Alexander I (Serbian Cyrillic: , romanized: Aleksandar Obrenovi; 14 August 1876 11 June 1903) reigned as the king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Draga Main, were assassinated by a group of Royal Serbian Army officers, led by Captain Dragutin Dimitrijevi.



The May Coup (Serbian: Мајски преврат, romanized: Majski prevrat) was a coup d'état involving the assassination of the Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and his consort Queen Draga inside the Royal Palace in Belgrade on the night of 10–11 June [O.S. 28–29 May] 1903. This act resulted in the extinction of the Obrenović dynasty which had ruled the Kingdom of Serbia since the middle of the 19th century. A group of Serbian Army officers led by then-Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević (Apis) organized the assassination of the royal couple. After the May Coup, the throne passed to King Peter I of Serbia.

Along with the royal couple, the conspirators killed the Prime Minister Dimitrije Cincar-Marković, the Minister of the Army Milovan Pavlović and General-Adjutant Lazar Petrović. The coup had a significant influence on Serbia's relations with other European powers; the Obrenović dynasty had mostly allied with Austria-Hungary, while the Karađorđević dynasty had close ties both with Russia and with France. Each dynasty received ongoing financial support from their powerful foreign sponsors.