George, Crown Prince of Serbia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crown Prince George of Serbia,(Serbian: kraljević Đorđe Karađorđević (August 27, 1887 - October 17, 1972) was the older brother of Alexander I of Yugoslavia and younger brother of Helen of Serbia, son of Peter I, King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and Princess Ljubica (Zorka) of Montenegro and grandson of King Nicholas I of Montenegro.

George was born in Cetinje, Principality of Montenegro and was raised in the court of his grandfather King Nicholas before the sudden death of his mother led his father to move his family first to Geneva and thence to Russia.

In Russia, George studied at the Cadet Corps school of Tsar Alexander II before returning to Serbia in 1903 following a palace coup when a conspiration of army officers overthrew the ruling Obrenović dynasty to proclaim his father as King of Serbia and, as a result, George became Crown Prince. George did not get to savour his rule as heir to the throne for long as in 1909 he kicked his servant to death in a fit of rage and was subsequently forced to renounce his succession rights in favour of his brother Alexander.

Prince George participated in Balkan wars as well as World War I where he was severely wounded in the Battle of Mačkov Kamen near Krupanj in 1914. After Peter's death and Alexandar's subsequent coronation, hostilities between the brothers arose, which lead to Prince George's arrest in 1925. He was then proclaimed to be insane and locked in an asylum near the city of Niš. Following Alexander's assassination in 1934, George hoped he would be freed by the new regent Prince Paul, but that didn't happen and he remained in gaol until World War II when he was freed by the German occupiers.

After the war his family were declared state enemies by the Tito's communist regime, however George was allowed to retire in Belgrade as the only member of Royal family in the country. In his old age he married Radmila Radonjić, but the couple did not have any children. He wrote his memoires Istina o mom životu (Truth About my Life).

He died on October 17, 1972 in Belgrade and was buried in the Church of St. George (Oplenac) in Topola, Serbia.