As an Austrian diplomat, Mihanović was appointed consul in Belgrade in 1836. There he fell madly in love with Anka, the niece of the Serbian Prince Miloš Obrenović, to whom he dedicated some of his most beautiful sonnets. Although she was flattered to become the wife of the Austrian consul, Prince Miloš opposed the idea of his relatives marrying Austrian subjects, so Mihanović became persona non grata at the Serbian court and had to move from Belgrade and part with Anka. However, Mihanović was not heartbroken for long. By 1839, he became the consul in Thessaloniki, where he soon married a Greek woman.