Profile: Milan I
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Milan I (1854-1900)
King Milan I of Serbia was born as Milan Obrenović on August 22, 1854 in Mărășești, Moldavia, where his family had lived in exile ever since the 1842 return of the rival House of Karađorđević to the Serbian throne. Shortly after his birth, his parents divorced. On 20 November 1861, the seven year-old Milan's father died fighting the Ottoman Turks near Bucharest as a foreign mercenary in the Romanian Army. As a result, his mother Marija gained custody of the young Milan. However, soon after her husband’s death, Marija became the mistress of Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and thus became uninterested in her children from her first marriage. As a result, Milan was legally adopted by his cousin Prince Mihailo Obrenović III (1823-1868) of Serbia, who had returned to reigning as Prince of Serbia since his return to the country in 1860.
On September 12, 1868, shortly after Milan's fourteenth birthday, Prince Mihajlo Obrenović III was assassinated by the Radovanović brothers, who were angry at the prince introducing absolutism into the Serbian government. As the prince had no male heirs, a new heir needed to be found. After a coup d’etat against the Serbian government was launched by the soldier and politician Colonel Milivoje Blaznavac (1824-1874) on September 24, 1868, the young Prince Milan was installed as the new prince of Serbia. As Prince Milan was only fourteen years of age at the time, a regency was established under the coup leader Colonel Blaznavac. On 22 August 1872, upon turning 18 years-old, Prince Milan was declared of age, and as a result he then took the government of Serbia into his own hands. On September 19, 1875, twenty-one year-old Prince Milan married the sixteen year-old Natalie Keschko (1859-1938), the daughter of the Romanian-Russian colonel Petre Keșco (1830-1865) and the descendent of Romanian nobility. The couple had only one son and child, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Alexander and King Alexander I of Serbia (1876-1947).
On March 24, 1879, after quite a few years of ethnic and religious tensions in the Balkan Peninsula and in Ottoman Europe, the Russian Empire, the self-declared protector of all Slavic peoples, declared war on the Ottoman Empire, thus beginning the Russo-Turkish War of 1879. On July 6, 1879, when it seemed clear that Russia was winning the war, the Principality of Serbia under Prince Milan declared war on the Ottoman Empire and fought alongside Russia against the Ottoman Turks. After almost nine months, the war ended in a victory for the Russian Empire and her allies of Serbia, Romania and Montenegro and in a defeat for the Ottoman Empire. On December 30, 1879, with the signing of the Treaty of Athens, the Principality of Serbia was internationally recognized as independent from the Ottoman Empire.
On June 9, 1883, less than four years after the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1879, the Kingdom of Serbia was established when Prince Milan of Serbia elevated himself from the status of Prince of Serbia to the status of King of Serbia. King Milan I ruled the Kingdom of Serbia for the next seventeen years, during which tensions between the surrounding powers of the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire threatened to consume the tiny, backwater kingdom. Nonetheless, the Kingdom of Serbia continued to remain at peace throughout the reign of King Milan I of Serbia, and avoided siding with any major power against another and participating in any wars. On January 10, 1892, King Milan I adopted a new and slightly more liberal constitution for the Kingdom of Serbia. In spite of this, Serbia was still by no means a fully-democratic constitutional monarchy.
Throughout his reign, King Milan devoted a large amount of government funds and tax money to the improvement of Serbian infrastructure, communications and the development and exploitation of natural resources. However, the cost of these projects, increased by the King’s personal spending and by government corruption, led to high taxation and by extension a huge amount of resentment amongst the average people of Serbia. In his personal life, King Milan I was a notorious womanizer and unfaithful husband. His mistresses included Clarita “Clara” Jerome Frewen (1851-1930), the sister in law of British statesman Lord Randolph Churchill (1849-1907) and Artemisia Hristić (c.1860-1925), the Greek wife of a Serbian diplomat.
After a peaceful and mostly uneventful reign, King Milan I of Serbia died suddenly from a heart attack in his residence in Belgrade on November 19, 1900 at the age of 46. As a result, the late king's eldest son and successor Crown Prince Alexander became King Alexander I of Serbia.
Milan I (1854-1900)
King Milan I of Serbia was born as Milan Obrenović on August 22, 1854 in Mărășești, Moldavia, where his family had lived in exile ever since the 1842 return of the rival House of Karađorđević to the Serbian throne. Shortly after his birth, his parents divorced. On 20 November 1861, the seven year-old Milan's father died fighting the Ottoman Turks near Bucharest as a foreign mercenary in the Romanian Army. As a result, his mother Marija gained custody of the young Milan. However, soon after her husband’s death, Marija became the mistress of Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and thus became uninterested in her children from her first marriage. As a result, Milan was legally adopted by his cousin Prince Mihailo Obrenović III (1823-1868) of Serbia, who had returned to reigning as Prince of Serbia since his return to the country in 1860.
On September 12, 1868, shortly after Milan's fourteenth birthday, Prince Mihajlo Obrenović III was assassinated by the Radovanović brothers, who were angry at the prince introducing absolutism into the Serbian government. As the prince had no male heirs, a new heir needed to be found. After a coup d’etat against the Serbian government was launched by the soldier and politician Colonel Milivoje Blaznavac (1824-1874) on September 24, 1868, the young Prince Milan was installed as the new prince of Serbia. As Prince Milan was only fourteen years of age at the time, a regency was established under the coup leader Colonel Blaznavac. On 22 August 1872, upon turning 18 years-old, Prince Milan was declared of age, and as a result he then took the government of Serbia into his own hands. On September 19, 1875, twenty-one year-old Prince Milan married the sixteen year-old Natalie Keschko (1859-1938), the daughter of the Romanian-Russian colonel Petre Keșco (1830-1865) and the descendent of Romanian nobility. The couple had only one son and child, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Alexander and King Alexander I of Serbia (1876-1947).
On March 24, 1879, after quite a few years of ethnic and religious tensions in the Balkan Peninsula and in Ottoman Europe, the Russian Empire, the self-declared protector of all Slavic peoples, declared war on the Ottoman Empire, thus beginning the Russo-Turkish War of 1879. On July 6, 1879, when it seemed clear that Russia was winning the war, the Principality of Serbia under Prince Milan declared war on the Ottoman Empire and fought alongside Russia against the Ottoman Turks. After almost nine months, the war ended in a victory for the Russian Empire and her allies of Serbia, Romania and Montenegro and in a defeat for the Ottoman Empire. On December 30, 1879, with the signing of the Treaty of Athens, the Principality of Serbia was internationally recognized as independent from the Ottoman Empire.
On June 9, 1883, less than four years after the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1879, the Kingdom of Serbia was established when Prince Milan of Serbia elevated himself from the status of Prince of Serbia to the status of King of Serbia. King Milan I ruled the Kingdom of Serbia for the next seventeen years, during which tensions between the surrounding powers of the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire threatened to consume the tiny, backwater kingdom. Nonetheless, the Kingdom of Serbia continued to remain at peace throughout the reign of King Milan I of Serbia, and avoided siding with any major power against another and participating in any wars. On January 10, 1892, King Milan I adopted a new and slightly more liberal constitution for the Kingdom of Serbia. In spite of this, Serbia was still by no means a fully-democratic constitutional monarchy.
Throughout his reign, King Milan devoted a large amount of government funds and tax money to the improvement of Serbian infrastructure, communications and the development and exploitation of natural resources. However, the cost of these projects, increased by the King’s personal spending and by government corruption, led to high taxation and by extension a huge amount of resentment amongst the average people of Serbia. In his personal life, King Milan I was a notorious womanizer and unfaithful husband. His mistresses included Clarita “Clara” Jerome Frewen (1851-1930), the sister in law of British statesman Lord Randolph Churchill (1849-1907) and Artemisia Hristić (c.1860-1925), the Greek wife of a Serbian diplomat.
After a peaceful and mostly uneventful reign, King Milan I of Serbia died suddenly from a heart attack in his residence in Belgrade on November 19, 1900 at the age of 46. As a result, the late king's eldest son and successor Crown Prince Alexander became King Alexander I of Serbia.
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