King Nikola and his wife Milena had 12 children (!): Of them 9 daughters and 3 sons. The eldest daughter of King Nikola Zorka was subsequently married to the future King of Serbia, Peter Karageorgievich. Two daughters were married off to representatives of the Russian royal house of the Romanovs. In 1896, Nikola's daughter Elena married the heir to the throne of Italy.
To begin with, I will present you the very photo that prompted me to create another entry on our blog. So here she is. This picture was taken on August 15, 1910, the day Montenegro was proclaimed the Kingdom of Montenegro, the day when the then ruler of Montenegro - Grand Duke Nikola Petrovich Njegosh (1841-1921) - became King of Montenegro - the first and last in the bloody history of this small mountainous state.
So, let's get to know the characters in this photo, some acquaintances will pleasantly surprise you! The photo shows King Nikola's family, So:
Back row, standing (left to right): Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg, Princess Vera Petrovich Negosh, Princess Xenia Petrovich Negosh, Prince-Heir to the Throne Danilo Petrovich Negosh, Prince Mirko Petrovich Negosh, Prince Petar Petrovich Negosh.
Middle row, seated (left to right): Princess Milica-Yuta, Princess Ana od Batenberg, Queen of Italy Elena, Queen Milena Petrovich Negosh, King Nikola Petrovich Negosh, Grand Duchess Milica Nikolaevich, King of Italy Victor Emmanuel, Princess Natalya Konstantinovna.
Bottom row, sitting on the carpet (left to right): Princess Elena Karageorgievich, daughter of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich Princess of Galicia, heir to the throne of Serbia Aleksandar Karageorgievich.
The history of Montenegro in a nutshell…
Little Montenegro with its capital Cetinje, for many centuries bounded by the mountains of Lovcen, Skadar lake and Ostroh greds (where the Ostrog Monastery is now located), was considered in Europe a rebellious, insurgent region within the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the brave Montenegrins in the overwhelming minority always steadfastly repelled the attacks of the Turks, who really owned almost the entire Balkan Peninsula at that time, and would never agree with such a status in the eyes of European leaders. The special pride of the Montenegrins is the invincible royal capital - Cetinje, headed by the famous Cetinje Monastery, which the Turks could not conquer. Meanwhile, the Principality of Montenegro lived its warlike life, repelling the constant raids of the Turks, creating its own culture, being the only stronghold of the Orthodox Christian faith in the Balkans, and in 1878, according to the Berlin Treaty, Montenegro was recognized as the 27th sovereign state of the world. The heyday of Montenegro fell on the reign of Prince Nikola Petrovich Njegosh, when the small principality was proclaimed a kingdom.
Curious acquaintances from the photo
Nikola and his wife Milena had 12 children (!): of them 9 daughters and 3 sons. Eldest daughter of King Nikola Zorka subsequently was married to the future king of Serbia, Peter Karageorgievich. Second daughter of Nikola and Milena Militsa married ... Russian Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich Romanov. In this she was not alone, in the same year (1889) her sister joined her Stanafirst married for the grandson of Nicholas I, Duke George of Leuchtenberg, Prince Romanovsky, and then for the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Jr., supreme commander of the Russian army in World War I. In 1896 Nikola's daughter Elena married the heir to the throne of Italy and the future king Victor Emmanuel, later becoming the last queen of Italy and going through with her husband all the hardships of fascism and two world wars. Another daughter Anna was married to the German Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg.
At the end of life...
Subsequently, before the First World War, during the Balkan Wars, King Nikola with his wife Milena and his administration was forced to leave the country in order to rule it in a safe place - in France. Meanwhile, under the rule of the grandson of King Alexander Karageorgievich - the King of Serbia - Montenegro was forcibly annexed to Serbia, after which the King of Montenegro could never return to his homeland. King Nikola was buried in Italy, and only in 1989 the remains of him and his wife Queen Milena were returned to Montenegro and reburied in Cetinje. Nikola's grandson, who literally deprived the throne of his grandfather, King Alexander Karageorgievich of Yugoslavia, was killed by terrorists during a visit to France in 1934. Queen of Italy Elena Chernogorskaya died in Egypt in exile in 1952.
Here is such an unexpected story of the "little-known" royal family from the country of the black mountains 🙂
