INTERVIEW WITH HRH CROWN PRINCESS KATHERINE

Prestige Magazine New York

A humble servant

Although her royal title brings considerable privilege, HRH Crown Princess Katherine of the Republic of Serbia forgoes any regal airs for a life fulfilled by helping those in need.

By Chris M. Junior

Restaurant Week's winter edition always manages to heat up the patronage at New York's finer establishments. The early afternoon buzz inside Le Cirque this day, though, has more to do with something that isn't part of the midtown Manhattan hotspot's specially priced menu. HRH Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia is on her way to Le Cirque for a luncheon in her honour, and a small crowd gathers in front of the restaurant's host station to welcome her.

"She should be here any minute," one of the greeters announces with a hint of anticipation in her voice.

Shortly before 1 p.m., a black Lincoln Town Car pulls up, and out steps the princess. Anyone expecting to catch a glimpse of a glitzy royal followed by an entourage as she makes a grand entrance into a restaurant known for its famous clientele sees something entirely different: a smartly dressed woman exiting the car alone, with absolutely no fanfare, carrying a boutique shopping bag.

Once inside Le Cirque, the smiling princess spends several minutes shaking hands with her welcoming party and posing for pictures before working her way through the main dining room to where the luncheon is taking place.

Crown Princess Katherine takes the opportunity during the event to speak about her life in philanthropy, specifically that week's Princes Ball MardiGras Masquerade Gala, a fundraiser benefiting her Lifeline Humanitarian Organization.

As she addresses the room from behind a microphone-free podium, the princess references her husband of nearly 25 years, HRH Crown Prince Alexander II, the son of the late King Peter II of Yugoslavia. In the process, Crown Princess Katherine manages to say a great deal about her own personality, putting her low-key arrival at Le Cirque 30 minutes earlier into perspective.

She describes Crown Prince Alexander II as a modest person - one who doesn't walk around wearing a coronet. Neither does Crown Princess Katherine, whose down-to-earth nature and positive outlook are perfectly suited for charitable work. She's always been helping those in need. It's something that's part of her DNA: the then Katherine Batis was raised as a philanthropist in her native Greece.

"Every time my parents were talking, they were talking about what they could do for other people," Crown Princess Katherine says of her childhood.

Growing up, whenever the future princess would go to the movies with her mother, they never left the house without bags of clothing for the needy street merchants in Greece - one for the woman whose husband could use something to wear, another for the person with a newborn grandchild.

"They were so heavy, those bags," Crown Princess Katherine recalls. "Sometimes it was raining; sometimes it was cold. I used to say to my mother, 'The movie is going to start and we are late.' And she'd say, 'You know what? We'll enjoy it better because when you give first, you'll enjoy it so much more.'"

"That was the oxygen: You felt that if you weren't giving, you would not have oxygen to breathe," she adds. "It was part of your life."

Persistence and unselfishness, Crown Princess Katherine says, have played a huge role through the years in her philanthropic work.

"Also, I think that people don't understand that the more examples you have of positive results, the more energy you have and the more will and enthusiasm you have to do more," she says. Crown Princess Katherine then shares a touching story she often relates to illustrate her point about the significance of positive results. There was a time she visited an orphanage in Serbia, and a young boy asked her to come to his room. There, the child picked up his pillow to reveal a candy bar. Something clicked with the princess - she recalled giving a candy bar to the boy a few months prior. When she asked if that was the same candy bar, the boy answered yes, adding that her prior visit was the best day of his life.

"So this boy kept the candy bar under his pillow and didn't want to eat it because my visit meant more to him," Crown Princess Katherine says. "When I'm in bed in the morning and I get up early, I think of him. I wonder, 'What happens if I didn't get out of bed that morning? What if I hadn't visited that boy?' I think that's very important."

The Lifeline Humanitarian Organization (www.lifelineaid.org) has been an important part of Crown Princess Katherine's philanthropic life since she founded it in 1993 to assist people who were afflicted by the conflict and sanctions in the former Yugoslavia. A fully registered charity with headquarters in Serbia and offices in Greece, England, Canada, Illinois and New York, LHO has through the years provided incubators, ambulances and other equipment to medical centers throughout the Republic of Serbia.

Among the organization's recent achievements has been the acquisition of a digital, mobile mammography unit through a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. This unit is used to provide breast cancer screenings for women throughout Serbia, where breast cancer is the leading cause of premature death in women.

The princess describes Serbia as having "a fragile economy and a fragile democracy," and interested business investors should expect to encounter Serbians "who are ready to be devoted workers and give 100 percent."

"The people of Serbia are very clever people, very capable and very talented people," she adds. "They re very eager to work; they're thirsty because they lost so many years because of the war. They want to grow, have jobs and a normal life. They're in the middle of Europe, yet they don't live like the Europeans."

In addition to Greece, she has lived in Australia, Africa and the United States. But since July 2001, The Royal Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, has been home for Crown Princess Katherine and the entire Royal Family of Serbia (www.royal.rs): Crown Prince Alexander II along with Hereditary Prince Peter, Prince Philip and Prince Alexander.

The three brothers are Crown Prince Alexander lI’s children from his previous marriage; they played a major part in the Princes Ball Mardi Gras Masquerade Gala held at Cipriani Le Specialita in New York. Regarding the Manhattan setting for this particular Lifeline Humanitarian Organization fundraiser, Crown Princess Katherine says, "I found there is a lot of sensitivity among people and a lot of feelings here in New York. People have been exposed to many things. They're very aware of what's happening around the world. New Yorkers are people who are really with it. They're awake, curious, interested and very generous. I felt that here in New York is where opportunity is." After more than three hours of conversation and photos at Le Cirque, the princess is ready to leave the restaurant. Her departure is as understated as her arrival, only there's no car waiting to whisk her away.

And that boutique shopping bag she came with? Turns out she used it to carry promotional materials about the royal family and her philanthropic work, and each kit was distributed at the well-received luncheon. No wonder she had a content look on her face as she made her way through the courtyard.