Line of succession to the former Montenegrin throne

The line of succession to the former Montenegrin throne is an ordered list of those eligible to succeed to the headship of the Royal House of Montenegro, grand mastership of the dynastic orders and ascend the throne of Montenegro in the event the monarchy is restored. The native monarchy of Montenegro was deposed in 1918 but a royal government in exile retained international recognition until 1922.

The current head of the royal house is Nicholas II Petrovic-Njegos, Crown Prince of Montenegro. Since 2011 the head of the royal house has an official role in Montenegro.

History

On 13 November 1918 the King of Montenegro, Nicholas I, was deposed by the Podgorica Assembly which voted to unite Montenegro with the Kingdom of Serbia under his son-in-law King Peter I of the House of Karageorgevitch.[1] King Nicholas never recognised the union and maintained an internationally recognised government in exile. Upon the death of King Nicholas in 1921 he was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Danilo who abdicated as king a week later in favour of the next in line, his nephew Michael who reigned as a King-in-exile under the regency of his grandmother Queen Milena. On 13 July 1922 the Conference of Ambassadors at Paris gave international recognition to the union of Serbia and Montenegro.[1]

Crown Prince Nicholas, the current head of the house, is the only son of King Michael. In 2011 Montenegro recognised an official role in Montenegro for the royal house in order to promote the Montenegrin identity, culture and traditions through cultural, humanitarian and other non-political activities.

Law of succession

Membership of the royal house is limited to the male line descendants of the grandfather of King Nicholas. The succession is determined by Article 19 of the 1905 Constitution of the Principality of Montenegro which states that "The male descendants are called to the succession by order of primogeniture as it is prescribed by the special statute of family on the succession to the throne.".[2]

In 2011 the Montenegrin government passed a law recognising the male line descendants of King Nicholas and their wives as the members of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty (Article 2). The law appoints the eldest male heir, currently Crown Prince Nicholas, as the representative of the dynasty (Article 5). It also affirms the House law of the dynasty by defining the succession to the headship of the dynasty as being passed down through the "male heir of the oldest male heir" (Article 5).[3]

Current line of succession

Line of succession in November 1918

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1977). Burke's Royal Families of the World, volume 1: Europe & Latin America. Burke's Peerage. pp. 412–415.
  2. ↑ Wright, Herbert F (1919). The constitutions of the states at war, 1914-1918. p. 409.
  3. ↑ "O STATUSU POTOMAKA DINASTIJE PETROVIĆ NJEGOŠ" (PDF). Parliament of Montenegro. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Almanach de Gotha (154 ed.). Justus Perthes. 1918. p. 65.
  5. ↑ de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 862. French. ISBN 2-9507974-3-1.