HRH CROWN PRINCESS KATHERINE RECEIVED AN HONORARY DOCTOR’S DEGREE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

Belgrade, 10 November 2007 – Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine attended the Graduation Ceremony that took place at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, where HRH Princess Katherine received an Honorary Doctors Degree from the City College and the University of Sheffield.

Crown Princess Katherine received the Honorary Degree from Prof. Micheline Beaulieu, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Sheffield who awarded Her Royal Highness with the degree certificate for her tremendous efforts in humanitarian work.

After receiving the Honorary Degree, Crown Princess Katherine addressed the gathering, stating: “I am very honoured with this award because it proves that everything you do in life is recognized sooner or later. For me, it is a great privilege to do what ever I can to help the people in need, and it is not just my mission, it is my life!”

The Award Ceremony was attended by prominent members of the academic community as well as graduates of the renowned Sheffield University.

At this prestigious ceremony, Their Royal Highnesses were accompanied by Mr. Georgios Strategakis, the owner of City College, Mr. Ververidis, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Sheffield University as well as Pro-Vice Chancellor Mr. Tony Crook Mr. Ioannis Ververidis, Principal of the City College, Mr. Panagiotis Psomiadis and Mr. Panagopoulos, Deputy Mayor of Thessaloniki.

UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD – DEGREE CONGREGATION – HRH CROWN PRINCESS KATHERINE (PDF>>>>)

 The University of Sheffield Degree Congregation, 10 November 2007

HRH Crown Princess Katherine

Pro-Vice-Chancellor,

One of the 20th-century's greatest orators, Winston Churchill, said "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give". The honorary graduand who stands before you has devoted much of her life to the act of giving - providing humanitarian aid to the sick and needy in the Balkan region, irrespective of their religion, ethnicity or political persuasion. Through her charitable organisations she has also considerably enhanced the infrastructure and capacity of health and social care institutions throughout Serbia.

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Katherine was born in Athens and from an early age her parents taught her that one of the greatest joys in life is giving to people less fortunate than herself. She was educated in Athens and Lausanne and undertook voluntary work in orphanages when she was at high school. Her university years were spent in America where she studied business, first at the University of Denver and later at the University of Dallas. In 1985 she married His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander II, Head of the Royal House of Karadjordjevic which has been inextricably linked with the destiny of the Serbian nation during the past two centuries. The widespread suffering and displacement caused by conflict in the former Yugoslavia led Princess Katherine to establish the Lifeline Humanitarian Organisation in 1993, with offices in London, Athens, New York, Chicago and Toronto. During this difficult period humanitarian aid was distributed throughout the Balkans, for as our honorary graduand once remarked "there are no borders in suffering". When their Royal Highnesses came to live in Belgrade in 200!, they set up the HRH Crown Princess Katherine Foundation to co-ordinate and expand humanitarian activities in the region, in collaboration with the Lifeline offices, non-governmental organisations and overseas agencies.

The challenges that have faced Princess Katherine in her humanitarian work are enormous, but she is blessed with an indomitable spirit and a captivating smile that have won the hearts and minds of the disadvantaged she seeks to help and the benefactors she needs to attract. One of the main thrusts of her Foundation's work has been to provide Serbia's hospitals with modern medical equipment and to assist in the refurbishment of run-down wards, operating theatres and intensive care units. Over the past six years the Foundation has secured medical equipment worth more than 10 million euros, but much work remains to be done - Serbia has high rates of infant mortality and heart disease. Princess Katherine recognises that new equipment alone is not enough. The Foundation has funded overseas placements for Serbia's leading doctors and invited world-renowned physicians and surgeons to spend time in Serbia's hospitals operating on patients and sharing their expertise. This concept of sharing new knowledge is also manifested in the monthly NGO meetings hosted by Princess. Katherine at the White Palace, when leading representatives of national and international non¬governmental organisations and agencies meet to discuss pressing health care issues.

The Foundation is also very active in the field of social care. Here, as with all her humanitarian work, Princess Katherine is personally involved, delivering aid to people in refugee camps, providing wheelchairs and other vital items for the elderly and the disabled, and handing over clothes and toys to Romany settlements. But it is the children who occupy a special place in her heart - children without parental care, children with special needs, mentally and physically disabled children, and abused children. Each Christmas and Easter Princess Katherine and her husband organize special receptions for 1500 of these children at the White Palace, with presents and entertainment the order of the day. At one of these receptions a brother and sister who had become separated by the troubles and sent to different institutions in different towns met up again in the grounds of the White Palace.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor, the study of children at risk is an important research theme in the South East European Research Centre, a collaborative venture led by the University of Sheffield and CITY College, and involving partners from eleven countries in the Balkan region. It is also high on the research agenda of the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth, based in the University of Sheffield. We have much to learn from each other in the development of policy to help children at risk cope with the difficulties that face them. Two years ago Princess Katherine made a significant contribution in this field by developing the SOS Child Line project, which allows children free telephone access to trained psychiatrists 24 hours a day.

Princess Katherine is enormously proud of her Hellenic roots and the great contribution that the people of Greece have made to the Foundation's work. Last year, for example, a gala dinner in Athens raised 660,000 euros to upgrade neonatal intensive care units in Serbia. The citizens of Thessaloniki too have been prominent supporters of the Foundation's work, organising charity events and hosting summer camps for orphaned children. And when devastating forest fires recently engulfed large swathes of Greece, Princess Katherine and her husband were quick to organise a major fundraising event in Athens and to mobilise aid from Serbia for villagers whose homes had been burnt to the ground.

For Princess Katherine there are simply not enough hours in the day for her to achieve all her humanitarian aims. She is the first to acknowledge the wholehearted support that she receives from her husband and together the Karadjordjevics are a formidable team -a fact recognised earlier this year when their Royal Highnesses received the prestigious Ambassadors for Children Peace Award in the United States.

We honour today a distinguished humanitarian for whom no request is too small, no challenge too great. As she herself has said: "We live this life to help. God gave us one hand to help ourselves and the other one to help others". Pro-Vice-Chancellor, I present Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Katherine as eminently worthy to receive the degree of Doctor of Letters honor