Serbia’s Royal Family has celebrated Serbian National Day with Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine attending a reception in the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in the United Kingdom to commemorate the Statehood Day of Serbia.
The reception was hosted by the Ambassador of Serbia in the United Kingdom, who personally greeted Their Royal Highnesses upon arrival and also discussed further strengthening of the relations of Serbians in the United Kingdom with their homeland.
During the reception, His Royal Highness held a speech, in which he said: “Today we remember my great-great-great-grandfather, the immortal Supreme Leader George Petrovic Karadjordje, and his heroic soldiers, who on this day in 1804 carved the spark of freedom which we still enjoy today and laid the foundations of the modern Serbian state. The foundations in which our ancestors built their lives and souls, the foundations on which we all stand today! Without them, there would be no modern Serbia”.
As part of the official ceremony for the national holiday, envoys of Crown Prince Alexander laid a wreath to the tomb of the founder of the Royal Dynasty Karadjordjevic and Leader of the First Serbian Uprising in Saint George’s Church in Oplenac.
Crown Prince Alexander also issued a public statement with the following message: “On the occasion of Statehood Day, I extend my warmest congratulations and best wishes to the citizens of Serbia! It is the day when we mark the past, but when we also prepare and celebrate the future of our state.”
Serbian Statehood Day, Serbia’s national day, is an annual holiday on 15 February in Serbia that commemorates the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising in 1804. This uprising later evolved into the Serbian Revolution against Ottoman rule that lead to the Ottoman Empire recognising Serbia’s statehood.
The First Serbian Uprising, initially just a revolt, started in the Sanjak of Smederevo against the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1813. An assembly selected Đorđe Petrović Karađorđe as the leader of the uprising. The Serbs were able to quickly defeat the Ottomans and take over towns.
To honour Đorđe Petrović Karađorđe, his descendants Karađorđe’s adopted the surname Karađorđević in his honour. They later became the Serbian Royal Family.
