THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES BECOME PATRONS OF SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH COLLEGE

Sydney, November 12, 2005 - Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine became today the patrons of the first Serbian Orthodox Church College in Australia expected to open in Sydney in 2008.

Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine attended a fund-raising for the establishment of the college at a gala dinner in the Sydney’s Superdome sports arena.

The list of guests included HE Milivoje Glisic, Serbia and Montenegro’s Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, the Rt. Hon. Attorney General Phillip Ruddock, Rt. Hon. Maurice Iemma, the New South Wales Premier, Rt. Hon. Roger Price, MP, Rt. Hon. John Ryan, opposition MP, and Ms. Virginia Judge, MP.

Cheered by some 1,100 people, who collected AUD 400,000 for the college, Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine were greeted by His Grace Serbian Bishop Milutin of Australia and New Zealand who said it was a God’s blessing that Their Royal Highnesses came to Australia to support the establishment of the college and to call on the Serbs unite.

The sports hall that hosted the last Olympics’ basketball and gymnastics competitions was decorated with the Australian, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbian flags and the ceremony started with the national anthems of Australia and Serbia.

‘’The project of St. Sava College is an effort at integration, not a separation,” HRH Crown Prince Alexander said. ‘’I commend Australia for its exemplary treatment of the many nations that settled here. I praise Australia for its respect of human rights, religion and ethnic origin,’’ he added.

Mr. Iema said that the NSW government supported the Serb community in its effort to be good Australians and remain good Serbs. He added his praise to the Serbian Orthodox Church ‘’for this splendid educational programme.” Mr. Ruddock passed on the greetings from the Australian Prime Minister John Howard who said that 95 % of the Serbs in Australia become Australians and that they had enriched the life in the country. ‘’And that is evidence to me of their loyalty.” Mr. Ryan also said that Serbs ‘’make a wonderful contribution’’ to the Australian diversity.

At the end of the ceremony, hundreds of people, many of whom remember the 1960 visit to Australia of HM King Peter II, Crown Prince Alexander’s father, queued to be photographed with the Royal Couple and to get Their Royal Highnesses’ pictures autographed. They chanted ‘’Long live the Serbian King’’ and were overwhelmed by Crown Princesses Katherine’s words spoken in Serbian: ‘’I’m a Serb by marriage, and I kindly ask you to help build this college. As my husband said – only the unity saves the Serbs.’’

Earlier on Saturday, the Royal Couple and HE Ambassador Glisic visited St. Simeon Retirement Village and met with a group of Australian Serb doctors.