Petrović-Njegoš dynasty
| House of Petrović-Njegoš Петровић-Његош |
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|---|---|
| Royal house | |
.svg) |
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| Country |
 Montenegro |
| Estates | King Nikola's Palace |
| Titles | |
| Style(s) | "Majesty" "Grace" "His Eminence" (clergical) |
| Founded | 1696 |
| Founder | Danilo I, Metropolitan of Cetinje |
| Final ruler | Nicholas I of Montenegro |
| Current head | Nicholas, Crown Prince of Montenegro |
| Deposition | 1918 (deposed by Podgorica Assembly) |
| Ethnicity | Montenegrin |
The Petrović-Njegoš (Montenegrin and Serbian Cyrillic: Петровић-Његош) was the ruling family of Montenegro from 1696 to 1918, but the deposition was real only in 1921. Montenegro had enjoyed de facto independence from the Ottoman Empire from 1711 but only received formal international recognition as an independent principality in 1878.
Montenegro was ruled from inception by Vladikas, Prince-Bishops, who had a dual temporal and spiritual role. In 1697, the office was made hereditary in the Petrović-Njegoš family. However, since Orthodox bishops are required to be celibate, the crown passed from uncle to nephew. In 1852, Prince-Bishop Danilo II opted to marry and secularized Montenegro, becoming Prince Danilo I. His successor, Nikola I, raised Montenegro to a kingdom in 1910. In 1916 King Nikola I was ousted by the invasion and occupation of his country by Austria-Hungary. He was formally deposed by the Podgorica Assembly in 1918 as Montenegro was annexed by Serbia, which in turn merged into the emergent Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
A period of eighty years of control from Belgrade followed during which Nikola I died in exile in France in 1921 followed shortly afterwards by the surprise abdication of his son and heir, Danilo III, the same year. The latter's nephew, Michael Petrović-Njegoš, inherited the titles of his predecessors whilst in exile in France and survived arrest and internment by order of Adolf Hitler for refusing to head up a puppet Montenegrin state aligned to the Axis Powers. Later, he served the SFR Yugoslavia as Head of Protocol. He was succeeded by his son Nicholas Petrović-Njegoš in 1986. Nicholas returned to Montenegro to support the Montenegrin independence movement that went on to achieve full sovereignty in the 2006 referendum.
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Wikipedia