DuringGascoyne-Cecil's first tenure as Prime Minister from 1885–1886, his cabinet held negative views ofKingdom of Serbia and instead supported theKingdom of Bulgaria. ATimes correspondent claimed that Serbia was the biggest threat to peace in the Balkans. This view was refuted by archeologistArthur Evans, who stated thatKosovo Serbs were facing terror from the hand of localAlbanian population, with murders being a daily occurrence.[4]
TheKingdom of Serbia and the United Kingdom were allies inWorld War I. British influence in Serbia became more relevant only after WWI.[5] Around 350 Serb pupils and students received an education in the United Kingdom during this period and afterwards, under the supervision of university professorPavle Popović, who was a visiting professor atKing's College.[6] The Serbian Relief Fund and Serbian Minister's Fund were formed for the purpose of providing financial and other aid to Serb students in the United Kingdom, and a hostel for Serb students was opened.[7] In the 1920s, Serbs went to Great Britain to study banking, finances and economics, while in the 1930smining engineering was the main field of study.[8]
In theKingdom of Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom was perceived as a friendly country and an ally. Serb elites, based mostly inBelgrade, likeSlobodan Jovanović and Bogdan Bogdanović considered that Serbs and the British shared a joint love of liberty and fierce patriotism, and they advocated looking upon United Kingdom in order to further develop democracy in the country.[9]
As early as the 1920s, London made its way to Serbia, mostly through banks. In 1920, the British Trade Corporation was founded in Belgrade. Although this bank only operated until 1928, its work led to serious improvements in the local industry, primarily mining. In the same period, relations between theSerbian Orthodox Church and theChurch of England were established.[6][10] Several big donations of books by British to Serbian libraries took place in the 1920s. British citizens were the main foreign sponsors of scientific research in theinterwar period. Archaeological excavations inVinča were funded by sir Charles Hyde.[11]
BishopNikolaj Velimirović played an important role in furthering the relations between the two countries. He was held in high regard in London, and Velimirović was the first Orthodox clergyman to preach atSt. Paul’s Cathedral. He established firm relations between the Serbian Orthodox Church with the Church of England.[12]
An English Language and Literature Department was formed in Belgrade in 1929.[13] Cultural and other exchanges became popular in theinterwar period. A number of societies of Yugoslav-British friendship were functioning in Belgrade in 1930s, with full support from the Yugoslav government. Several important local cultural figures were part of the friendship society, such asIsidora Sekulić, Raša Plaović, andViktor Novak. As of 1935, theEnglish language was taught in schools in Serbia, but to a smaller degree compared toFrench andGerman, due to lack of teachers and political reasons.[6] A total of 75 students with Yugoslav citizenship were enrolled at British faculties in theInterwar period, of which six got their PhD in the country, mostly in the subject of English literature.
Bilaterally the two countries have aPartnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement, a Double Taxation Convention, an Investment Agreement, and a Reciprocal Healthcare Agreement.[16][17][18][19] The Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement is acontinuity trade agreement, based on the EU free trade agreement, which entered into force in 2021.[20][21] Trade between two countries amounted to$823 million in 2023; Serbia's merchandise export to the United Kingdom were about $464 million; British exports were standing at roughly $359 million.[22]
Belgrade was one of the first eight cities in which theBritish Council opened its offices overseas, in 1940. During the World War II the work was disrupted, but was resumed as early as 1945. The first British Council Library was set up as part of the operation in 1946. Development of cultural and technical cooperation was also very rapid with first exchanges and visits taking place in 1947.
The2011 UK Census, recorded 8,049 Serbian-born residents in England, 122 inWales,[23] 188 inScotland,[24] and 32 inNorthern Ireland (a total of 8,391).[25] In response to the ethnicity question, 7,312 people in England, 106 in Wales,[26] and 185 in Scotland wrote in "Serbian" under the "White" heading, as an alternative to ticking one of thepre-defined categories.[27]
^Marković, Slobodan G. (2006).Grof Čedomilj Mijatović: Viktorijanac među Srbima. Belgrade: Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, Dositej. pp. 130–131.
Antić, Čedomir D. "Crisis and Armament: Economic Relations Between Great Britain and Serbia 1910–1912."Balcanica 36 (2005): 151-163online.
Bataković, Dušan T. "Serbia and Greece in the First World War: an overview."Balkan Studies 45.1 (2004): 59-80online.
Antić, Čedomir.Ralph Paget: a diplomat in Serbia (Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2006)online free.
Boyd, James. "Representing the Western Balkans, Post-war Understandings: A discourse analysis of contemporary representations of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia in UK press media." (2018)online.
Gašić, Ranka (2005).Beograd u hodu ka Evropi: Kulturni uticaji Britanije i Nemačke na beogradsku elitu 1918–1941. Belgrade: Institut za savremenu istoriju.ISBN86-7403-085-8.
Gavrilović, Michael. "The Early Diplomatic Relations of Great Britain and Serbia."Slavonic Review (1922): 1#1 86-109online.
Gavrilović, Michael. "The Early Diplomatic Relations of Great Britain and Serbia.(II)."Slavonic Review (1922): 333-351online.
Gavrilović, Michael. "The Early Diplomatic Relations of Great Britain and Serbia.(III)."Slavonic Review (1923): 552-560online.
Glaurdić, Josip.The hour of Europe: Western powers and the breakup of Yugoslavia (Yale UP, 2011).
Hodge, Carole.Britain and the Balkans: 1991 until the Present (Routledge, 2006).
McCourt, David. "Embracing humanitarian intervention: Atlanticism and the UK interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo."British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15.2 (2013): 246-262online[dead link].
Markovich, Slobodan G., ed.British-Serbian Relations from the 18th to the 21st Centuries (Faculty of Political Science of the University of Belgrade [and] Zepter Book World, 2018)online link.
Pavlowitch, Stevan K.Anglo-Russian rivalry in Serbia 1837-1839 (1961)
Simms, Brendan.Unfinest hour: Britain and the destruction of Bosnia (Penguin UK, 2002).
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