ALEXANDER AND DRAGA
Alexander—Draga—The Meeting—Draga’s Return to Belgrade—Russia’s
Intrigues—Marriage of Alexander and Draga—Origin of the Plot to
Murder.
After the abdication of Milan, Natalie took up her home in Biarritz in
a chateau which she had previously purchased; while back in Belgrade,
Alexander, under the guidance of regents, had taken upon himself the
burdens of a nominal ruler of Servia. It was not long, however, before
the want of the devoted affection and the healthful moral influence
of his mother began to produce their effects. In many ways Alexander
endeavoured to emulate his father. Although headstrong in the extreme,
even to stubbornness, he became pitiably vulnerable, under the tutelage
of less scrupulous associates, to influences not altogether conducive
to his popularity as a king.
It was to his indiscretion and contumacious perversity that was
accredited one of the most horrible royal tragedies in the history of
the world. In fact, it was on one of Alexander’s imprudent escapades
that he met Draga Maschine, then lady-in-waiting to his mother and the
adventuresome widow of an engineer in the Servian army. An illicit
union with this woman kindled the spark of love between them, which
ignited, as time wore on and the number of their meetings increased,
into the burning flame of passionate devotion.
Of the women of Belgrade, Draga Maschine, at the time of her
ascendency, was an acknowledged star in point of beauty of face and
figure. She was tall and graceful in bearing; her eyes were dark and
lustrous; her hair was said to have been black like the hue of a
raven; the curves of her mouth were bewitching; the type of her chin
was indicative of determined character. Beyond these attributes she
was vivacious and alluring. While yet a mere girl of seventeen she
had been married to a young army engineer, but even at that tender
age she had had the reputation of being a maid of uncertain morals,
and her marriage failed to act as a curb to her perverted desires
and inclinations. She had been wedded barely a year when her husband
took his own life because of her alleged disregard for the holy bonds
of matrimony. It was then that Colonel Maschine, her brother-in-law
and her enemy from the first, plotter against the King and the man
destined to act the role of arch-murderer in the final scene of the
greatest of Servian tragedies, swore he would have retribution for her
conduct, which, he said, had been the cause of his brother’s suicide.
In due course of time Draga became fired with the hope of future social
distinction. She had been dragged through the mire of ill-repute and
was now determined to attain the coveted recognition of society, not as
an adventuress, but as a lady of wealth and rank. To this end she even
sought the influence in her behalf of a minister of the Servian court,
and through him the unsophisticated Natalie resolved to help her,
pensioned her, and finally made Draga one of her ladies-in-waiting at
Biarritz.
In 1898 the young King Alexander, upon a visit to his mother at
Biarritz, met Draga, his future queen and for whom he felt no little
affection from the first.
Natalie, during this visit of her son, laid before him her plans for
his marriage to Princess Lilly Mirko of Montenegro, his cousin, an
Obrenovitch descendant and one of the most beautiful women in all
Europe. But the King, already having been subjected by the subtle
charms of Draga (who, by her beauty and manners, had established
herself as the most fascinating of Natalie’s attendants), disappointed
his mother by taking no thought of her proposal.
On the other hand, Draga Maschine left not a single stone unturned
to win the love of the young King. Their secret meetings were the
gossip of the community. Finally, Natalie became alarmed at the
mutual infatuation of her son and her superlatively captivating
lady-in-waiting and dismissed the latter from her _entourage_. But this
action seemed only to weld more securely the relations of the pair, for
Draga returned triumphantly to Belgrade and the scenes of her early
degradation as none other than the mistress of the King himself.
This marks the date when the power of Draga over Alexander was brought
to bear in earnest. It was at her instigation that the King, upon
attaining his majority, locked his regents in a room of the palace
after having invited them to dinner, drew his revolver, boastingly
declared himself the all-powerful King of the Serbs and issued an order
that his father, Prince Milan, then living humbly in Vienna, should be
shot the moment he might attempt to cross the Servian frontier.
Then Russia, always partial to the Karageorgevitch dynasty, and
prime promoter of the political intrigues of Servia for her
own aggrandizement, foresaw a possible end of the Obrenovitch
dynasty and, by the leverage of the King’s love for his mistress,
proceeded forthwith with skill and subterfuge to pave the way for a
Karageorgevitch ruler.
Anticipating the final outcome of the possible marriage of Alexander
and Draga, Russia commissioned the wife of a Cossack colonel as an
agent to use her influence to bring about such a union. Accordingly,
this woman became a personal friend of Draga; she interested herself
in Draga’s love affair and, at an opportune moment, broached to her
the subject of marriage with the King. Draga protested on the ground
that they loved each other and were already very happy, but the exalted
position of a Queen of Servia was so incessantly brought to her mind
that she finally acquiesced to the suggestions of her supposedly
friendly adviser. The King was assured that Russia would recognize the
marriage, for the Great White Czar himself consented to act as best
man, and the day for the wedding was set.
What must have been the thoughts of Alexander as he drove that day
through the decorated streets of Belgrade? Was he so wrapt up in his
love for the aspiring Draga that he had failed to discover the plots
against him? Or, aware of the deep-rooted intrigue to further the ends
of a selfish monarchy, did he stubbornly face disaster and ultimate
death in his loyalty to his Queen?
As the royal couple returned to the _konak_ from the cathedral, after
the marriage ceremony, the streets were thronged with a staring,
phlegmatic crowd, which looked upon its new Queen in silence and
wonder. Not a cheer was raised; not a trumpet sounded. All marvelled,
and stood aghast at the thought that so strange and incongruous a union
had received the sanction of the church.
Because of the marriage of Draga to the King the ire of her enemies had
been expanded to the highest power. The net of conspiracy continued to
be woven more tightly about her and her faithful but foolish husband.
When she learned that it was a physical impossibility for her to become
a mother she schemed to pass off an alien child as a legitimate heir
to the throne; but the Czar of Russia, who had been asked to act as
god-father to the child, and who, at the same time, seriously doubted
the motherhood of Draga, sent his court physician to Belgrade to
investigate. So frantic became the new Queen’s desire to give birth to
a son that, in her dilemma, she made use of her irresistible power to
induce Alexander to proclaim her own brother, Nikodim Lunyevitza, as
heir apparent; this Alexander did, disregarding utterly the entreaties
and expostulations of the Ministry.
His action galled the Servians beyond endurance, and immediately plans
were set on foot to dispose of the Queen, and the King also, should he
persist in the validity of his proclamation. It is said that a woman
was sent to Geneva to propose to Peter Karageorgevitch that he come to
Belgrade and be proclaimed King by the army, it being understood that
he accept the liberal constitution previously annulled by Alexander.
Everything now pointed to the murder of the King and Queen, but the
former, although warned by word and by letter many times, seemed
oblivious to all danger. He went so far as to augment the bitter
feeling by issuing an order transferring a number of officers, who were
known to have conspired against him, to garrisons in the interior of
the country. All Servia was aware that a royal tragedy was pending.
Even Draga realized it for, on the very day before her assassination,
she wrote pathetically in a letter to a friend: “I am haunted by a
dreadful presentiment, and often at night I seem to see a terrifying
picture of Michael[2] in his death agony, stretching his blood-stained
hand toward his murderers and crying, ‘Stop! My brothers! It is
enough!’”
[2] Undoubtedly Prince Michael is meant, Alexander’s great-grand-uncle,
an account of whose murder in Topchidere Park in 1868 has been given in
a previous chapter.