Stanojlo Petrović

Stanojlo Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Станојло Петровић; 13 February 1813 – 1893) was a high-ranking Serbian officer, court secretary, advisor and adjutant to both Prince Miloš Obrenović and his son Mihailo Obrenović III. Petrović and his wife Draginja were among the first public benefactors in Serbia, and may be regarded as the founders of St. Nicholas Church in the New Cemetery in Belgrade.

Stanojlo Petrović was born in Svine in the Braničevo District of Serbia on 13 February 1813 to an old Serbian family which rose to distinction and imperial favour in the 18th century. Several of its members attained high rank in the army and in civil administration. As a youth, Petrović showed no desire to emulate his ancestors. He studied just enough on the day of 26 February 1826 to qualify for cadet school in Požarevac and four years later in 1830, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In Požarevac from 1833 and on he was a military commissioner and was in charge of the Palace Guard in the Principality of Serbia. For the next few years, he led the commonplace life of a fashionable officer of the Guards.

During this period, the people of Serbia often rebelled against Miloš's autocratic and often harsh rule. Following one such rebellion, Miloš agreed to adopt a constitution in 1835. The move was opposed by neighbouring Austria, the ruling Ottoman Empire and by Imperial Russia. It is believed that the three great powers of the day saw the Serbian constitution as a danger to their own autocratic systems of government. Klemens von Metternich's Austria particularly ridiculed the fact that Serbia had its own flag and ministry of foreign affairs. Finally, Miloš was forced to abolish the constitution at the demand of Russia and Turkey.

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