VESTI, Australian edition, November 6, 2005

written by R.Loncar 

IN THE EVE OF THE ROYAL VISIT TO AUSTRALIA

 All the Princess Katherine’s good deeds

• Being a princess doesn’t mean that your life is just yours, helping your own people is a gift from God

During the visit of HRH Crown Prince Alexander II and HRH Crown Princess Katherine all the Serbs and people of good will in Australia will have a chance to get acquainted with the humanitarian work of HRH Crown Princess Katherine, since she has become a symbol of charity work and help for all those in need.

When talking about The Royal Family Karadjordjevic one will be disappointed if one only imagines the princes and princesses as those that just enjoy the luxury of the world. But as HRH Crown  Princess Katherine once said for “Vesti”  “having a monarchy is not just wearing a crown on your head, but being able to bring good to your people, to make their lives better and help them get the sense of unity, safety and hope for the better future”.

-Being a princess does not mean that your life is just yours. When you wake up, you do not just think of yourself and your family, but also of the others you feel responsible for. It is a privilege, but a great responsibility as well. It is a gift from God to help your own people and it means you forget about yourself and work for the benefit of the others. It is our destiny to give, not to take. That is why I am trying to be helpful to people, said HRH Crown Princess Katherine.

When asked where she has all that energy from, she usually says: “When you live in your homeland surrounded by people who suffered so much, but still haven’t lost their enthusiasm, you create that energy from the urge to help them. God always gives the strength for the good deeds.”

Everywhere where the Serbs live

And her good deeds are numerous and exceed millions of dollars. Her humanitarian mission is present not only in Serbia, America, Canada and Great Britain where her humanitarian foundation has its branches, but everywhere where the Serbs and all the people of good will live.

-I am constantly trying to inform our people, who live abroad, and the international community about the problems in our homeland. I am also giving my best to unite the Serbian diaspora in their efforts to help our people. As you know, our people are proud and humane, but they are individuals, too. They like to work their own ways, but we can achieve much more if we work together”, said HRH Crown Princess Katherine.

She neither likes to talk too much about all the help she provided for the endangered areas, nor does she keep any statistics about it. She says that all these years the help was sent to Central Serbia, Kosovo and Metohija, Republika Srpska and Krajina, because in her opinion “the river Drina is not the border to divide our people”.

-When I married my husband, I will never forget that, he asked me if I am ready to be the mother to his children and his people, and when you are already a mother, it does not matter that people know that this help is provided by you.  And it is also not important to tell your children about all the things you do for them, so many people and children, who get help, do not always know where this help comes from.  In my opinion the most important thing is that my husband, my children and I are constantly in our hearts and thoughts with our people, that we support them in good and evil and that we are able to offer them help when they most need it. I am also grateful to my husband, because he gave me the possibility to bring back smile on their faces and hope in their lives, says HRH Crown Princess Katherine.

In the previous period HRH Crown Princess Katherine provided a lot of help, that was distributed all around the former Yugoslavia, no matter what religious or ethnical group someone belonged, because HRH Crown Princess Katherine thinks that human sorrow doesn’t knows for boundaries. Her constant care for those people and institutions in need was the main reason why the Ministry for Health appointed her as the coordinator for the humanitarian help for SR Yugoslavia on November 15, 2000. And from July 2001, when Their Royal Highnesses started living in Belgrade, it was logical for HRH Princess Katherine to expand her humanitarian activities. She became then the honorary president of the Red Cross of Serbia.

For little children never to forget

-The situation in our country is extremely difficult and all the help we can get is precious. The system of health care is in poor condition because of the problems from the past. The medical equipment is either out of order or 40 years old. There is a constant shortage of medicines”, points HRH Crown Princess to the potential benefactors.

Her foundation unites all the existing humanitarian activities in Serbia and in coordination with the nongovernmental organizations in the country and abroad tries to help the children, the old people, the health and social institutions and all those endangered categories of population.

Her donations consist of financial and medical help to the handicapped and mentally retarded children, the children with special need, the children without parents, the molested children …All those children will never forget the traditional Christmas and Easter celebrations organized at the home of The Royal Family Karadjordjevic in Dedinje.

The health institutions are helped by providing new medical equipment, medicines, beds, bed sheets, expanding hospital capacities, etc. Her foundation also supplies the refugee camps with clothes, shoes, food and provides help for the old and handicapped people. HRH Crown Prince Alexander and HRH Crown Princess Katherine don’t forget about the young and talented people, so they provide financial help for the students, who show best results during their studies. In order to enable them to continue their studies abroad they cooperate very closely with the leading schools and universities.   

Patriarchal Balkans woman

HRH Crown Princess Katherine says that she is “the patriarchal woman from Balkans, who knows exactly what her priorities are. For me the most important things in life are my husband, my children, my parents and our country.  When I was a child my mother taught me that a wife needs to accompany her husband in everything and have him and the children constantly in her mind.  Those that give love and kindness will get the same in return. And there is no greater happiness than to be with the ones you love.”

ID card

HRH Crown Princess Katherine was born in Athens on 13 November, 1943. She is the daughter of Robert Batis and Anna. She studied business in the United States. She speaks English, Greek, French and Spanish and she is also learning Serbian. From her first marriage she has two children, son David and daughter Alison, who support her in all her activities. She met HRH Crown Prince Alexander II in Washington in 1984 and a year later they got married. The Princes Peter, Phillip and Alexander from HRH Crown Prince Alexander’s II first marriage with Princess Maria Gloria, who were then four, e.g. two years old, were accepted and raised by HRH Crown Princess Katherine as her own children.

Everything for the people

Although they lived in London, remembers HRH Crown Princess, their lives completely changed when the civil war started in Balkans. Every single day her first and the last thought was what she can do for the people and the children in the homeland of her husband.  In the last decade of the 20. century she said: “If we ever go back to our country I want to be able to look those people in the eyes, because they know my family did everything to help them when that help was most needed.

HRH Crown Princess Katherine admires her husband

HRH Crown Princess Katherine says that she likes to spend time with her husband, because “he is so smart, knowledgeable, trustworthy, reliable and there is no subject he is not informed of”. They shared similar attitudes, such as ”sincerity, optimism and very realistic approach to life”.  I am fascinated by his strong love and care for our people. He is a God’s gift. He is always above politics, the people are on the first place”, says HRH Crown Princess Katherine.