Prince Paul of Yugoslavia

Infobox Yugoslavian Royalty|prince
name =Prince Paul
title =Prince Regent of Yugoslavia

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caption =Prince Paul and Adolf Hitler
reign =9 October 1934 - 27 March 1941
reign-type =Regency
spouse =Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
issue = Prince Alexander
Prince Nikola
Princess Elizabeth
styles ="HRH" Prince Paul
"HRH" The Prince Regent
"HRH" Prince Paul
royal house =House of Karageorgevich
father =Prince Arsen of Yugoslavia
mother =Princess Aurora di San Donato
date of birth =birth date|1893|4|27|mf=y
place of birth =
date of death =death date and age|1976|9|11|1893|4|27|mf=y
place of death =Paris, France
place of burial=|

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (Serbian:Павле/Pavle) (April 27 1893 – September 11 1976) of the Serbian, later Yugoslav Royal House of Karadjordjevic was regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia for King Peter II, who was the eldest son of his first cousin Alexander I. He is known in Serbian as Павле Карађорђевић "Pavle Karađorđević" and Slovenian as "Pavel Karađorđević".

Early life

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was the only son of Prince Arsen Karageorgevich (a brother of Peter I) and Princess Aurora Demidov (a granddaughter of the Finnish philanthropist Aurora Karamzin). He married Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, a sister of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, in 1923. George VI of the United Kingdom, as Duke of York, was best man at his wedding in Belgrade.

A Knight of the Garter, Paul was educated at the University of Oxford and his closest friends (including the American-born, naturalized British politician Chips Channon) and outlook on life were said to be British.

Regent of Yugoslavia

He took the regency on 9 October 1934 after his cousin King Alexander's assassination in Marseille. In 1939 he and his wife Olga made a state visit to Nazi Germany during which time he was treated to a banquet given by German leader Adolf Hitler. [Tanner, Marcus. "Croatia: A Nation Forged in War". Yale University Press, 2007. (pg. 135)] He ruled the country until he decided to sign the Tripartite Pact with the World War II Axis Powers in Vienna on 25 March 1941. Because of his decision, massive demonstrations took place in Belgrade and, after this, his cousin and ward, Peter II, together with a group of pro-British officers and middle class politicians, made a coup d'état on 27 March 1941. General Dušan Simović became prime minister and Yugoslavia backed out of the Axis sphere in all but name.

Although King Peter II and his new Government opposed Germany, they also feared that if Hitler attacked Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom was not in any real position to help. Germany, fearing that Yugoslavia would become a British or Soviet base, invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941. At the advice of the Government, King Peter II was asked to lead the country from abroad and ask for Allied support. The only legal body of Yugoslavia became the Royal Yugoslav Government in exile. Yugoslavia itself was dismembered and occupied by Nazi Germany and its satellites.

Exile

For the remainder of the war, Prince Paul was kept, with his family, under house arrest by the British in Kenya.

Princess Elizabeth, his only daughter, obtained and published information from the Special Operations Executive files in the Foreign Office in London and published them in Belgrade, in the 1990 edition of the Serbian-language biography of her father. The original book "Paul of Yugoslavia" was written by Neil Balfour and the first was published by Eaglet Publishing in London in 1980.

Prince Paul died in Paris on September 11, 1976, aged 83, without ever returning to Yugoslavia.

Prince Paul is father of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia the Elder and Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia, and a grandfather of American actress Catherine Oxenberg.

References