Prince Milan IV
In 1868, when Milan was only fourteen years of age, Prince Mihailo got assassinated. On suggestion from cabinet minister Milivoje Petrović Blaznavac, underage Milan succeeded Mihailo to the throne under a regency. The regency was a three-man council consisting of Blaznavac, statesman and historian Jovan Ristić, and Gavrilović. Furthermore, prominent Serb nobleman from Dubrovnik, Medo Pucić, was brought to Belgrade to serve as teacher and adviser to the underage prince. On 2 January 1869, the third Serbian constitution, mostly Ristić's creation, was promulgated.
In 1872, Milan was declared of age, and he took government into his own hands. He soon manifested great intellectual capacity, coupled with a passionate headstrong character. Eugene Schuyler, who saw him about this time, found him a very remarkable, singularly intelligent, and well-informed young man.
Milan carefully balanced the Austrian and Russian parties in Serbia, with a judicious leaning towards Austria-Hungary. At the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878, Prince Milan induced the Porte to acknowledge his independence at the Treaty of Berlin.
Read more about this topic: Milan I Of Serbia
Famous quotes containing the word prince:
“A prince must be prudent enough to know how to escape the bad reputation of those vices that would lose the state for him, and must protect himself from those that will not lose it for him, if this is possible; but if he cannot, he need not concern himself unduly if he ignores these less serious vices.”
—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)