• American Srbobran: Your Royal Highness, In your person you unite in equal measure two Serbian dynasties, the Karadjordjevices and the Petrovices, thus embodying the unity of the entire Serbian people, and as such you visited Montenegro for Vidovdan (St. Vitus Day).  This has been probably the saddest Vidovdan this century.   Kosovo is again severed from Serbia and Serbs are leaving as at the time of great migrations.  Montenegro too is distancing itself daily from Serbia.  Could you please tell us what are your impressions from Montenegro, from your meetings with people and leaders?  Do you believe that Serbia and Montenegro will continue to live in one state as members of the same federation?

HRH Crown Prince Alexander: It is bad that Serbia and Montenegro will not continue to live in the same state if Milosevic does not relinquish power.  The sooner Milosevic goes the better for Serbia and Montenegro and for their common future. During my warm meeting with President Djukanovic, he told me he had no intention of secession from Yugoslavia, but also that he would not tolerate Milosevic’s dictatorship and the pressure.  The President of Montenegro wants full democratisation of the whole of Yugoslavia and is ready to help the democratic opposition in Serbia. The fact that he held talks with me confirms, I believe, his desire to maintain the link of common destiny between Serbia and Montenegro. He is aware that the blood not only of the Karadjordjevic’s, but also of the famous Petrovic dynasty runs in my veins.

This was my first stay in Montenegro and I was greatly impressed by the beauty of the country and the very cordial welcome given to me by the people. I arrived on Vidovdan and attended the memorial service at Lastva Grbaljska for all those who fell “for the holy cross and golden freedom”, and especially for those who laid down their lives for King and Country during the unfortunate 1941-45 civil war.  I spoke of Kosovo and of the sorrow we all feel about it.   In fact, as Metropolitan Amfilohije said:  this Vidovdan is more terrible than any up to now, worse even than in 1939 and those from 1941 to 1945, since despite what happened and how we suffered, Serbian people then stayed on in Kosovo and Metohia while today they are disappearing from those areas.

The visit to Cetinje was memorable.  We were given a splendid reception at the Cetinje monastery by Bishop Joanikije of Budimlje with a group of  children in national costumes. I paid homage to the memory of King Nicholas and Queen Milena, my great great grandparents and lit candles on their tombs.  My great great grandfather was a great king and a great man, a great Montenegrin and a great Serb.
 
 
 

• American Srbobran:  After Montenegro, you went  “Over there, over and behind the mountains” to Kosovo, the subject of a beautiful patriotic poem written by your great great grandfather Prince Nikola of Montenegro, who eventually became King of Montenegro  -  Nikola I Petrovic.   He was the supreme commander of the Montenegrin Army in the Balkan Wars when Serbia liberated Kosovo. At the head of Serbia at that time was your great grandfather King Peter I Karadjordjevic. You met Patriarch Pavle in Kosovo.  How do you react personally to the new Kosovo drama? Today when many of us do not see anything but the Serbian disaster on the horizon, do you entertain any hope for the Serbian people in Kosovo?  Is there any hope that Kosovo will again be Serbian, that Kosovo again becomes part of Serbia, not only on paper but also in reality?

HRH Crown Prince Alexander: My original intention was to be for Vidovdan in Kosovo at Gracanica and on Gazimestan with Patriarch Pavle and the people. This could not be, but I still   got to Pec and met the Patriarch the day after Vidovdan. On the way to Pec I recalled the tune of  “Over there, over and behind the mountains…” that the children sang to us in the Cetinje monastery. Those were the heroic days when King Peter and King Nicholas reigned and when Kosovo again became Serbian. The reality today is different and the remaining Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohia could not survive there without our Church and Kfor’s protection. This protection is not adequate, but better something than nothing. 

You ask how I experience the new Kosovo drama?   The answer is:  terrible.   I was terribly upset by the destruction I witnessed, the smell of death and the appalling suffering of both sides. I am horrified what the human being can do to each other.   I told His Holiness and the people there that this year’s Vidovdan was sad but that we must not despair.   People must go on living and must ensure conditions for a decent existence.  I told them the Karadjordjevic’s would never abandon their people; they defended the interests of the Serbian people and all people.   I appealed to them not to leave their ancestral homes since “Our history is there and our holy shrines”.  I pointed out that the Church, Crown and People must work together and that the Serbian spirit will find new resources and will build a better future in democracy respecting everyone regardless of religion or ethnic origin.

I follow further developments with trepidation.   The whole region will suffer more if Milosevic does not go and the Serbian people do not deserve any more pain. Today, the only Serbian institution that protects the Serbs of Kosovo is the Serbian Orthodox Church.   The decision of Patriarch Pavle to stay in Pec is brave and of great historical significance, and the action of bishops Amfilohije, Artemije and Atanasije deserve praise. 

There is hope for the Serbian people in Kosovo but only if there is total change in Belgrade.   While Milosevic is in power we cannot expect the big powers to show any understanding for our interests.    The most important thing at the present moment is to halt the exodus of Serbs and to facilitate the return of those who have already left. The Serbs can survive in Kosovo only as good neighbours of Kosovo Albanians in a democratic environment.   I have been saying all this time that there is enough bread and land in Kosovo for both the Serbs and Albanians and I have supported the efforts of Bishop Artemije of Raska & Prizren to create a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious Kosovo.   There is no other way.   It is paramount to work for that objective. The disastrous regime in Belgrade has been doing the opposite and we see today the results of this vicious policy whose chief victims are both Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo.

Kosovo will remain in Yugoslavia so long as there are Serbs in it and there is democracy and human rights.  Whether it will again become part of Serbia not only on paper but also in reality is difficult and almost impossible to tell today.  The important thing is for it to remain in our hearts and for the Serbian ancestral homes and holy shrines to be preserved.   This is the time to recall the superiority of the spiritual over material.   Harold W.V.Temperley, a Cambridge don in his history of Serbia wrote 80 years ago: “Yet, if the history of Serbia teaches anything, it is that her spiritual forces have always been stronger than her material ones…   So long as the songs of Kosovo are sung and a Serbian exists in any land to sing them, so long there will always be a Serbia”.   Territory is important, as we Karadjordjevivc’s know full well, but the spirit of the people is even more so. Even de jure recognition that Kosovo is part of the Serbian state means a great deal if a sensible democratic policy is being pursued.
 
 
 

• American Srbobran:  Many are responsible for this war between the  West and Yugoslavia on both sides.  To be more precise, there are culprits on all sides.  Even among those who did not take part in the war but failed to do the right thing to prevent it.  In this war there have been too many victims to enumerate and too many defeated.  There was no victor since there could not be one in such a dirty and false war.  Serbia found herself totally surrounded by enemies.  Her potential enemies were also her neighbours who did not take part in the war against her, but showed wholehearted readiness to help the enemies of Serbia. Serbia cannot change the world.  How should Serbia change herself in order to survive in such a world?  How do you see your role in this evidently inevitable change of Serbia?

In this process, the Crown can play an important role and I am prepared to do my best.  I have always been of the view that we should first crown democracy and then resolve the question of monarchy versus republic.  I stick to this view today and I am helping wholeheartedly the democratic opposition.   I am not a politician but this is not a political but an existential question for the Serbian people.  It is a question of to be or not to be.  We cannot and must not play games with the fate of a nation.

Naturally, I believe that constitutional monarchy would be the best system of government for Yugoslavia, that is Serbia and Montenegro, since it combines the principle of  “domacin” (head of family), which has always been at the heart of our society, with the idea of a modern state as exemplified by the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan and Scandinavian countries which, as monarchies, are among the most advanced  in the world.   I am not so naïve as to think that the monarchy would solve all our problems but I am convinced that its restoration in Yugoslavia would represent a symbolic and radical break with the communist past and  would be  a promise and a hope for a better future.
 
 
 

• American Srbobran: If there were a change in Serbia, would the West  too change sufficiently to accept and help this different and new Serbia? Can one really believe leaders like President Clinton and Prime Minister Blair?  President Clinton lied more explaining the inevitability of this war than when he testified about his private life. The US Senate has just established that Nato made use of monumental lies to justify the war and to bring it to an allegedly victorious end.  This victorious end is similar to the effect of Croatia’s victory:  a Serbian exodus.

HRH Crown Prince Alexander: Why the West should not change its policy towards Serbia if there is a change in Belgrade?   It is not in the West’s interest to have “a black hole” in the heart of the Balkans.  It is not a question of whether one can believe Clinton or Blair but whether a stable Balkans is in the interest of their countries.  There is no doubt they are aware that only a democratic and prosperous Yugoslavia can ensure peace and stability in the Balkans.   In the same way as Milosevic’s policy was one of the chief factors of destabilisation,  it is clear that a democratic Yugoslavia would be a factor of peace.  The propaganda from Washington and the Nato headquarters is a story in itself, but the fact is that both sides lied terribly and that only now the truth is gradually beginning to emerge.   So far as I am concerned, I at once firmly denounced Nato’s aggression against the people but, in the interest of the people, never identified myself with the Milosevic media propaganda. There has been, as you say,  another Serbian exodus, but you should ask yourself:  who is in the end responsible for it?
 
 

• American Srbobran:  What sort of justice is it when justice in Kosovo is dispensed, amongst others, by the Turks?  In view of that, can the Serbs expect a better fate than the one accorded by the civilised West to the Kurds?  What sacrifices should Serbia still make to avert a Kurdish future?  Would you agree to be the monarch of a Serbia reduced to the boundaries of the Belgrade Pashalik?

HRH Crown Prince Alexander: When a country and a people suffer defeat, they must face some very unpleasant facts.   Let us not kid ourselves; Serbia  - under Milosevic  - has suffered defeat over Kosovo.  Under the Karadjordjevic’s Kosovo was liberated from the Turks,  while now the Serbs are fleeing Kosovo and it is questionable whether anybody can stem their flight.  This is not a matter of justice but of defeat. Nato and the UN say that they want a multi-ethnic Kosovo and it is up to us to turn this terribly difficult situation to our advantage and try to save what still can be saved.  It is clear that Serbs can survive only if they have good relations as neighbours with the Albanians and get adequate protection from Kfor. Anything is possible under the rule of Milosevic who is interested only in power, even if it is power over the Belgrade Pashalik only.   In contrast, my family turned the Belgrade Pashalik into a strong Serbian state and later into Yugoslavia.   That state enjoyed tremendous prestige in Europe and in the world; just look at the appalling results of Milosevic’s policies and at Serbia’s present standing.
 
 
 

• American Srbobran:  The American Srbobran is one of the oldest Serbian newspapers, in fact, the oldest after Belgrade’s  “Politika”. Also the only one that appeared without interruption since 1906. Divisions, which are again rending Serbia now, are not without an echo in the diaspora too.  What would be your message of concord and unity, which we, as the paper who has always been the bulwark of Serbian concord, could convey to the Serbs on the American continent?  What role do you suggest for the diaspora in the inevitable change of Serbia?  Also its role in the change of the West’s relationship with Serbia?

HRH Crown Prince Alexander:  My message to the Serbs on the American continent is to be united as one in the defence of real Serbian interests. These interests demand radical changes in the country and the foundation of democracy, human rights and a civil society.  One cannot go along the old paths any more. Give your firm support to the democratic movement and protests in Yugoslavia.  Milosevic has led the Serbs from one defeat to another.  First, Krajina and other Serbian areas in Croatia, then Western Bosnia and now Kosovo.  Is there no end to it?  Will Vojvodina and the Sandzak be next?  The Serbs, wherever they live, must wake up and become aware of the terrible danger threatening them.   The diaspora, especially on the American continent, must play an important role in the democratic  revival of the Serbian people and reconstruction of the homeland.  You have powerful associations and publications, well organised church communities, humanitarian groups and academic societies, and you can help our people significantly to find their bearings in the present situation and to tackle the job of  democratic reform and reconstruction of the country.  You must also bring your positive influence to bear on the official representatives on the American continent to induce them to pursue a policy towards Yugoslavia which would be in the interest of the Serbian people and all citizens of Yugoslavia regardless of ethnic origin or religion, while being in accord with their own interests.  The time for change has come.  Do your duty towards your old country.  Future generations expect this from you.
 
 
 

• American Srbobran: Your Royal Highness, thank you for your willingness to speak to the “American Srbobran”.   Thank you!

Aleksandar Petrov, Editor of the Serbian section

Copyright © 1997 HRHCP Aleksandar II All Rights Reserved