Monthly Archives: January 2016

Princess Zorka of Montenegro, Princess Zorka Karađorđević

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Zorka of Montenegro, Princess Zorka Karađorđević -source: Wikipedia

Princess Ljubica Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (known as Zorka), who died before her husband became King of Serbia, was born on December 23, 1864, in Cetinje, Montenegro, the eldest child of the future King Nicholas I of Montenegro and Milena Vukotić.

Zorka had eleven younger siblings. Her two sisters Milicia and Anastasia, are best known for having introduced Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia to Grigori Rasputin in 1905.

Zorka’s siblings:

Raised in Cetinje, Zorka was privately educated before being sent to Russia in 1875 to attend the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg, established by Catherine the Great in the 1760s to provide education for the daughters of the nobility.

After graduating in 1883, she returned to Montenegro and a marriage was arranged to Peter Karađorđević, son and heir of the former Prince of Serbia, Alexander, who had abdicated in 1858. Zorka and Peter were married on August 1, 1883, in Cetinje, where they settled and had five children:

Princess Zorka (center) holding her son George. Her daughter Jelena is standing next to her and her husband Peter is standing on the left (with his brother, Arsen, standing on the right). source: Wikipedia

On March 16, 1890, 25-year-old Princess Zorka died while giving birth to her youngest child Andrew who also died. She was initially buried in Cetinje, Montenegro at the Cetinje Monastery. In 1903, thirteen years after her death, her husband would return the Karađorđević dynasty to the Serbian throne as King Peter I. Her remains were later moved to the Mausoleum of the Serbian Royal Family beneath St. George’s Church, Oplenac, Serbia.

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King Peter I of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

King Peter I of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes – source: Wikipedia

King Peter I of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was born on June 29, 1844, in Belgrade, Principality of Serbia, the fifth of ten children of Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia, and Persida Nenadović. His family was from the House of Karađorđević which vied for the Serbian throne with House of Obrenović.

Peter had nine siblings:

  • Poleksija (1833 – 1914), married  (1) Konstantin Nikolajević, Serbian Minister of the Interior, had issue  (2) Dr. Alexander Preshern
  • Kleopatra (1835 – 1855), married Milan Avram Petronijević, Serbian Ambassador to Russia
  • Aleksij (1836 – 1841), died in childhood
  • Svetozar (1841 – 1847), died in childhood
  • Jelena (1846 – 1867), married Đorđe Simić, Prime Minister of Serbia
  • Andrej (1848 – 1864), died in his teens
  • Jelisaveta (born and died 1850)
  • Đorđe (1856 – 1889)
  • Arsenije (1859 – 1938), married Princess and Countess Aurora Pavlovna Demidova, had two children including Prince Paul of Yugoslavia.

Peter’s father had been elected Sovereign Prince of Serbia (then a principality) in 1842. However, in 1858 he was forced to abdicate when the House of Obrenović took the throne and the family went into exile, settling in present-day Romania. Peter had attended primary and secondary schools in Belgrade and then attended the Venel-Olivier Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. After graduating, he went to Collège Sainte-Barbe for a year before enrolling in the elite École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in France (The Special Military School of Saint-Cyr), from which he graduated in 1864. During his schooling, along with strong interests in painting and photography, Peter developed his views on politics and democracy. In 1868, he published a translation of John Stuart Mill’s essay, On Liberty. This would later become the blueprint for his political program.

In 1870, he joined the French Foreign Legion, fighting in the Franco-Prussian War and being decorated with the Legion of Honour. Having been banned from Serbia in 1868 by the reigning Obronević dynasty, Peter used an assumed name to join the Bosnian Serb insurgents during the Great Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878. Following the conflict, he returned to his focus on politics and the possibility of returning the Karađorđevićs to the Serbian throne.

c.1875. source: Wikipedia

Peter moved to Cetinje, Montenegro, where he was appointed Honorary Senator in 1883. In what was more of a dynastic arrangement than an actual love match, he became engaged to Princess Zorka of Montenegro, the eldest daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and Milena Vukotić. The couple were married in Cetinje on August 1, 1883, and had five children:

After briefly residing in Paris, Peter, Zorka and their children returned to Cetinje, Montenegro where they lived until after Zorka died in childbirth in 1890. Peter sold his home in Paris, and the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland.

King Peter I at his coronation, 1914. source: Wikipedia

Meanwhile, in Serbia, which had become a kingdom in 1882 under the House of Obrenović,  a group of army officers who supported Peter’s rival House of Karađorđević led a coup d’état known as The May Coup in which King Alexander I and Queen Draga of the House of Obrenović were brutally assassinated. The assassination resulted in the extinction of the House of Obrenović. Prince Peter Karađorđević was then proclaimed the new King of Serbia. In Geneva at the time, Peter returned to Serbia and on June 15, was formally elected King by the Serbian parliament. He was crowned at St. Michael’s Cathedral on September 21, 1904.

King Peter’s reign saw Austria’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the First and Second Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913. With his health deteriorating, on June 24, 1914, King Peter transferred most of his royal prerogatives to his son Crown Prince Alexander. Just days later, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, sparking events that quickly led to World War I when Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28.

During the war, the ailing King Peter made several visits to the trenches to help boost morale amongst the Serbian troops. In October 1915, following the invasion of Serbia by German, Austrian, and Bulgarian forces, King Peter led a massive exodus of troops and civilians through the mountains of Albania to the Adriatic Sea, where they were transported to Greece by Allied forces. King Peter remained in Greece for the duration of the war, making a triumphant return to Belgrade in July 1919. By then, he had been proclaimed King of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

King Peter I died on August 16, 1921, in Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia, at the age of 77. He is buried in St. George’s Church, Oplenac.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

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The Year with the Swedish Royal Family (2015)

Swedish Royal Family, December 2015. Photo Jonas Ekströmer, The Swedish Royal Court.

Swedish Royal Family, December 2015. Photo Jonas Ekströmer, The Swedish Royal Court.

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Princess Yekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Princess Yurievskaya

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2016

Princess Yekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Princess Yurievskaya; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Yekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Princess Catherine Dolgorukov in English, was first the mistress and then the second and morganatic wife of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia.  A morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank which prevents the husband’s titles and privileges from being passed to the wife and any children born of the marriage.

Catherine was born on November 14, 1847, in Moscow, Russia, and came from the Russian princely House of Dolgorukov, noted for their service to the Russian tsars and emperors. Her parents were Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Dolgorukov and Vera Gavrilovna Vishnevskaya. Her father was the grandson of Prince Alexei Grigorievich Dolgorukov, known for his closeness to Peter II, Emperor of All Russia. Prince Alexei’s daughter Ekaterina Alekseyevna Dolgorukova was engaged to Peter II, but the wedding never took place because of Peter’s death from smallpox. Vera Gavrilovna’s great-grandfather, Colonel Vishnevsky, an important official in the court of Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia, found an impressive singer in a rural church and brought him back to the Russian court. Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky joined the court choir and caught the eye of Empress Elizabeth and he became her lover and eventually her morganatic husband.

In August 1857, ten-year-old Catherine first met Emperor Alexander II when a military maneuver was held at her family’s estate. When Catherine’s father went bankrupt, Alexander II took it upon himself to pay for the children’s education. The boys were sent to a military academy in St. Petersburg and the girls were sent to Smolny Institute, also in St. Petersburg. In 1865, filling in his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who was ill, Emperor Alexander II made an official visit to the Smolny Institute. He was immediately attracted to the now 17-year-old Catherine.

Catherine and Alexander began to meet in the gardens near the Winter Palace, and Catherine’s mother and the headmistress of the Smolny Institute encouraged her in her relationship with the emperor. Likely, Catherine and Alexander were first intimate on June 12, 1866, at the Belvedere Pavilion near the Peterhof Palace.  By the autumn of 1866, the couple was secretly meeting at the Winter Palace, and in 1867, their affair was public knowledge.

Catherine as a teenager; Credit – Wikipedia

In June 1867, Alexander II went to the 1867 World’s Fair in Paris where a Polish immigrant Antoni Berezowski shot at the carriage carrying Alexander II, two of his sons, and Emperor Napoleon III of France. Luckily, only a horse was hit. Shaken by the assassination attempt, Alexander II asked for Catherine to come to Paris. When they returned to St. Petersburg, Alexander II arranged for Catherine to live near the Winter Palace. Preserved letters show a sincere and passionate love for each other. Alexander II arranged for Catherine’s older sister to marry one of his adjutant generals, so Catherine could officially live with her sister.

Catherine and Alexander II had four children who were legitimized in 1880 and given the title Serene Highness Prince/Princess:

Alexander and Catherine with two of their children; Credit – Wikipedia

Shortly before Alexander II’s wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna died, Alexander II moved Catherine and her children to the Winter Palace. This further exacerbated the hostile attitude many members of the Romanov family and the Russian court had toward Catherine. The court was divided into two factions: Dolgorukov supporters and supporters of the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Alexander III. On June 3, 1880, Empress Maria Alexandrovna died from tuberculosis.

Six weeks later, on July 18, 1880, Alexander II made a morganatic marriage with Catherine. This marriage caused a scandal in the Imperial Family and violated Russian Orthodox rules regarding the waiting period for remarriage following the death of a spouse. Alexander granted his new wife the title of Princess Yurievskaya and legitimized their children who were then styled Prince/Princess (Knyaz/Knyaginya). On September 5, 1880, Alexander II deposited 3,302,910 gold rubles in an account at the State Bank for Catherine and her children.

The three surviving children of Catherine and Alexander; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 13, 1881, Emperor Alexander II fell victim to assassination when a bomb was thrown into his carriage. He asked to be returned to the Winter Palace to die. As the Imperial Family heard the news, they arrived at the Winter Palace. The sight that greeted them was grim. Alexander II’s face and body were intact, but his legs were gone up to his knees. The room began to get crowded as more family members arrived. Alexander II’s eldest son Alexander (the future Alexander III) and his Danish wife Dagmar (Maria Feodorovna) arrived. Dagmar was still wearing her skating costume and carrying her ice skates as she planned to go ice skating. Dagmar’s husband stood in disbelief and their eldest son 13-year-old Nicholas (the future Nicholas II) was clinging to a cousin for comfort. Catherine hysterically ran into the room, threw herself on her husband’s body, kissed his hands, and called out his name. For 45 minutes, those in the room watched as Alexander II’s life ebbed away. At 3:35 PM, he died, and as the Imperial Family knelt to pray, Catherine fainted and was carried from the room, her clothes drenched with his blood.

Catherine, circa 1872-1873

Shortly after Alexander’s funeral, Catherine left Russia forever. She moved to France and, in 1888, settled in Nice on the French Riviera. Catherine died on February 15, 1922, at the age of 74, forgotten and ignored, her obituary only three lines long. She was buried at the Cimetière orthodoxe de Caucade in Nice, France.

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Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, Maria Alexandrovna, Empress of All Russia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, Maria Alexandrovna, Empress of All Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

Maximiliane Wilhelmine Auguste Sophie Marie, Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, was the first wife of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia.  She was born on August 8, 1824, in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany. Marie was the youngest child of Wilhelmine of Baden, wife of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. She was officially Ludwig’s daughter, but the last four of Wilhelmine’s children were probably the children of August von Senarclens de Grancy, her longtime lover, with whom Wilhelmine had lived since 1820. Wilhelmine and Ludwig had lived apart since 1809.

Marie’s siblings were:

Marie’s mother was responsible for her education, and her mother’s preference for French culture and literature was evident in her education which placed a special emphasis on literature and history. When Marie was 11 years old, her mother died and Marianne Gransi, a lady-in-waiting to Marie’s mother, took over the responsibility of Marie’s education.

In 1839, when Marie was 14, the heir to the Russian throne, Alexander Nikolaevich, the Tsarevich, visited Hesse while on a tour of Europe. Alexander fell in love with Marie despite the stigma of her birth. There was already a connection with the Russian Imperial Family. Marie’s maternal great-aunt Louise of Baden (Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna)  had married Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia. Alexander Nikolaevich’s mother Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia, was against the marriage. In a letter to his mother, Alexander wrote: “I love her, and I would rather give up the throne, than not marry her. I will marry only her, that’s my decision!” Finally, after being persuaded by her husband Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna went to Darmstadt to meet Marie. The Empress liked what she saw and gave her permission for the marriage.

A Russian Orthodox priest came to Darmstadt and instructed Marie in the Russian Orthodox religion. In September 1840, Marie arrived in Russia and shared her impressions of St. Petersburg in a letter to his family: “St. Petersburg is much more beautiful than I thought. The Neva River is wonderful. I think it is difficult to find a greater city. The view from the Winter Palace on the Neva is wonderful!” Marie was received into the Russian Orthodox Church on December 5, 1840, and became Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. The next day, the official betrothal was held in the presence of the Imperial Family, the whole court, the Russian nobility, many notable foreign guests, and representatives of foreign states.

The wedding took place on April 16, 1841, in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Maria Alexandrovna wore a white dress richly embroidered with silver and diamonds. Over one shoulder lay a red ribbon and a crimson velvet robe with white satin and fine ermine was fastened on her shoulders. She was bedecked with a diamond tiara, diamond earrings, a diamond necklace, and diamond bracelets. Her future mother-in-law, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna could not resist the desire to decorate the bride’s hair with flowers, the symbols of purity and innocence. The Empress ordered orange blossoms to be brought to her and she stuck them between the diamonds in Maria Alexandrovna’s tiara and pinned a small branch on her chest.

Maria Alexandrovna and Alexander; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander and Maria Alexandrovna had eight children:

Tsar Alexander II and his children; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander always treated his wife with respect, but he had numerous mistresses and illegitimate children. His most prominent mistress was Catherine Dolgorukova with whom he had four children. During the last years of Maria Alexandrovna’s life, Catherine and her children lived in the Winter Palace. After his wife’s death, Alexander made a morganatic marriage with Catherine.

In 1855, Alexander became Emperor and Maria Alexandrovna became Empress. During their coronation on August 26, 1856, in the Assumption Cathedral, Moscow Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, the crown fell from Maria’s head, which was seen as a bad omen.

Coronation of Alexander II, Alexander crowns Maria Feodorovna; Credit – Wikipedia

In cooperation with Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the wife of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine who was Maria’s nephew, Maria arranged the marriage of her only daughter Maria Alexandrovna to Queen Victoria’s second son Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, a marriage that Queen Victoria had resisted.

Maria Alexandrovna had a close relationship with her brother Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, who had made a morganatic marriage with Countess Julia Hauke, one of his sister’s ladies-in-waiting. Their children were the start of the Battenberg (and later the Mountbatten) family. Maria’s frequent stays at her brother’s Hessian home Schloss Heiligenberg resulted in the subsequent marriage of Maria’s son Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich with Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, and also the ultimate marriage of Maria’s grandson Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia with Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine.  Both Hesse princesses were granddaughters of Queen Victoria.

Hessian family at Schloss Heiligenberg in 1864, Women: Countess Julia Hauke, Princess Elisabeth of Prussia (wife of Prince Karl), Empress Maria Feodorovna, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (wife of Prince Ludwig); Men: Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine, Prince Wilhelm of Hesse and by Rhine, Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine (future Grand Duke), Prince Gustaf Wasa of Sweden, Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1863, Maria Alexandrovna contracted tuberculosis. Frequent childbirth, her husband’s infidelity, and the death of her eldest son Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich in 1865 from meningitis at the age of 21, completely undermined Maria’s already weak health. Since the 1870s, Maria had spent the autumn and the fall in the warmer climates of Crimea and Italy. Her health worsened after two assassination attempts on her husband’s life in 1879 and another one in 1880. Empress Maria Alexandrovna died at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg on June 3, 1880, at the age of 55. She was interred at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. Her husband, who married his mistress Catherine Dolgorukova within a month of Maria’s death, died on March 13, 1881, the victim of an assassination by a bomb that blew off his legs.

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Tomb of Alexander II (on left) and Maria Alexandrovna, his wife (on right); Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

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Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Photo by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky 1881; Credit – Wikipedia

Known as “The Liberator” for emancipating the Russian serfs and one of five of the twenty Romanov rulers (Ivan VI, Peter III, Paul I, Alexander II, and Nicholas II) to die a violent death, Alexander Nikolaevich was born on April 29, 1818, during the reign of his uncle Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia, in the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Alexander Nikolaevich was the eldest child of the seven children of the future Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and his wife Princess Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, known as Alexandra Feodorovna after her marriage. The infant Alexander was considered an heir to the throne at birth as his uncle Alexander I had only two daughters, and a 201 gun salute was fired upon his birth. He was christened on May 5, 1818, in the Chudov Monastery Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, followed by a gala dinner.

Alexander Nikolaevich had six siblings:

Nicholas I “Family Ruble” (1836) depicting the Tsar on the obverse and his family on the reverse: Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (center) surrounded by Alexander II, Maria, Olga, Nicholas, Michael, Konstantin, and Alexandra; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander Nikolaevich’s education was personally supervised by his mother and her Russian tutor, Russian poet, and translator Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky.  In addition, Alexander had expert tutors in theology, statistics, mathematics, history, natural history, law, military history and tactics, and foreign policy. He went on tours of Russia and the major European countries, including a trip to London in 1839, where he had a fleeting infatuation in the young Queen Victoria.

On one of his European trips, Alexander met his future wife Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, the youngest child of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Wilhelmine of Baden. There was already a Russian connection in the family. Wilhelmine Marie’s maternal great-aunt Louise of Baden (Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna) had married Emperor Alexander I, Alexander’s uncle. Alexander Nikolaevich’s mother Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia, was against the marriage. In a letter to his mother, Alexander wrote about Marie: “I love her, and I would rather give up the throne, than not marry her. I will marry only her, that’s my decision!” Finally, after being persuaded by her husband Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna went to Darmstadt to meet Marie. The Empress liked what she saw and gave her permission for the marriage. Alexander and Marie were married at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 16, 1841. Marie converted to the Russian Orthodox religion and was thereafter known as Maria Alexandrovna.

Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna; Credit – Wikipedia

The couple had eight children:

Maria Alexandrovna was plagued by frequent illness and Alexander II had several mistresses. Six weeks after Maria Alexandrovna’s death from tuberculosis on June 3, 1880, Alexander made a morganatic marriage with his long-time mistress Catherine Dolgorukova with whom he had four children. This marriage caused a scandal in the Imperial Family and violated Russian Orthodox rules regarding the waiting period for remarriage following the death of a spouse. Alexander granted his new wife the title of Princess Yurievskaya and legitimized their children who were then styled Prince/Princess (Knyaz/Knyaginya).

Alexander and Catherine with two of their children; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1855, Alexander became Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias upon the death of his father.  He is known as the most reforming emperor since Peter the Great.  His foremost accomplishment was the emancipation of the serfs in 1861.  In addition, Alexander II reorganized the judicial system, established local self-government called Zemstvo, instituted universal military service in which sons of the rich and the poor were required to serve, ended some of the privileges of the nobility, and promoted higher education in the universities.

Coronation of Alexander II, Alexander crowns Maria Alexandrovna; Credit – Wikipedia

A liberal-leaning ruler, Alexander was subjected to several assassination attempts.  On March 13, 1881, Emperor Alexander II signed an order creating several commissions, composed of government officials and prominent private individuals, to prepare reforms in various branches of the government. He then attended a military parade and on his way back to the Winter Palace, a bomb was thrown at Alexander’s carriage, and it landed directly between his legs. The noise from the bomb was deafening, smoke filled the air, wounded people were screaming, and the snow was drenched with blood. When the smoke cleared, Emperor Alexander II lay mortally wounded, his legs crushed and torn from the blast of the bomb. Alexander asked to be taken to the Winter Palace so he could die there. For 45 minutes, his family, including his eldest son Alexander (III), his wife, and their eldest son 13-year-old Nicholas (II), who was clinging on to a cousin for comfort, watched as Emperor Alexander II’s life ebbed away. At 3:35 PM, the emperor died, and as the Imperial Family knelt to pray, his wife Catherine Dolgorukova (Princess Yurievskaya) fainted and was carried from the room, her clothes drenched with his blood.

The Assassination of Alexander II, drawing by G. Broling, 1881; Credit – Wikipedia

Emperor Alexander II was buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg next to his first wife.

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Tomb of Alexander II (on left) and Maria Alexandrovna, his wife (on right); Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

In 1883, construction was started on the Church on the Spilt Blood.  The church was built on the site of Alexander’s assassination and is dedicated to his memory.

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Church on the Spilt Blood in St. Petersburg, built on the site of Alexander II’s assassination; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

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