Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
Encyclopedia
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević ' onMouseout='HidePop("64035")' href="/topics/Serbian_Cyrillic_alphabet">Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
: Павле Карађорђевић, , English
transliteration: Paul Karageorgevich; 27 April 1893 – 14 September 1976), was Regent
of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
during the minority of King Peter II
. Peter was the eldest son of his first cousin Alexander I
. His title in Yugoslavia was Knez (Knez Pavle Karađorđević), which translates best as "Prince".
) and Princess and Countess Aurora Pavlovna Demidova (a granddaughter of the Finnish
philanthropist Aurora Karamzin and her Russian husband Prince and Count Pavel Nikolaievich Demidov, and Russian Prince Peter Troubetskoy and his wife Elisabeth Esperovna, née Princess Belosselsky-Belozersky). He married Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
, a sister of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
, in 1923. George VI
of the United Kingdom
, as Duke of York
, was best man at his wedding in Belgrade
.
Paul was educated at the University of Oxford
, where he was a member of the exclusive Bullingdon Club
- a dining club notorious for its practice of destroying restaurants' property. His closest friends (including the American-born, naturalized British politician Chips Channon) and outlook on life were said to be British. He was installed as a Knight of the Garter in 1939.
after his cousin King Alexander
was assassinated in Marseille
, France
. In his will, Alexander named Paul, as the first of three regents to govern until September 1941, when Alexander's son Peter would come of age.
Prince Paul, far more than Alexander, was Yugoslav rather than Serb in outlook. In its broadest outline, his domestic policy was to eliminate the heritage of the Alexandrine dictatorship centralism, censorship, and military control; and to pacify the country by solving the Serb-Croat problem.
In August 1939, the Cvetkovic-Macek Agreement
set up the Banovina of Croatia
. The central government retained control of foreign affairs, national defence, foreign trade, commerce, transport, public security, religion, mining, weights and measures, insurance, and education policy. Croatia was to have its own legislature in Zagreb
, and a separate budget.
When World War II
broke out, Yugoslavia declared its neutrality. On March 25, 1941, Yugoslav government signed the Tripartite Pact
with significant reservations as it received three notes. The first note obliged the Axis powers to respect territorial integrity and sovereignty of Yugoslavia. In the second note the Axis promised not to ask Yugoslavia for any military assistance. In the third note they promised not to ask Yugoslavia for permission to move military forces across its territory during the war.
Two days later, Prince Paul was forcibly removed from power.
From this distance, the Prince Paul's foreign policy including the signing of the Tripartite Pact seems to have been governed by the desire to give his country as much leeway as possible in thoroughly adverse circumstances. After the fall of France
and the defeat of the British
, Paul saw no way of saving Yugoslavia except through adopting policies of accommodation to the Axis powers. But even under those circumstances Paul, outwardly neutral, remained determinedly pro-Allied. He aided Greece
when Greece was invaded. He fostered military collaboration between the Yugoslav Army and the French. And for almost three years he parried the Axis thrust toward Yugoslavia.
by the British in Kenya
.
Princess Elizabeth, his only daughter, obtained and published information from the Special Operations Executive
files in the Foreign Office
in London
and published them in Belgrade, in the 1990 edition of the Serbian-language biography of her father. The original book Paul of Yugoslavia was written by Neil Balfour, the first was published by Eaglet Publishing in London in 1980.
Prince Paul died in Paris
on 14 September 1976, aged 83. He never returned to Yugoslavia
.
Prince Paul was father of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia
, Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia the Elder and Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia
, and a grandfather of American actress Catherine Oxenberg
.
, including work by artists such as Rubens
, Renoir
, Monet, Rembrandt, Picasso, Van Gogh and Cézanne.
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
: Павле Карађорђевић, , English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
transliteration: Paul Karageorgevich; 27 April 1893 – 14 September 1976), was Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
during the minority of King Peter II
Peter II of Yugoslavia
Peter II, also known as Peter II Karađorđević , was the third and last King of Yugoslavia...
. Peter was the eldest son of his first cousin Alexander I
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
. His title in Yugoslavia was Knez (Knez Pavle Karađorđević), which translates best as "Prince".
Early life
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was the only son of Arsen Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia (a brother of Peter I of YugoslaviaPeter I of Yugoslavia
Peter I , was the King of Serbia from 1903 to 1918, and subsequently the ruler of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . He was a member of the Royal House of Karađorđević...
) and Princess and Countess Aurora Pavlovna Demidova (a granddaughter of the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
philanthropist Aurora Karamzin and her Russian husband Prince and Count Pavel Nikolaievich Demidov, and Russian Prince Peter Troubetskoy and his wife Elisabeth Esperovna, née Princess Belosselsky-Belozersky). He married Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark was the granddaughter of King George I of Greece and wife of the last Prince Regent of Yugoslavia.-Early life:...
, a sister of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, née Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark was a member of the British Royal Family; the wife of Prince George, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck....
, in 1923. George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, as Duke of York
Duke of York
The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch. The title has been created a remarkable eleven times, eight as "Duke of York" and three as the double-barreled "Duke of York and...
, was best man at his wedding in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
Paul was educated at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, where he was a member of the exclusive Bullingdon Club
Bullingdon Club
The Bullingdon Club is a socially exclusive student dining club at Oxford University. The club has no permanent rooms and is notorious for its members' wealth and destructive binges. Membership is by invitation only, and prohibitively expensive for most, given the need to pay for the uniform,...
- a dining club notorious for its practice of destroying restaurants' property. His closest friends (including the American-born, naturalized British politician Chips Channon) and outlook on life were said to be British. He was installed as a Knight of the Garter in 1939.
Regent of Yugoslavia
On 9 October 1934, Prince Paul took the RegencyRegent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
after his cousin King Alexander
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...
was assassinated in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, France
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
. In his will, Alexander named Paul, as the first of three regents to govern until September 1941, when Alexander's son Peter would come of age.
Prince Paul, far more than Alexander, was Yugoslav rather than Serb in outlook. In its broadest outline, his domestic policy was to eliminate the heritage of the Alexandrine dictatorship centralism, censorship, and military control; and to pacify the country by solving the Serb-Croat problem.
In August 1939, the Cvetkovic-Macek Agreement
Cvetkovic-Macek Agreement
The Cvetković-Maček Agreement was a political agreement on the internal divisions in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which was settled on August 23, 1939 by Yugoslav prime minister Dragiša Cvetković and Vladko Maček, a Croat politician...
set up the Banovina of Croatia
Banovina of Croatia
The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1943 . Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia...
. The central government retained control of foreign affairs, national defence, foreign trade, commerce, transport, public security, religion, mining, weights and measures, insurance, and education policy. Croatia was to have its own legislature in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, and a separate budget.
When World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, Yugoslavia declared its neutrality. On March 25, 1941, Yugoslav government signed the Tripartite Pact
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also the Three-Power Pact, Axis Pact, Three-way Pact or Tripartite Treaty was a pact signed in Berlin, Germany on September 27, 1940, which established the Axis Powers of World War II...
with significant reservations as it received three notes. The first note obliged the Axis powers to respect territorial integrity and sovereignty of Yugoslavia. In the second note the Axis promised not to ask Yugoslavia for any military assistance. In the third note they promised not to ask Yugoslavia for permission to move military forces across its territory during the war.
Two days later, Prince Paul was forcibly removed from power.
From this distance, the Prince Paul's foreign policy including the signing of the Tripartite Pact seems to have been governed by the desire to give his country as much leeway as possible in thoroughly adverse circumstances. After the fall of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the defeat of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Paul saw no way of saving Yugoslavia except through adopting policies of accommodation to the Axis powers. But even under those circumstances Paul, outwardly neutral, remained determinedly pro-Allied. He aided Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
when Greece was invaded. He fostered military collaboration between the Yugoslav Army and the French. And for almost three years he parried the Axis thrust toward Yugoslavia.
Exile
For the remainder of the war, Prince Paul was kept, with his family, under house arrestHouse arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
by the British in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
Princess Elizabeth, his only daughter, obtained and published information from the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
files in the Foreign Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and published them in Belgrade, in the 1990 edition of the Serbian-language biography of her father. The original book Paul of Yugoslavia was written by Neil Balfour, the first was published by Eaglet Publishing in London in 1980.
Prince Paul died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on 14 September 1976, aged 83. He never returned to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
.
Prince Paul was father of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia
Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia
-Arms:HRH Princess Jelisaveta was granted heraldic arms in June 2008. Her motto translates into English as Service Is Love In Action.-Ancestry:-See also:*Politics of Serbia*Serbian presidential elections, 2004*Prince Paul of Yugoslavia*-References:...
, Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia the Elder and Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia
Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia
Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia , the younger son of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia by his wife Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, was born in London. He died in an automobile accident at Datchet in Buckinghamshire . He was unmarried.-Ancestry:...
, and a grandfather of American actress Catherine Oxenberg
Catherine Oxenberg
Catherine Oxenberg is an American actress known for her performance as Amanda Carrington on the 1980s American prime time soap opera Dynasty. The daughter of HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Oxenberg is a descendant of the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty.-Early life:Though born in New York City,...
.
Art collections
Prince Paul collected, donated and dedicated a large number of art works to Serbia and the Serbian people, including foreign masterpieces. There are especially significant Italian, French and Dutch/Flemish pieces. Most of the works are in the National Museum of SerbiaNational Museum of Serbia
The National Museum is the largest and oldest museum in Serbia. It is located in Republic Square, Belgrade, Serbia. The museum was established on May 10, 1844. Since it was founded, its collections have to over 400,000 objects including many foreign masterpieces...
, including work by artists such as Rubens
Rubens
Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens , the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens (composer) Rubens is...
, Renoir
Renoir
-People with the surname Renoir :* Pierre-Auguste Renoir , French painter* Pierre Renoir , French actor and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir* Jean Renoir , French film director and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir...
, Monet, Rembrandt, Picasso, Van Gogh and Cézanne.