Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
September 12, 2006

MEMORIAL SERVICE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 30-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE REPOSE OF PRINCE PAUL KARAGEORGEVITCH

On Thursday, September 14, 2006 His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle and the Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church will officiate at a memorial service for Prince Paul Karageorgevitch on the occasion of the 30-year anniversary of his repose, as well as for Princess Olga and Prince Nicholas. The service will be held in the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Archangel Michael in Belgrade, beginning at 12:00 noon.

Biography of HRH Prince Paul Karageorgevitch
(April 28 / 15, 1893 – September 14, 1976)

The great-grandson of Karageorge, the son of Prince Arsen (the younger brother of King Peter I of Serbia) and Princess Aurora Pavlovna Demidov di San Donato, he was born in St. Petersburg and reposed in Paris.

Prince Paul was raised by his uncle, King Petar I, first in Geneva and from 1903 on in Belgrade after losing his mother early in life because his father was always away, taking part in nine wars. Prince Paul completed primary school and the Second Classical Secondary School for Boys in Belgrade with the highest marks. In accordance with his wishes in 1913 he began classical studies at Oxford but was forced to interrupt them when Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia at the end of July 1914. During the war he carried out a number of diplomatic missions for the Kingdom of Serbia, returning to Oxford in 1918 to complete his studies. He took a Master of Arts degree in art history.

In London he met Princess Olga (1903-1997), herself of the highest noble birth, the daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece. Her paternal grandmother was the sister of the Russian tsar, and her grandfather belonged to the royal house of Denmark. Princess Olga’s mother was the Grand Duchess Elena Romanov, daughter of the Grand Duke Vladimir, the second son of the Emperor of All-Russia, Tsar-Martyr Alexander II (1818-1881). On the side of his mother, Princess Aurora, Prince Paul was descended from the renowned noble families of Trubeckoj and Demidov. (The Russian princes Trubeckoj are descended from Rurik, King Bela II “The Blind” of Hungary, and Serbian Grand Zupan Uros the White from the twelfth century.) Prince Paul and Princess Olga married in Belgrade on October 22, 1923. Their best man was the Duke of York, later King George VI of England. Princess Olga bore two sons, Prince Alexander (1924) and Prince Nicholas (1928-1954), and a daughter, Princess Elizabeth (1936), who presently lives in Belgrade.

At the beginning of 1935, the Museum of History and Arts merged with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade as the Museum of Prince Paul (in the present-day Serbian Presidency building), the most important institution of this kind in the modern cultural history of the Serbian people. In a short time, Prince Paul created the first European museum in Serbia, adroitly interweaving the art of Serbian civilization with the best European art had to offer. The Museum of Prince Paul was subsequently closed by the Communist regime immediately after the end of World War II.

His Royal Highness Prince Paul Karageorgevitch reposed in the Lord in the American Hospital in Neuilly near Paris on September 14, 1976. He is buried in Lausanne with his son Prince Nicholas and his wife, Princess Olga.

[Serbian Translation Services]