Alexander I of Yugoslavia (1888-1934) and Maria of Romania (1900-1961)

[Blueice]

1-2. HM King Aleksandar I

3. HM King Aleksandar I and HM Queen Marija

4. HM King Aleksandar I and HM Queen Marija - Wedding photograph in original frame and signed.

5. HM Queen Marija

 

[Marengo]

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (Cetinje, 16 December 1888 - Marseilles, 9 October 1934); married in Belgrade on 8 June 1922 Princess Maria of Romania (Gotha, 8 January 1900 - London, 22 June 1961)

Reign: 1921 - 1934

Dynasty: Karageorgevich

Predecessor: King Peter I of Serbia

Successor: King Peter II of Yugoslavia

Children: King Peter II of Yugoslavia; Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia and Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia

Parents Alexander: King Peter I of Serbia and Princess Zorka of Montenegro

Parents Maria: King Ferdinand I of Romania and Princess Marie of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Edinburgh

Siblings Alexander: Princess Elena of Russia, Princess Milena of Serbia, Crown Prince George of Serbia

Siblings Maria: King Carol II of Romania; Queen Elisabeth of Greece; Prince Nicholas of Romania, Archduchess Ileana of Austria-Tuscany and Prince Mircea of Romania

 

[Marengo]

From wikipedia:

Alexander I also called Alexander I Karađorđević or Alexander the Unifier (Serbian, Croatian, Serbo-Croatian: Aleksandar I Karađorđević, Cyrillic script: Александар I Карађорђевић) (Cetinje, Principality of Montenegro, (16 December 1888 [O.S. 4 December] – Marseille, France, 9 October 1934) of the Royal House of Karađorđević (Karageorgevich) was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929–34) and before that king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1921–29).

Alexander Karađorđević was born in Cetinje in Principality of Montenegro in December 1888. His father was King Peter I of Serbia and his mother the former Princess Zorka of Montenegro, a daughter of King Nicholas of Montenegro. In Belgrade on 8 June 1922 he married HRH Princess Maria of Romania, who was a daughter of Queen Maria, the Queen Consort of Romania. They had three sons: Crown Prince Peter, Princes Tomislav and Andrej.
He spent his childhood in Montenegro, and was educated in Geneva. In 1910 he nearly died from stomach typhus and left with stomach problems for rest of his life. He continued his schooling at the Corps de pages imperial in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but had to quit due to his brother's renounciation, and then in Belgrade. Prince Alexander was not the first in line for the throne but his elder brother, Crown Prince George (Đorđe) was considered unstable by most political forces in Serbia and after two notable scandals (one of which occurred in 1909 when he kicked his servant, who consequently died), Prince George was forced to renounce his claim to the throne.

In the First Balkan War in 1912, as commander of the First Army, Crown Prince Alexander fought victorious battles in Kumanovo and Bitola, and later in 1913, during the Second Balkan War, the battle of Bregalnica. In the aftermath of the Second Balkan War Prince Alexander took sides in the complicated power struggle over how Macedonia should be administered. In this Alexander bested Col. Dragutin Dimitrijević or "Apis" and in the wake of this Alexander's father, King Peter, agreed to hand over royal powers to his son. On 24 June 1914 Alexander became Regent of Serbia.
At the outbreak of World War I he was the nominal supreme commander of the Serbian army - true command was in hands of Chief of Staff of Supreme Headquarters - position held by Stepa Stepanović (during the mobilisation), Radomir Putnik (1914-1915), Petar Bojović (1916-1917) and Živojin Mišić (1918). The Serbian army distinguished itself in the battles at Cer and at the Drina (the Battle of Kolubara) in 1914 , scoring victories against the invading Austro-Hungarian forces and evicting them from the country.
In 1915 the Serbian army with the aged King Peter and Crown Prince Alexander suffered many losses being attacked from all directions by the alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. It withdrew through the gorges of Montenegro and northern Albania to the Greek island of Corfu, where it was reorganized. After the army was regrouped and reinforced, it achieved a decisive victory on the Macedonian Front, at Kajmakcalan. The Serbian army carried out a major part in the final Allied breakthrough in the autumn of 1918.

Read more here.

 

[Marengo]

From wikipedia:

Maria of Romania (6 January 1900 – 22 June 1961) was queen consort to King Alexander I of Yugoslavia

Maria was born in Gotha, Thuringia in Germany, during the reign of her maternal grandfather Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and during the Romanian reign of her granduncle King Carol I. She was known as Mignon in the family to distinguish her from her mother.
Her mother was Marie of Edinburgh, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, a son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Her maternal great-grandfather was Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Maria's father was King Ferdinand I of Romania.
She married Alexander I, King of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in Belgrade on 8 June 1922, and raised three sons:

Read more here.

 

[Marengo]

A youtbe clip about the assassination of kinf Alexander in Marseilles:

YouTube - The Assassination of the Yugoslavian king Alexander, video 1

 

[naky]

Dear Marengo,
Your post about great HRH Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic is wonderful, but did you know that the video clip you posted too is celebrating the murderer of HRH Aleksandar?

It's celebrating the murderer through the song. In last scenes it's written his name with text - that is way how heroes die (meaning the murderer) and he will be remembered forever.

 

[Marengo]

I did not know that! I suppose that we can put the sound off when viewing the clip . Why would anybody celebrate that, a seperatist group perhaps? Or communists?

 

[Marc23]

Queen Marie dowry was $12.000.000...very big money at that time....

 

[An Ard Ri]

79th Anniversary of assassination of HM King Alexander I of Yugoslavia


79th Anniversary of assassination of HM King Alexander I of Yugoslavia - The Royal Family of Serbia

 

[CyrilVladisla]

King Alexander visited Zagreb in 1925 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the Croation King Tomislav.
King Alexander and Queen Maria named one of their sons Tomislav.
​

King Alexander I did not have a coronation. He felt that a ceremony with Orthodox rites would be an affront to Catholic and Muslim subjects.

During the Second World War Queen Marie was the Deputy President of the Yugoslav Red Cross.

 

[Blog Real]

Assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia & Louis Barthou (1934)

 

[CyrilVladisla]

An interview with Queen Maria

 

[christowilson]

It is said that the Queen was educated at Heathfield School near London, does anyone know this for a fact? Thanks!

 

[Blog Real]

The Funeral of Alexander I of Jugoslavia at Belgrade (1934).

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Queen Maria in the Hirshgarten in Munich in 1931
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-queen-maria-of-yugoslavia-in-the-hirschgarten-94218518.html

 

[An Ard Ri]

King Alexander I did not have a coronation. He felt that a ceremony with Orthodox rites would be an affront to Catholic and Muslim subjects.

The demographics of the then kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929 were roughly as follows and there was a sizeable non Orthodox Population.


Eastern Orthodox: 5,593,057 (46.67%)
Roman Catholic: 4,708,657 (39.29%)
Protestant: 229,517 (1.91%)
Sunni Muslim: 1,345,271 (11.22%)
Jewish: 64,746 (0.54%)
Others: 1,944 (0.02%)

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Alexander I arrested his Regents and declared himself of age.
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-alexaner-i-of-serbia-57367169.html

 

[Moran]

I did not know that! I suppose that we can put the sound off when viewing the clip . Why would anybody celebrate that, a seperatist group perhaps? Or communists?

It's been a long time but I'll try to answer this question.

In Bulgaria and current Northern Macedonia, as well as Croatia, it was celebrated wildly, albeit unofficially. Let's say the political situation on the Balkans was far from calm at the time.

The murderer was considered a hero by the IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization), a Bulgarian organization with a long and complicated history. He's considered a hero by many Bulgarians today as well. I have to admit I also belong to this group. Undoubtedly, Serbs would have a different opinion as proven by a post before mine!

To answer your question: I recommend reading La Guerre Revient by Henri Pozzi. He traveled in Yugoslavia at the time and his opinion differed vastly by the one the winners in WW1 thought about the situation. Also, from the Wikipedia article as well.

It's a ghastly reading, though. And that's an author with strong pro-Serbian leanings. It was forbidden in the countries of the Little Entante.

You don't want to get into Balkan history, believe me. It's a hot mess that no one comes looking good out of.

The murderer was an IMRO member with one or two death sentences in Bulgaria for murder, including one of a fellow IMRO member. Or perhaps they were both IMRO members. King Alexander's murder came when IMRO healed from its internal hostilities (for a while, there were two wings that literally squared accounts in the streets of Sofia) and could look outward.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

King Alexander I on the parade ground in Belgrade in 1929
http://www.maryevans.com/history/Kingdom-of-Serbs-Croats-and-Slovenes-Yugoslavia-10496318

 

[Toledo]

If the page defaults to Spanish, mouse over it and right click to select Translate to English

March 14, 1923: The signature of the King of Yugoslavia is forged to promote six colonels

...According to the newspaper, "military promotions were subject to special conditions" and a military commission took care to "find out the background to such promotions". To the great surprise of the commission, it was discovered that "the documents were false, since the King's signature was made by someone else..."

 

[CyrilVladisla]

King Alexander I with his sister Princess Jelena Petrovna of Russia during the First World War

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/795659459183432833/