King of Yugoslavia in the context of "Presidency of Yugoslavia"

Alexander I Karađorđević (Serbo-Croatian: Александар I Карађорђевић, romanized: Aleksandar I Karađorđević, pronounced [aleksǎːndar př̩viː karadʑǒːrdʑevitɕ]; 16 December 1888 [O.S. 4 December] – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier (Aleksandar Ujedinitelj / Александар Ујединитељ [aleksǎːndar ujedǐniteʎ]), was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until his assassination in 1934. His reign of 13 years is the longest of the three monarchs of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Born in Cetinje, Montenegro, Alexander was the second son of Peter and Zorka Karađorđević. The House of Karađorđević had been removed from power in Serbia 30 years prior, and Alexander spent his early life in exile with his father in Montenegro and then Switzerland. Afterwards he moved to Russia and enrolled in the imperial Page Corps. Following a coup d'état and the murder of King Alexander I Obrenović in 1903, his father became King of Serbia. In 1909, Alexander's elder brother, George, renounced his claim to the throne, making Alexander heir apparent. Alexander distinguished himself as a commander during the Balkan Wars, leading the Serbian army to victory over the Ottoman Turks and the Bulgarians. In 1914, he became prince regent of Serbia. During the First World War, he held nominal command of the Royal Serbian Army.

Peter II Karađorđević (Serbo-Croatian: Петар II Карађорђевић, romanized: Petar II Karađorđević; 6 September 1923 – 3 November 1970) was the last King of Yugoslavia, reigning from October 1934 until he was deposed in November 1945. He was the last reigning member of the Karađorđević dynasty.

The eldest child of King Alexander I and Maria of Romania, Peter acceded to the Yugoslav throne in 1934 at the age of 11 after his father was assassinated during a state visit to France. A regency was set up under his cousin Prince Paul. After Paul declared Yugoslavia's accession to the Tripartite Pact in late March 1941, a pro-British coup d'état deposed the regent and declared Peter of age.

Ante Pavelić (Croatian: [ǎːnte pǎʋelit͡ɕ] ; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and was dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fascist puppet state built out of parts of occupied Yugoslavia by the authorities of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, from 1941 to 1945. Pavelić and the Ustaše persecuted many racial minorities and political opponents in the NDH during the war, including Serbs, Jews, Romani, and anti-fascists, becoming one of the key figures of the genocide of Serbs, the Porajmos and the Holocaust in the NDH.

At the start of his career, Pavelić was a lawyer and a politician of the Croatian Party of Rights in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia known for his nationalist beliefs and support for an independent Croatia. By the end of the 1920s, his political activity became more radical as he called on Croats to revolt against Yugoslavia, and schemed an Italian protectorate of Croatia separate from Yugoslavia. After King Alexander I declared his 6 January Dictatorship in 1929 and banned all political parties, Pavelić went abroad and plotted with the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) to undermine the Yugoslav state, which prompted the Yugoslav authorities to try him in absentia and sentence him to death. In the meantime, Pavelić had moved to Fascist Italy where he founded the Ustaše, a Croatian nationalist movement with the goal of creating an independent Croatia by any means, including the use of terror. Pavelić incorporated terrorist actions in the Ustaše program, such as train bombings and assassinations, staged a small uprising in Lika in 1932, culminating in the assassination of King Alexander in 1934 in conjunction with the IMRO. Pavelić was once again sentenced to death after being tried in France in absentia and, under international pressure, the Italians imprisoned him for 18 months, and largely obstructed the Ustaše in the following period.