THE head of Yugoslavia's exiled Royal Family, Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic, appealed yesterday to Nato to stop "playing its Nintendo games" with the lives of Yugoslav civilians. 

He said that all the attacks had done was to maintain a hated dictator in power at the expense of prospects for Yugoslav democracy. In Athens for a brief visit, Prince Alexander made the latest of his appeals for an end to the conflict, this time criticising the United States for carrying out hostilities with a video game mentality. "They can go and play their Nintendo games somewhere else," he said. "I am against the bombing. It is totally wrong." 

The Prince repeated his vow to stay away from his homeland, where he claims he has "massive" support, as long as President Milosevic remained in power. The son and heir of King Peter II, who was deposed by Marshal Tito in 1946, made two exploratory visits to Belgrade in 1991 and 1992 to test pro-monarchist feeling. 

He said that he envisioned a democratic Yugoslavia under his constitutional monarchy, although he agreed that the regional proclivity for intrigue militated against that prospect.