Founder Miloš Obrenović I Deposition 11 June 1903 | Founded 23 April 1815 | |
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Titles Prince of Serbia (1815-1842; 1858-1882)King of Serbia (1882-1903) | ||
The Obrenović ([obrěːnoʋit͡ɕ], Serbian: Обреновићи/Obrenovići; often spelled in English as Obrenovich or Obrenovitch) was a Serbian dynasty that ruled Serbia from 1815 to 1842, and again from 1858 to 1903. They came to power through the leadership of their progenitor Miloš Obrenović I in the Serbian Uprising of (1815–1817) against the Ottoman Empire, which led to the formation of the Principality of Serbia in 1817. The monarchs tended to rule autocratically, their popularity waxing and waning over their decades in power.
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The family's rule came to an end in a coup d’état by the military conspirators who invaded the royal palace and murdered king Alexander, who died without an heir. The National Assembly of Serbia invited Peter Karađorđević to become a king of Serbia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, some descendants from Jakov Obrenović, Miloš Obrenović's half-brother, declared themselves successors of the Royal House of Obrenović and elected their pretender to the defunct throne of Serbia.
Unlike other Balkan states such as Greece, Bulgaria, or Romania, Serbia did not import a member of an existing European royal family to take its throne; the Obrenović dynasty, like its Karađorđević rival, was an indigenous Serbian family.
Monarchs
Unlike most other dynasties in Europe, where a regnal number is used to distinguish different monarchs who shared the same given name, the Obrenović dynasty assigned subsequent regnal numbers to each ruling prince. Thus, there was never a Milan I, Milan III, a Mihailo I or a Mihailo II. Milan II and Mihailo III were simply the second and third ruling prince from the Obrenović dynasty. This practice was discontinued when prince Milan Obrenovic IV proclaimed himself king and declared the principality of Serbia a kingdom (1882).