Interview

MONARCHY, THE BEST SOLUTION FOR SERBIA

Growing up in England in a kind of exile · We would like to know what were your relationships with your parents (in details, if possible); what were the principles you were brought up by, what were your role models; the language used at the home of your parents; what was the image of Serbia in a young man’s mind, how did you do at school and how was your character built; your favourite books (and why), favourite school subjects; teachers, professors, lecturers – do you have any contacts with any of them today? Your career – how did it begin, how did you build it? Have you ever written your personal diary?

-When I was born on 17 July 1945, it was sadly far away from my homeland, but it happened on Yugoslav territory in  London’s Claridge’s Hotel. Prime Minister Winston Churchill approved that the suite at Claridge’s should be proclaimed Yugoslav territory. In November 1945, the Monarchy was illegally abolished and Yugoslavia became a dictatorship. It was the beginning of my exile and horrible pain for my father who over the years and decades longed for his home more and more.

My parents had the misfortune to live in many countries and I followed them from one place to another. In July 1946, we went to Paris for a short time, then to Switzerland, then back to Paris and further way to Monaco. In January 1947, we returned to Switzerland. In April 1948, we went to New York on the “Queen Elisabeth” ship. We stayed at the Carlyle Hotel. We went from Europe to New York and back several times on different ships, including the “Queen Marry” and “Caronia”.

I longed for a home like any other child. In the summer of 1950, I was even sent with a nanny to the Channel Islands and then to Cortina in Italy where I learned to ski. We returned to New York at the beginning of 1951, but that time we moved to an apartment. That did not last long, so we moved again to the Carlyle Hotel. Then I was moved with my nanny across the street into another apartment. When the time came, I went to school in New York. The school bus would pick me up everyday. My parents’ marriage was going through a difficult time, so they returned to Europe, and I stayed at the apartment with my nanny. In 1952 my parents sent for me and I arrived in Paris for the first time by plane, in a “Boeing 377 Strato – Cruiser”, which is still very much a memorable moment for me.

When I was eight, in September 1953, I was sent to my first boarding school in Gstaad in Switzerland. At that time I was already spoking English, French and Italian, but unfortunately there were no possibilities for me to study Serbian. I was becoming more and more aware of what had happened in Yugoslavia and I was a real pest to my father asking him many questions. In September 1954, I went to Le Rosey School in Switzerland. It was a wonderful school and I am still in touch with the people there. Just last week my wife and I went on special cruise with the students of my generation. I stayed at the Le Rosey for five years, but my father thought I was getting spoiled there, so they sent me to a rather strict school in America. I remember coming to Europe for Christmas with my hair cut very short and chewing gum and my father was not very pleased with that. Then I went to school in Scotland, the same one Prince Charles attended. I spent every school holiday in a different place, depending where my parents lived at the time. I also attended the British Military Academy, spent seven years serving the Army, and stayed in many different places.

My father got very sick in America and I visited him in the hospital in Los Angeles. He died in Denver, Colorado in 1970. In 1972 I left the Army and got married to Princess Maria da Gloria from Orleans and Bragança. We moved to Rio de Janeiro were I worked in advertising and for a while, we lived in London. Then we went to Chicago where I worked as a broker in the insurance business. Peter was born in Chicago in 1980. Then we moved to Virginia, where I continued working in international insurance. Philip and Alexander were born in 1982 in Virginia. Maria da Gloria and I separated in 1983, and soon afterwards, in 1984, I met Katarina. I moved to London and in 1985, we got married in the Serbian Orthodox Church. Katarina was wonderful in bringing up the boys. Maria da Gloria also got married in 1985. We have always been on friendly terms, and Katarina and Maria da Gloria became friends.

I have never written a personal diary. Both of my parents published their autobiographies in the fifty’s.

Serbian topics

· Did you ever discuss any of your father’s decisions brought at the end of the WW II regarding Tito and the Chetniks? If you did, what was your attitude? Did you notice your father’s disappointment in the circumstances in the country and how did you take his feelings? What was your view of the Serbian emigration in London during the WW2? What attitude did you have towards Slobodan Jovanovic’s writings about the Royal House? Have you ever made your own list of the Karadjordjevic’s, and if you did, who was your role model and why? What was your perception of communism, which social and economic concept is your favourite? Historically speaking, what has been the greatest challenge for the Serbs and Serbia so far for them to become a prosperous nation?

- I spoke with my father about the World II and the Civil war many times. At that time, my father was very young and heartbroken for having being taken away from his homeland. He would tell me many stories about how he used to travel all over Yugoslavia when he was a boy, and about his everyday life in Dedinje.

From time to time, I used to feel my father had been ill advised, and in my opinion, some strange characters surrounded him. My mother suffered much because of all the emigrants' politics and intrigues. There was no doubt that various shady elements from Yugoslavia were included in my father's surrounding and a man should have been blind not to notice the activities and games that my poor father had to face.

I have always felt very sad about our emigration, not just in London, but also all over the world. Those were, and still are, wonderful people who were tragically uprooted from their homes by the human madness. They struggled to survive in foreign countries, far away from their country, while Yugoslavia was caught in a trap of an ideological experiment without much hope for democracy. In my view, we could all live better in a democratic society in which human rights and tolerance are respected. I also believe that we must have appropriate social services financed through a free market economy.

Serbia has tremendously suffered through decades of dictatorship after the World War II and the Civil war and the complete madness which followed. The tragedy of the 90’s included so many elements: bad management, negative nationalism, negative religion, international misunderstanding, sanctions, isolation, and on top of it all, criminal bombing. I feel very sad because our people had to go through all of that. We must move forward as a nation, and unite to be successful. We have a wonderful people and incredible talents.

Our politicians must work together for the welfare of all citizens, regardless of their religion or ethnic origin. We must fulfil our international obligations and remain firmly together in order to provide a future for Serbia as one of the key members of the European Union. We cannot allow ourselves any more divisions for others will take advantage of our discord. Big challenges ahead of us are the future of Kosovo, the union of Serbia and Montenegro, unemployment and reforms. Our market economy must be efficient and create new jobs, prosperity and social services we so desperately need. We must try harder to promote great investment opportunities of our country abroad. In addition to our image, we should also be improving our international public relations.

THE REPUBLIC WITH A MONARCH

· Your first visit to the country happened during the time of Milosevic rule. Have you been critical of his roll from the very beginning? You are not accustomed to comment the personal attacks to the Crown, still – did Seselj’s invectives and attaints during your first stays in Serbia affect you? Do you find today’s status of Crown in Serbia temporary? What would Serbia gain if it was a Monarchy? Do you discuss this issue with the current Serbian politicians – if you do, what do they say? Does the Palace conduct some research of its own about the disposition of the people about conversion of Serbia to the Monarchy, and if it does, what are the results and what are your comments on them? When you think about Monarchy, what are its geographical borders? How strong economically and how stable is the Crown today, and what is done for improving the position of the Crown? What is going on with the consolidation of the Royal property? Is there going to be any younger people in the structure of the Crown Council?

-My relations with the Government and politicians are warm, and they should be like that, since we all believe in friendship.

When there are people who abuse power, I must make an exception and work for the democratic future. From the very beginning, I was critical towards the people who had abused the people. There were some individuals in ex-Yugoslavia who had abused power and that includes the years of madness.

There is an expression that when you are attacked by someone than at the same time it means acknowledgment.

Serbia has a great future, for I believe the constitutional parliamentary monarchy is the best solution for prosperity, stability and respect of our country. We are the witnesses of the bickering of the two political sides who are constantly in a low intensity conflict. Constitutional parliamentary monarchy functions very well in Sweden, Luxemburg, Holland, Belgium, United Kingdom, Japan, etc. One should notice that in constitutional parliamentary monarchy, governments of different political parties change in democratic elections, whether they are socialists or conservatives in the Western European sense of the term. In all the constitutional parliamentary monarchies, the monarch reigns and the Prime Minister rules and governs the country together with his (or her) cabinet. In addition, of course, there are free and democratic elections.

I have spoken about the issue of constitutional parliamentary monarchy with our politicians, and there is interest and concerns, but there is also a need for the public and the politicians to be informed about what a constitutional parliamentary monarchy is, and also what a parliamentary republic is. In most of the political parties, there are people who have interest in the constitutional parliamentary monarchy. One must realize that no political party has the exclusive right to that, but that they all have equal respect in monarchy, on condition that they accept democracy.

Yes, a recent public opinion survey conducted by a respectable agency was published, according to which 29 percent of the polled were for constitutional parliamentary monarchy. It is interesting because there was no campaign or effort to explain to the public what constitutional parliamentary monarchy is. There is interest for constitutional parliamentary monarchy in Serbia, Montenegro and Republika Srpska. Our goal is to have young well educated people in The Crown Council. We have recently included some new members.

The 60th Birthday

· When you look back, what would you say about your life? What visions did you have as a young man, and what did you achieve? When you came to (The Royal and The White) Palaces did you introduce your own “order of things”, or you left “the sediment of epochs” to last? When you made a concept of the ceremony for celebration of 60th birthday, how did you put together personal moment and state interests? What guests from the World are expected, and what can this mean for the image of the country; Will the celebration of your birthday be the full or just partial reflection of your intensive relations with the worlds state officials and the royal houses; Prince Charles has the reputation here as someone who has a certain felling for this part of the world – what is actually the story, and is he coming? What do you expect from other members of the Royal Home on this event, regarding the fact that from time to time some individual discontent emerged in the public? Your wife enjoys a great respect here because of her sincere humanitarian work – what are her big forthcoming projects? At last, the question about your children: what are the goals that you have set for the heirs to the Crown?

-I am sad because for so many decades, I was torn away from my country, but now I am happy to have returned to the home of my ancestors. I am glad that I have experienced life in democratic societies, and in an ex dictatorship during the early 70’s - in Brazil. I thought communism would stay with us forever, but it turned out I was wrong. I am sad because our country lost so much precious time. My vision was to have a democratic country. The horrors and the pain the people had suffered throughout ex-Yugoslavia during the wars in the 90’s shocked me. I had hopped we could have done that without pain and separate in peace.

I first saw The Royal Compound with the two palaces in Dedinje in December 2000, after the 5 October revolution. I tried to visit the compound in 1992, but I encountered opposition, although it was not the case with some other members of the Karadjordjevic Family, who had visited it – the regime applied “rule and divide” principle. After my family had moved into The Royal Palace, the home of my grandfather and my father, my wife and I were faced with the responsibility of maintaining and protecting the cultural heritage of this unique historical place, “the little Versailles of South-Eastern Europe”. We fell in love with the compound and spent considerable personal funds for maintenance and repairs before the government included it into its modest budget. I decided the compound should be preserved as a national monument for the future. I also asked for legal advice in drafting a law that was presented to the Government and the politicians. After many repairs of all kinds, including The White Palace’s new roof, we are delighted that last year the compound was for the first time opened for the public, so that all citizens could see its beauty. We have had thousands of visitors from our country and the whole world.

I have decided that it was logical to keep all the ideological symbols of the past era in the compound for posterity – only dictators try to erase history.

My wife, the boys and I are very proud to be living at The Royal Palace; it was built between 1924 and 1929 by my grandfather, King Alexander I. In 1934 King Alexander I started construction of The White Palace, which was supposed to serve as the residence for his three sons, Crown Prince Peter (my father), Prince Tomislav, and Prince Andrej. After the King was assassinated in Marseilles, construction was continued and The Palace was completed in 1936.

My wife and I are proud to have many friends all over the world and it is wonderful to be with them on my 60th birthday in our country. My wish at my 50th birthday was to celebrate the 60th birthday at home, and it came true. Our country needs friends and there is no better way to share this friendship with an invitation to a birthday party and by creating an opportunity for them to meet our politicians and our people. It is going to be very positive for our country to host these friends of ours. My wife has worked very hard for this celebration to be a success, and to be memorable for our people and the visitors, among whom we expect the King (Head of State) and the Queen of Sweden, The Grand Duke of Luxemburg (Head of State), former President of South Africa, FW de Klerk, the Prince and the Princess of Lichtenstein, former President of The World Bank, Jim Wolfensohn, members of The House of Lords (both from the Labour Party), many distinguished business leaders and many dear friends.

My wife and I are working on creating contacts with foreign universities to improve our education system. There is great hope after Belgrade became a sister city with Chicago. We would like to see our other cities taking the same initiative with other places.

The Foundation of my wife in Belgrade, and her international charity organization Lifeline, continue their humanitarian work for our country in Greece, the United Kingdom, the USA, and Canada.

At a family meeting two years ago, we decided that the boys should complete their education and gain firsthand working experience. It is important for Peter, Philip and Alexander to feel comfortable about making their own living (just as I did) and to gain experience in facing the responsibilities of every day life. Of course, they come home for holidays very often.

Peter is a partner in a graphic design company in London, and he has built up a fine range of clients. Philip has another year at his university in London. Alexander graduated in communications in California last year and now he is working as a PR manager. The boys are keen on sports and every year they go snowboarding at Kopaonik, which has become a sort of tradition (it is now the fourth year). They are also proud to bring their friends to Serbia.

By Radivoj Cveticanin

www.danas.co.yu