Serbia: Royal birth

The Office of Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia announced today the birth of Princess Marija, second child of Prince Philip and Princess Danica:

Belgrade, 5 November 2023 – TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine announce with joy that the Royal Family of Serbia today gained a new member. HRH Princess Danica, the wife of HRH Hereditary Prince Philip, gave birth to daughter Marija, in Belgrade on 5 November at 12:31 PM.

“With great happiness and joy, the entire Royal family of Serbia has received the news that my son, HRH Hereditary Prince Philip, and daughter-in-law, HRH Princess Danica, have became the parents of a beautiful baby girl, Her Royal Highness Princess Marija, my granddaughter. 

Each childbirth brings joy but knowing that Karadjordjevics are again being born in our homeland, it is what brings special happiness to my heart. It is what I had dreamt of during the times of exile. With sincere congratulations and wishes to the parents for good health, I am sharing my great joy of becoming a proud grandfather once again!”, stated HRH Crown Prince Alexnader.

The mother and the baby are doing well. The parents, TRH Prince Philip and Princess Danica, and brother HRH Prince Stefan, warmly thank everyone for their congratulations.

Prince Philip and Princess Danica's eldest child, Prince Stefan, was born in Belgrade on 25 February 2018.

Updated on Wednesday 8 November 2023 at 09:40 (time of birth changed from AM to PM, the press release must have been changed since this blog article was published).

Serbian royal birth

Prince Mihailo and Princess Ljubica of Serbia (Yugoslavia) became parents to baby girl born in Belgrade on 26 December 2018 at 10:15 a.m. According to the Office of HRH Crown Prince Alexander, the new princess has received the name Natalija.

Prince Mihailo (Michael), b. 1985, the youngest son of Prince Tomislav (1928–2000) by his 2nd wife Princess Linda, née Bonney, married Ljubica Ljubislavljevic in 2016. Prince Mihailo is a first cousin of Crown Prince Alexander.

This was the second royal birth in Belgrade this year. Prince Philip and Princess Danica, née Marinkovic, became parents to a boy, Stefan, in Belgrade on 25 February 2018. Prince Stefan's christening took place on 15 December 2018 in the Royal Chapel of St. Andrew the First-Called in the Royal Compound in Dedinje, Belgrade. Prince Philip is the second son of Crown Prince Alexander by his first wife Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans-Braganza.

Royal birth in Serbia

The Office of Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia released the following statement this morning concerning the birth of a new prince of Serbia:

Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine announce with joy that the Royal Family just gained a new member. HRH Princess Danica, the wife of HRH Prince Philip, gave birth to a son Stefan, in Belgrade on Sunday, 25 February 2018 at 10:30 am. 

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, the bells of Belgrade’s St. Sava temple rang as signal of the birth of the new born of the Karadjordjevic Royal family, and this was the first time in history that 49 bells of the biggest orthodox temple in Balkans will announce such a birth. The bells of St. George church in Oplenac rang as a sign of the birth as well. 

The mother and the baby are doing well. [...]

This male birth is the first one in the Royal Family in Serbia for 90 years when HRH Prince Tomislav was born in Belgrade, who was the brother of HM King Peter II, the grandfather of HRH Prince Philip.

His Royal Highness Prince Philip is the fraternal twin of Prince Alexander and second in line to the Throne after Hereditary Prince Peter. He is the son of HRH Crown Prince Alexander and HRH Princess Maria da Gloria of Orleans Bragança. Prince Philip is the grandson of HM King Peter II and HM Queen Alexandra. His Godparents are HM King Constantine of the Hellenes, HM the Queen of Spain and HRH the Duchess of Calabria.

Prince Philip was born at Falls Church, Virginia, USA on 15 January 1982. He married Danica Marinkovic, b. Belgrade 17 August 1986, in the Saborna Church in Belgrade, Serbia on 7 October 2017.

Serbia: HRH Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic – At the service of the country

Two days ago the Office of HRH Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic published a rather interesting article on the official website of the Royal Family of Serbia, titled HRH Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic – At the service of the country, which among others tell how much the Crown Prince couple has invested in the Royal Compound over the years.

In the last paragraph we can read that "[...] it makes no sense to respond to ugly tabloid headlines in our newspapers about the financial difficulties in the maintenance of the Royal Compound, but only to list the major activities of TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine, who with their devotion and love for the people Serbia and are entirely at the service of our country."

Still, it would have been interesting to learn what the tabloids actually wrote. And I hope that the Serbian state one day learns the historical value the Royal Compound represents and decides to increase its financial support.

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway in Serbia

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway made an official visit to Serbia today (6 November 2014), where he among others opened a new functionality for Telenor's mobile bank and meet participants of the Telenor Youth Forum as well as Norwegian language students at the Institute of Scandinavian Languages at the University of Belgrade.

According to the Norwegian Royal Court's website, Crown Prince Haakon later met up with the First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dačić, followed by an official luncheon.

The Crown Prince also attended the opening of Human Rights House Belgrade, which will be home to various Serbian human rights organisations, before he moved on to the Zemun district where he attended the re-opening of the Roman Catholic chapel of St. Rocco, which during the last few years has undergone extensive renovation works. He also visited the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Archangel Gabriel nearby.

In Zemun Crown Prince Haakon had the pleasure of meeting his distant royal relative, Crown Prince Alexander, head of the former royal family of Yugoslavia (Royal House of Karadjordjevic), and his wife Crown Princess Katherine. The Norwegian Royal Court doesn't mention this encounter, but fortunately Crown Prince Alexander's office has released the following information:

Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Hakon Magnusson [sic!] of Norway, Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine visited Zemun today to attend a ceremony at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Rocco, following that they visited the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Archangel Gabriel. This ceremony was also attended by State Secretary Dilek Ayhan of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, HE Mr Nils Ragnar Kamswag, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway, and great number of members of the diplomatic corps and religious representatives.

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Rocco was built in 1836, on the foundations of an older chapel, and the architect was Joseph Felber, who also built the Zemun Church of Holy Trinity. The church suffered in 1990’s, but recently it was renovated thanks to the Norwegian Government and its former glory has again been fully restored.

Crown Prince Alexander expressed his delight that HRH Crown Prince Haakon is in Serbia and that they met on such wonderful occasion. “Crown Prince Haakon of Norway is the first member of the Norwegian Royal Family to visit Serbia for 40 years. I hope meetings like this will happen more often and that each future meeting will further deepen the friendship between our two countries to the benefit of both our nations.”

Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine also visited the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Archangel Gabriel in Zemun and talked to the priests who told Their Royal Highnesses about its long history.

Crown Prince Alexander's office has also published a few photos from the visit. Later in the evening the Norwegian Crown Prince attended an official dinner hosted by the Norwegian Ambassador in Belgrade, Nils Ragnar Kamsvåg. According to the Norwegian Royal Court, the "guest list reflects the extensive cooperation between Norway and Serbia in various spheres of society". Not sure if the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Serbia were invited, but I really hope so.

The Crown Prince of Norway's given names are Haakon Magnus, but only the first name Haakon is in daily use, which was confirmed after the extraordinary council of state on 23 July 1973, three days after his birth.