The history of the Karađorđević Royal Dynasty spans more than two centuries. What stands out for the Royal Family of Serbia is that it originated directly from the people to which it belongs and whom it led throughout its existence.
19th century
At the beginning of the 19th century, conditions in Serbia were extremely difficult. The country had been under Ottoman occupation for several centuries, with the Serbian people constantly striving to regain their freedom. A group of Turkish renegades from the Sultan in Constantinople and his rule, called “dahije”, seized power in Serbia in 1801, killing the Belgrade Vizier. The oppression of the people became unbearable, and in 1804, at the Great Assembly of the Serbian People in the village of Orašac, a decision was made to raise an uprising against terror. Djordje Petrović, known as “Karadjordje” (from the Turkish word “kara”, meaning “black”), was elected Supreme Leader of the First Serbian Uprising.
He was already an experienced soldier and managed to unite the people of Serbia in the fight against a common enemy. The Dahijas were defeated, but the fighting continued, setting the complete liberation of all of Serbia from Ottoman rule as the ultimate goal. The spark of freedom lit by Karadjordje turned into a fire.
The First Serbian Uprising lasted from 1804 to 1813, when the Turkish army managed to break the resistance and reoccupy the territory of Serbia. Although this period was marked by constant fighting, it saw the emergence of the first free Serbian state in modern times. The Serbia we know today is based on these foundations.
Karadjordje’s achievements and contributions should not be viewed solely from a military perspective. As early as 1805, the “Serbian Governing Council” was established at the national assembly in the village of Borak. The Council was essentially a kind of government, the central authority of Serbia during the First Uprising; it had executive and legislative power, and Karadjordje agreed to its establishment, and he himself was the head of this body on several occasions. The Great School in Belgrade was also founded at that time, which was the beginning of higher education in the country.
After the failure of the First Serbian Uprising, Karadjordje was forced to leave the country, which began the sad fate of the members of the Karađorđević family; all of them, at some point in their lives, were forced to live far from their homeland and people.
After the Second Serbian Uprising, the Principality of Serbia was established as a vassal state under Ottoman rule, with the founder of the second Serbian dynasty, Miloš Obrenović, as Prince of Serbia. Karadjordje returned to Serbia in 1817, when he was assassinated by the orders of Prince Miloš Obrenović. The tragedy was all the greater knowing that Karadjordje and Miloš were “Kumovi”, which is a word that jointly represents both relations when somebody is someone’s godparent at baptism and/or best man/maid of honour at the wedding, which Serbs consider as a sacred relation.
The Assembly of the Serbian People decided in 1842 to abolish the Obrenović dynasty and bring Karađorđe’s son, HSH Prince Alexander Karađorđević, to the throne, who had returned to Serbia in 1839 and became an adjutant to Prince Mihailo Obrenović. He ruled until 1858, when the Szentendre Assembly decided to return the Obrenović family to the Serbian throne. The period of Prince Alexander’s reign was marked by efforts to improve and modernise the young Serbian state. Prince Alexander initiated a large number of reforms and founded new institutions; during his reign, the Civil Code was adopted, a regular army was established, a canon foundry was built, existing schools were improved, and new ones were founded, the Law on Schools and the Education System was adopted, and the National Museum and the National Library were founded. He was the first ruler of modern Serbia to fully respect the Constitution.
20th century
In 1903, after officers of the Serbian army assassinated the last king and queen of the Obrenović dynasty, the National Assembly decided that Karadjordje’s grandson should ascend the throne. HM King Peter I the Liberator thus became the first King of Serbia from the Karađorđević dynasty.
King Peter I was the first truly democratic ruler of modern Serbia. Equality of all, justice and the rule of law were the ideals and principles that guided him. The Kingdom of Serbia established an exceptionally high level of democracy and liberal governance, with respect for the Constitution and the laws as an imperative.
He modernised the Serbian army and was the Supreme Commander in the two Balkan Wars, in 1912 and 1913, which liberated the Serbian people who had been enslaved by the Ottoman Empire in the southern regions for centuries. However, peace did not last long. Discontent over the Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina simmered in neighbouring countries, and the people’s desire for independence from Austria-Hungary led to the assassination of the Crown Prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo in 1914, which ignited the spark of World War I.
During the Great War, King Peter I was always with his troops, even during the “Albanian Golgotha”, the difficult retreat of the Serbian army and people from Serbia to Greece. Although already old and sick, the old king went to the trenches on the front line. When he was still alive, in 1914, he transferred the Royal duties to his son, at the time Crown Prince Alexander, who later became HM King Alexander I the Unifier in 1921.
Alexander is best known for his military skills and military successes. As the Supreme Commander of the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia during World War I, he brought the first victories to the Allied troops. Like his father, he was with his army on the front line and with it went through the “Albanian Golgotha”.
After World War I
With the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki Front, the army of the Kingdom of Serbia, led by Regent Alexander, brought victory in the war to the Allies and the long-awaited peace to Europe and the world, who praised the Serbian soldiers and their Supreme Commander for their heroism.
On 1 December 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed, thus achieving the war goal of the Kingdom of Serbia, defined by the Niš Declaration of 1914 and confirmed by the Corfu Declaration of 1917. The long-standing vision of creating a united state of the South Slavs, which began in the 19th century, was then fulfilled. The first King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes until his death in 1921 was King Peter I, and he was succeeded by his son Alexander, who, since 1929, when the state changed its name, has held the title of King of Yugoslavia.
King Alexander married the Romanian Princess Maria (since then HM Queen Maria) in 1922, and they got three sons: Crown Prince Peter and Princes Tomislav and Andrew.
The new Kingdom faced many problems. The country had been badly devastated during World War I, and neighbouring states wanted parts of its territory, while tensions between Croats and Serbs were growing. In 1929, it became clear that the King had no choice but to impose direct Royal rule. He did this against his will, promising to restore democracy in the renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia once national unity was achieved and corruption in the state apparatus was eradicated.
Alexander I was among the first statesmen in Europe to see the danger posed by the rise of extreme ideologies – Nazism and Fascism. He fell as their victim, being assassinated in Marseille on 9 October 1934, when the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou was also assassinated with him.
“Alexander will live forever in the memory of his people as a heroic figure of imposing greatness. Like Washington and Lincoln of Yugoslavia – as Washington, a capable and fearless general who freed his country from oppression; as a Lincoln, a wise leader and patriot who ended up in martyrdom” – these are the words of Nikola Tesla.
The son of King Alexander I, Crown Prince Peter, was only 11 years old when his father was assassinated, and he became HM King Peter II. Until he came of age, a Regency was formed consisting of three regents, including his uncle, HRH Prince Paul Karađorđević, who performed Royal duties on behalf of the minor monarch.
World War II and the Abolition of the Monarchy by the Communists
The outbreak of World War II in 1939 presented the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with a difficult decision: whether to join the Tripartite Pact (Germany – Italy – Japan) or to confront an incomparably more powerful enemy. By 1941, all of Yugoslavia’s neighbours had fallen under Nazi control. In an effort to avoid bloodshed, Prince Paul and the Yugoslav Government decided to sign a non-aggression pact with Germany and Italy. The decision was met with fierce protests in the country, leading to a military coup on 27 March 1941. The Government and the Regency were overthrown, and King Peter II was declared of age and immediately assumed Royal powers from the Regency.
A week later, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy attacked Yugoslavia, and the army, faced with a much stronger enemy, was unable to defend the country from falling under occupation. With the invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Nazis and their allies, King Peter II, as well as the Yugoslav Government, was forced to leave his homeland and, via Athens, Jerusalem, and Cairo, join other heads of state from occupied Europe in London.
King Peter II made a huge effort to help the people of Yugoslavia in the fight against Nazism, and he also constantly tried to return to the country and be with his people. He sought support for his countrymen, meeting with many important world leaders of the time, including President Roosevelt, Sir Winston Churchill, his godfather King George VI of the United Kingdom, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, President of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Benes, King Haakon of Norway and Mr Raczkiewicz, President of Poland. He was the youngest head of state ever to address the United States Congress, in 1942.
Occupied Yugoslavia was divided between the Axis Powers, to satisfy the demands of Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, and Hungary, as well as the puppet Independent State of Croatia. Despite the collapse of the Yugoslav Army, two rival resistance movements emerged in the country. The first was the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, a legal and legitimate military formation led by General Dragoljub (Draža) Mihailović, Minister of Defence of the Government in Exile, whose goal was to liberate the country and preserve the pre-war constitutional order. The second was the revolutionary partisan movement, led by the communist Josip Broz Tito. In addition to the conflict with the occupying forces, a bloody civil war broke out in Yugoslavia between the two movements.
The Allies initially supported Mihailović, exhibitions were organized about him and his fighters, and 20th Century Fox even made a film in 1943 called “Chetniks, тхе Fighting Guerillas”. However, under the strong influence of Soviet spies who infiltrated the British Special Operations Unit (SOE) and their propaganda, before all James Klugmann who spent two and a half years working on the headquarters staff of the Yugoslav Section of SOE, they reoriented towards Broz. Also, individuals such as Randolph Churchill, son of British Prime Minister Winston, and Fitzroy MacLaine, who served as officers in the communist headquarters, had a great influence on changing the Allied attitude towards the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, as well as the United Kingdom’s representative to the Allies in the Mediterranean, Harold Macmillan, who insisted that both Great Britain and the Yugoslav government and King support Broz and the communists “with all their powers”. The pressure went so far that King Peter II, who despite this development of the situation insisted on moving to Yugoslavia to join Mihailović, received a warning from the British side that his policy of supporting Mihailović would provoke a civil war and lead the Red Army to physically destroy all the troops of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland.
Despite this development of the situation, General Mihailović and his soldiers continued the unequal fight, organizing one of the largest rescue operations of Allied pilots shot down behind enemy lines – Operation Halyard. For these merits, General Mihailović was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit, First Class, by US President Harry Truman on 29 March 1948. On the other side, in 1944, with the help of the Red Army, the partisans entered Belgrade and formed a communist government.
On 29 November 1945 the monarchy was illegally abolished in undemocratic elections and Yugoslavia became a totalitarian one-party state under the rule of the Communist Party. After that, the Communist dictatorship issued a decree – on 8 March 1947, King Peter II and all members of the Royal Family (including HRH Crown Prince Alexander, King Peter’s son, who was not even two years old) were deprived of their citizenship and all private property was confiscated. However, King Peter II never abdicated. Even in exile, he continued to support his people, appealing to all high-ranking officials to help restore democracy to his country.
Return to the Homeland
King Peter II’s son, HRH Crown Prince Alexander, although forced to grow up far from the land of his ancestors, always felt great love for his people and had a strong desire to finally return to his homeland. This first became possible in 1991, when HRH Crown Prince Alexander and HRH Crown Princess Katherine, with his sons, TRH Princes Peter, Philip and Alexander, first came to their country at the invitation of the democratic opposition. Due to the undemocratic regime, they could not stay at that time, but the first step was taken.
Crown Prince Alexander was an active participant in the establishment of democracy in Serbia and was one of the most significant participants in the removal of the post-communist regime, uniting the democratic opposition, which resulted in the democratic victory on 5 October 2000.
On 9 March 2001, the Law on Abolishing the 1947 Decrees was passed, and citizenship of the Royal Family was reinstated, which allowed them to return to Serbia. Crown Prince Alexander’s wish to be in his homeland and with his people came true on his 56th birthday – 17 July 2001 – when he, his wife Crown Princess Katherine and his three sons, Prince Peter, Hereditary Prince Philip and Prince Alexander, returned to the Royal Palace in Belgrade.
After more than half a century, the heir to the Serbian throne and his family regained their civil rights, the right to enter their country and the right to use the family home, the Royal and White Palaces. The Royal Family finally returned home after almost 60 years of exile.
As the Karađorđević motto says – “From the people – for the people”, the main duty of the Royal Family of Serbia is to always be at the service of the people and to work for the progress of their homeland, so the Karađorđevićs are guided by this motto in all their activities, from striving to preserve the traditions and culture of the Serbian people, through support for young people, improving the image of Serbia and its promotion in the international community, to humanitarian work and everything else, up to this day.