A regent pressed toward the Axis while trying to keep Yugoslavia out of war
Two days after Yugoslavia joined the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941, a military coup removed him from the regency.
Paul Karađorđević was the prince regent who governed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia for the minor Peter II after the assassination of Alexander I. He sought to soften the legacy of centralised rule and reconcile the state with the Croatian national movement, culminating in the 1939 Cvetković-Maček Agreement and the creation of the Banovina of Croatia. As war spread and British and French guarantees weakened, his attempt to preserve neutrality shifted toward concessions under German pressure, and Yugoslavia’s 1941 accession to the Tripartite Pact triggered a military coup that removed him. He lived in exile after the war, died in 1976, and was rehabilitated by a Serbian court in 2011.
Career Timeline
- 1893Born in St. Petersburg
- 1912–1921Studied at Christ Church, Oxford; served in World War I
- 1929Founded and patronised the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade
- 1934–1939Chairman of the Regency Council of Yugoslavia
- 1939Advanced the Cvetković-Maček Agreement and Banovina of Croatia
- 1941Removed in a military coup after Yugoslavia joined the Tripartite Pact