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'Alexander I' or 'Alexander Obrenović' (Serbian Cyrillic: 'Александар Обреновић') (August 14, 1876 - June 11, 1903) was king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903.

Contents

A young King

Unpopular marriage

Attempt at reconciliation

Assassination & coup

References

A young King

In 1889 his father, King Milan, unexpectedly abdicated and withdrew to private life, proclaiming Alexander king of Serbia under a regency until he should attain his majority at eighteen years of age. His mother, Natalija Obrenovic became his regent.
In 1893, King Alexander, being then in his seventeenth year, made his notable first ''coup d'état'', proclaimed himself of full age, dismissed the regents and their government, and took the royal authority into his own hands. His action was popular, and was rendered still more so by his appointment of a radical ministry.
In May 1894 King Alexander, by another ''coup d'état'', abolished the liberal constitution of 1889 and restored the conservative one of 1869. His attitude during the Turco-Greek war of 1897 was one of strict neutrality. In 1898 he appointed his father commander-in-chief of the Serbian army, and from that time, or rather from his return to Serbia in 1894 until 1900, ex-king Milan was regarded as the ''de facto'' ruler of the country.

Unpopular marriage

During the summer of 1900, Milan was away from Serbia on holiday in Carlsbad and making arrangements to secure the hand of a German princess for his son, and while the premier, Dr. Vladan Đorđević, was visiting the Paris Universal Exhibition, King Alexander suddenly announced to the people of Serbia his engagement to the widow Madame Draga Mašin, formerly a lady-in-waiting to his mother Queen Natalie.
The projected union initially aroused great opposition. Ex-King Milan resigned his post, as did the government; and King Alexander had great difficulty in forming a new cabinet. Due to his mothers strong opposition of the marriage, the king banished her from the kingdom.
Opposition to the union seemed to subside somewhat for a time upon the publication of Tsar Nicholas II's congratulations to the king on his engagement and of his acceptance to act as the principal witness at the wedding. The marriage was duly celebrated in August 1900. Even so, the unpopularity of the union weakened the King's position in the eyes of the army and the country at large.

Attempt at reconciliation

King Alexander tried to reconcile political parties by unveiling a liberal constitution of his own initiative, introducing for the first time in the constitutional history of Serbia the system of two chambers (''skupshtina'' and ''senate''). This reconciled the political parties but did not reconcile the army which, already dissatisfied with the king's marriage, became still more so at the rumors that one of the two unpopular brothers of Queen Draga, Lieutenant Nikodije, was to be proclaimed heir-apparent to the throne.
Meanwhile, the independence of the senate and of the council of state caused increasing irritation to King Alexander. In yet another ''coup d'état'', he suspended (March 1903) the constitution for half an hour, time enough to publish the decrees by which the old senators and councillors of state were dismissed and replaced by new ones. This arbitrary act naturally increased the dissatisfaction in the country.

Assassination & coup

The general impression was that as much as the senate was packed with men devoted to the royal couple and the government obtained a large majority at the general elections, King Alexander would not hesitate any longer to proclaim Queen Draga's brother as the heir to the throne. In spite of this it had been agreed with the Serbian Government that Prince Mirko of Montenegro who was married to Natalija Konstantinovic the granddaughter of Princess Anka Obrenović the aunt of King Milan would be proclaimed Crown Prince of Serbia in the event that the marriage of King Alexander and Queen Draga was childless.[1]
Apparently to prevent Queen Draga's brother being named heir, but in reality to replace Alexander Obrenović with Peter Karageorgevic, a conspiracy was organised by the military. Their palace was invaded and the Royal couple hid in a cupboard in the Queen's bedroom.
The conspirators searched the palace and eventually discovered the royal couple and savagely murdered them in the early morning of June 11, 1903. King Alexander and Queen Draga were shot and their bodies mutilated and disemboweled and thrown, by eyewitness accounts still living, from a second floor window in the palace. The King was 26 years old.

References

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