Wednesday 12 February 2014

WHY ISN'T THIS A FILM - Alexander & Draga.


The Life and Romance of King Alexander I of Sebia and Queen Draga:

A Love Story.

Royal Pageantry - Politics - Forbidden Love - Love over country - Betrayal - Conspiracy - Murder

Why isn't this a film?

In 1889, when Aleksandar Obrenović was 13 his father King Milan I of Serbia unexpectedly abdicated the throne and retired to Paris.  Milan left his ex-wife, Natalija as regent until Aleksandar at 18.

At the age of 16, Aleksandar declared him an adult and took control of the country a move that had popular support.  He brought his father back to lead the army.

Despite his father trying to arrange a marriage for Aleksandar with a German princess, in the summer of 1900 Aleksandar announced his engagement Draga Mašin, a former lady-in-waiting to his mother and a widow 12 years his senior.  Public opinion was against it. His father and the Prime Minister immediately resigned.  His mother objected to the union and was banished from the country.  Tsar Nicholas II of Russia sent his congratulations and accepted a request to act as principal witness, which lead to more acceptance of the marriage, but Aleksandar's Kingship was weakened in the eyes of the republic and the army.  Rumours abound that Draga was manipulating the young king and one of her two unpopular brothers would be named his successor.

This eventually led (at the age 26) to his and his Queen's murder at the hands of a military conspiracy (which later became The Black Hand organisation that caused WWI).


Previous Films of this story:
  • Maria Draga (1932) aka A Woman Commands [US]
  • Königin Draga (1920) [Germany]

Should be in the style of:

  • Queen Elisabeth (1998)
  • Marie Annoinette (2006)

~ DUG.




1 comment:

  1. Wow. You can't make that shit up, can you?

    Ummm . . . tried to marry him to a German Prince? Not sure if this is a typo or a hint of how progressive things were back then.

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