ljubica) (1864–1890), wife of King Peter I, daughter of Montenegrin King Nikola I;
Princess Jelena Karađorđević (1884–1962), daughter of King Peter I, married to Russian Grand Duke Ivan Konstantinovich Romanov;
Princess Milena Karađorđević (1886–1887), daughter of King Peter I;
Kraljević Đorđe Karađorđević (1887–1972), son of King Peter I;
Radmila Karađorđević (1907–1993), wife of King Djordje;
King Alexander I Karađorđević (1888–1934), son of King Peter I Queen Marija Karađorđević (1900–1961), wife of King Alexander I, daughter of Romanian King Ferdinand I;
King Petar II Karađorđević (1923–1970), son of King Alexander I Queen Aleksandra Karađorđević (1921–1993), wife of King Peter II, daughter of Greek King Alexandros I;
Crown Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević (1945–), son of King Peter II, current head of the royal household; appears in public as NJ. Crown Prince Alexander II;
(Maria da Gloria of Orleans and Braganza (1946–), first wife of Aleksandar Karađorđević, until 1983);
Petar Karađorđević (1980–), son of Aleksandar Karađorđević;
Filip Karađorđević (1982–), son of Aleksandar Karađorđević;
Aleksandar Karađorđević (1982–), son of Aleksandar Karađorđević;
Katarina Karađorđević (1943–), wife of Aleksandar Karađorđević;
Kraljević Tomislav Karađorđević (1928–2000), son of King Alexander I (Margarita of Baden (1932–), first wife of Kraljević Tomislav, until 1982);
Nikola Karađorđević (1958–), son of King Tomislav
Ljiljana Karađorđević (1959–), wife of Nikola Karađorđević;
Marija Karađorđević (1993–), daughter of Nikola Karađorđević;
Katarina Karađorđević (1959–), daughter of King Tomislav, married to Desmond de Silva;
Linda Karađorđević (1949–), wife of King Tomislav;
Đorđe Karađorđević (1984–), son of King Tomislav;
Mihailo Karađorđević (1985–), son of King Tomislav;
Kraljević Andrej Karađorđević (1929–1990), son of King Alexander I;
Eva-Marija Karađorđević (née Milica) (1926–), wife of Kraljevic Andrej;
Tatjana Karađorđević (1957–), daughter of Kraljevic Andrej, married to Gregori Tuna-Larsen;
Hristofor Karađorđević (1960–1994), son of Kraljevic Andrej;
Lavinia Karađorđević (1961–), adopted daughter of Kraljevic Andrej, married to Erastos Sidiropoulos (marriage divorced) and Austin Prišard-Levi;
Vladimir Karađorđević (1964–), son of Kraljevic Andrej. Brigita Karađorđević (1956–), wife of Vladimir Karađorđević;
Dimitrije Karađorđević (1965–), son of Kraljevic Andrej;
Prince Andrija Karađorđević (1890–1890), son of King Peter I;
Prince Arsen Karađorđević (1859–1938), son of Prince Alexander, younger brother of King Peter I. Prince Pavle Karađorđević (1893–1976), son of Prince Arsen, prince-regent 1934–1941;
Princess Olga Karađorđević (1903–1997), wife of Prince Pavle, granddaughter of the Greek King George I;
Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević (1924–), son of Prince Pavle;
Barbara Karađorđević (1942), wife of Prince Alexander (1942–);
Dimitrije Karađorđević (1958–), son of Prince Alexander and grandson of Prince Pavle;
Mihailo Karađorđević (1958-), son of Prince Alexander and grandson of Prince Pavle;
Sergije Karađorđević (1963–);
Jelena Karađorđević (1963-), married to Terija Gober, daughter of Prince Alexander;
Dušan Karađorđević (1977–), son of Prince Alexander;
Prince Nikola Karađorđević (1928–1954), son of Prince Pavle;
Princess Jelisaveta Karađorđević (1936–), daughter of Prince Pavel, married to Howard Oxenberg (marriage divorced, daughters Kristina and Katarina Oxenberg), Neil Balfour (marriage divorced, son Nicholas Augustus Balfour) and Manuel Uljo Elias (deceased)
Montenegrin King Nikola I Petrović Njegoš ruled for 58 years (1860–1918), then Greek King George I – 51 years (1862–1913), then Romanian King Karol I – 48 years (1866–1914), Bulgarian Emperor Ferdinand I – 32 years (1886–1918).
TRANSFER OF THE REMAINS TO OPLENAC: King Petar II,...TRANSFER OF THE REMAINS TO OPLENAC: King Petar II,...
…Queen Mary,…...Queen Mary,...
…Queen Alexandra,…...Queen Alexandra,...
...Princess Olga,......Princess Olga,...
...Prince Paul,......Prince Paul,...
...Prince Andrei,......Prince Andrei,...
...Prince Nikola...Prince Nikola
FIRST TIME IN SERBIA: Prince Aleksandar KarađorđevićFIRST TIME IN SERBIA: Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević
