SOCIETY-BALKANS: A New Royal Past Rises

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Dec 28 2005 (IPS) - For decades since World War II, no one talked of royalty in Serbia. In the communist days, royals belonged to fairy tales and history books, or lived in the memories of those old enough to remember.

The fall of communism five years ago brought the return of members of the royal Karadjordjevic family that ruled former Yugoslavia from 1903 until World War II. The family returned to live in their old White Palace. They are involved mostly in humanitarian work.

Now the fall of communism seems to have reopened another story, that of the long forgotten Obrenovics.

To the astonishment of many people, a court in the Serbian central town Cacak 270 km south of Belgrade has found descendants of the Obrenovic dynasty. They were earlier thought to have been killed in the coup that brought in the Karadjordjevics in 1903.

The closest survivor of that family is 81-year-old Milutin Novakovic, a simple farmer who has lived all his life in Donja Gorevnica village close to Cacak.

His granddaughter Ljiljana helped establish the link. “She knew the family history and started the search,” Milutin told IPS. “I never thought about being a prince.”

Milutin and his wife Jelica (76) have been besieged by the media since the court order. Everyone wanted to know if Milutin now wants the title of prince, even if it were to bring him no money. But he seems in no rush for princely ways.

There is nothing royal in the Milutin home. After World War II, the Novakovics handed a family royal sword to the Cacak museum. It is still there.

The Obrenovic dynasty ushered in the modern history of Serbia. Founder of the dynasty Milos Obrenovic (1780-1860) obtained broad autonomy from Turkish rule for his nation back in 1854.

Milutin Novakovic is the great-great grandson of one of Milos’s half-brothers. The Obrenovics ruled Serbia until 1903, when their last childless king Aleksandar was ousted in bloody coup. The Karadjordjevics took over and ruled until 1941.

Mentioning the Obrenovics in the era of the Karadjordjevics was not a good idea. In the communist era that followed, it was best to forget about both royal families. History textbooks covered the dynasties only in short paragraphs, simply naming ruler after ruler and their roles in history.

Novakovic’s lawyer Nebojsa Pavlovic, who worked with Ljiljana and Serbian historian Rados Ljusic to trace the royal links of the family told IPS that the case was about “re-opening the process of dynasty heritage.”

Since the last Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milosevic fell from power five years ago, reports have appeared in local media that there are valuable paintings, property and real estate once owned by the Obrenovics waiting for heirs to be found.

They belonged to Queen Natalija, the mother of the last king Aleksandar Obrenovic, who outlived her son for almost 40 years. She died in exile in France in 1941. Her will has not yet been opened, in the absence of a known heir.

Research initiated by French authorities showed that there are 52 people in Serbia related to the Obrenovics, though none as closely as Milutin Novakovic.

Serbian historian Rados Ljusic told IPS that he gathered all archived documents on births and deaths dating back to the 18th century.

“This is not only about the things mentioned by the local press – the villa in France, residences in Budapest, or paintings ‘somewhere in Switzerland’,” Ljusic told IPS. “It’s about the documents that are supposedly being kept together with the will, which can speak about an era and help study the history of Serbia.”

Queen Natalija was said to have been unhappy that her only son Aleksandar, the young king, married an older, childless widow when he was only 24, in the year 1900. The couple was killed by army rebels in 1903. Natalija, already abroad, went into seclusion..

Ljusic says the queen wanted to leave a part of her property to relatives, the Novakovics among them. But they did not accept it, fearing they might suffer at the hands of the new Karadjordjevic dynasty.

But Natalija did leave the bulk of her property to support Belgrade University.. That property includes two gold mines in eastern Serbia.

All that was confiscated by the communists after the world war. The university hopes it will regain that property once the Law on Restitution of Confiscated Property comes into force.