JELENA KARAĐORĐEVIĆ, THE ONLY SURVIVING MEMBER OF THE ROMANOV FAMILY She had a rare blend of Serbian passion and Russian elegance
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“Jelena was always the soul of our family in Paris. Although she lost everything in Russia, she never spoke of revenge. She was a living example of how faith and love can overcome even the deepest darkness,” said her relative Đorđe Pavlović Romanov.
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Princess Jelena Karađorđević was the eldest child of King Petar and Princess Zorka, daughter of Montenegrin King Nikola Petrović, and sister to Prince Đorđe and Alexander, the future King of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later Yugoslavia. She was born on 4 November 1884 in Cetinje, but her life was far from a fairy tale. She lost her mother at an early age, and her lifetime tragically coincided with wars on the Balkans and around the world. She lived through both Balkan Wars, the First World War, the February and October Revolutions, during which all members of the Romanov royal family were executed... She was merely a witness to those events.
Her memoirs, The Last Witness, have finally been reissued in Serbia by Vukotić Media, in which she recounts those darkest days of her life.
A princess ready for marriage
Jelena’s misfortunes began from the moment she was born. In Cetinje, her family found refuge and a home after being exiled from Serbia. From a young age, she was cared for by her grandmother, Princess Milena, and her aunts Anastasija and Milica, as her mother had died while she was still a child. Jelena received an exceptional education — she spoke several languages and attended a finishing school for ladies of high society in Europe.
When the time came for marriage, she said “I do” in 1911 to Ivan Konstantinovich, eldest son of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich and great-grandson of Russian Tsar Nicholas I Romanov.
Although their marriage was initially arranged for political reasons, it soon blossomed into a beautiful and loving relationship full of understanding. After arriving in Russia, Jelena studied medicine at the University of Saint Petersburg until the birth of her first child, son Vsevolod Ivanovich, in 1914. A year later, she gave birth to a daughter, Yekaterina Ivanovna, and thereafter devoted herself entirely to her family.
Despite her dedication to family life, Jelena was actively involved in the Serbian Committee — an association that supported Serbia during the Balkan Wars. Her influence helped strengthen the ties between Russia and Serbia.
She was also engaged in humanitarian work and served as a nurse. The October and February Revolutions completely changed Jelena’s life. Her husband, Grand Duke Ivan, was exiled by the Bolsheviks — first to Kirov, then Yekaterinburg, and finally to Alapayevsk.
Even after more than a hundred years since the tragic execution of the Romanov imperial family in 1918, uncertainties remain in the study of this history.
Some of Princess Jelena of Serbia’s recollections — known in global history as Princess Elena Petrovna — the only member of the Romanov family to survive the tragic events in Yekaterinburg and imprisonment in Perm and Moscow, were published in Serbian in the journal Novi Život. These materials, along with oral accounts by Jelena Petrovna, were used by the Mayor of Pavlovsk and later Secretary to Her Royal Highness, Sergei Nikolaevich Smirnov, in his work On the Murder of the Grand Dukes: Yekaterinburg–Alapayevsk–Perm–Petrograd.
Excerpts from this work were published the same year in several issues of the Serbian newspaper Vreme under the title “Princess Jelena in Bolshevik Captivity”.
Princess Jelena of Serbia’s memoirs in French are preserved in the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European History and Culture at Columbia University. There were also reports that her memoirs saw the light of day either in France or Switzerland, in the 1920s or 1930s. These documents have never been fully published in Russia and, as far as is known, have not been cited in academic literature — with the exception of the aforementioned excerpts printed in the Serbian press.
Writing memoirs
There is a version suggesting that the princess began writing her memoirs in the 1950s. However, considering that the first excerpt — about her final meeting with the Tsar — was published in the Serbian journal Novi Život five years after Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication and was repeated verbatim thirty years later in a Swiss edition, it may be assumed she began recording her memories shortly after those events. But this raises the question of why the text contains certain inaccuracies and errors — not only of fact but also of chronology.
As previously mentioned, the dates of commencement and completion of Princess Jelena’s memoirs have not been determined, and as for the preface, it was undoubtedly written shortly after the Second World War. In it, the author presents a widely circulated version of the revolutionary events in Russia and the later abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. According to his view, the Tsar was sacrificed to communist ideas. Additionally, the text critiques certain political figures and the Provisional Government as “pitiful”, composed of “insignificant people”.
Portraying Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, the preface author highlights her tragic isolation from society: “Whether in the humble garb of a nurse or the luxurious ermine cloak, she found neither goodwill nor understanding.”
It is worth noting that he compares the fate of Tsar Nicholas II to that of King Louis XVI, and that of the Empress to Queen Marie Antoinette: “Slandered, rejected, and persecuted.” This image was no accident — it aligns with lines from the memoirs of Princess Jelena of Serbia, in which a tapestry of the French queen and her children hanging in a guest room of the Alexander Palace serves as a symbol and forewarning of future tragedy.
She was one of the most beautiful and most dignified women at court. She had that rare blend of Serbian passion and Russian elegance;
Although the memoirs of Princess Jelena of Serbia were published in 1958, forty years after the murder of the imperial family in Yekaterinburg and Alapayevsk, the occasion for their publication was not merely remembrance of that tragedy, but the continuation of the “Hamburg Trial” — “during which attempts would be made to unravel the mysterious story of an unknown woman pulled from a Berlin canal after a suicide attempt 38 years earlier — a woman now known as Anna Anderson, who persistently claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, miraculously saved from the Romanov family’s execution.”
The memoirs of the Serbian princess are filled with love for the lost imperial Russia and the hopes tied to it, as well as for the slain royal family of which she remained forever a part. Naturally, they also express her love for Serbia. She described their last meeting as follows:
“I thanked the Tsar for everything Russia had done for Serbia and said to him:
‘Everything I’ve seen in this Serbian camp has been impeccable. All our officers and soldiers are extremely grateful to Your Majesty and so happy to be in Russia!’
His gentle gaze suddenly lit up as if struck by a ray of sunlight. Moved by emotion, he exclaimed:
‘Serbs are heroes! They are worthy of everything Russia and I were able to do for them. You can tell your father and all your countrymen that I will succeed in securing recognition and protecting their interests when peace is concluded. I will do everything I can for Serbia to receive all the territories inhabited by Serbs.’
Seeing that he was in such good spirits, I dared to make the request I had been holding back the whole time.
‘May I ask Your Majesty for clemency for an officer who is not Serbian, but Croatian, and who lost his eyes in battle?’
And I told him about Lieutenant Lovrić.
He listened attentively and replied warmly.
‘I want him to be awarded a medal immediately. And since he is an officer of the Serbian army, I will ask the Minister of War to present you with an award as well.’
Three days later, I received the Cross of Saint George and an imperial decree granting Lieutenant Lovrić his decoration.”
Princess Jelena allows us to enter the world in which she lived. In it, real events intertwine with her hopes, and in a sense, justice is restored: the imperial family knows it is not alone and that not everyone abandoned them during captivity, while the princess reaffirms time and again that she did everything possible to save Ivan Konstantinovich. She writes almost nothing about Alapayevsk or her husband, who was murdered there — that wound never healed.
She describes with particular emotion the moment she learned of his execution while she was imprisoned:
“They’ve been shot. And I fear for you terribly!”
“It’s better to die than to be a witness to such horrors,” I replied, trying not to tremble with rage.
“The woman left, turning the key in the door. A little later, the president of the military tribunal came to see me:
‘Your fate has not yet been decided,’ he told me. ‘For now, you’ll be transferred to a cell that already houses twelve women — twelve women who’ve committed crimes and are serving prison sentences.’
Then he added ironically:
‘That way, you’ll have the opportunity to mix with real people. It’s not something that happens every day.’
‘You’re mistaken,’ I said, flushing with anger. ‘In Serbia, the king is always among the people. Hundreds of peasants have sat at table with him. I know the people just as well as you do.’
He muttered something and disappeared.”
Jelena remained loyal to her husband until the very end, following him everywhere up to his tragic death on 18 July 1918. Ivan was executed a day after the murder of the imperial family, along with other relatives. His death was particularly horrific. Alongside his relatives, he was beaten, taken to an abandoned mine, and thrown into a deep shaft into which the Bolsheviks hurled grenades. Afterwards, branches were thrown over the opening and set alight, according to Istorijski Zabavnik.
A life in despair
She managed to save herself and her children. Thanks to the efforts of the Serbian and Norwegian missions in Russia, Jelena was finally released in 1919.
She then learned of her husband’s gruesome death — but also that her children were safe. They had been taken to Sweden, and Jelena later received permission to join them. Together they moved to Paris and then on to Belgrade to be with her father, King Petar I.
After his death in 1921, Jelena moved to London, and later to Nice. Both her son and daughter studied at Oxford. Her daughter, Katarina Ivanovna, was the last Romanov family member born in Russia. She was highly educated — though, ironically, she did not speak Russian. Jelena had forbidden both children from learning it, as memories of that country and the tragedy they had endured were too painful.
Jelena Karađorđević never remarried. To make her story even more tragic, she never had a true home again after her husband’s death. She mostly lived in hotels.
It is said that she loved her tragically lost husband until the end of her life and never wanted to create a new home without him. She lived through the Second World War, but after 1945 was unable to return to Serbia. She died in October 1962 in Nice, where she was also buried. Her remains were later transferred to Serbia and now rest in the Karađorđević family crypt in Topola.
A relative on Jelena’s spirit, faith, and love
“Jelena was always the soul of our family in Paris. Although she lost everything in Russia, she never spoke of revenge. She was a living example of how faith and love can overcome even the deepest darkness,” said her relative Đorđe Pavlović Romanov.
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