Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-28
PRo-BRITISH GENERAL

Tor the pubic.
PRo-BRITISH GENERAL
+ Too young and inexperienced 10
be entrusted with the real duties
of state which will be performed
from now on in his name. King
Peter ii will undoubtedly confine
j his activities TO understanding
the DEGREES and decisions of the
militant cabinet formed under
j Premier General DuSan Simovic.
chief of the Yugoslav air corps
and one of the most pro- British
officers in the army.
In Peters veins flows the blood
of strange congtomeration of
ancestors. On his mothers side,
his great great grandmother was
Britain'S Queen Victoria, but his
! maternal grandfather was the late
King Ferdinand of Rumania. a
descendant of the German Hohen-
zollerns.
On his fathers side Peter can
trace his ancestry back to the
/ founder of the YugoSlav dynasty
! George The Black karageorge-
witch, a fiery-tempered buccaneer
who rose TO power in the early
1S00's.
KILLED IN HIS SLEEP
Karageorgevitch led the Serbs
in revolt against the Turks, but
he was killed in his sleep by
Milos Obrenovitch. chieftain of
rival clan. who sent the murdered
Karageorgevitch's head to the
sultan at Constantinople as
token of his own loyalty to the
Turks.
From that time on the family
war" of Karageorgevitch VS..
Obrenovitch was grimly continued
by each succeeding generation,
with the crown passing from one
side 10 the other--untii June II,
1903 when an army coup d'etat.
lot bloodier than the one which
has just placed Peter on his
throne. resulted in the murder of
the then king and queen. the last
members of the Obrenovitch
family to occupy the throne.
The present King Peters grand
father-Peter I was called back
from exile and crowned king but
he was a sick man and the duties
of the throne passed on to the
latter's son. the tall, handsome
Crown Prince Alexander tfather
of the present king shortly be
fore the outbreak OF the World
War in 1914.
DEATH AT SARAJEV0
It was in Alexander's realm at
Sara jevo that the Austrian Arch
duke Franz Ferdinand was muir
dered on June %, 1914: and in
the World War that followed
Alexander led the Serbian troops
to victory with the Allies "a VIC
tory cementing bonds of friendship
with Britain that have played an
important part in the present
situation.
On Aug. Is. 1921. Alexander's
imAiitf uitQ anu I've btNdilit MIX
of the Serbs. CroatS and
Slovenes." as the kingdom came TO
be known after 1t had been re-
constructed and expanded by the
Allies at the peace conference
after the war.
The following, June, Alexander
made a marital alliance with Ru-
mania by marrying Princess Marie
Mignon, daughter of then powerful
Queen Marie and sister of the
recently dethroned Rumanian
King Carol.
And the next year. on Sept 3.
1923. Peter. the hoy now suddenly
catapulted into the center of the
Balkan maelstrom. was born.
FATHER KILLED IN FRANCE f.
Actually. Peters royal duties
began-and in a certain sense his
childhood ended Oct. IL. 1884,
at The age OF II. when the shy
boy was suddenly summoned back
10 the royal palace in Belgrade
Twp days before, his father. the
late King Alexander. had been
assassinated at MarSeilles, shortly
after his arrival aboard a Yugo-
slav warship on a visit of state
TO France. There had been sew
eral previous attempts on Alex
ander's life.
Iasrad ar,or. The c,xbv Troats