He was the son of the leader (“vožd”) Karađorđe. He ruled Serbia as a prince from 1842 to 1858. He will remain remembered as a sovereign who started numerous reforms and who worked on the modernisation of the state. On 5 January 1853, he issued a decree, which stated that the town of Brusnica would be relocated to the place known as “Divlje polje”, and he also brought the decision that the newly founded settlement would bear the name Despotovica. Six years later, Despotovica would change its name to Gornji Milanovac.

The monument was made by Nebojša Savović Nes in 1996.