Olga Petrović Njegoš

Olga Petrović-Njegoš (Cetinje, 19 March 1859 — Venice, 21 September 1896), was a Montenegrin princess.

Early life and ancestry

Olga was born on 19 March 1859 in Venice, as a member of the House of Petrović-Njegoš, ruling family of the Principality of Montenegro since 1697. She was an only child of Danilo I, Prince of Montenegro and his wife, Princess Darinka of Montenegro. Alexander II of Russia and Eugénie, Empress of the French acted as Olga's godparents.

Biography

In 1860, her father died, and was succeeded by Nicholas I.Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 9781405142915. In 1867, she left Montenegro with her mother and settled in Venice. Princess Olga was described as quite pretty, and as a timid and sweet tempered personality. In accordance with the will of her father, Olga was placed under the guardianship of her mother until she reached the age of eighteen, and after that she was to come in to the inheritance and lands of her father. However, Nicholas I did not give permission to her or her mother to permanently return to Montenegro again once they had left, so she was never able to take control of her inheritance. However, they still visited Montenegro in 1881, 1884, 1886 and 1889. Having no real property, but still of royal birth, she remained unmarried since she was expected to marry a royal, but her lack of dynastic importance or property never made her a valuable on the royal marriage market. She excelled in languages, spoke them perfectly, but with the same slight foreign accent. After the death of her mother, she continued living in Venice, surrounded by her maternal cousins, but she frequently visited Russia, sometimes in the company of her paternal cousin, Nicholas.

Illness and death

With the Russian and French pension, granted to her and her mother previously by Alexander II and Napoleon III, she lived her life in Venice surrounded by her maternal Kvekić family, where she died unmarried and childless. During the last days of her long illness, Prince Tommaso, Duke of Genoa was telegraphed on a daily basis about her health, while Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin visited her frequently when he returned from his military maneuvers in Germany.

She died in Venice on 21 September 1896. Her coffin was transferred first from Venice to Cattaro, at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then to Montenegro, where her remains were buried next to her mother and father, in the Monastery of Cetinje. Princess Olga's funeral was attended by every member of the Montenegrin royal family and the whole diplomatic corps. Special wreath of fresh flowers was sent by Queen Margherita, soon to be mother-in-law of her paternal cousin, Elena of Montenegro.

References

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1859 births
1896 deaths
Princesses of Montenegro
People from the Principality of Montenegro
19th-century Montenegrin women
Daughters of princes regnant