Restoration of the Serbian Monarchy

[Cory]

The Serbian royalists should not give up in their ideal of restoring Monarchy.It is not easy but the Royal Family is every day more popular I think. The situation in Romania, Greece or Bulgaria is too different from all points of view.

[Tillymint]

I find myself wondering what effect CP Alexander's son Prince Peter will have on any possible restoration. I know that he lives in the US, works and must make his living, but he seems to keep an exceptionally low profile which suggests he prefers life out of the lime light. I may be wrong, but his brothers seem to make themselves more visible to the public. Surely Peter being so invisible is harmful to Alexander's efforts??

[Marc23]

Originally Posted by Tillymint

I find myself wondering what effect CP Alexander's son Prince Peter will have on any possible restoration.

I am afraid none whatsoever...People generally don't like CP and his wife often laughing at them while they try their "best" to speak Serbian,not to speak about his sons who avoid being in Serbia due to "iron fist" of their stepmother who is "alpha and omega" in the palace...

[Cory]

Is Hereditary Prince Petar interested in the issue of the restoration of Monarchy?

[Marc23]

He doesn't seem to be...he knows only few words of Serbian and that doesn't help because people here very much appreciate mastering or knowing the language first and than behavior which should be some kind of exemplary!'

Neither is CP Alexander personally interested too much as he is a very simple man,but he must say he is because his wife Katharina is very much interested in it...she is like a machine with engines,keeps working all the time,but sometimes in a bit of wrong way-pressing too much!

[Cory]

The majority of Serbians seem to be in favour of Monarchy:

Balkans.com Business News : 64% of Serbians polled vote for Monarchy over Republic

[Artemisia]

Of all the former Monarchies, I think Serbia is the one with most chances for restoration. In fact, I would really like to see a constitutional monarchy restored in the country.
Crown Prince Alexander appears to be a good man and would probably have a stabilising effect on the country. While I don't know much about his son and heir, there aren't any scandals or controversies associated with him either, which is both rare and commendable.

[Marc23]

Originally Posted by Cory

The majority of Serbians seem to be in favour of Monarchy:

Balkans.com Business News : 64% of Serbians polled vote for Monarchy over Republic

I am for monarchy in the first place,but so far there is not a slightest chance for it...

But on the other hand you already have many festivities like you have in other monarchies...you have dinners and banquets at the palace,when a royal comes to our country they always meet CP Alexander and his wife,when they are invited to attend some public engagement they are placed in the first row.They are just not called King and Queen and the state is not a monarchy because all the propaganda against it during Tito's reign still lives in mind of many people.They spread the story that the royal family abandoned their people with all valuables during WWII to seek refuge just for themselves...and for those who are uninformed(and many of them are) that is what it is.

Plus,CP and his wife are not popular among people.They don't like the fact that he lives here for more than 12 years now and still hasn't been able to learn Serbian properly.They always make fun of him either directly by being booed of behind his back...On the other hand Princess Elizabeth who could barely speak when she came back to live here has drastically improved her Serbian and that doesn't help either because people say that if she was able to learn it CP is able too,but just not willing or not interested enough.

Also quarrels within the family doesn't help their cause either because those things are spread in various newspapers.Recently former Crown Princess personal assistant who quit her job got beaten in the palace by her security guard and of course it was in all newspapers...

[Cory]

How do you explain the polls?

[Marc23]

This was not an official poll,but unfortunately a fairy tail poll based on 20 people organized by a newspaper magazine called "Blic" whose board member is coincidentally also a member of Crown Council...If the poll really says the truth almost 2/3 of the population would have made Serbia a monarchy already!

Believe me Cory,I know it may look strange to you,but I live here and know when something is either realistic or not.No chance for that in near future...The only active pro-monarchistic political party can't even pass the census(it's 4%) in parliamentary elections!

But,time will tell...

[Cory]

Which is the opinion of the main political parties towards Monarchy?

[Artemisia]

All main political parties support Monarchy, which is one reason I have such high hopes for restoration.

From Wikipedia:

Many members of political parties and organizations support a constitutional parliamentary monarchy in Serbia. The Serbian Orthodox Church has openly supported the restoration of the monarchy. The assassinated former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Dinđic was often seen in the company of the prince and his family, supporting their campaigns and projects, although his Democratic Party never publicly embraced monarchy. It seems no party is ready to energetically push the issue of constitutional monarchy either because the country has more pressing problems, or because they don't want to drive another wedge into the already fragmented electorate.

[Marc23]

This is not true...try to think logically-if all political parties support monarchy Sebia would have been monarchy already without any question.

[Artemisia]

It is my understanding that most major political parties and the Church do support the Monarchy, as is obvious by the quotes from the leaders of those parties and the precedence and respect shown towards the royal family.
However, in order for the monarchy to be reinstated a referendum is needed. And right now Serbia has far more pressing and important questions to deal with. Additional, it's one thing to support the Monarchy, and quite another - to put it on your agenda as a top priority question; that would divide the already-fractured electorate - and no political party would ever want that.

[Marc23]

Originally Posted by Cory

Which is the opinion of the main political parties towards Monarchy?

Apart from the SPO party other parties tend to be more diplomatic about this question...they don't want to say that they are they either against or for monarchy because they want to get votes from pro-monarchy people and also from anti-monarchy people who are in majority.If they choose sides they will loose valuable votes,so they tend to be more diplomatic and rarely mention that question...Former Prime minister Kostunica looked favorably towards royal family but never mentioned restoration as an option...

Serbian Orhodox Church itself is for the monarchy,but they are not political party!

Originally Posted by Artemisia

It is my understanding that most major political parties and the Church do support the Monarchy, as is obvious by the quotes from the leaders of those parties and the precedence and respect shown towards the royal family.

Parties do not support officially monarchy apart from SPO and rarely mention that as a question,but the Church does support the monarchy indeed...

Originally Posted by Artemisia

However, in order for the monarchy to be reinstated a referendum is needed. And right now Serbia has far more pressing and important questions to deal with. Additional, it's one thing to support the Monarchy, and quite another - to put it on your agenda as a top priority question; that would divide the already-fractured electorate - and no political party would ever want that.

Got it...plus there are people who support monarchy as Serbian history institution,but don't support CP Alexander...

Flip Out Prince - YouTube

Just watch this video...He got booed...you can find it on youtube with various insulting names for CP such as "angry piggy","angry mason","flip out Prince"..people don't respect him in general and I can't imagine that people would behave like that in Romania towards King Michail...

Apart from that they always make fun of him in the newspapers following his gaffs in Serbian language...

Of course,if a different person were to be in the shoes of CP it could all be a bit different...

[Cory]

The Serbians must understand CP Alexander learnt the language in exile.

[Marc23]

They already know it,but the main problem is that he is now living in Serbia for 12 years and he still hasn't learned it which is often seen as a lack of interest...even his wife speaks Serbian better than he does!

For example,when he tries to say that that "Serbia would see itself to become a democratic country" he says instead "Serbia should start milking a cow to become a democratic country" and everyone instantly bursts into laugh...

Princess Elizabeth,when she came back,didn't know Serbian either but during all these years her Serbian became excellent in comparation to CP...not to mention that her brother Alexander speaks Serbian even better and apart from his childhood he never lived nor returned to live to Serbia...

[fandesacs2003]

Originally Posted by Cory

The Serbians must understand CP Alexander learnt the language in exile.

He should have learned in exile, he was the Crown Prince!
The kids of our former King Kostantin all speak greek.
CP Alexandre comes very often in Greece. I do not find him nice at all. And his wife seems hypocrite and arrogant. She organizer some strange charity events with not very clear purposes.

[Cory]

Crown Princess Katerina helps a lot of hospitals.

[Marc23]

She does indeed,but her behavior is very questionable...she is very sweet in public,but when the lights turn off she is a different person...

I had a chance to be with CP,Katharine and some members of Crown Council in one restaurant where she drank too much wine and started loudly proclaiming herself a Queen of Serbia.Other members noticed her behavior but did not say anything...

Day after that President of the Crown Council Mr.Dragomir Acovic sent a written note to Crown Prince just to talk to her and to try to calm her down because she might do such things again and people in general get the wrong impression.CP has shown that message to Katherine and she called Mr. Acovic to inform him that there is no more need for him to come to the Palace every day despite the fact that his office is also there...

She was also the reason why CP Alexander and Princess Elizabeth are no longer in speaking terms...she tried to forbade Princess Elizabeth doing charity work as she felt overshadowed by her...this resulted in the fact that Princess Elizabeth is forbidden to enter Royal Complex,despite the fact that whole complex has been returned for use to all Karadjordjevic dynasty members...

There have been also many other disputes in the family between CP,his wife and other family members...

Prince Tomislav,his uncle,was hugely popular in the country...he raised CP as his own son with his family due to the facts that we all know.Several moths before Tomislav died Alexander visited him in Oplenac where Tomislav lived for several years...Because of his popularity he accused Tomislav of wanting to take the throne away from him...Tomislav replied:"How could I take from you something that neither of us has?"

The family is not united and that is what creates a very bad PR in the public when these kind of stories you read in the interviews given by royals...