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Serbia

Serbian royals mark special anniversary since their return

Last Saturday was a special anniversary for the Serbian Royal Family as it marked 20 years since the Serbian royals were able to return to Serbia after a life in exile.

On that occasion, Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia published the following message: “On this day, exactly 20 years ago, my family and I, after decades in exile, finally welcomed our return to our homeland. A review of the previous 20 years is documented by a short film, and I invite everyone who are interested to watch it and contribute comments. Just as it is pointed out in the film, my mission is to help my country and my people as much as I can, and I will continue that in the following years as well. Long live Serbia!”

In an earlier interview with Royal Central, Crown Prince Alexander spoke about his return.

He then said: “It was extremely emotional to come home. We first came here in 1991. The opposition against the regime was united, and they asked us to come to support their effort against the regime. We accepted, and this was my first time on Yugoslav territory, arriving in Belgrade. I was with my wife and the three children, and we spent three days here. It was very emotional arriving here. We were met by hundreds of thousands of people. And then I didn’t come back until my uncle was very ill. He was living here, and again we came here and saw the disaster that was going on, the tragedy of the war, the ethnic cleansing and all these horrible things. I thought I ‘ve really got to work harder for this.”

The Crown Prince continued: “So I met the democratic opposition, and I became friends with who became the future prime minister, Mr Zoran Đinđić. And then I implemented, after the bombing here, which was criminal, I implemented meetings, conferences in Budapest, in Bosnia, Athens, and the last one was organised by Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. All to unite the democratic opposition against the regime then. And this was successful, and the regime cancelled elections that took place in September 2000 that the opposition won. And everybody went on the streets on the 5th of October 2000, and the regime collapsed. And five days afterwards, the Prime Minister calls me up to come back and says, ‘Thank you very much; we are waiting for you.’ So that is why we are back.”

Alexander, Crown Prince of Serbia, is the only child of King Peter II and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. He held the position of crown prince in the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia for the first four-and-a-half months of his life, from his birth until the declaration of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia later in 1945.

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, he enjoys close relationships with his relatives in the British Royal Family. His godparents were King George VI of the United Kingdom and his daughter, now Queen Elizabeth II. Through his father, Alexander is a direct descendant of Queen Victoria. Alexander is known for his support of monarchism and his humanitarian work.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.