Alexander I Karageorgievich is the patron saint of Russian emigration. Is the king naked? And maybe no king

Serbian King Alexander Karadjordjevich was born on October 30, 1888 in the family of the future King of Serbia, Peter I Karadjordjevic, and Princess Zorka, daughter of the Montenegrin Prince (later King) Nicholas I Njegos. From a young age, Alexander's fate was connected with Russia. He was the godson of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander III. In 1904, Alexander graduated from the Corps of Pages in St. Petersburg, after which he returned to his homeland.

During the I and II Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, Prince Alexander commanded the First Serbian Army. As the Russian envoy in Belgrade N.G. said. Hartwig: “In the battle of Kumanov, Crown Prince Alexander showed exceptional courage. While the Turks showered Serbian positions with a continuous shower of shrapnel and rifle bullets, the prince rode around the front on horseback, being a noticeable and attractive target for the Turks. Moreover, when Kumanovo was finally taken after a brutal bloody battle, Prince Alexander was the first to enter the fallen city. Meanwhile, the Albanians and Turks holed up in the houses fired back from all the windows, and almost every Muslim shack had to be stormed...” After this, he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

During the First World War, Alexander commanded the Serbian army, showing heroism and courage. In 1921, after the death of his father, Alexander becomes king of the Croats and Slovenes.

In 1922, Alexander married Princess Maria of Romania, great-granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II. Queen Mary had a delicate taste, patronized the arts, and painted herself. The Queen also patronized the Mariinsky Don Institute, which was located in the Serbian city of Bila Tserkva from 1919 to 1941 and was closed only with the beginning of the occupation of Yugoslavia.

In general, the royal couple did a lot for Russian emigrants. The headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, Lieutenant General P.N., was located in Sremski Karlovci. Wrangel and the Higher Church Administration later - the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Russian educational institutions, publishing houses, theaters, libraries operated on the territory of the Kingdom, and the system of full school and special education was recreated. In the early 1930s, construction of the Russian House began in Belgrade - a spiritual center of Russian science, art and education. The idea of ​​its construction was also supported by King Alexander I, who took on the role of sovereign patron. Funds for the construction and equipment of the building were donated by the king himself, members of the Royal House of Yugoslavia, Serbian Patriarch Varnava and many others. The Russian House played the most important role in the life of the emigration as a cultural, organizational, and social center. Before the opening, King Alexander told academician Alexander Belich: “You must preserve the Russian soul for the Russians. Look, they came with their families. Every family is a nation in miniature; it is the beginning of every nation. Believe me, Russians will find their Motherland within their four walls if the family breathes the Russian atmosphere. Russian school - primary and secondary - must forever cement their Russian nationality, without which their family is a torn leaf from a mighty tree. And that's not all, and that's not enough. A Russian person cannot live without satisfying his spiritual needs. Remember this always. Shelter, feed, cure - good, necessary and very useful. But if at the same time you do not allow the Russian person to vent his soul at lectures, concerts, exhibitions, and especially in your theater, in your opera, you have done nothing for him... Always remember that there is a people in the world who will sacrifice bread for spiritual benefits, for which art, science, theater are also a piece of bread. These are our Russians."

In Serbia they call Emperor Nicholas II the defender of the Serbs, and we can say that King Alexander is the defender of the Russians.

It was King Alexander who created the state of Yugoslavia, an Orthodox Slavic monarchy, the existence of which was like a bone in the throat of the communists, the democrats, the Catholic Vatican, and the Croatian Ustasha bandits. In the mid-1920s, confusion reigned in public opinion and minds, generated, on the one hand, by communist propaganda, which denied everything monarchical, Orthodox, and national. On the other hand, pressure from radical nationalist parties was growing, demanding an ever larger piece of the political pie. The situation was in many ways reminiscent of Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Under these conditions, King Alexander makes the difficult decision to introduce a dictatorship in the country. Here are the words of his address to his people: “The hour has come when there should no longer be any intermediaries between the people and the King... Parliamentary institutions, which my blessedly deceased father used as a political instrument, remain my ideal... But blind political passions The parliamentary system has been so abused that it has become an obstacle to all useful national activity. Consent and even ordinary relations between parties and individuals became completely impossible.
Of course, with his noble and courageous actions, the king signed his own death warrant.

On October 9, 1934, during a visit to France, Alexander Karadjordjevic and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou were shot dead in Marseille. “Keep Yugoslavia…” were the last words of the dying 55-year-old king. Queen Mary was regent for the minor heir Peter, and in 1945 the royal family of Yugoslavia was forced to move to London and leave their homeland. The behest of the dying king was not fulfilled, Yugoslavia was not saved, jackals swooped in and tore it apart.

Materials were used from the article by E. Bondareva “The Orthodox Serbian King”.

Recently, many people have become increasingly interested in the fate of their ancestors. Today no one wants to be Ivan, who does not remember their kinship. And this can only be welcomed. Particular attention is drawn to the defenders of the Fatherland - those who went missing in the fires of the liberation wars, who laid down their lives in a foreign land, and were buried in mass graves. Establishing their names and revealing the details of the feat is a noble cause, in which, along with search teams, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, an increasing number of Russians are becoming involved.
Here is the story, at the request of our correspondents, that the Dean of the Chekhov District, priest Alexander Serbsky, told about his family:
- My great-grandmother Serafima Alexandrovna Serbskaya, nee Mas-
Lova is the daughter of priest Alexander Maslov, who was the rector of the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Tebleshi, Bezhetsk district, Tver region. She graduated from the Higher Women's Bestuzhev Courses in St. Petersburg.
And soon I met there my great-grandfather Arseny Petrovich Serbsky, who graduated first from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, since he was from a family of clergy - his father was a deacon in the village of Sobakino, Kalininsky district, Tver region - and then from St. Petersburg University. And so they met, fell in love and got married. And three sons were born to them. The eldest is Vladimir, born in 1916, Boris - 1918. The city of Vyborg, where my great-grandfather headed one of the gymnasiums, at that time belonged to Finland. In 1918, turning points took place in the fate of the city.
- Independence is proclaimed, there is a Civil War, famine begins and the family moves to Bezhetsk. Here in 1920 their youngest son was born - my grandfather Viktor Aresenievich.
Priest Alexander
- my great-grandmother's father
- I didn’t live to see this time. He died in 1916. And here is Mother Alexandra
- my grandfather's grandmother - lived until 1937. And my grandfather remembered her very well. I remembered going to church. Unfortunately, the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Tebleshi is now dilapidated - it was closed in the thirties. A huge magnificent temple, very similar to the Trinity Cathedral in Podolsk.
“However, let’s return to our topic,” Father Alexander continues the story. - The elder brother Vladimir took part in the Great Patriotic War and survived. My grandfather Victor, the youngest of the brothers, was a railway engineer during the war and did not participate in battles. But the middle brother, Boris Arsenievich, immediately followed the military line: he studied at the naval school in Leningrad, but did not have time to start a family. And all we knew about him was that he died at the beginning of the war. But recently, my brother’s sister, historian Svetlana Petrovna Serbskaya, found award documents that say that Lieutenant Serbsky Boris Arsenievich, born in 1918, “since May 1942, took an active part in carrying out combat missions of the command. In battle he behaves boldly and calmly. Initiative. Being the assistant commander of the boat, he always ensured good organization during landing and filming. So, for example, on September 17 - 18, 1942, during the landing and filming of the landing force on the enemy’s coast in Motovsky Bay, with strong artillery fire and attacks from enemy aircraft, he managed to perfectly organize a quick landing and filming of the landing force. While the boat commander was dodging enemy fire, Comrade. Serbsky personally supervised the installation of smoke screens, artillery fire, etc. Despite the loss of some of the personnel from the ranks, the task assigned to the boat was completed brilliantly.
Participated in the landing at Cape Pikshchuev on October 21-22, 1943. When carrying out tasks to lay minefields in Varanger Fiord - November 1942, February-March 1943 - being on the lead boat of the group, he ensured reliable laying, despite to various weather conditions and being constantly 12 or more hours at a time laying. Many dozens of times he took part in escorting both in Motovsky Bay and in the Iokangskaya area
VMBases.
On June 26, 1943, while carrying out a mission to rescue the crew of the motorboat “Swan” in Motovsky Bay, when the sea state was 4 points and low clouds, the boat was attacked by 8 enemy aircraft of the FV-190 type. In this unequal battle, Comrade was killed. Serbian at his combat post and died along with the boat. Posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree."
This is fate.
As for our Lopasna land, there are special places here - the Stremilovsky defense line, miraculously connected with our Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which is now kept in our Conception Church. The icon that was on this line of defense, and, according to the testimonies of veterans, miracles were performed from it. Whether this was true or not, the enemy’s advance was stopped there. This icon is very revered in our church; from it comes grace-filled help to those praying. It was once in a chapel in the village of Vysokovo, but the chapel was destroyed in the 1930s, and the icon was taken home. Since the beginning of the war, the woman who had it had dreamed of the Mother of God three times, who ordered her icon to be carried to the front. But the woman was afraid of the consequences, because it was Soviet times. Finally the front reached the borders of Vysokov. When a shell hit this woman’s house and one corner remained intact, where the icon was located, she took it to the Stremilovsky line. When our temple was returned to believers in 1988, this woman was one of the first to bring this icon to the Conception.
We must not forget about that great time. Our duty is to pass on living, true historical memory to future generations. And there should be no indifference in this matter.
Olga KALININA

Speaking about the loves of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, we cannot ignore this one. Probably, it was a very short hobby - maybe just a READINESS to fall in love - but it was this feeling that had every chance of being continued. After all, Olga finally liked an equal in position: the prince of a foreign power.

In December 1913, Olga realized that her “sunshine” Pavel Voronov (no longer?) did not reciprocate her feelings, and made several emotional entries about him in her diary, using a secret code. His behavior confuses and worries her, her feelings are looking for a way out... On December 21, the denouement follows: “I found out that my S. is marrying Olga Kleinmichel. May God send him happiness, my beloved S. It’s hard. Sad. He would be pleased." Olga also encrypted this recording. It would seem that the time has come to immerse yourself in experiences for a long time, but after a few weeks the mysterious code appears in the diary again. And if earlier he only hid declarations of love for Voronov, now Olga writes about something else (further encrypted fragments are in italics):
“January 12.
Alexander Serbsky arrived (In Russian uniform . Wow what eyes).
January 15.
At 9 ½, Papa, Aunt and I went to St. Petersburg to consecrate the new Church of the Feodorovskaya Mother of God in honor of the 300th anniversary. Lasted from 10 to 1 ¼. Metropolitan, etc. Bright, large, good church. I stood near Alexander of Serbia, he was a little further away. Wow, wow.
January 17.
We had breakfast with Papa, Aunt, Kostya and Alexander. I sat with him. Cute, embarrassing and beautiful horror. Wow wow what.
January 19.
Mom, I don’t know how. I fell asleep after 3 o'clock at night. God save her and everyone Alexandra S.
January 23.
After in the Winter episode. big breakfast. Afterwards we talked. I've been with Alexander for quite a long time. God bless him.
The 25th of January.
We had breakfast with Papa, T. Olga, gr. Fredericks and Alexander S. He came to say goodbye. He’s leaving in 2-3 days, it’s a pity, dear.”

Alexander Karageorgievich was 7 years older than Olga. He had many connections with Russia: he had Russian educators, was the godson of Alexander III and the named son of Nicholas II; studied at the School of Law and the Corps of Pages in St. Petersburg. He became heir to the throne in 1909, after his older brother George, under the pressure of a scandal, was forced to renounce his rights to the throne.
In the same year, Alexander almost asked for the hand of Princess Tatyana Konstantinovna. The Serbian minister and even the father-king personally carried out careful reconnaissance on this matter. But to the Konstantinovichs, the position of the Karageorgievich dynasty on the throne seemed too precarious. K.R., Tatiana’s father, wrote in his diary: “I told her in detail about the claims of the Serbian court and the reasons that prompt us to advise her to refuse this offer. Although she rather likes Sandro Serbsky, she did not hesitate to reject him.”
True, a year later the families became related: Alexandra’s sister Elena married Grand Duke John Konstantinovich. For the Karageorgievics this was a great success, because they took the throne only in 1903 through a coup. In Europe they were not very recognized, and not all Romanovs were disposed towards them.
In 1912-13, Alexander managed to show valor in the Balkan Wars. And then he again thought about marriage, but now he was interested in the daughter of the king himself. Just which one?

In this newspaper for November 1913, it was suggested that Olga would become the wife of Alexander of Serbia, and Tatiana - Karol of Romania. On the other hand, English Wikipedia, citing Serbian archives, claims that Prime Minister Nikola Pasic wrote to Nicholas II in January 1914 about Alexander’s intention to marry one of the grand duchesses. Nikolai did not object and even noticed the interest that his daughter showed in Karol - but it was allegedly not Olga, but Tatyana. (And Russian Wikipedia generally assures: “Tatyana and Alexander wrote letters to each other until their deaths. When Alexander learned about Tatiana’s murder, he was confused and almost committed suicide suicide »).
Alexander’s sister Elena, in her memoirs, which I have not yet been able to find, seemed to say that she noticed some “chemistry” between Alexander and Olga. Well, Olga’s diary allows us to conclude that Alexander was not indifferent to her, and I think the Serbian heir himself paid attention to her. One can only guess what prevented him from taking the next step.
In the spring, Olga becomes interested in Molokhovets, then the war begins, but all this does not prevent her from remembering Alexander on various occasions:
"24 February.
At 12 o'clock Mom received the Bavarian, Belgian, Danish and Serbian envoys (Nalajovich. So reminds Alexandra S).
25 February.
(small print: I haven’t seen Alexander S for a month)
March 25.
I didn’t see Alexandra for 2 months.<…>
(apparently added later) I haven’t seen Alexander S. for 2 months.
4 September.
The Pope gave Alexander of Serbia the St. George Cross, 4th century. I'm very happy. God help me.
October 6.
John, Gabriel and Kostya and Elena were having lunch. They told us a lot of interesting things. She's a piece of Alexander and I love her.
October 16.
At 7 o’clock Mom and I went to the infirmary, we went to see everyone, and I talked to K. and I. in the corridor. Everyone knows Alexander from the corps.”

Alexander was a thin brunette with a mustache and large facial features (and “wow” eyes) - this is exactly the type of appearance that always attracted Olga. Plus, he seemed to be a really nice person. “The prince turned out to have a kind and friendly character,” writes the grandson of his teacher, the famous priest Gleb Kaleda. “To please his teacher, the prince wrote to him in Russian, asking for forgiveness in advance for possible mistakes, although there were none.” He was remembered as a tactful person, sometimes shy and prone to melancholy, a lover of reading - there are some similarities with Olga's character.
Olga never saw Alexander again, but a year later she noted the anniversary of his arrival in her diary:
"1915.
January 12.
The year that Alexandra saw Vsevolod at Vsevolod’s christening.
January 15.
Consecrated year church Alexander.
January 17.
Mordvinov and Count Fredericks were having breakfast. And a year ago Alexander. God bless him."
It seems that Pasic, even in the spring of 1916, expressed the hope that Olga would become the Serbian queen. But in January of this year, the date of the meeting with Alexander was not noted in the diary. At this time, Olga hardly thought about anyone other than Dmitry Shakh-Bagov. (By the way, here her fate again intersects with the fate of Tatyana Konstantinovna, who was very friendly with the eldest daughters of Nicholas II. Instead of the Serbian prince, she married a simple officer, a Caucasian, for love, and he even served in the Erivan regiment - like Olga’s lover. T .K. even knew Shakh-Bagov and calls him in a letter “a sweet, handsome boy.” Surely Olga thought that she could repeat her path).
But in 1917 Olga recalls again:
"January 17. Exactly 3 years ago today Alexander Serbsky had breakfast with us.” Here the name is also written in code, and this is the last encrypted entry in the diary.

Biographers of Olga Nikolaevna like to repeat that she wanted to stay in Russia, so she did not marry the Romanian heir Karol. The interest in Alexander Serbsky shows that, most likely, it was not a matter of the country: it was simply Karol who was unsympathetic to Olga. I think she understood that sooner or later she would have to leave her homeland. It’s unlikely that the rumors had escaped her; she knew who she was expected to marry, and she didn’t mind falling in love with the handsome Orthodox prince. Maybe by the beginning of 17 she returned to the thought of him because someone had dashed her hopes for a happy morganatic marriage? Although what kind of wedding could there be when the revolution is already on the doorstep? What kind of fate would await her in a small, semi-literate kingdom, always torn apart from without and within?
Alexander married the sister of that same Karol in 1922 (there is a version that he waited so long because until then he did not believe in Olga’s death). It seems that he became a good family man and ruled his country for more than 10 difficult years. Yugoslavia in the 20s became a fragment of Russian Atlantis, a center of white emigration. Sometimes there is an opinion that Alexander was so supportive of Russian refugees in memory of his first love - Olga / Tatyana. But I think Russia meant a lot to him anyway.


Alexander was killed in 1934 by a terrorist; his family fled from the Nazis during the war and never returned to their homeland. Well, instead of Maria the Romanian widow and exile, Olga could have become... No matter how her fate turned out, it would not have been easy. The time of Slavic monarchs has passed.

Alexander I Obrenovic(Serb. Aleksandar Obrenovic; August 14, Belgrade, Serbia - June 11, Belgrade, Serbia) - King of Serbia from to 1903, the last representative of the Obrenovic dynasty. Killed by a group of conspiratorial officers along with his wife, Queen Draga, during the so-called May Coup.

Biography [ | ]

Early years [ | ]

Aleksandar Obrenovic was born on August 14, 1876 in Belgrade. He was the only son of the Serbian prince Milan IV Obrenovic and his wife, the daughter of the Moldavian landowner Natalia Obrenovic (Keshko). In 1887, after the relationship between the spouses deteriorated completely, Milan, who by that time had already changed his princely title to a royal one, separated from his wife and entered into a formal agreement with her, according to which Alexander was to be raised in Germany and France under the supervision of his mother . Natalia took her son with her to Wiesbaden, but soon the King of Serbia sent General Kosta Protic to Germany, who, with the support of the Prussian police, kidnapped Alexander and brought him to his father.

Rise to power and regency period[ | ]

The conflict with the Serbian Orthodox Church was also resolved - Metropolitan Michael (Jovanovic), who was removed in 1881, was returned in 1889. In 1890, a new Law on Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Eastern Orthodox Church was adopted, which proclaimed Orthodoxy as the state religion of the country and fixed the division of Serbia into five dioceses. The Council of Bishops again consisted only of bishops, but their subordination to royal authority remained: for a metropolitan or bishop to travel abroad, permission from the king was required; the bishop had to be approved by the king before consecration, and after it was appointed to the diocese by royal decree. The law of 1890 secured the election of the metropolitan by the Council of Bishops, but with the participation of government officials and with the approval of the elected candidate by the king. The law also fixed a mandatory state salary for bishops. This law, with some changes, was in effect until 1918.

Independent rule[ | ]

Both of these circumstances led to increased political tension in Serbia and had fatal consequences for the Obrenovic dynasty.

Death of the Royal Couple[ | ]

The bodies of the king and queen lay under the windows of the palace for several more days. In the end, Alexander Obrenovic was buried within Hungarian (at that time) borders: in the cathedral of the Krušedol na Fruška Gora monastery (Vojvodina). Thus the long-term reign of the House of Obrenovic ended tragically. The former dynasty was replaced by the Karadjordjevics in the person of King Peter I. Exactly 100 years later, in 2003, Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic and his wife Catherine lit candles on the grave of Alexander and Draga Obrenovic as a sign of repentance.

Culture [ | ]

Mentions in literature[ | ]

Incarnations in cinema[ | ]

Notes [ | ]

1. German National Library, Berlin State Library, Bavarian State Library, etc. Record #120558106 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012-2016.
2. //

Serbian king-passion-bearer Alexander I Karageorgievich

Nikolsky E.V.

Today, the Yugoslav king-passion-bearer Alexander I Karageorgievich (1888-1934) is little known in Russia. For many years, even in Yugoslavia itself, his name was kept silent, and the significance of his noble activities was deliberately diminished.
The glorious and pious Sovereign Alexander I Karageorgievich was born on December 17 (30), 1888 in the family of the future King of Serbia, Peter I Karageorgievich, and Princess Zorka, daughter of the Montenegrin Prince (later king) Nicholas I Njegos.

The heir to the Serbian throne received an excellent education in Russia - in 1904 he graduated from the Corps of Pages in St. Petersburg. In Russia, the Serbian prince made many friends and became very attached to our country. As Baroness E.N. recalled Meyendorff, Sovereign Nicholas II asked her grandfather, Adjutant General B.E. Meyendorff, so that he would take a kind of guardianship over the heir to the throne during his free days. And the heir to the throne, Alexander, became a frequent guest in their house.

After the abdication of his elder brother George in 1909, on July 8, 1914, due to the illness of King Peter I, Alexander was appointed Prince Regent of the Kingdom of Serbia. During the I and II Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, Prince Alexander commanded the First Serbian Army. As the Russian envoy in Belgrade N.G. said. Hartwig: “In the battle of Kumanov, Crown Prince Alexander showed exceptional courage. While the Turks showered Serbian positions with a continuous shower of shrapnel and rifle bullets, the prince rode around the front on horseback, being a visible and attractive target for the Turks. Moreover, when, finally, after a brutal bloody battle, Kumanovo was taken, Prince Alexander was the first to enter the fallen city. Meanwhile, the Albanians and Turks holed up in the houses fired back from all the windows, and almost every Muslim shack had to be stormed...”

After the end of the Second Balkan War, the heir was awarded the gold medal of Milos Oblic. At the same time, Prince Alexander became a holder of the highest Imperial Order of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle.

On the eve of the First World War, Prince Alexander assumed the duties of Supreme Commander of the Serbian Army. For the courage shown by the Serbs in the fight against the common enemy, Russian Emperor Nicholas II awarded the Serbian prince the Order of St. George of the 4th and 3rd degrees.

After the death of King Peter in 1921, Alexander was proclaimed sovereign of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and in 1929, after the formation of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav King. In 1922, Alexander married the daughter of King Ferdinand I of Romania, Princess Maria, who came from the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty. In this marriage three sons were born - Peter, Tomislav and Andrei.

Defender of Russians

Deeply grateful to Tsarist Russia, which was so attentive to him personally and defended his homeland in 1914, King Alexander gave shelter and protection to numerous Russian emigrants. “Yugoslavia is indebted to the Russian Tsar for the fact that I was able to found it,” he said. “And for the fact that in Russia I always felt at home, and for the excellent military training, and for the cordial attitude towards myself.”

King Alexander perceived the October Revolution and the exodus of many worthy people of Russia into emigration as a personal tragedy. Under the protection and personal patronage of King Alexander I and members of his family were organizations in charge of helping Russians, professional, scientific and creative associations (Russian Archaeological Society, Russian Scientific Institute in Belgrade, Russian Engineering Society). In Sremski Karlovci, on the territory under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the activities of the Supreme Church Administration, and later the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, headed by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), were launched. Alexander I personally contributed to the establishment of the main Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Belgrade for the Russian emigration in Serbia, which became the storage place for Russian military shrines. He actively contributed to the creation of Russian educational and sports institutions. Here, in Serbia, General P. N. Wrangel created the Russian All-Military Union.

King Alexander, brought up in the traditions of Russian culture and knowing the Russian language very well, not only gave refuge to Russian refugees, but also granted them all equal rights with the indigenous population of the country. “In gratitude, King Alexander gave the Russian community in Belgrade a house the size of an entire block and several floors high,” recalled Baroness E.N. Meindorff, - ... compare, in France the grand dukes worked as drivers, taxi drivers, and newspaper delivery men. In Yugoslavia, all Russians worked in their professions. There were more Russian professors at the University of Belgrade than Serbian ones.” When we became “too sick of living among general misunderstanding, cruelty, stupidity,” wrote Ataman P. N. Krasnov, “... we prayerfully turned our thoughts to one bright point - King Alexander! Knight-King, Serb, with an open Russian soul, raised in Russia, brought up in Russia, knowing what Imperial Russia is, loving it and being loyal to it!”