Obrenovici Natalia

About

In Vienna, she met her future husband, Prince Milan Obrenović IV of Serbia. Their engagement also took place in Vienna. And on a Sunday, October 17, 1875, the wedding was officiated in the Belgrade Cathedral. Together with Milan Obrenović IV, Natalia had two sons, the future King Alexander I of Serbia, born in 1876, and Sergei, who died a few days after birth in 1878. Upon Prince Milan's proclamation of the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882, Princess Natalia became the Queen of Serbia. In 1888, after prolonged conflicts, Queen Natalia and King Milan divorced. However, after 5 years, in 1893, they reconciled and asked the church to annul their divorce, which happened. In 1889, following King Milan's abdication from the throne, Milan and Natalia's son, Alexander, became King of Serbia, under the name Alexander I. King Alexander and his wife Draga Mašin were assassinated by the pan-Slavic organization the Black Hand in 1903, under the reproach of a pro-Austrian attitude. Queen Natalia remained the only surviving member of the Obrenović dynasty. The Queen divided her fortune among the University of Belgrade, churches, and monasteries in Serbia, after which she converted to Catholicism. She made her Catholic profession of faith on April 12, 1902, in the church of the Cazin-Perrochaud sanatorium in Berck-Plage, in the Pas-de-Calais department. She became a nun in 1903 and worked as a nurse for several years. She spent the rest of her life in France. She died in 1941 in St. Denis (France). Her memoirs are kept in the Vatican Museums. Queen Natalia was buried in the cemetery in Lardy, a town 37 km southwest of Paris.