Almost a hundred and ten years ago, a much reviled Balkan King was mercilessly assassinated along with his Queen. At the time, it shocked Europe and the world at large. The brutal and ruthless pursuit of eradicating the last remnants of a reigning dynasty like caged animals seemed to evoke the mysterious aura of the Balkan arena.
For most it was an unexpected occurrence. At the time, the general impression was that, as much as the Serbian senate was packed with men devoted to the royal couple and since the government had obtained a large majority at the general elections, King Alexander would not hesitate any longer to proclaim his notorious Queen Draga's brother as the heir to the throne. In spite of this, it had been agreed with the Serbian Government that Prince Mirko of Montenegro
Apparently to prevent Queen Draga's brother being named heir, but in reality to replace King Alexander Obrenović with Prince Peter Karađorđević, a conspiracy was organized by a group of Army officers headed by Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević also known as ‘Apis’, who was in the pay of the Russians, as well as the leader of the Black Hand secret society which would assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Several politicians were also part of the conspiracy, and allegedly included Prime Minister, Nikola Pašić. The royal palace was invaded and the frightened couple hid in a cupboard in the Queen's bedroom. There is another possibility, used in a Serbian history TV series "The End of the Obrenović Dynasty", in which the royal couple was hidden in a secret panic room hidden behind the mirror in a common bedroom. The room contained an entrance to a secret passage leading out of the palace, but the entrance was inaccessible due to the placement of the queen's wardrobe over it after the wedding.
The conspirators searched the palace and eventually discovered the royal couple and murdered them in the early morning of Wednesday, June 11, 1903. King Alexander and Queen Draga were shot; their bodies mutilated by being disemboweled and, according to eyewitness accounts, thrown from a second floor window of the palace onto piles of garden manure.
At the time of their murders, the King was only twenty-six years old. King Alexander and Queen Draga were eventually buried in the crypt of St. Mark's Church, Belgrade
Prior to his marriage to Draga, King Alexander had attempted many times to find himself a royal bride from a more established royal house in Europe with which to form an alliance to bring recognition and stability to his country.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, an American newspaper bantered about the thought of an American heiress filling the position of future Queen of Serbia.
It is an interesting thought to consider what effects a Queen Consuelo, Queen May or Queen Helena might have had on the country if they had reigned next to King Alexander on the throne of Serbia
History has penned another scene to such visions of what might have been, although far more grisly, one cannot help but think that some poor American heiress might have just dodged a bullet, literally and figuratively.
‘QUEEN OF SERVIA’
An American Heiress May
Have The Title
Have The Title
June 24, 1896
Only Ten Million Dollars
And A Little Nerve Needed To Become
The Consort Of The Young King
His Father Coming To America
(Paris
What American girl wishes to become a queen? The only requisite is millions. The boy King Alexander of Servia needs ready money very badly, and he has decided that an American heiress will solve all the troubles of his bankrupt kingdom. A throne is, therefore, awaiting any American girl who has sufficient wealth to meet the requirements. This is probably the first time in American history that such an opportunity has ever been offered.
Along with the distinguished title of queen goes a palace, a crown, a collection of royal jewelry of stupendous antiquity and a number of castles scattered throughout Servia.
Servia is one of the kingdoms that sprung out of the ruins of the Roman Empire . The people are Slavonic, with some slight traces of the Roman influence. For centuries it was strong and independent, and then the great power of the Turkish Empire forcing its way into Eastern Europe overwhelmed it. From the fourteenth century it was a Turkish province, and only at the end of the last century did it begin to assert its independence.
But the national spirit was never crushed. There was always a hereditary chief and a nobility, rough, but without the faults of a similar class in richer countries. A more interesting nationality could hardly be found in Europe .
The King has great personal power, is commander-in-chief of the Servian army and supervises the sets of the national legislature. His Queen would share to a great extent in many of his powers.
She would be mistress of a large palace in the capital, Belgrade ; of the castle of Topschider
She would receive at her court the homage of noblemen who held their feudal estates before William the Conqueror invaded England , even before the Eastern Empire had gone to ruin, and the philosophers of Greece
It is also probable that she would have to become a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Ex-King Milan, father of the young monarch, will come to America Milan Paris Milan ’s arrival will certainly be a welcome event to the porters of America
The terms of the marriage contract are to include an unconditional transference to the King of a reign sum of money – at least ten millions. Servia is a very poor country, and that would go far toward maintaining its monarch in good style and enabling him to open his legislature, the Skuptschina, in a handsome suit of clothes.
If an American girl should marry the King she will certainly be the first who ever became a Queen. It is, therefore of the greatest interest to American girls, to their parents and to the perplexed American nation to know something about the person and manners of the young man.
It should be said at once that only the joy of becoming a queen could possibly compensate a woman for marrying him. But then, as Mr. Gilbert’s character has said: ‘It is no little thing, I queen. To be a regular, regular, regular, right down, royal queen!’
Not only is he very ill-mannered, coarse and unclean, but he is violent, strong willed and very powerful physically. The girl who has known what it is to have all men bow down and worship her in this country find everything changed. If she were not thoroughly subdued and submissive, His Majesty would undoubtedly take her by the hair and throw her a few times against the wall as a corrective. Sometimes, perhaps, he would do this merely because his breakfast had disagreed with him.
The King is now nineteen years of age and remarkably strong. His figure is tall and well but heavily made. His head is as round as it can well be. His forehead is low; his jaw firm, and his short, black hair stands straight over the top of his head. He has a small black mustache and a small snub nose.
The rapid development of his muscular powers during his teens was a source of surprise to his attendants, and by no means of joy. He never hesitates to inflict corporal punishment when he is displeased. Once he is related to have knocked the heads of two courtiers violently together. At another time he threw one of them into the sea.
He did not acquire much learning from his tutor, Dr. Lazar Dokics, and showed little sympathy with modern ideas on the subject of personal cleanliness. He is an antique Servian in his ways. The founder of the dynasty, whose family name is Obrenovitch, was a swine herd, and a student of heredity would at once connect this fact with the characteristics of the young king.
In spite of his faults, it is likely that he will have more success than his father in holding the difficult position of King of Servia. His rough and ready ways are not displeasing to the common people, and he has many democratic traits.
He hired a cab and went for a drive near Buda-Pesth. After a time he stopped at an open-air beer garden and sat down. He ordered the waiter to bring two glasses of beer, one for himself and one for the cabman.
‘Excuse me; it is not my duty to carry beer to the cabman,’ said the haughty Hungarian waiter, who was not impressed by the appearance of his youthful customer.
‘All right,’ said Alexander, ‘I’ll wait on him myself. That poor fellow must be awfully dry; and it would be cruel to make him wait for the man whose duty it is to carry beer to the cabman.’
Early in this century Servia was a helpless dependency of Turkey Russia and Austria
King Milan was a hot-headed spendthrift, with no political skill. He was disgraced by the defeat which Prince Alexander inflicted on the Servians. He quarreled with his handsome wife, Queen Nathalie, who has no better temper than himself, and treated her shamefully in public. Then he discovered her and expelled her from the country. For a time she kept her son with her. Twice King Milan caused the boy to be kidnapped and taken from his mother. On these occasions young Alexander behaved with much spirit, and resisted the kidnappers furiously.
Then a revolution drove Milan
Another instance of his precocity was his falling violently in love at the age of fifteen with a handsome countess, aged thirty-three.
He met her first at a court festival which he attended wit his tutor, Dr. Dokics. He was then King under a regency. On entering the ballroom she was stooping to pickup a jewel she had dropped. He has excellent eyesight, which enabled him to see the jewel and appreciate her attractions. He remained at her side all the evening, in spite of the protestations of his Ministers, and met her by appointment in the park, of the royal castle of Topschider
The intimacy was continued. The Ministers endeavored to palliate it on the ground that it was the natural attachment of a boy deprived of his mother’s care for a lady of mature years. But there were circumstances which, in her husband’s opinion, did not coincide with this view, and he sent her away to her mother’s home, in Hungary
Alexander started to follow her, and got as far as Buda-Pesth, where the Regent Kistics caught up with him and brought him back to Belgrade
That was two years ago. Now the King is willing to settle down with a wife who will give him lots of money and obey him.
Here, then is the chance of her life for an adventurous, ambitious American girl. She may become the wife of a man who is not only a King in rank, but has far more personal power than an English sovereign has. She will also have the advantages of being in the center of the most perilous disturbances in European politics.
Several attempts have been made to secure a European princess as a bride for King Alexander, but all in vain. Proposals for the hands of the Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia
NR
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