On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the death of Queen Maria, Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia visited Oplenac and laid a wreath and lit candles at her tomb on Tuesday. Flowers were also laid down at her grave by Serbian royalists and the Serbian government.
Queen Maria was Queen Consort of King Alexander I and the mother of King Peter II. She also gave birth to two other sons, Prince Tomislav and Prince Andrej. She was born as a Romanian Princess and a member of the Royal House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen on January 9th 1900, and was known as Mignon by her family. Queen Maria was the grandmother of Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia.
She won the hearts of Serbian people when she addressed them in fluent Serbian upon her arrival in the country, and she was very much loved and respected for her humanitarian work. She was known as the Queen Mother to all people in Yugoslavia. After the assassination of King Alexander I in Marseilles on 9 October 1934, she continued to care for her sons. She was very active with the Red Cross during World War II and sent a lot of humanitarian help to Yugoslavia, but always signed the help with her alias Maria K. Djordjevic. One of her most famous endowments is the University Children Hospital in Belgrade.
Following World War II, Queen Maria had to go into exile. She died in London on 22 June 1961 and was buried at the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore, a cemetery used by the British Royal Family. Crown Prince Alexander attended the funeral when he was 15-years-old. Her Majesty’s remains were transferred to Serbia on 29 April 2013. She was re-buried at the Royal Mausoleum in Oplenac next to King Alexander I during a State Funeral on 26 May 2013.
