Although she lived only 25 years, she left a big mark in history. Even today, it is often emphasized as a link between Serbia and Montenegro, one that has permanently bound the two nations. And her life was inextricably linked to three kings - father, king of Montenegro, husband of the king of Serbia and son, king of Yugoslavia. Princess Zorka was born on 11/23. December 1864 in Cetinje as the first of a total of twelve children of the Montenegrin Prince Nikola I Petrovic and Princess Milena. It is interesting that she had Ljubica until her baptism, and that only then did she get the name Zorka. Kim was the Serbian prince Mihailo Obrenović, who, by choosing a name, said that Princess Ljubica Zorka should be a symbol of love and the "dawn of a new time". She lived in Cetinje until she was 11, and then she was sent to Russia to continue her education at the Smolny Institute, where girls from the most prominent families of the Russian aristocracy were brought up.
From Petrovic to Karadjordjevic!
She met her future husband Petar Karađorđević in Paris,where they met by chance, through mutual friends. A more realistic version is that marriage was a carefully arranged political move. The intention of Prince Petar Karadjordjevic, who was expelled from Serbia at that moment, was to get as close as possible to Montenegrins, to settle there and live with his family, and marriage to the daughter of the Montenegrin ruler was ideal for that. Thus, on August 11, 1883, Petar Karađorđević, Karađorđev's grandson, and Zorka Petrović-Njegoš, the eldest daughter of Prince Nikola Petrović, got married in the monastery church in Cetinje. She was 19 and he was 39. The marriage between Karadjordjevic's and Petrovic's opponents was greeted "with a knife", but it was a source of great joy for the people - Serbs and Montenegrins saw the unification of the two dynasties as a confirmation of brotherly and common origin which will result in the creation of a common state.
The marriage between Karadjordjevic's and Petrovic's opponents was greeted "with a knife", but it was a source of great joy for the people - Serbs and Montenegrins saw the unification of the two dynasties as a confirmation of brotherly and common origin which will result in the creation of a common state.
After returning from a wedding trip to Paris, the princely couple settled in Cetinje, where in the following years they raised their children in peace - Jelena, Milena (died in childhood), George, Alexander and Andrew (died at birth). After their Cetinje residence became little Zorka and Petar, they decided to build a new house on the Bar coast. It is named Topolica, after Petro's birthplace Topola in Serbia. They say that on two high masts, in the corners of the yard, the Serbian and Montenegrin flags were always flying there.
She did not wait to become queen!
According to available sources, Princess Zorka was quite involved in state affairs, and her main preoccupation was for her husband to become the king of Serbia. In addition, Zorka was faithful to the idea of uniting the two fraternal states, of course, under the crown of her husband, and she became one of the proponents of the then still controversial idea of uniting all southern Slavs. However, a woman whose father will become the king of Montenegro, her husband the king of Serbia, and her son the king of Yugoslavia, died prematurely, not waiting to see any of it. Shortly after giving birth to her fifth child, Princess Zorka died 4/16. March 1890 due to complications caused by childbirth.
Wanting to help his wife, Petar brought the best doctors from Vienna at the time, but there was no help. Andrija's son did not survive her much and passed away only a few days after his mother. For the first time, Princess Zorka was buried in Cetinje, near the monastery of St. Peter. Her husband, inconsolable and with three small children, kept the memory of Zorka all his life.
Achieving a dream!
Thirteen years after Zorka's death, on June 6, 1903, her father, Nikola I, waited to congratulate his son-in-law on coming to the throne of Serbia and realizing Zorka's dream. After the May coup in which King Alexander and Queen Draga were killed, the Karadjordjevic dynasty returned to the helm of Serbia.
After King Petar built the endowment of all Karadjordjevics in Oplenac on March 15, 1912, the remains of Princess Zorka were transferred there. Another wish of Princess Zorka was fulfilled in 1918. Montenegro and Serbia found themselves in a common state ruled by her husband - King Peter the Liberator, and later his son - King Alexander the Unifier.
In the end, another curiosity is connected to the undeserved queen of Serbia - the first monument to a woman in Serbia was erected to Princess Zorka on June 3, 1926. The monument, the work of sculptor Stamenko Đurđević, was found on Veliki Kalemegdan. After World War II, it was removed and probably destroyed. Today, the plaster template of the first version has been preserved and is kept in the History Museum of Serbia
