Aujourd'hui, cinquante ans se sont écoulés depuis la mort du roi Pierre II de Yougoslavie, le 3 novembre 1970. Le cabinet du prince héritier Alexandre II de Serbie, fils unique du roi, a publié le communiqué suivant le 2 novembre 2020 :
Un service commémoratif pour Sa Majesté le Roi Pierre II (fils du grand unificateur Sa Majesté le Roi Alexandre Ier) sera célébré demain mardi 3 novembre 2020 par Sa Grâce l'évêque Jovan de Sumadija à l'église Saint-Georges d'Oplenac.
Conformément au protocole, la première couronne sera déposée par M. Dragomir Acovic, président des organes consultatifs de la Couronne, au nom de Son Altesse Royale le prince héritier Alexandre, chef de la famille royale serbe (fils de Sa Majesté le roi Pierre II), sur la tombe du défunt roi.
A New York, Sa Grâce l'évêque Irinej d'Amérique de l'Est présidera une cérémonie commémorative pour Sa Majesté le roi Pierre II en présence de Leurs Altesses Royales le prince héritier Alexandre et la princesse héritière Katherine qui allumeront des bougies à la mémoire du père du prince héritier, SM le roi Pierre II, à la cathédrale orthodoxe serbe de Saint-Sava. Sa Majesté le roi Pierre II était très proche de la cathédrale pendant son séjour aux États-Unis.
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| Le roi Pierre II de Yougoslavie à Londres, 1968. |
Le jeudi 5 novembre 1970, le lieutenant-colonel C. Stojilkovic, membre de la Royal Yugoslav Airforce et ancien membre du personnel du dernier roi de Yougoslavie, a annoncé que Sa Majesté le roi Pierre II de Yougoslavie était décédé le mardi 3 novembre 1970 à Los Angeles, en Californie, à l'hôpital après avoir souffert d'une insuffisance cardio-respiratoire causée par une pneumonie. Le roi avait quarante-sept ans et résidait à Playa del Rey, en Californie. Pierre II y résidait avec le Dr et Mme Frank Lowe. Le retard dans l'annonce du décès du roi a été attribué au fait que son entourage a dû attendre pour contacter ses proches. Depuis avril 1970, le roi Pierre II de Yougoslavie a été hospitalisé à plusieurs reprises à Los Angeles, souffrant de problèmes rénaux et d'autres affections qui ont été provoquées par le diagnostic d'une pneumonie en septembre 1970. Le roi Pierre II de Yougoslavie a été exposé pendant plusieurs jours à l'église orthodoxe serbe du Christ-Sauveur à Arcadia, en Californie. Son avocat Sam Silverstein a noté que le testament du roi stipulait que le monarque serait enterré au monastère orthodoxe serbe de Libertyville, dans l'Illinois.
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| Le roi Pierre II et la reine Alexandra de Yougoslavie à Paris, 1967. |
King Peter’s widow, Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia (née Greece), his son Crown Prince Alexander, and his brother Prince Tomislav had filed a court motion at the Los Angeles Superior Court challenging the Libertyville burial. The royals stated that Peter had wanted to be buried in London. Queen Alexandra and Crown Prince Alexander also filed a motion in the Lake County, Illinois, Circuit Court asking that the funeral services for King Peter be performed by Bishop Firmilian Ocokoljich, who served as chaplain to the royal family in London during World War II. The family’s attorney, Thomas J Karacic, stated that it would be “sacrilegious” to have services for the king be performed by the group controlling the Saint Sava Monastery near Libertyville. The North American diocese opposed the government of Yugoslavia, while the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch in Belgrade did not. Mr Karacic noted that if services went ahead under the Saint Sava leadership, then Queen Alexandra, Crown Prince Alexander, and Prince Tomislav would boycott the ceremony. Alas, Circuit Court Judge L Erie Carey ruled that the services would be conducted at the monastery by Bishop Iriney and Bishop Dionisije, in accordance with the king’s wishes.
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| The funeral service of King Peter II of Yugoslavia at Saint Sava in Libertyville, Illinois. |
On 15 November 1970, around fifteen thousand mourners filed past the bier in the Byzantine chapel of Saint Sava’s Eastern Orthodox Church in Libertyville, IL, to render their last homage to their late king. The king’s body lay in a brown, metallic coffin, the front half covered with glass. Clad in a Yugoslav Air Force uniform, he looked more like an eighty year-old than his age of 47, it was written. A World War II amputee who had served in the king’s armed forces said, “He was an unhappy man. He helped thwart Hitler’s movement into Russia and then his country was given the Russians.” Bishop Iriney of Pennsylvania delivered a moving eulogy: “He was a unique and unusual man and he lived and reigned under even more unusual circumstances. One of his brothers wanted him to be buried in Westminster Abbey in London. King Peter could have been buried there with the rulers and all the dignitaries of the world in attendance. Instead, he rejected world glamour and brought himself to the level of his people. His choice to be with the Serbian people and lead them against the Axis war machine was of great historical importance. He delayed Hitler three months in attacking the Soviet Union. He could have stayed in the palace and enjoyed the everyday privileges of the royalty. He knew that any resistance would result in the sacrifice of many lives and wholesale destruction. But he also knew that any temporary security for himself and his people would result in the erosion of his people’s essential liberties.” Neither Queen Alexandra, who was estranged from her husband, nor Crown Prince Alexandra attended the funeral of King Peter in Illinois. The only member of the king’s family to attend his burial was his youngest brother Prince Andrej.
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| The grave of King Peter II of Yugoslavia at Saint Sava’s Eastern Orthodox Monastery in Libertyville. |
It was not until Friday, 20 November 1970, that it emerged through Denver Post reporting that King Peter II of Yugoslavia had actually died at Denver General Hospital on 3 November. The king had been admitted to Denver General on 7 October and on 8 October underwent a liver transplant. Peter had been suffering from advanced cirrhosis of the liver for some years, and on 7 October the king had been flown from California via a private chartered jet to Denver, where he underwent the transplant surgery the next day. The liver intended to prolong the monarch’s life had come from Barbara Virginia Peterson, aged fifteen, who died on 7 October after an automobile accident on 3 October in Garden Grove, California. The Denver Post reported that Peter had died in hospital while still recovering from the operation. On his death certificate, which was filed with the Colorado Health Department, the king’s name was given as Peter Petrovich. Following his death, the king’s body was immediately flown by private jet back to Los Angeles. A friend of the royal family gave the following statement: “He [King Peter] had been in and out of hospitals (John Wesley and Queen of Angels) most of the year, and the doctors were trying to keep him alive long enough to find a donor for a liver transplant. When an acceptable donor was located in Denver, he was flown there.” When questioned as to why the truth behind the king’s death was not given earlier, the source replied, “Because the queen [Alexandra] had kept up the pretext of his being here [in California], and she couldn’t very well suddenly admit he’d been in Denver for almost a month. Besides, she didn’t want to discourage potential liver transplant recipients and donors.” At the time of King Peter’s death, his wife Queen Alexandra was living in Venice, Italy.
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| Crown Prince Alexander at the memorial service held in London for his father King Peter. |
Crown Prince Alexander attended a memorial service for his late father King Peter at the Serbian Orthodox Church in Notting Hill, London, on 11 August 1971.
On 26 May 2020, King Peter II of Yugoslavia was reburied in the mausoleum of the Karadjordjević dynasty at the Church of Saint George in Oplenac. Along with the king, Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia (his wife), Queen Marie of Yugoslavia (his mother), and Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia (his younger brother) were also reburied in the family mausoleum.
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Crown Prince Peter of Yugoslavia was born at Belgrade on 6 September 1923 as the eldest son of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and his wife Queen Marie (born Princess of Romania). Peter was joined by two younger brothers: Prince Tomislav and Prince Andrej. The crown prince became King Peter II of Yugoslavia in 1934 after the assassination of his father Alexander. In 1945, Peter lost his throne due to the Communist takeover of Yugoslavia in the aftermath of World War II.
En 1944, le roi Pierre II de Yougoslavie épousa la princesse Alexandra de Grèce (1921-1993), fille du roi Alexandre Ier des Hellènes et de son épouse la princesse Aspasie de Grèce (née Manos). Le roi Pierre et la reine Alexandra eurent un enfant, le prince héritier Alexandre II de Serbie (né en 1945).
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