page_title: Alexandra of Yugoslavia
section_title: Divorce attempt and reconciliation
hierarchical_section_title: Alexandra of Yugoslavia / Life / Marital problems and suicide attempts / Divorce attempt and reconciliation
caption_attribution_description: English: Peter II and Alexandra of Yugoslavia in Gstaad
context_page_description: Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia was, by marriage to King Peter II, the last Queen of Yugoslavia.
  Posthumous daughter of King Alexander of Greece and his morganatic wife Aspasia Manos, Alexandra was not part of the Greek royal family until July 1922, when at the behest of Queen Sophia, a law was passed which retroactively recognized marriages of members of the royal family, although on a non-dynastic basis; in consequence, she obtained the style and name of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. At the same time, a serious political and military crisis, linked to the defeat of Greece by Turkey in Anatolia, led to the deposition and exile of the royal family, beginning in 1924. Being the only members of the dynasty allowed to remain in the country by the Second Hellenic Republic, the princess and her mother later found refuge in Italy, with Dowager Queen Sophia.
  After three years with her paternal grandmother, Alexandra left Florence to continue her studies in the United Kingdom, while her mother settled in Venice. Separated from her mother, the princess fell ill, forcing Aspasia to make her leave the boarding school where she was studying.
context_section_description: The year 1952 was marked by further financial problems due to bad investments of Peter II. Alexandra also suffered a miscarriage. The couple returned to France, where the situation did not improve. In 1953, Alexandra made another suicide attempt in Paris, which she survived thanks to a phone call from her aunt, Queen Frederica of Greece. Tired by the mental instability of his wife, Peter II finally launched a process of divorce in the French courts. The intervention of his son the crown prince and the king and queen of Greece convinced him, however, to abandon his intentions.
  The couple reconciled and for a time they lived a second honeymoon. However, the need for money continued to be felt and Alexandra was persuaded by a British publisher to write her autobiography. With the help of the ghostwriter Joan Reeder, in 1956 she published For Love of a King (translated into French the following year under the title Pour l'Amour d'un Roi). Alexandra was always in financial need despite the relative success of the book. In 1959, she co-wrote a second book, this time about her cousin, the Duke of Edinburgh. Though it revealed nothing compromising about the Duke of Edinburgh, the book prompted the British Royal Family to distance itself from Alexandra.
  For some time, the couple moved to Cannes, while Peter II maintained a chancellery in Monte Carlo. Considering himself still King of Yugoslavia, the former sovereign continued to award titles and decorations. Supported by some monarchists as the "Duke of Saint-Bar", he even maintained an embassy in Madrid. However, the reconciliation of the royal couple finally soured and Peter II returned to live in the United States while Alexandra moved with her mother to the Garden of Eden.
  In 1963, on September 1 or before, Alexandra made another suicide attempt in Venice. Narrowly saved by her son Crown Prince Alexander, she spent a long period of convalescence under the constant care of her sister-in-law, Princess Margarita of Baden (wife of Peter II's brother Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia). Once recovered, Alexandra reconciled again with Peter II and the couple returned to live in the French capital in 1967. But, as before, the reconciliation was temporary and soon Peter II returned to live permanently in  the United States while Alexandra settled in her mother's residence.
caption: King Peter II and Queen Alexandra, 1963.
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