Natalija Konstantinović
Natalija Konstantinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Наталија Константиновић; 10 October 1882 – 21 August 1950) was a Princess of Montenegro as the wife of Prince Mirko Petrović-Njegoš. The couple had five sons; however, two died in early childhood. They divorced in 1917, a year after the royal family was forced to flee the kingdom. She was the granddaughter of Princess Anka Obrenović of Serbia, of the House of Obrenović. Her husband was promised the Serbian crown in the event of King Alexander I dying childless; however, the crown went to Peter Karađorđević, following Alexander's assassination in 1903. Family. Natalija  was born in Trieste, Austria-Hungary, on 10 October 1882, daughter of Colonel Alexander Konstantinović (1848 - Trieste, 1931) and wife (Trieste, 18 March 1878) Mileva (Trieste, 12 April 1860 - Paris, 3 January 1939), member of a wealthy Serbian family of Trieste, paternal granddaughter of Alexander Konstantinović (son of Obrad Konstantinović and wife Danica Gvozdenović) and wife (1842) Princess Anka Obrenović (1 April 1821 - murdered, Topcider, Belgrade, 10 June 1868, daughter of Jevrem Obrenović and wife Thomanija Bogicević) and maternal granddaughter of Alexander Opujić (son of Tadija Opujić and wife Vidosava Milić) and wife Maria Boscković (daughter of Rajko Bosković and  wife Mara Nikcević). She had one brother. She was descended from the tragic, ill-fated Obrenović Dynasty, which had ruled Serbia for the greater part of the 19th century. Her paternal grandmother, Princess Anka Obrenović, was the paternal niece of Miloš Obrenović I, Prince of Serbia, founder of the House of Obrenović. Natalija and her family were exiled from Serbia after her father criticised King Alexander I's unpopular marriage to the notorious Draga Mašin. They lived alternatively between Nice, Italy, and Vienna. Marriages and issue. On 25 July 1902, at Cetinje, Natalija was married to Prince Mirko Petrović-Njegoš  of Montenegro, Grand Duke of Grahovo and Zeta, the second eldest son of Nicholas I of Montenegro. Prince Mirko had allegedly fallen passionately in love with Natalija who was described as a beautiful, dark-eyed brunette. King Alexander was not pleased by the news of their marriage, as he believed Mirko had only married her in order to obtain the Serbian crown; in addition, Mirko's predeceased elder sister, Zorka had been the wife of Alexander's rival Peter Karađorđević. As a sign of his displeasure he refused to receive either Natalija or Mirko at his court. As Natalija was  the granddaughter of Princess Anka Obrenović, who had been assassinated in Belgrade on 10 June 1868 along with her cousin, Mihailo Obrenović III, the Serbian government promised that in the event of King Alexander Obrenović dying childless, Mirko would be proclaimed Crown Prince of Serbia. Events, however, did not proceed as Nikola I of Montenegro had hoped. In late May 1903, King Alexander and his consort, Draga, were assassinated by a group of Army officers led by Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis. Prior to the assassination, the conspirators had voted to pass the crown to Mirko's brother-in-law, Peter , the head of the rival Serbian dynasty, the Karađorđevićs. This was because the Karađorđevićs were allied with Russia, whereas the Obrenovićs were decidedly pro-Habsburg, and therefore distasteful to many Serbs in light of the fervent Pan-Slavic nationalism that had engulfed Serbia since the 19th century. In fact, Natalija's husband later joined the Black Hand secret society in 1911, and aspired to be its leader. Children. Together Mirko and Natalija had five sons: In 1908, her two eldest sons died, and she gave birth to her third son, Michael. On 28 August 1910, Montenegro became a kingdom, with  her father-in-law ascending the Montenegrin throne as the first and only king. In 1916, the defence of Montenegro collapsed when the Austro-Hungarian forces invaded the kingdom during World War I, and the entire royal family, including Natalija, was compelled to flee to Italy. The couple were divorced in October 1917, and Natalija moved to Paris with her surviving sons. The following year, Mirko died in Vienna and her eldest surviving son Michael became head of the House of Petrović-Njegoš and pretender to the defunct throne of Montenegro. Natilija took Michael to Eastbourne, England, where he completed  his primary education. In March 1920, she married secondly in Eastbourne (Sussex), Gaston Count Errembault de Dudzeele, a Belgian diplomat and member of noble family, and had two daughters: Princess Natalija died in Paris on 21 August 1950, at the age of 67.