Mihail Petrović-Njegoš

Prince Michael Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (; 14 September 1908 – 24 March 1986) was the third (but eldest surviving) son of Prince Mirko of Montenegro, Grand Voivode of Grahovo and Zeta (1879–1918), and Natalija Konstantinović, a cousin of Aleksandar Obrenović of Serbia. He was pretender to the throne of Montenegro, holding the title Grand Duke of Grahovo and Zeta, in succession to his father. King Nicholas I of Montenegro was Michael's grandfather. Michael had recognized and acknowledged the Unification of Montenegro with Serbia, renouncing the throne. During World War II, he was held prisoner by the Nazis after refusing to take up the throne of the Axis forces' re-established Montenegrin puppet-state. During the period of Yugoslav socialism, he was an active member of the Serb diaspora revolutionary organization and a diplomatic worker against the socialist government led by Marshal Tito.

He was a member of the Crown Council of King Peter II of Yugoslavia.

Early life Michael was born in Podgorica in 1908, the son of Prince Mirko of Montenegro. In 1916, the defence of Montenegro against the invasion by Austria-Hungary during the First World War collapsed and he, along with the rest of the royal family, fled to Italy. There, he briefly attended a boarding school in Naples before joining his mother, who had taken up residence in Eastbourne in the United Kingdom where he completed his primary education.

Accession In 1918, a pro-Serb assembly deposed his grandfather and merged Montenegro into Serbia. Shortly after that, the enlarged Serbia led the formation of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia).

After Nikola died in 1921, the defunct throne was inherited by Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro. However, Danilo unexpectedly abdicated a few days later and his nephew the young Michael (who succeeded him as pretender) "reigned" as King Mihailo I under the guidance of a regent. On 14 September 1929 the Regency of General Anto Gvozdenović ended and Mihailo renounced his dynasty's claim to the throne of Montenegro and declared allegiance to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. They were transferred to Germany and were held at a castle on the shores of Lake Constance. It was here that they were visited by Count Galeazzo Ciano and Joachim von Ribbentrop and were offered the throne of a new, independent Kingdom of Montenegro, but under Italian and German protection and guidance. He rejected this offer and remained imprisoned in Germany until his aunt, the Queen of Italy (Elena of Montenegro), secured their release in 1943. They returned to France only to be arrested by the German authorities and transferred to an internment camp at Jezeří Castle in occupied Czechoslovakia. The couple's son Prince Nicholas of Montenegro was born in 1944 in France, in Saint-Nicolas-du-Pélem, Brittany. and his wife (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 17 October 1905) Blanche Victorine Eugénie Bitte (Paris, 14 October 1883 - Saint-Brieuc, 3 December 1958). They divorced on 11 April/August 1949 in Paris. Shortly after, Geneviève started a career of orthoptist in Trébeurden.

They had one child: Nicholas, Prince of Montenegro (b. Saint-Nicolas-du-Pélem, France, 7 July 1944)

Ancestors

Works Njegoš's Chapel on Lovćen - Sacred Place "From My Memoirs" , The Serb National Defense, 1961, Windsor