Visiting Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine

PALACE FULL OF LIFE

It is a unique feeling to be a guest in the home of HRH Crown Prince Alexander II and his wife Crown Princess Katherine in the Royal Palace Compound of the Karadjordjevic dynasty in Dedinje. The excitement you have when you reach the huge main gate, and that you will meet a real Karadjordjevic, hits you once you pass through it. It feels like you've stepped into another world, one of the folk tales of "the king, and his three sons" ... And our "king" really has three sons - HRH Hereditary Prince Peter (30), and twins HRH Prince Philip (28) and HRH Prince Alexander (28).

Love is to blame for everything

While walking on a wide path that meanders through the luxuriant park, which stretches over 135 acres of land, its silence and harmony intoxicates you, for which the landscape master of architecture and director of Versailles gardens Eduard Andre is responsible. The length of road that leads to the Royal Palace and the intoxicating beauty of its environment brings you back to the time and incentive to think of the era when this Compound, in which there are two Palaces and many special facilities were created. It all started when King Alexander, the founder of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the great-grandson of Leader Karadjordje and grandfather of Alexander II, married the beautiful Romanian Princess Maria in the summer of 1922. For that reason, he wanted to relocate his private chambers from the busy city noise and far from the curious eyes of the public, in order to enjoy a quiet family life. For his residence, he chose the most beautiful and the highest hilltop of Dedinje, a favoured location for building summerhouses and villas of Belgrade’s wealthy people between the two world wars. Everything he thought of, he conducted, and the construction of the Royal Palace began in 1924. King Alexander I moved into his new home in 1929 when it was finished.

Soon after, the King decided to build on the same property another building for his three sons - Princes Peter (Crown Prince and the future King Peter II, father of our host), Tomislav and Andrej. He knew that his children when they grow up will need their own space and to care for it, was for his daily preoccupation. For that purpose he hired the architect, Aleksandar Djordjevic, and in 1934 the construction of the White Palace began, in style and ideally completely different from the Royal Palace. It was in the spirit of Neoclassicism. However, only two months into the construction of the White Palace, King Alexander was assassinated in Marseille, on 9 October 1934, after which his sons’ destiny went into a completely different direction. Regardless of the tragedy, the works were continued under the supervision of Prince Regent Paul, and in 1937, the White Palace was built. As a new master of the Royal Compound, King Peter II, was a minor at the time, the White Palace was consigned for the use of his father's cousin, Regent Prince Paul, who lived in it until 1941, with his wife, Princess Olga, and their three children - Alexander, Nicholas and Elizabeth, until he became of age. After more than half a century, as Dedinje had the status of the "Forbidden City", the Royal Palace opened its gates to the visitors, thanks to its present hosts’ hospitality.

Giant jewel

From thinking about past times, a look at the number of objects near the road startled me. There are buildings everywhere: Gendarmerie Station, Belvedere Pavilion, Marshal Office house, Guards Brigade building and the Registry house, as well as swimming pools, stables, heating plant, kitchen and garage, and there is a lovely building modelled on the old village houses.

The so-called, Thatched house is actually the first building that was erected on the entire Compound, as King Alexander had nowhere to stay while monitoring the works of his future home. It later served as classroom for the princes, and then as an art studio for Queen Maria. At the end of the road, at the very top of the Dedinje hill the Royal Palace showed us all its beauty. A beautiful villa of white marble from Brac, sparkling in the sun like a giant jewel. The culprit for this Serbian Byzantine style is the architect Zivojin Nikolic, who, in his work largely relied on the help of his associates, the well-known Russian architect immigrant, the Russian Royal Academician Nikolai Krasnov and Viktor Lukomski.

At the massive door of the imposing building, precisely at the agreed time, Katarina Jakovljevic, head of public relations greeted us. Before our hosts arrived from their private rooms, which are arranged around a large hall on the first floor that is composed of a series of apartments, a young clerk walked us through the ground floor. She mentioned that the private rooms are furnished in different styles, usually Louis XVI, Empire of Napoleon III and Biedermeier. Katarina explained that the Palace has a basement, ground floor, first floor and attic (which consists of smaller guest apartments and auxiliary facilities), on which are very meaningful rich sequences arranged lounges, dining room, library and apartments positioned. Soon we were assured of it. The sumptuous rooms alternated each other...

Awe struck

First on our journey through Serbian history, we came across a stone paved entrance hall, whose official name is the Ceremonial Hall. Beneath the arches that comply with strong stone pillars, the details taken from our medieval art are hiding, especially the copies of frescoes from Decani and Sopocani Monasteries. Somehow, despite all the luxury that surrounds them, they are the first thing that catches the visitor’s eye. Several furniture pieces and a grand piano are fulfilled with a chandelier of extraordinary beauty, and valuable carpets. The grand hallway leads to, for me the most beautiful, the Blue Salon, the central room of the entire ground floor. Arranged in the spirit of an 18th century French Salon, it is breath taking when entered. Plenty of light that enters into this room through three huge glass doors that lead from it into the yard, making it fairytale like. The combination of a bright blue carpet and gilt Baroque furniture, in which the light shades of green dominate, is simply irresistible. A painting by Nicholas Poussin, a French grandmaster of the first half of the 17th century, "Venus and Adonis" has place of pride in this salon. For a while I was admiring it, someone approached me from behind and said: "I see you have taste, it really is exceptional". I turned to answer, but when I saw Crown Prince Alexander II standing beside me, I was awe struck, and I could not speak. I do not know what came over me, I knew where I came and who I shall meet, but if 20-odd years ago someone told me I was to have a relaxed chat with a Karadjordjevic, at the Palace, I would have thought that was crazy. It was constantly on my mind. However, the relaxed and direct host asked the servants to open the door to the backyard to show me the true beauty. We stepped out on the terrace from which a magnificent view stretches on Dedinje, Kosutnjak, Topcider and Avala. The whole park from that side of the Palace was exquisite, but the Crown Prince told me to look at the magnolias that were recently planted. Casual conversation was interrupted by a call from the house, so the host went briefly to respond to his obligations, while we continued with sightseeing. We found ourselves in the Palace library full of old books, next to the office of King Alexander that is dominated by a massive desk with a chair. Both rooms are arranged in the Renaissance style, and valuable works of art are placed there - a bust of the young King Peter II, the father of our host, a self-portrait in bronze by Ivan Mestrovic and the portrait of Njegos by Toma Rosandić. In the same Renaissance style, the Golden Salon and the Grand dining room are arranged with both rooms decorated with paintings by Jacopo Palma the Elder and George Scott. The Golden Salon, although very small compared to the other, is one of the most beautiful. The perfect symmetry governs - two beautiful chests over which two precious old paintings in gold circular frames are placed at both sides. And when you enter the dining room you do not know where to look - whether at the exceptional fireplace made of white granite, or the marble pillars, which carry a wooden coffered ceiling from which two bronze chandeliers hang, whether at the Royal table with twenty-chair or tapestry that decorates a whole wall ...

World of Russian fairy tales

In the basement, we visited a salon in which the wedding gifts of King Alexander and Queen Mary are kept, most of them masterpieces of Italian Renaissance art. We spiced this up by entering the Intimate garden, paved entrée outdoors in the heart of this building, which serves for receptions and pleasant socializing during the hot summer nights. The pleasant surprise, since we arrived on the grounds of the Royal Compound, did not cease, somehow I hoped that there will be more. Before we went to the Royal cellar, our hosts, Princess Katherine, and Crown Prince joined us. Together, we landed in an unreal world, a world like a Russian fairy tale, on whose entrance a beautiful bronze sculpture "Knight in compilation" stands, which Queen Maria sculpted. Luxuriously vividly painted walls and arches in the basement rooms, decorated motifs from fairy tales about Firebird and motives of Serbian folk songs, left all of us breathless. The whole interior is decorated in the Teremn Kremlin Palace style. In each room, another dominant colour, so the Hall of Dusanova marriage (in which the billiard table is situated) is yellow, the projection hall (which was once a wine cellar) is green, and the Whisper Room red. This last one is also the biggest, and it is interesting how it got its name, as its authentic name was the Oriental or Magic Salon. It used to be used for confidential family and state official talks, a fountain was made so that no one was able to listen in on conversations that were conducted there due to water murmuring. The fountain still works perfectly.

50 years of desire

Proudly displaying the heritage palace, Princess Katherine took the opportunity to mention how it looked at the moment of their moving in to the Palace, on 17 July 2001, the day when her husband celebrated his 56th birthday: "It was very emotional for us, because my husband had waited more than fifty years to return to our home, to our country ... The catastrophe that befell his entire family, which lived in exile, particularly stressed his father and my father-in-law King Peter II, who had dreamed of his return to Serbia and his native Belgrade. Unfortunately he did not live to see the day, he died in America in 1970, only 47 years old. Being ill for a long time, he felt that his dream will not come true, and constantly repeated to his only son, that he has to do everything to return to their home, that they were separated from their people only physically but not mentally, and that people are waiting for him and his place is in Serbia and beside Serbs. Therefore, it became a life wish of my husband. When Alexander and I first met, I asked him what he wants from life, and he quickly responded: "To go home!" When we became a couple, I asked him what makes him happy, because I could not be married to him until I knew whether I could fulfil his expectations, and he said: "I would like two things from you - to help me to raise the boys, and to love them and to love my country and its people. He said what was in his heart at the time. For me that was very acceptable and we got married. The royal couple celebrates 25 years of marriage this year and for all the time they spent together, constantly caring for unmatched tradition - they have breakfast together and that is the only intimate moment during the day for them. Princess Katherine is the one that prepares breakfast for her husband every morning, during which they plan the day, deploying numerous obligations ... All other times they are fragmented in a variety of meetings, meetings, interviews and organizations, most of the obligations relating to lobbying for Serbia and humanitarian work. Their days are long - they get up very early, around 6 am, and go to bed after midnight. For years, they have been dreaming, and constantly talking about it, that will one day they will make popcorn and watch a few movies together in their projection room (the first palace movie theatre in the Balkans), but it is still in the field of dreaming, because they always have something more important that comes up. The Princess told us that Princes come to Belgrade at least twice a year, as often as their duties permit, because all three are currently finalizing their studies and development. There are currently at the stage of gaining practical knowledge, after which they plan to return to Serbia. Alexander and Peter are in the United States, and Philip is in London. The children of Princess Katherine, Alison and David, live in Greece, but often they come here. We are one big and happy family. This palace is the palace life, not just a museum, monument ... It is home! - concluded the Princess.

Royal weekends

With a friendly conversation from the basement, we again climbed up to the ground floor, and then went outside the Palace. In fact, we were curious to see the Palace Chapel dedicated to Saint Apostle Andrew the First Called, the patron and slava of the Karadjordjevic family. We headed to the church through colonnade of stone pillars, also laid with marble from Brac, which connects the church with the Royal Palace. From the colonnade an exceptional view of the almost all parts of Belgrade is provided, as well as on the cascade arranged rosaries that effectively decorate the western Dedinje slope. All around are pergolas, numerous park terraces, among them a concert terrace. The chapel was built simultaneously with the Palace, and it was modelled on the church of Saint Andrew on Tresca in the Macedonian Monastery from 1389, the endowment of Andrew, son of King Vukasin and the Royal Church of Monastery Studenica from 1313, the endowment of King Milutin.

The painted frescoes were done according to the drawings of Russian artists, who were asked to travel across Serbia by King Alexander and copy the frescoes of the most famous Serbian medieval monasteries. The King compiled the final choice personally with the assistance of the architect Krasnov.

Slowly approaching the end of our stay in this magical place, but we were comforted by the fact that we can come back whenever we like. In fact, from April 1st to the end of October the Royal Compound in Dedinje is open to the public. Tours with the arrangement of the Tourist Organization of Belgrade, are organized every weekend in two times - at 11 and 2 o'clock. These days are for the Princess special: "Most people want to know how the Royal couple lives, what do we do, and now they have the opportunity to learn and to spend a day with us - from the moment we wake up and until the evening when we go to bed. When we see the reactions of people who come to visit the Palace, who can not believe where they are and that they see us, they do not know how to hide their emotions, and we feel their enthusiasm and the love they feel for us - it is invaluable satisfaction for us."