Royal Order of St. Prince Lazar

Order of Saint Prince Lazar Орден светог кнеза Лазара
Grand Collar of the order
Awarded by Kingdom of Serbia Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Type	Dynastic order
Established	28 June 1889
Royal house	Obrenović (until 1903) Karađorđević (from 1903)
Awarded for	Monarch and Heir apparent (only)
Status	Last appointment in 1941 Dormant order since 1945
Sovereign	Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia
Grades	Knight Grand Collar
Statistics
Total inductees	5 + 3
Precedence
Next (lower)	Order of Karađorđe's Star

The Order of Saint Prince Lazar (Serbian Cyrillic: Орден Светог кнеза Лазара, romanized: Orden Svetog kneza Lazara) was a royal order created by King Alexander I of Serbia to commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo that took place on the 28 June 1389. It must not be confused with the Order of Saint Lazarus. The order is named after Prince Lazar who commanded the Serbian armies in the battle. The Order is worn only by the King of Serbia / King of Yugoslavia and by his Crown Prince (when of majority).

History

The order of Saint Prince Lazar was instituted by the Decision of the Parliament, signed by the King Aleksandar I, to commemorate the fifth centenary of the Battle of Kosovo (28 June 1389), that ended in the collapse of the medieval Serbian state. Saint Prince Lazar, of the Hrebeljanović family, commanded the Serbian armies that were defeated by the Ottoman Sultan Murat I. The Sultan was assassinated by Serbian knight Miloš Obilić, while captured the Serbian Prince was beheaded by the victorious Turks. The cult of the Saint Prince was very strong among Serbs, and the event was reckoned to be the paramount one in the entire history of Serbs. The commemoration of the 500th Anniversary took form of the Anointment of the King, and the Collar of Saint Prince Lazar ordered to be made by Nicolaus und Dunker of Hannau (Germany). The Order is worn only by the King of Serbia and by his Crown Prince (when of majority). Since inception, the Order has been worn only by the following:

Rewarding

The Collar of the Order was allowed to be worn only by the ruler of Serbia (later Yugoslavia) and the heir to the throne:^[1]

Name	Date Awarded	Notes
King Alexander I of Serbia	28 June 1889	First holder of Order after establishment
King Peter I of Serbia	15 June 1903	Second holder of Order from rival dynasty
Crown Prince George of Serbia	27 August 1905	Abdicated in 1909
King Alexander I of Yugoslavia	27 March 1909	Take over order after brother abdication
King Peter II of Yugoslavia	28 March 1941	Got order underage

Aleksandar I Obrenovic, King of Serbia 1889–1903
Peter I, King of Serbia and King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 1903–1921
George, Crown Prince of Serbia 1903–1909
Alexander I, Crown Prince of Serbia 1909–1921, King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and King of Yugoslavia 1921–1934
Peter II, King of Yugoslavia 1934–1945

Titular holder of the order

Name	Date Awarded	Notes
Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia	17 July 1963	In exile
Hereditary Prince Peter of Yugoslavia	5 February 1998	In exile; abdicated in 2022
Hereditary Prince Philip of Yugoslavia	27 April 2022	Took the titular holding after brother abdication in 2022

Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
1963
Peter, Hereditary Prince of Yugoslavia
1998
Philip, Hereditary Prince of Yugoslavia
2022

Sign and a chain of the Order

Sign and a chain of the Order were made of gold and richly decorated with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and pearls. Order for production was the German firm Nicolaus und Dunker. Sketches awards carried a professor of archeology Michael Valtrović.