The 208th anniversary of the death of Supreme Leader George Petrovic – Karadjorjde, founder of the Royal Dynasty Karadjordjevic, was marked today in the Mausoleum of the Royal Family, Saint George’s Church in Oplenac. Mr. Darko Spasic and Mr. Predrag Markovic, members of the Crown Council, attended the State ceremony as the representatives of HRH Crown Prince Alexander.
The Holy Liturgy and memorial service were officiated by priests from Topola, followed by the ceremony of wreath laying on the tomb of the founder of modern Serbia. As TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine, due to Her Royal Highness’ ongoing cancer treatment abroad, could not attend, Crown Council members laid a wreath on behalf of the Crown Prince, Supreme Leader’s descendant and Head of the Royal Family.
Together with the Royal Family representatives, Mr. Nikola Vukelic, State Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs of Serbia, representatives of the Army of Serbia, Mr. Dragan Reljic, Director of the Foundation of King Peter I in Oplenac, representatives of Municipality of Topola, paid their respects to great Karadjordje.
“I am very happy that the legacy of my ancestor Karadjordje is still very much alive and that his deeds and tremendous contributions to our country are being respected today, 207 years after his tragic death, as they were in the past. He is remembered as a great leader of our nation, the one who united Serbs and managed to lead them to victories that brought freedom to our people, after centuries of enslavement.
The liberating spirit is something that represents the very core of our national identity. Karadjordje was not the first to try to bring freedom to Serbia during Ottoman rule, but he was the one who managed to unite the love towards freedom into a joint fight. That way, small “sparks of liberty” created a fire that spread around our country and brought the fulfilment of a long-awaited dream. Although the Ottomans managed to suppress the uprising and enslave Serbia again, the process of final liberation was started, and nothing could suppress it anymore. That is why Karadjordje is even today remembered as “the father of modern Serbia”, as great Njegos called him”, stated HRH Crown Prince Alexander.
After the fall of the First Serbian Uprising, Karadjordje with his family and the most prominent Serbian chieftains left the country, initially for Austria and later for Bessarabia (Russia). After attempts to persuade the Russian Tsar to go to war against Turkey failed, Karadjordje made contacts with the Greek organisation “Heteria”, whose aim was the allied uprising of the Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians and the establishment of a great Balkan state. With the intention to start the struggle anew, Karadjordje secretly came to Serbia. Under orders of the Turkish Vizier and rival Serbian chieftain Milos Obrenovic, Karadjordje was assassinated in Radovanjski Lug near the city of Smederevo, on the night of 24 July 1817. His body was later buried in the Mausoleum of St. George in Oplenac, built by King Peter I.
