Zorka of Montenegro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Princess Ljubica, better known as Princess Zorka (1864-1890), born Ljubica Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (Љубица Петровић-Његош) became Princess Petar Karađorđević in Serbia.
She was the eldest child of the Montenegrin Monarch Nicholas I and Milena Vukotić, and the wife of Petar Karađorđević (who would become King of Serbia in 1903, long after her death).
Contents |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zorka was born in Cetinje, Montenegro on December 23, 1864 when her father was already the reigning Prince of Montenegro (his uncle Danilo II Petrovic Njegos having died in 1860). She was educated in Russia before returning to Montenegro to be engaged to Karađorđević. The ability of Zorka's father Nicholas to arrange his daughters’ dynastically beneficial marriages cannot be denied; Zorka's sister Elena married the future King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.
Described as "exuberant" by one commentator, Zorka married Peter on August 1, 1883 and they had five children:
- Elena Petrovna (Jelena) of Serbia (November 4, 1884 - October 16, 1962)
- Milena of Serbia (April 28, 1886 - December 21, 1887)
- Prince George of Yugoslavia ( September 8, 1887) - October 17, 1972.
- Alexander (December 16, 1888 - October 9, 1934)
- Andrija (died in infancy.)
Zorka died aged just 25 on March 16, 1890 in Cetinje during childbirth and was buried in the Church of St. George (Oplenac) in Topola, Serbia.
Her father, the reigning princely monarch, took the title of King of Montenegro in 1910.
Perhaps fortunately, her early death spared her the ordeal of seeing her son George, heir to the throne of Serbia, forced to renounce his rights to the throne of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes after kicking a groom to death and subsequently incarcerated as insane. Instead, Zorka's youngest surviving child, Alexander, would ascend the throne of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (and subsequently Yugoslav) throne, also deposing his maternal grandfather Nicholas I and taking Montenegro to the new united realm.
- The Njegoskij Fund Public Project : Private family archives-based digital documentary fund focused on history and culture of Royal Montenegro.
