Portrait of Peter II of Yugoslavia

Birthday profile

Peter II of Yugoslavia

Peter II of Yugoslavia (died 1970)

Born
September 6, 1923
Died
November 3, 1970
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1923

About Peter II of Yugoslavia

Peter II Karađorđević (Serbo-Croatian: Петар II Карађорђевић, Petar II Karađorđević; 6 September 1923 – 3 November 1970) was the last King of Yugoslavia, reigning from October 1934 until he was deposed in November 1945. He was the last reigning member of the Karađorđević dynasty. The eldest child of King Alexander I and Maria of Romania, Peter acceded to the Yugoslav throne in 1934 at the age of 11 after his father was assassinated during a state visit to Marseille. A regency was set up under his cousin Prince Paul. After Paul declared Yugoslavia's accession to the Tripartite Pact in late March 1941, a pro-British coup d'état deposed the regent and declared Peter of age. In response, Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia ten days later and quickly overran the country, forcing the king and his ministers into exile. A government-in-exile was set up in June 1941 following Peter's arrival at London. In March 1944, he married Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. Their only son, Alexander, was born a year later. In November 1945, the Yugoslav Constituent Assembly formally deposed Peter and proclaimed Yugoslavia a republic. Peter settled in the United States after his deposition. Suffering from depression and alcoholism later in his life, he died of cirrhosis in November 1970, aged 47. His remains were buried at the Saint Sava Monastery Church in Libertyville, Illinois, before being transferred to the Royal Mausoleum of Oplenac in 2013. Initially the Yugoslav king and his government ministers went to Greece where they refuelled at a British airfield in rural Greece where locals did not at first believe that he was king of Yugoslavia. The cabinet in a rare show of unity had all objected to Peter's plans for a wedding in wartime when the issue was first discussed in April 1942, and the issue was not raised again until April 1943. Pavlowitch called a "romanticized" picture of the young Peter, who became a "symbol of his country's struggle to keep its freedom in alliance with Great Britain". In September 1941, a liaison mission from the Special Operations Executive (SOE) parachuted into Yugoslavia to meet Mihailović, and afterwards, became the main means which Mihailović communicated with the Allies.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Peter II of Yugoslavia timeline

  1. In September 1941, a liaison mission from the Special Operations Executive (SOE) parachuted into Yugoslavia to meet Mihailović, and afterwards, became the main means which Mihailović communicated with the Allies.
  2. The cabinet in a rare show of unity had all objected to Peter's plans for a wedding in wartime when the issue was first discussed in April 1942, and the issue was not raised again until April 1943.

The world when Peter II of Yugoslavia was born

Peter II of Yugoslavia was born in 1923. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1923

  • #1 song"Yes! We Have No Bananas"
  • Top movieThe Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille)
  • Best-selling bookBlack Oxen – Gertrude Atherton

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst 24 Hours of Le Mans race
  • Top headlineTime magazine publishes its first issue
  • Technology milestoneFirst neon signs appear in the United States
  • Defining fadDance marathons
  • Notable inventionFrozen food process (Clarence Birdseye)
  • World population1.93 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWarren G. Harding / Calvin Coolidge
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population111.9M

1923 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Peter II of Yugoslavia's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19232026
Gas$0.22$3.45/gal
Average home$5,700$435,000
Average income$3,380$67,500
Movie ticket$0.15$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population111.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.