MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR HM QUEEN MARIA SERVED BY HIS HOLINESS AT THE ROYAL CHAPEL

Belgrade, 22 June 2011 – His Holiness the Patriarch Irinej of Serbia served today at the Royal Chapel of St. Andrew the First Called a memorial service for the 50 years since the death of Her Majesty Queen Maria of Yugoslavia.

The service was held in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander, Crown Princess Katherine, Prince Philip, Mrs. Alison Andrews, Mr. Manos Ioannidis, as well as members of the Advisory Bodies of the Crown.

After the service, His Holiness the Patriarch of Irinej Serbia said that all deceased members of the Karadjordjevic Royal Family should be buried in the Royal Crypt at the St George Church at Oplenac where they rightfully belong.

Following the commemoration, Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander, Crown Princess Katherine and Prince Philip went to United Kingdom, where they will attend a memorial service that will take place in Frogmore, Windsor, where HM Queen Maria is buried.

This ceremony will also be attended by members of the Royal Family, HRH Prince Vladimir and HRH Princess Brigitte, HRH Princess Lavinia and her husband Mr Austin Prichard Levy, HRH Prince Dmitri, HRH Princess Katarina, Lady de Silva, Sir Desmond de Silva and Victoria de Silva. The graveside commemoration will be served by Father Milun Kostic, Father Radomir Acimovic and The Right Reverend David John Conner KCVO Dean of Windsor.

On the occasion of 50th anniversary since the death of Her Majesty Queen Maria of Yugoslavia, an exhibition was presented at the White Palace.

The exhibition will be open for public from Wednesday, 22 June to Tuesday, 5 July during the working week at 12.30pm. Everyone interested should call the Office of HRH Crown Prince Alexander on 011/ 306 4075 at least one day in advance.

The Yugoslav Queen, Queen Marija Karadjordjevic, was born in 1900 in the German City of Gotha in the castle of Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Edinburgh, as the third child of the Romanian Crown Prince Ferdinand and Maria Hohenzollern.

In 1922, when she married His Majesty King Alexander I, the Romanian Princess became the Queen of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and later in 1929 she became the Queen of Yugoslavia. In 1923, she gave birth to the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Peter; in 1925 Prince Tomislav, and in 1928 Prince Andrej Karadjordjevic. Queen Maria dedicated most of her life to humanitarian work, and as such is remembered fondly by our nation and people. In the memory of the Yugoslavian people, she is remembered as a kind, generous, modest and emancipated woman – a true Queen.