Grandma Milka is one of the oldest Serbian women: She celebrated her 105th birthday in London, congratulated by the British king and queen
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One of the oldest Serbian women, Milica Jović, celebrated her 105th birthday in London on 6 November! She received congratulations from King Charles and Queen Camilla, which is a great honour for her!
Grandma Milka, as she is affectionately known, was born in Dalmatia, lived in Macedonia, then in Serbia, and in 1953 moved to England with her son Dragan. This vital grandmother also received a congratulatory message for her 100th birthday from Queen Elizabeth.
“I am very happy about the congratulations sent to me by King Charles and Queen Camilla. I love the Royal Family, and it is an honour for me that they know my name,” Grandma Milka proudly told Kurir.
She dressed up for the special day, went to her grandson Mihajlo’s hair salon to have her hair done, put on her finest outfit and shone.
“First, we all went to my son Dragan’s and his wife’s place, where I danced and enjoyed the Užice ring dance. We also went out to dinner at a restaurant. We had a lovely time, and I ate spaghetti. At home I cook Serbian dishes, but when we go out as a family, I like Italian food.”
She has a son Dragan (83), two grandsons and one granddaughter – Novak (52), Mihajlo (42) and Dani (56) – and four great-grandchildren aged four, six, ten and 16. She lives alone, but everyone is nearby, so her home is always full of joy. She says her longevity is due to hard work and Serbian food, especially sauerkraut.
Grandma Milica at the hair salon before the celebration; PHOTO CREDIT: PRIVATE ARCHIVE
“Thank God for giving me good health. I worked a lot in cooperatives, dug the land and did all sorts of things to raise my child. I was separated from my husband Rista for nine years.”
She recalled her youth, her love, and the moment when the Germans captured Rista near Kumanovo.
“I was six months old when my father got a job in Macedonia. I met my husband there; he was a gendarme. In 1941 the Germans separated women and men,” she recalls as if it were yesterday:
“I cried, I didn’t know what to do. A German soldier approached me; he saw my tears. I showed him my ring and somehow explained that they had taken Rista away. He felt sorry for me and said, ‘Wait for me here!’
“It began to get dark, then he appeared and led me over the hill to where they were holding the men.
“He shouted, ‘Who here is Rista?’ He said something to another German. They brought Rista out. The soldier had sweets and gave one to each of us, saying, ‘Go!’ I probably saved Rista from death then.”
They went to Kumanovo, and the next day to Leskovac, where Rista’s family lived. They saw the truck and the German soldier who had let them go.
“He waved at us and smiled!”
Rista was engaged in military guard service, and in 1944 he fled ahead of the partisans to Austria; he supported the king.
“He spent some time in a camp in Italy, then in Germany, from where he went to England as a refugee. The communists would not allow me to go. I lived with my son in Starčevo.”
An English politician spoke with Winston Churchill to urge Tito to allow women whose husbands had emigrated to England to obtain visas.
“There was news about it in the papers. As soon as I saw it, I took my son, who was nine years old. Rista had last seen him as a baby. They issued me passports immediately, and we left for England in 1953.”
Rista cried a lot…They lived in the north, and when she started attending services at the Serbian church in London, she was delighted by the beauty of the city.
“I said, ‘Rista, let’s move to London!’ He worked in a factory, and I worked as a seamstress. I took work home as well. For a while I even sewed for the famous Dior. We bought one house, then another, and later a small hotel,” she said proudly.
‘We lived very well indeed.’
She is preparing to celebrate St Nicholas with her loved ones.
Rista is buried in London, and she says she will be too.