Line of succession to the former Montenegrin throne

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The line of succession to the former Montenegrin throne is an ordered list of those eligible to succeed to the headship of the Royal House of Montenegro, grand mastership of the dynastic orders and ascend the throne of Montenegro in the event the monarchy is restored. The native monarchy of Montenegro was deposed in 1918 but a royal government in exile retained international recognition until 1922.

The current head of the royal house is Nicholas II Petrović-Njegoš, Crown Prince of Montenegro. Since 2011 the head of the royal house has an official role in Montenegro.

History[edit]

On 13 November 1918 the King of Montenegro, Nicholas I, was deposed by the Podgorica Assembly which voted to unite Montenegro with the Kingdom of Serbia under his son-in-law King Peter I of the House of Karađorđević.[1] King Nicholas never recognised the union and maintained an internationally recognised government in exile. Upon the death of King Nicholas in 1921 he was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Danilo who abdicated as king a week later in favour of the next in line, his nephew Michael who reigned as a King-in-exile under the regency of his grandmother Queen Milena. On 13 July 1922 the Conference of Ambassadors at Paris gave international recognition to the union of Serbia and Montenegro.[1]

Crown Prince Nicholas, the current head of the house, is the only son of Michael. In 2011 Montenegro recognised an official role in Montenegro for the royal house in order to promote the Montenegrin identity, culture and traditions through cultural, humanitarian and other non-political activities.

Law of succession[edit]

Membership of the royal house is limited to the male line descendants of the grandfather of King Nicholas. The succession is determined by Article 19 of the 1905 Constitution of the Principality of Montenegro which states that "The male descendants are called to the succession by order of primogeniture as it is prescribed by the special statute of family on the succession to the throne.".[2]

In 2011 the Montenegrin government passed a law recognising the male line descendants of King Nicholas and their wives as the members of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty (Article 2). The law appoints the eldest male heir, currently Crown Prince Nicholas, as the representative of the dynasty (Article 5). It also affirms the House law of the dynasty by defining the succession to the headship of the dynasty as being passed down through the "male heir of the oldest male heir" (Article 5).[3]

Current line of succession[edit]

•  King Nicholas I (1841–1921)[4]
  • Prince Mirko (1879–1918)
    • Prince Michael (1908–1986)[4]
      • Prince Nicholas (born 1944)
        • (1) Hereditary Prince Boris (b. 1980)[5][6]

Line of succession in November 1918[edit]

•  King Nicholas I (born 1841)[4]
  • (1) Crown Prince Danilo (b. 1871)[4]
  • Prince Mirko (1879–1918)
    • (2) Prince Michael (b. 1908)[4]
    • (3) Prince Paul (b. 1910)[4]
    • (4) Prince Emanuel (b. 1912)[4]
  • (5) Prince Peter (b. 1889)[4]

References[edit]

1. ↑ Jump up to:1.0 1.1 Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (1977). Burke's Royal Families of the World, volume 1: Europe & Latin America. Burke's Peerage. pp. 412–415. Search this book on 
2. ↑ Wright, Herbert F (1919). The constitutions of the states at war, 1914-1918. p. 409. Search this book on 
3. ↑ "O STATUSU POTOMAKA DINASTIJE PETROVIĆ NJEGOŠ" (PDF). Parliament of Montenegro. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2012.[permanent dead link]
4. ↑ Jump up to:4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Almanach de Gotha (154 ed.). Justus Perthes. 1918. p. 65. Search this book on 
5. ↑ de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 862. French. ISBN 2-9507974-3-1 Search this book on ..
6. ↑ Almanach de Gotha (2018). Page 1389.