Medal for the ‘New Serbia’ of Crown Prince Alexander Karađorđević, 1903:

Circular oxidised bronze medal with loop for ribbon suspension; the face with a head and shoulders

portrait of Crown Prince Alexander in military uniform looking left circumscribed ‘ПРЕСТОЛОНАСЛЕДНИК АЛЕКСАНДАР’ (Crown Prince Alexander); the reverse with the crowned royal arms of Serbia circumscribed ‘СПОМЕН ОД НОВЕ СРБИЈЕ’ (Commemorative of the New Serbia); diameter 28mm (1⅛ inches); on a replaced ribbon in the Serbian national colours. Crown Prince Alexander was the son and heir of King Petar I and descended from Karađorđe Petrović, leader of the first Serbian uprising against the Ottoman Turks in 1804. His father was invited to become King after the military coup of 11 June 1903 which resulted from a decade of misrule by King Alexander Obrenović and his unpopular marriage to Madame Draga Mašin. Under King Petar I, Serbia made social, economic and political progress and fought and won three devastating wars in the years 1912 to 1918. Alexander was King of Yugoslavia, of which Serbia had formed the core, from 1921 to 1934.