Quick Facts
Biography
Princess Ljubica of Montenegro (Serbian: Љубица Петровић-Његош; 23 December 1864 – 16 March 1890), later Princess Zorka Karađorđević in Serbia. She was better known as Princess Zorka.
She was the eldest child of the Montenegrin monarch Nicholas I and Milena Vukotić, and the wife of Peter Karađorđević (who would become King of Serbia in 1903, long after her death).
Life
Born in Cetinje, Montenegro at the time when her father was already the reigning Prince of Montenegro (his uncle Danilo II Petrović-Njegoš having died in 1860). Zorka was educated in Russia before returning to Montenegro to be engaged to Karađorđević. Zorka's sister Elena married the future King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.
Marriage and children
Described as "exuberant" by one commentator, Zorka married Peter in Cetinje on 1 August 1883 in a Serbian Orthodox ceremony.
They had five children:
- Princess Helen of Serbia (4 November 1884 – 16 October 1962).
- Princess Milena of Serbia (28 April 1886 – 21 December 1887).
- George, Crown Prince of Serbia (8 September 1887 – 17 October 1972).
- Alexander I of Yugoslavia (16 December 1888 – 9 October 1934).
- Prince Andrew of Serbia (born and died 16 March 1890).
Zorka died aged just 25 on 16 March 1890 in Cetinje during childbirth and was buried in the St. George's Church in Topola, Serbia.
Monument
First monument for a woman in Serbia was built for duchess Zorka on 3rd of June in 1926. The monument, a work of a sculptor Stamenko Đurđević, was built by „Duchess Zorka“ society. The monument lay on the Big Kalemegdan. The monument was removed and probably destroyed after World War 2. The gypsum model of first version remained and is being kept in History museum of Serbia.