Prince Nikola Petrović Njegoš was born on July 7, 1944 in France. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in 1971 at the Academy of Fine Arts (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts) in Paris. After that, he works as an independent architect.

He founded and led the Cetinje Biennial of Contemporary Art from 1991 to 2002. After the beginning of the Yugoslav conflicts and the call for peace that he made during the first bombing of Dubrovnik, he founded and chaired the association Izbor (which dealt with legal representation of victims of ethnic discrimination in the former Yugoslavia).

In the same period, he founded and chaired the Association SEM (Solidarity-Europe-Montenegro), which organized several campaigns for humanitarian aid in Montenegro.

In 2011, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Law on the Status of Descendants of the Petrović Njegoš Dynasty, which established the Petrović Njegoš Foundation, chaired by Prince Nikola. The Petrović Njegoš Foundation focuses its activities on solidarity, sustainable development and the valorization of cultural heritage.

On 27 April 2017, Florence Mangin, Head of the Directorate for Continental Europe of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, awarded him the National Order of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest decoration.