Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Former Queen Milena "critically ill"

March 8, 1923


Former Queen Milena of Montenegro is "critically ill," according to a dispatch to The Times from Milan.  A "slight hope is held out" for the queen's recovery."

Milena is the widow of the late King Nicholas of Montenegro, who died in March 1921.  The former queen was born Milena Vukotic, the daughter of a wealthy Montenegrin landowner, Petar, who was close frineds with Mirko Petrovic-Njegos.  Milena was only six years old in 1853, when her father arranged a marriage between her and Mirko's only son, Nicholas, heir to the childless Prince Danilo I of Montenegro.   A year later, after the death of her mother,  Milena went to live with her future in-laws.   Nicholas succeeded as prince in 1860, following the assassination of Prince Danilo. 

The marriage took place on November 8, 1860.  The groom was 19 years old, and his bride was thirteen.  The couple's first child was born four years later.  All told, Milena would give birth to twelve children, several of who married into other European royal houses.  The first born, Princess Zorka, married the future King Peter of Serbia.  Zorka died in 1890.  Their son, Alexander, is the present King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.  Two daughters, Militza and Anastasia, married Russian Grand Dukes.   Militza is the wife of Grand Duke Peter, and Anastasia, whose first marriage to Duke George of Leuchtenberg ended in divorce, is now married to Peter's brother, Grand Duke Nicholas.
Prince Danilo's wife is the former Princess Jutta of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  Elena is married to King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, and Mirko married Natalia Konstantovic, a member of the Obrenovic family, the former ruling dynasty in Serbia.

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