Princess Zorka of Montenegro
| Princess Zorka of Montenegro | |
|---|---|
| Princess Zorka Karageorgevich | |
 | |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Prince Peter Karageorgevich |
| Issue | Princess Helen George, Crown Prince of Serbia Alexander I |
| House | House of Karageorgevich House of Petrović-Njegoš |
| Father | Nicholas I of Montenegro |
| Mother | Milena Vukotić |
Princess Ljubica Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (Serbian: Љубица Петровић-Његош; 23 December 1864 - 16 March 1890), and later became Princess Zorka Karageorgevich in Serbia. She was better known as Princess Zorka.
She was the eldest child of the Montenegrin Monarch Nicholas I and Milena Vukotić, and the wife of Peter Karageorgevich (who would become King of Serbia in 1903, long after her death).
Life
Born in Cetinje, Principality of Montenegro at the time when her father was already the reigning Prince of Montenegro (his uncle Danilo II Petrovic Njegos having died in 1860). Zorka 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.
Marriage and children
Described as "exuberant" by one commentator, Zorka married Peter in Cetinje on 1 August 1883 in a Greek Orthodox ceremony.[1]
They had five children:
- Helen (4 November 1884 - 16 October 16 1962).
- Milena (28 April 1886 - 21 December 1887).
- George (8 September 8 1887 - 17 October 1972).
- Alexander (16 December 1888 - 9 October 1934).
- Andrew (born and died 16 March 1890).
Death
Zorka died aged just 25 on 16 March 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.
References
- ^ The Times, "Montenegro", 13 August 1883.
External links
- The Njegoskij Fund Public Project : Private family archives-based digital documentary fund focused on history and culture of Royal Montenegro.
- Crnogorska princeza Zorka
- Crnogorske princeze
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