”TO BHMA LIFE” Magazine, Athens

Interview with HRH Crown Princess Katherine

(Translated from Greek)

About Royal titles:

“In this life even if there is a royal title, if the crown is not in your heart it is not worthy to have it on your head. Because this is where it starts from; from the heart. If you do not have the sentiments you do not have the ability to unite and give.”

“Listen to me. The title does not define the person. The person defines the title. We do not go to Belgrade to live a better life than we did or to have a new life or even a luxurious life. We went to Belgrade in order for the people to understand they are not alone. We stand by their side. We build bridges of hope and relief each and every day.”

About what the Princess means:

“Since I was a little child I asked from God to give me a chance to offer. How did we learn how to breathe? For me, philanthropy is my oxygen. And I believe that with Alexander this chance has been given to me, a chance to offer a part of my self. To a people that is forgotten, a people who feel they have been erased from the mass. After so many years of conflict how do you think that these people live? Many of them do not even know if their relatives are alive or not. Many times they ask me what Princess means. I answer back that Princess means to have the opportunity to work, to give a part of your self. That is what Princess means.”

About Parliamentary Monarchy:

“I think, according to the people’s reaction, they want it very much. They come and ask my husband in Belgrade when he will be King when his father passed away he refused to be King outside his country and he kept the title of the heir, Crown Prince. He was the one that said that we must wear the crown of labor, of hard work. Everything else will follow. Everything is possible, but first we have to work for this.”

About personal time:

“I try to find a little personal time. But in order to find it you must have peace of mind. To be able to think and enjoy something different than what you face every day. When I see a baby in a hospital living its last moments because it is prematurely born, I don’t think of personal time, I think about how to find the incubator that will save its life. Simultaneously, I have no doubts: I live the kind of life that I must live.”

About Crown Prince Alexander:

“I enjoy his company every second. He is a man who always honors his word. He has so many gifts. He is a beautiful person, a beautiful personality. This is the reason why I say that my husband is God’s gift for Serbia and Montenegro and in general for the Balkan Area.”

“Before we got married I asked Alexander what he expects from me and he told me three things…He answered: Your love for me, your love for our children and your love for my people. That’s what he wanted from me. And I believe that in life when we say “Yes” we mean it. Thus, I did everything he asked me for. And since he is a beautiful person all those things came out of me naturally.”

“I think that what he admires in me is my sincerity and my dynamism. These two things attracted him to me. Because he is dynamic and sincere too. This balance among us is the platform of our life.”

About Serbia and Montenegro:

“Their pain is my pain. Their tears are mine. I have constantly pain in my heart. I hear their voice, I hear their scream. It is a wound in the people that you cannot do something. There are times that I want to climb up a hill and scream to the world…Save our people!”

“It is not only because of my husband’s origin. It is a nation that I have come to love. It is a people that I am completely attached to. I feel a great blessing about this fact.”

About the future:

“I want to see my people not suffer. I want to see my people not feel that it was a mistake being born and that there is no hope. I do not want to see sick nationalism anymore; I want to enjoy the strategy of peace not of war.”

About Greece and Serbia & Montenegro:

“We have more in common than differences. The Greek people stood by our side more than any other nation. Up there we do not say the Greeks, we say our brothers. Whatever happens here - let’s hope the time will never come - they will be by your side in no time. They are yours. You have won their brotherhood. They are so proud for my Greek origin both mine and my husband’s. For the fact that he chose a Greek woman too, like his grandfather did.”

About life and happiness:

“Even though I come face to face with human pain on a daily basis I am happy. I do not have time to see the bad side of a person. I cannot work with the bad side. You know, my mother, who is a wise person, used to say to me that 75% of the things that we are worried about, are things we have no control over them. We have control only over the remaining 25%. You should wake up in the morning and look at this 25%. To do everything you can where you can make a difference. For what is in your hand.”