Background
Alexander Karageorgevich was born on December 16, 1888, at Cetinje, Montenegro, the second son of Peter l, King of Serbia, and Princess Zorka of Montenegro. Alexander shared his father's exile in Geneva, Switzerland until 1899.
Alexander Karageorgevich was born on December 16, 1888, at Cetinje, Montenegro, the second son of Peter l, King of Serbia, and Princess Zorka of Montenegro. Alexander shared his father's exile in Geneva, Switzerland until 1899.
Alexander spent his childhood in Montenegro; however, in 1894 his widower father took the four children, including Alexander, to Geneva where the young man completed his elementary education. Alongside his older brother George, he continued his schooling at the imperial Page Corps in St Petersburg, Russian Empire.
He returned to Serbia in 1909, succeeding his brother George as heir to the throne held by Peter I since 1903.
Having led the first Serbian army to victory over the Turks at Kumanovo on Oct. 24, 1912, in the First Balkan War, Alexander was also in command during the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria in 1913. Advanced age and declining health led Peter I to appoint Alexander regent of Serbia on June 24, 1914. As commander in chief of the Serbian armed forces, Alexander shared the privations of the Serbian retreat across Albania before the advancing Austro-German armies in 1915. He led his victorious forces into Belgrade on Oct. 31, 1918. On December 1 the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was proclaimed with Alexander as prince regent.
The kingdom's adoption of the centralist "Vidovdan" constitution on June 28, 1921, angered the Croats, who favored a federal state organization guaranteeing autonomy to the historical regions. At the death of Peter I on August 16, Alexander became king.
The murder of the Croatian leader Stefan Radić and a follower in the Skupština (Diet) on June 20, 1928, by a Montenegrin Serb deputy resulted in the withdrawal of the Croatian deputies from the Skupština. Convinced of the failure of the parliamentary system, Alexander abrogated the Vidovdan constitution on Jan. 6, 1929, changed the country's name to Yugoslavia on October 3, and began a period of authoritarian, personal rule. On Sept. 3, 1931, he proclaimed a new constitution, allowing only a "government's" party to exist, which was to receive two-thirds of the Skupština seats upon gaining a plurality in the national elections. This constitution increased Croatian disaffection.
In foreign affairs Alexander, a consistent friend of France, supported the French-backed Little Entente, which opposed Hungarian and Bulgarian revisionism, and hoped for French support against Italy. On a state visit to France, King Alexander and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou were assassinated at Marseilles on Oct. 9, 1934, by a Macedonian terrorist subsidized by the Croatian fascist organization called Ustaše, which was in the service of Italy and Hungary. The young Peter II succeeded his father under a regency headed by Alexander's first cousin, Prince Paul.
As a result of the previous deaths of three family members on a Tuesday, Alexander refused to undertake any public functions on that day of the week. On Tuesday, 9 October 1934, however, he had no choice, as he was arriving in Marseilles to start a state visit to France, to strengthen the two countries' alliance in the Little Entente. While Alexander was being slowly driven in a car through the streets along with French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou, a gunman, the Bulgarian Vlado Chernozemski, stepped from the street and shot the King twice, and the chauffeur, with a Mauser C96 semiautomatic pistol. Alexander died in the car, slumped backwards in the seat, with his eyes open. One of the bullets struck Foreign Minister Barthou in the arm, passing through and fatally severing an artery. He died of excessive blood loss less than an hour later.
Alexander's death deprived Yugoslavia of strong leadership at a time when, because of internal disorder and the hostility of Germany and Italy, it was most needed. As a founder of the great South Slav state, Alexander was opposed by those favoring the weakening or dismemberment of Yugoslavia, as well as those who resented his authoritarian rule.
On June 8, 1922, he married Marie (1900-1961), a daughter of King Ferdinand of Romania. They had three sons: Peter (born Sept. 6, 1923), Tomislav (1928), and Andrea (1929).
(11 July 1844 – 16 August 1921)
(23 December 1864 – 16 March 1890)
(6 January 1900 – 22 June 1961)
( 6 September 1923 – 3 November 1970)
(28 June 1929 – 7 May 1990)
(19 January 1928 in Belgrade – 12 July 2000)
Prince Alexander Karađorđević, His Royal Highness Prince Alexander of Serbia, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, His Majesty King Alexander I of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, His Majesty King Alexander I of Yugoslavia
