Alexander wants to adopt a peasant child as his heir

August 30, 1902

King Alexander of Serbia recently announced his determination, in the event that his marriage remains childless, to "adopt some peasant child as his heir."   He has justified this decision, according to the Marquise de Fontenoy's latest dispatch, by saying that "he himself is descended from a peasant -- his great-grant-grandfather," who founded the Obrenovic dynast.

Apparently, great-great-grandpappa was a "swineherd," and, now the King is perhaps scouring the Serbian countryside for a possible heir.