Marširala kralja Petra garda | Serbian Patriotic Song | Lyrics

Lyrics by: Unknown
Music by: Unknown

There are various versions of this song, with the original being the Croatian "Marširala, marširala Jelačića vojska". This version came into being during the First World War and is singing about the king of Serbia at the time, king Peter I Karađorđević.

Peter I (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар I Карађорђевић, romanized: Petar I Кarađorđević) was the last king of Serbia, reigning from 15 June 1903 to 1 December 1918. On 1 December 1918, he became the first king of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and he held that title until his death three years later. Since he was the king of Serbia during a period of great Serbian military success, he was remembered by the Serbian people as King Peter the Liberator and also as the Old King.

Peter was Karađorđe's grandson and third son of Persida Nenadović and Prince Alexander Karađorđević. After his father's abdication, he lived with his family in exile. He fought with the French Foreign Legion in the Franco-Prussian War, and later joined as a volunteer under the alias Peter Mrkonjić in the Herzegovina uprising (1875–1877) against the Ottoman Empire.

He married Princess Zorka of Montenegro, daughter of King Nicholas, in 1883. She gave birth to his five children, including Prince Alexander. After the death of his father in 1885, Peter became head of the Karađorđević dynasty. After a military coup d'état and the murder of King Alexander I Obrenović in 1903, Peter became King of Serbia.

As king, he advocated a constitutional setup for the country and was famous for his liberal politics. The rule of King Peter was marked with the great exercise of political liberties, freedom of the press, national, economic and cultural rise, and it is sometimes dubbed a "golden" or "Periclean age".