Prince Paul holds the regency of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the name of the young King , still a minor. Cousin of the late sovereign , he is a cultivated man, educated at Oxford, with an Anglophilia he scarcely conceals; his wife is a Greek princess. His sympathies draw him towards London, in a Europe where almost everything is giving way before the Axis.
Yet Yugoslavia is encircled. At the beginning of 1941, German troops settle in Romania, then in Bulgaria; Italy occupies neighbouring Albania. To invade Greece — his Operation Marita — Hitler covets the railway network of southern Yugoslavia, which would allow an attack through Monastir and the Vardar valley. Berlin therefore presses Belgrade to join the Tripartite Pact and rally to the Axis.
The pressure becomes extreme. In mid-February 1941, Prime Minister Cvetković and Foreign Minister meet Hitler, who demands a swift decision, presenting accession as Yugoslavia's 'last chance'. The regent, for his part, has been arguing for months for Balkan neutrality, while Churchill and the American emissary Donovan press him in the opposite direction to resist. Prince Paul realises that a refusal could precipitate the invasion, and that a signature would betray his convictions and his people.
How long can Prince Paul refuse to sign the Tripartite Pact?
Prince Paul chooses A at first: in February 1941, the Yugoslavs dodge and drag out the negotiations, the regent repeating that the decision is his to make and refusing to yield to the ultimatum. But the vice tightens, and he finally judges the invasion inevitable: on 25 March 1941, in Vienna, Cvetković and sign Yugoslavia's accession to the Tripartite Pact. The reaction is immediate. During the night of 26-27 March, air force officers overthrow the regency in a coup d'état, set aside Prince Paul and proclaim the majority of King . Furious, Hitler orders the punishment of Belgrade: the invasion of Yugoslavia is launched in April, delaying his plans in the East by just as much. Paul, for his part, ends the war in supervised exile.
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