Alexander Karađorđević, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Aleksandar Karađorđević, Cyrillic: Александар Карађорђевић; born 17 July 1945), is the last crown prince of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the head of the House of Karađorđević. Alexander is the only child of former King Peter II of Yugoslavia and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. He prefers to be known as "Crown Prince Alexander", the title he legally held in Democratic Federal Yugoslavia for the first four-and-a-half months of his life, from 17 July 1945 (his birth) up-until his father's deposition by the Yugoslav Parliament in late November of the same year.
With the formation of a communist dictatorship and the subsequent disintegration of the state of Yugoslavia, Alexander is now a proponent of re-creating a constitutional monarchy in Serbia.
Alexander was born in Suite 212 of Claridge's Hotel in Brook Street, London. The British Government temporarily ceded sovereignty over the suite in which the birth occurred to Yugoslavia so that the prince would be born in Yugoslav territory.
His godparents were King George VI and Princess Elizabeth, now Elizabeth II. He was the only child of King Peter II and Queen Alexandra and the only grandchild of Princess Aspasia of Greece. Through his maternal grandmother, Alexander is also a relative of Ileana, the current Duchess of Chartres.
His parents were relatively unable to take care of him, due to their various health and financial problems, so Alexander was raised by his maternal grandmother. He was educated at Institut Le Rosey, Culver Military Academy, Gordonstoun, Millfield and Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot.
On 1 July 1972 at Villamanrique de la Condesa, near Seville, Spain, he married Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans Bragança. They had three sons, Hereditary Prince Peter and fraternal twins Princes Philip and Alexander. By marrying a Roman Catholic, Alexander lost his place in line of succession to the British Throne, which he had held as a descendant of Queen Victoria through her second son Alfred. This did not matter, though, as his position was so remote that there was no chance of him ever becoming King in the United Kingdom. Alexander is also descended from Queen Victoria's eldest daughter Victoria. His sons are in the line of British succession, in 94th, 95th and 96th place (as of 8 January 2009).
Alexander and Maria da Gloria divorced in 1985. Crown Prince Alexander married for the second time, Katherine Clairy Batis, the daughter of Robert Batis and his wife, Anna Dosti, civilly on 20 September 1985, and religiously the following day, at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church, Notting Hill, London. Since their marriage, she is known as Katherine, Crown Princess of Yugoslavia, as per the royal family's website.
Alexander first came to Yugoslavia in 1991. He actively worked with the democratic opposition against the regime of Slobodan Milošević and moved to Yugoslavia after Slobodan Milošević was deposed in 2000. In March 2001 Yugoslavian citizenship was finally restored to him by the government and the property seized from his family, including royal palaces, was returned for residential purposes with property ownership to be decided by parliament at the some later date.
He currently lives in Краљевски Двор (Kraljevski Dvor, or Royal Palace) in Dedinje, an exclusive area of Belgrade. Kraljevski Dvor, which was completed in 1929, is one of two royal residences on the property; the other is White Palace (Бели Двор) which was completed in 1936.
No comments:
Post a Comment