His father Milan (1805–1852) was a lawyer who came to Serbia from the southern part of the Austrian Empire and became a teacher of Latin, history, and geography in Belgrade's First Gymnasium (Grammar School).

Mijatović studied a combination of economic courses and sciences in Munich, Zurich and Leipzig between 1863 and 1865 and completed his education by gaining experience from the National Bank of Austria and Kredit Anstalt in Vienna.

He was a student of Lorenz von Stein and Karl Heinrich Rau and also accepted in his book theses the influences of Frédéric Bastiat and Henry Charles Carey.

[2] During his studies in Germany, he met his future British wife Elodie Lawton (1825–1908), previously a dedicated abolitionist in Boston, who influenced him significantly, and turned him into a devoted Anglophile.

His translation of Henry Thomas Buckle's book History of Civilisation in England, was published in Serbian in 1871 and influenced several generations of pro-Western Serbs.

A Scottish philanthropist Francis Mackenzie who settled in Belgrade helped this project materially and Miјatović remained one of the main contributors of the journal.

His translations into Serbian include sermons of well-known British preachers such as Dr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Canon Henry Parry Liddon and Dr. Macduff.

In the Government of Jovan Marinović, from November 1873 till December 1874 he was Minister of Finance for the second time and in that capacity, he was instrumental in bringing important reforms.

He always considered his most important achievement in this government the law stipulating the amount of property that had to be left to peasants, and could not be confiscated to cover their debts.

Mijatović along with Dimitrije Matić, Konstantin Cukić, Mihailo Vujić and a couple of others were among the top economists of the last decade of the Constitutionalist period.

The ruler decided to open a new page in Serbian foreign policy and arranged that a secret convention should be signed with the Habsburg monarchy.

Mijatović was gradually entrusted by the ruler to complete this task and on June 28, 1881, he signed the Secret Convention by which Serbia got the diplomatic and political backing of the Habsburg Empire but abandoned her independence in the field of Foreign Policy.

His last act as Minister of Foreign Affairs was to sign a Consular Convention and a Commercial Agreement with the United States of America on October 14.

During talks that preceded the signing of the Secret Convention Mijatović was well received in Vienna by the Emperor Francis Joseph and other dignitaries of the Empire.

Since Serbia could not finance the project herself a proper foreign creditor had to be found and a Parisian financial society called Union Général was selected in 1881.

Apparently, Mijatović was more worried about what sort of reputation he would have in England if negotiations failed than about criticism from Belgrade for his conciliatory approach.

He added to his fame by publishing a book entitled On Conditions for Success [О условима успеха/O uslovima uspeha] in 1892 based on Samuel Smiles' bestseller Self-Help.

In 1894 he returned from his self-exile to become Minister of Finance for the sixth and last time, but his tenure ended with the resignation of the whole Government after only two months in April 1894.

[6] In the early morning of June 11, 1903, a conspiracy of Serbian officers killed King Alexander Obrenović and his unpopular wife Queen Draga.

The very event and composition of the new Cabinet caused widespread condemnation throughout Europe but only Britain and the Netherlands decided to break off diplomatic relations with Serbia.

He wrote many letters and articles to British dailies but his most remarkable action in this field was his visit to the United States and Canada.

He was accompanied by the most famous British suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, who championed the causes of Britain's small allies (Belgium and Serbia) during World War I.

James David Bourchier, a correspondent of The Times, remarked that "he is generally regarded by his fellow countrymen as the most learned man in Servia.

"[15] William T. Stead, who met him during the Peace Conference in The Hague, was so delighted with him that he wrote: “It was almost worthwhile creating the Kingdom Servia if only to qualify Čedomilj Mijatovitch for a seat in the Parliament of the Nations.”[16] Stead also had such a high opinion of Mijatović as a diplomat that in 1903 he remarked: “He is far and away from the best known, the most distinguished, and the most respected diplomatist the Balkan Peninsula has yet produced.”[17] The leading British daily The Times covered almost every step Mijatović took during the eighties, especially through its Vienna correspondents.

When he resigned his tenure as the President of the Serbian Royal Academy The Times commented: “Of all the statesmen in Servia, M. Mijatovitch is probably the one who holds the highest character in foreign countries.

Through the influence of William Thomas Stead and Sir Oliver Lodge he gradually became an ardent believer in spiritualism and supernatural phenomena.

Mijatović wished to copy British budgetary debates but the Serbian parliament consisting mostly of peasant MPs did not quite understand this effort.

Finally, he wanted to transmit a Protestant vision of ethics of labor and capital as formulated in bestsellers of Samuel Smiles and in the works of some Presbyterians.