Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia (Serbian: Александар Карађорђевић, Престолонаследник Југославије; born 17 July 1945), is the head of the House of Karađorđević, the former royal house of the defunct Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its predecessor the Kingdom of Serbia. Alexander is the only child of King Peter II and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. He held the position of crown prince in the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia for the first four-and-a-half months of his life, until the declaration of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia later in November 1945, when the monarchy was abolished. In public he claims the crowned royal title of "Alexander II Karadjordjevic" (Serbian: Александар II Карађорђевић, Aleksandar II Karađorđević) as a pretender to the throne.[1]
For other people with similar names, see Alexander of Yugoslavia (disambiguation) and Alexander of Serbia (disambiguation).
Alexander Karađorđević
Александар Карађорђевић
3 November 1970 – present
17 July 1945 – 29 November 1945
Monarchy abolished
17 July 1945
Claridge's, Mayfair, London[a]
1966–1972
Your Royal Highness
Born and raised in the United Kingdom, he enjoys close relationships with his relatives in the British royal family. His godparents were King George VI of the United Kingdom and his daughter, the then-Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II). Through his father, Alexander is a direct descendant of Queen Victoria, through his great-great-grandfather Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria's second eldest son. Maternally, he is also a direct descendant of Queen Victoria, through his great-great-grandmother Victoria, German Empress, Victoria's eldest daughter. Alexander is known for his support of constitutional monarchism and his humanitarian work.
Status at birth[edit]
As with many other European monarchs during World War II, King Peter II left his country to establish a government-in-exile.[2] He left Yugoslavia in April 1941 and arrived in London in June 1941. The Royal Yugoslav Armed Forces capitulated in 18 April.
After the Tehran Conference, the Allies shifted support from royalist Chetniks to communist-led Partisans.[3] Commenting on the event and what happened to his father, Crown Prince Alexander said, "He [Peter II] was too straight. He could not believe that his allies – the mighty American democracy and his relatives and friends in London – could do him in. But that's precisely what happened".[4] In June 1944, Ivan Šubašić, the Royalist prime minister, and Josip Broz Tito, the Communist Partisan leader, signed an agreement that was an attempt to merge the royal government and communist movement.
On 29 November 1943, AVNOJ (formed by the Partisans) declared themselves the sovereign communist government of Yugoslavia and announced that they would take away all legal rights from the Royal government. On 10 August 1945, less than a month after Alexander's birth, AVNOJ named the country Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. On 29 November 1945, the country was declared a communist republic and changed its name to People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[5]
In 1947, all members of Alexander's family except for his grand-uncle Prince George were deprived of their Yugoslav citizenship[6] and their property was confiscated.[7]
As of 8 July 2015 the High Court in Belgrade found that decree 392, issued by the Presidency of the Presidium of the National Assembly on 3 August 1947, which deprived King Peter II and other members of the House of Karađorđević of their citizenship, was null and void from the moment of its adoption, in the parts pertaining to Crown Prince Alexander, and that all of its legal consequences are thus null and void.[8]
Birth and childhood[edit]
Alexander was born in Suite 212 of Claridge's Hotel in Brook Street, Mayfair, London. The British Government is said to have temporarily ceded sovereignty over the suite in which the birth occurred to Yugoslavia so that the crown prince would be born on Yugoslav territory,[3][9] though the story may be apocryphal, as there exists no documentary record of this. Another part of the story says that a box of soil from the homeland was placed under the bed, so the Prince could be born on Yugoslav soil. [10] It is now Suite 214 and known as the 'Alexander Suite'.
He was the only child of King Peter II and Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia. He was christened on 24 October 1945 at Westminster Abbey. His godparents were members of the British royal family, King George VI and Princess Elizabeth, who later became Queen Elizabeth II.[3]
His parents were relatively unable to take care of him, due to their various health and financial problems, so Alexander was raised by his maternal grandmother, Princess Aspasia of Greece and Denmark. He was educated at Trinity School, Institut Le Rosey, Culver Military Academy, Gordonstoun, Millfield and Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot, and pursued a career in the British military.
Military service[edit]
Alexander graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1966 and was commissioned as an officer into the British Army's 16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers regiment, rising to the rank of captain. His tours of duty included West Germany, Italy, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland. After leaving the army in 1972, Alexander, who speaks several languages, pursued a career in international business.[11][12]
Two Sicilian Royal Family: Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Justice with Collar of the Two Sicilian Royal Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George