Draga Mašin

Draga Obrenović
Queen consort of Serbia
Tenure	5 August 1900 – 11 June 1903
Spouse	Svetozar Mašin Alexander I of Serbia
Full name Draginja Milićević Lunjevica
House	House of Obrenović
Father	Pantelija Milićević Lunjevica
Mother	Anđelija Koljević
Born	(1864-09-11)11 September 1864 Gornji Milanovac, Principality of Serbia
Died	11 June 1903(1903-06-11) (aged 38) Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia
Burial	St. Mark's Church, Belgrade
Religion	Christian (Orthodox)

Draginja Obrenović - Draga (Serbian: Драга Обреновић; née Milićević Lunjevica, Милићевић Луњевица; former Mašin, Машин) (11 September 1864 – 11 June 1903), also known as Queen Draga, was the queen and wife of King Aleksandar Obrenović of the Kingdom of Serbia. She was formerly a lady-in-waiting to Aleksandar's mother Queen Natalija.

Queen of Serbia

Draga (meaning dear or precious) was the fourth daughter of Pantelija Milićević Lunjevica, a prefect of the Aranđelovac area, and wife Anđelija Koljević. Draga was the sixth of seven siblings. She had two brothers, Nikola (Nicholas) and Nikodije (Nicodemus)--both of whom who died with her—and four sisters, Hristina (Christine), Đina, Ana (Anne) and Vojka.

Draga's mother was a dipsomaniac and her father died in a lunatic asylum.^[1]

Draga was the granddaughter of a close fellow soldier of Aleksandar's great-granduncle (Nikola Milićević Lunjevica). Her paternal grandmother was Đurđija Čarapić,^[2] a relative of Vojvoda Ilija Čarapić (died 1844), husband of Karađorđe Petrović's daughter Stamenka Karađorđević. At the time of her second marriage, she was the widow of Svetozar Mašín (1851–1886), a Czech civil engineer, and was twelve years older than Aleksandar.

The couple married on 5 August 1900 in a formal ceremony. When Aleksandar announced their engagement, public opinion turned against him. He was viewed as a besotted young fool in the power of a wicked seductress. Dowager Queen Natalija bitterly opposed the marriage, and was exiled by her son, in part because of it. His many arbitrary and unpopular acts were blamed on Draga's influence. There were rumors that Aleksandar would name Draga's elder brother as heir-presumptive to the throne. Both brothers were serving as army officers at the time of the marriage and appear to have been unpopular with their peers.

Assassination

This last rumour led to the royal couple's assassination. On the night of 10/11 June 1903, a group of army officers invaded the royal palace, led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević and others. Troops led by other officers involved in the conspiracy were deployed near the palace, and the royal guards did not offer effective resistance in the confusion after the electric lighting of the building was turned off. Initially the conspirators were unable to find Aleksandar and Draga. However an aide of the king was captured and, either out of sympathy for the conspiracy or out of fear for his own life, revealed that they were hiding in a large built-in wardrobe off their bedroom. Emerging partially dressed, the couple were savagely murdered with sword thrusts and pistol shots by the officers, some of whom were reportedly drunk. The mutilated bodies were thrown from a palace balcony onto piles of garden manure.^[3] Her two brothers, Nikodije and Nikola, were executed by firing squad on the same day.

Honours

• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Miloš the Great (Kingdom of Serbia, 1900).^[4]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Draga Mašin.

See another reference and detailed description of the assassination

in "Through Savage Europe" by Harry De Windt, FRGS, Being the Narrative of a Journey Throughout the Balkan States and European Russia.

Published London and Glasgow, the author travelling "upon this occasion as special correspondent to the Westminster Gazette."