Draga Mašin


Draginja "Draga" Obrenović, née Lunjevica and formerly Mašin, was Queen of Serbia as the wife of King Aleksandar Obrenović. She was formerly a lady-in-waiting to Aleksandar's mother, Queen Natalija.

Early life and ancestry

Draga was the fourth daughter of Panta Lunjevica, a prefect of the Aranđelovac area, and his wife, Anđelija Anđa Koljević, the daughter of the President of the Municipality of Čačak. Draga was the sixth of seven siblings. She had two brothers, Nikola and Nikodije, and four sisters, Hristina, Đina, Ana and Vojka. Her mother was a dipsomaniac and her father died in a lunatic asylum. Vujan Monastery, burial ground of Lunjevica family, was renovated by her father.
Draga's family was very well connected. She was the granddaughter of Nikola Lunjevica, a blood relative of Princess Ljubica of Serbia and a close comrade of Prince Miloš, her husband's great-granduncle. Her paternal grandmother was Đurđija Čarapić, the daughter of Tanasije Čarapić and his wife Ivana Čarapić, who herself was a cousin of Karađorđe's wife Jelena. Đurđija was also a niece of Vasa Čarapić and first cousin of his son, Vojvoda Ilija Čarapić, first modern Mayor of Belgrade, who was married to Stamenka Karađorđević the fourth daughter of Karađorđe Petrović. Draga's aunt was married to Danilo Stefanović, who served as the Prime Minister of Serbia.
At the age of nine, Draga was sent to school in Belgrade, where she completed her school-education. Then she attended the "Cermanka's Institute" or "Women's Institute". There she learned foreign languages: Russian, French and German.
During her stay in Belgrade, Draga began to write novels and short stories as well as to translate books for money. Despite the fact that her father took good care of her, she began to earn her living as a very young girl. She published some well informed stories for foreign journals. She liked to read and was particularly fond of Stendhal's works. At the time of her second marriage, she was the widow of Svetozar Mašin, a Czech civil engineer, the son of Jan Mašin, royal physician to King Milan, her future father-in-law. She married Svetozar in August 1883 in the Cathedral Church of Belgrade. In 1891, a widow, due to her family connections, she became lady-in-waiting to Queen Natalie.

Queen

Despite Draga being nine years older than King Aleksandar, the couple married on 5 August 1900 in a formal ceremony. When Aleksandar announced their engagement, public opinion turned against him, viewing him as a besotted young fool in the power of a "wicked" seductress.
Before proclaiming his intended engagement, Alexander failed to seek the counsel of his father. At that time, King Milan was in Karlsbad, actively engaged in arranging a dynastic alliance that would strengthen the Obrenović dynasty through marriage with a suitable German princess—specifically Princess Alexandra Karoline of Schaumburg-Lippe, of the Schaumburg-Lippe branch of an ancient House of Lippe and sister to the Queen of Württemberg. King Alexander neither consulted his Prime Minister Dr. Vladan Đorđević, who was visiting the Universal Exhibition in Paris at the time of the announcement.
Dowager Queen Natalija bitterly opposed the marriage, and was exiled by her son, in part because of her attitude. The King's many arbitrary and unpopular acts, such as April Constitution in 1901, were blamed on Draga's influence. There were rumors that Aleksandar would name Draga's younger brother Nikodije Lunjevica as heir-presumptive to the throne.
The Queen Draga of Serbia's Decoration was instituted in her honour on 7 April 1902. This medal was awarded to ladies for "achieving meritorious charitable work".

Assassination

The rumour concerning the royal succession led to the couple's assassination. On the night of 10–11 June 1903, a group of army officers invaded the royal palace, led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević and others. Troops led by other officers involved in the conspiracy were deployed near the palace, and the royal guards did not offer effective resistance during the confusion after the electric lighting of the building was turned off. Initially the conspirators were unable to find Aleksandar and Draga. However an aide of the king was captured and, either out of sympathy for the conspiracy or out of fear for his own life, revealed that they were hiding in a large built-in wardrobe off their bedroom.
Another account says that Aleksandar did not shut the secret door properly. Emerging partially dressed, the couple were murdered with sword thrusts and pistol shots by the officers, some of whom were reportedly drunk. The bodies were mutilated and afterwards thrown from a palace balcony onto piles of garden manure. Draga's two brothers, Nikodije and Nikola, were executed by firing squad on the same day. It was not until 19th June that the Lunjevica sisters, including the elder one Hristina Petrović with her children, left the country and settled permanently in Switzerland.

Portrayals

Draga Mašin was played by Magda Sonja in the 1920 Austrian silent film Queen Draga. In the 1932 American film A Woman Commands she was portrayed by Pola Negri. She was also played by Ljiljana Blagojević in the 1995 Serbian mini-series The End of Obrenović Dynasty.

Honours

;National honours