by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2016
King Peter I of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes – source: Wikipedia
King Peter I of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was born on June 29, 1844, in Belgrade, Principality of Serbia, the fifth of ten children of Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia, and Persida Nenadović. His family was from the House of Karađorđević which vied for the Serbian throne with House of Obrenović.
Peter had nine siblings:
- Poleksija (1833 – 1914), married (1) Konstantin Nikolajević, Serbian Minister of the Interior, had issue (2) Dr. Alexander Preshern
- Kleopatra (1835 – 1855), married Milan Avram Petronijević, Serbian Ambassador to Russia
- Aleksij (1836 – 1841), died in childhood
- Svetozar (1841 – 1847), died in childhood
- Jelena (1846 – 1867), married Đorđe Simić, Prime Minister of Serbia
- Andrej (1848 – 1864), died in his teens
- Jelisaveta (born and died 1850)
- Đorđe (1856 – 1889)
- Arsenije (1859 – 1938), married Princess and Countess Aurora Pavlovna Demidova, had two children including Prince Paul of Yugoslavia.
Peter’s father had been elected Sovereign Prince of Serbia (then a principality) in 1842. However, in 1858 he was forced to abdicate when the House of Obrenović took the throne and the family went into exile, settling in present-day Romania. Peter had attended primary and secondary schools in Belgrade and then attended the Venel-Olivier Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. After graduating, he went to Collège Sainte-Barbe for a year before enrolling in the elite École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in France (The Special Military School of Saint-Cyr), from which he graduated in 1864. During his schooling, along with strong interests in painting and photography, Peter developed his views on politics and democracy. In 1868, he published a translation of John Stuart Mill’s essay, On Liberty. This would later become the blueprint for his political program.
In 1870, he joined the French Foreign Legion, fighting in the Franco-Prussian War and being decorated with the Legion of Honour. Having been banned from Serbia in 1868 by the reigning Obronević dynasty, Peter used an assumed name to join the Bosnian Serb insurgents during the Great Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878. Following the conflict, he returned to his focus on politics and the possibility of returning the Karađorđevićs to the Serbian throne.
c.1875. source: Wikipedia
Peter moved to Cetinje, Montenegro, where he was appointed Honorary Senator in 1883. In what was more of a dynastic arrangement than an actual love match, he became engaged to Princess Zorka of Montenegro, the eldest daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and Milena Vukotić. The couple were married in Cetinje on August 1, 1883, and had five children:
- Princess Jelena of Serbia (1884 – 1962) – married Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia, had issue; Ioann was executed by the Bolsheviks on July 18, 1918, along with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and four other Romanovs. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs
- Princess Milena of Serbia (1886 – 1887) – died in infancy
- Prince George, Crown Prince of Serbia (1887 – 1972) – renounced his rights to succession in 1909; married at the age of 60 to Radmila Radonjić, no issue
- King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (1888 – 1934) – married Princess Maria of Romania, had issue
- Prince Andrew of Serbia (1890) – died at birth along with his mother
After briefly residing in Paris, Peter, Zorka and their children returned to Cetinje, Montenegro where they lived until after Zorka died in childbirth in 1890. Peter sold his home in Paris, and the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland.
King Peter I at his coronation, 1914. source: Wikipedia
Meanwhile, in Serbia, which had become a kingdom in 1882 under the House of Obrenović, a group of army officers who supported Peter’s rival House of Karađorđević led a coup d’état known as The May Coup in which King Alexander I and Queen Draga of the House of Obrenović were brutally assassinated. The assassination resulted in the extinction of the House of Obrenović. Prince Peter Karađorđević was then proclaimed the new King of Serbia. In Geneva at the time, Peter returned to Serbia and on June 15, was formally elected King by the Serbian parliament. He was crowned at St. Michael’s Cathedral on September 21, 1904.
King Peter’s reign saw Austria’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the First and Second Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913. With his health deteriorating, on June 24, 1914, King Peter transferred most of his royal prerogatives to his son Crown Prince Alexander. Just days later, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, sparking events that quickly led to World War I when Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28.
During the war, the ailing King Peter made several visits to the trenches to help boost morale amongst the Serbian troops. In October 1915, following the invasion of Serbia by German, Austrian, and Bulgarian forces, King Peter led a massive exodus of troops and civilians through the mountains of Albania to the Adriatic Sea, where they were transported to Greece by Allied forces. King Peter remained in Greece for the duration of the war, making a triumphant return to Belgrade in July 1919. By then, he had been proclaimed King of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
King Peter I died on August 16, 1921, in Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia, at the age of 77. He is buried in St. George’s Church, Oplenac.
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