Prince Paul of Yugoslavia
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HRHPrince_Pavle_of_Yugoslavia.jpg
Biography book on Prince Paul written by Neil Balfour the first was published by Eaglet Publishing in London in 1980
HRH Prince Pavle of Yugoslavia (April 27 1893, Saint Petersburg, Russia - September 11 1976, Paris, France) of the Royal House of Karadjordjevic was regent of Yugoslavia for his nephew, His Majesty King Peter II. He was married with HRH Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark in 1923.
H.R.H Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was the only son of Prince Arsen and Princess Aurora Demidoff. He was brother-in-law of HRH the Duke of Kent and a Knight of the Garter, George VI, as Duke of York, had been his best man at his wedding in Belgrade in 1923. He had been educated at Oxford and his closest friends and outlook on life were British.
He took the regency on October 9 1934 after King Alexander's assassination in Marseille and ruled the country until he decided to sign the Tripartite Pact in Vienna on March 25 1941. Because of his decision, massive demonstrations took place in Belgrade and, after this, his nephew, together with a group of pro-English officers and middle class politicians, made a coup d'état on March 27 1941. General Dušan Simović became prime minister and Yugoslavia backed out of the Axis sphere in all but name.
Although the new rulers opposed Germany, they also feared that if Hitler attacked Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom was not in any real position to help. For the safety of the country, they declared that Yugoslavia would adhere to the Tripartite Pact. However, Nazi Germany invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia anyways and the royal family escaped abroad, Prince Pavle included.
For the remainder of the war, Prince Paul was kept, with his family, under house arrest by the British in Africa for the remainder of the war.
Princess Elizabeth, his only daughter, obtained and published information from the SOE files in the Foreign Office in London and published them in Belgrade, in the 1990 edition of the biography about her father, in Serbian. 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 11th, 1976 without ever returning to Yugoslavia.
Prince Pavle is father of Princess Jelisaveta of Serbia Yugoslavia, Prince Alexander (Paul's) of Yugoslavia and Prince Nikola of Yugoslavia, and grandfather of American actress Catherine Oxenberg.
| Preceded by: Aleksandar Karađorđević | House of Karađorđević | Succeeded by: Petar II Karađorđević |