HM King Peter II (6 September 1923 - 3 November 1970) was the last King of Yugoslavia. He was the son of Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria of Romania and Hohenzollern, his Godfather was King George VI of Great Britain.
He married Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark , in London 1944. Their son Crown Prince Alexsander born in 1945.
His education commenced at The Royal Palace, he then went to Sandroyd School in England, which he left after his father’s assassination in 1934.
Peter II (Petar II), of the Karadjordjevic dynasty, succeeded in 1934 after the assassination while on a state visit to France of his father, King Alexander I, under a regency headed by his father's cousin, Prince Pavle.
Although King Peter and his advisors opposed Nazi-Germany, they also feared that if Hitler attacked Yugoslavia, Britain was not in any real position to help. For the safety of the country, they declared that Yugoslavia would adhere to the Tripartite Pact.
On March 27th, 1941 King Peter II was proclaimed of age, and participated in a British-supported coup d'état opposing the Regent's signing the Tripartite Pact.
Postponing Operation Barbarossa Germany simultaneously attacked Yugoslavia and Greece. From April 6th, Luftwaffe pounded Belgrade to the ground for three days and three nights. Within a week, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Italy invaded Yugoslavia and the government was forced to surrenderon on April 17th. Yugoslavia was divided to satisfy Italian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and German demands and a puppet Croat state proclaimed.
King Peter II was forced to leave the country with the Yugoslav Government following the Axes invasion – initially for Greece, Jerusalem and then to Cairo. He came to England in June 1941, where he joined numerous other governments in exile from Nazi occupied Europe. King Peter II completed his education at Cambridge University and joined the Royal Air Force.
Despite the collapse of the Yugoslav army two rival resistance groups to the occupying forces formed. The first was the Royalist Chetniks led by General Dragoljub Mihailovic, the Minister of Defence in the exsile government. The other was the revolutionary Partisans led by the communist Josip Broz - known to the world later as Tito. The Allies, having initially supported Mihailovic then threw their support behind Tito.
King Peter was deposed after World War II by Yugoslavia's Constituent Assembly on November 29th, 1945, while still in exile. King Peter II never abdicated. After the war settled to United States. He died in Denver, Colorado on 3 November 1970. He is interred at the St. Sava Monastery Churchat Libertyville, Illinois, the only European monarch buried on American soil.
His son, Crown Prince Alexander, claims the Serbian throne. Peter's late brother Prince Tomislav was previously the Crown Prince.
Last updated: 09-03-2005 18:37:12
