Natalie of Serbia

Natalija Obrenović (; 15 May 1859 – 8 May 1941), née Keshko, known as Natalie of Serbia, was the Princess of Serbia from 1875 to 1882 and then Queen of Serbia from 1882 to 1889 as the wife of Milan I of Serbia. Of ethnic Romanian origin, she was the daughter of a Russian Colonel and Moldavian Princess. A celebrated beauty during her youth, she was later regarded as one of the most beautiful queens in Europe. Early life and ancestry She was born in 1859 in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany (now Italy), into an old noble House of Keshko, as the first child of Russian colonel Petre Keșco (1830–1865) of Bessarabia and his wife, Moldavian Princess Pulcheria Sturdza (1831–1874). Her father was the son of Ioan Keșco (1809–1863), a Marshal of Nobility of Bessarabia, and Romanian noblewoman Natalia Balș (1812–1830), daughter of Iordache Balș (1776-1849), Grand treasurer of Moldavia and Princess Ruxandra Sturdza (1785-1844). Maternally, she was granddaughter of Prince Nicolae Sturdza (1790-1832) and Princess Maria Ghika (1805-1887). Her great-grandfather was Ioan Sandu Sturdza, the ruling Prince of Moldavia. Natalie grew up in Dănuțeni, Bessarabia, Odessa, then part of the Russian Empire and Iași, United Romania.