Eduardo Alvarez

Updated Friday, February 16, 2024-21:29

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The historic photo of Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia with the second of his sons, Felipe, and his grandchildren Esteban (who will turn six next week) and María (born in November), with whom they congratulated last Christmas through their social networks,

has taken on a new meaning with the news that the head of the Karaorevi dynasty gave days ago.

And Alejandro (78 years old) made public that at the end of last year he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, for which he immediately underwent surgery. The only son of the last king of Yugoslavia, Peter II, claimed to be in perfect health, but did not hide having felt "terror" at the situation.

Prince Alexander decided to make the issue public just after it became known that his cousin King Charles III, the British monarch, suffers from cancer. Because until now the claimant to the throne of Belgrade had chosen to keep it a secret. And the matter, which has logically caused commotion among supporters of the Serbian monarchist cause,

now leads to more readings of the aforementioned photograph.

Because the image was captured during Alejandro's visit to his son's house to meet his granddaughter, who was barely a few weeks old. And, as Prince Philip was responsible for reflecting on his Instagram account, it was the first time that three links of the dynasty met "in a direct line of succession", which meant the first rapprochement between father and son since the spring of 2022.

LONG ANGER

Alexander of Serbia would have gone almost two years without seeing the second of his offspring, despite living in the same city, Belgrade, given that in April 2022 there was a schism in the dynasty and a monumental anger of its owner with his descendants .

Perhaps cancer has been partly to blame for the rapprochement,

in the style of what could also occur in the United Kingdom between Charles III and his wayward son, Prince Harry.

And that month of April there was an unusual renunciation of his succession rights to Alexander's first-born son, Prince Pedro. A decision that placed his brother Felipe as the new heir. But all this was done leaving the head of the dynasty aside. And Alexander of Yugoslavia harshly criticized the fact that a gesture of such significance was adopted

without respecting either the tradition or the rules of the royal family.

Because the resignation did not take place in the Royal Palace of Serbia, with his presence and with his authorization, but rather it materialized in Spain, and it did not have the blessing of the important Serbian Orthodox Church or the participation in the Council process. of the Crown.

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Prince Pedro signed his abdication in Seville - the city where he has resided for years - in the Casa de Pilatos Palace, the jewel in the crown of the Casa Ducal Medinaceli Foundation, which is currently headed by the Duke of Segorbe, Ignacio Medina and Fernández de Córdoba. This is the husband for almost four decades of the first wife of Alexander of Yugoslavia - mother of his three children -, María Gloria de Orleáns-Braganza y Borbón, first cousin of King Juan Carlos,

since she is the daughter of María de la Esperanza of Borbón-Two Sicilias,

sister of the late María de las Mercedes, Countess of Barcelona.

That episode

caused a very embarrassing situation for the royal family

of a Republic such as Serbia where, however, its historical dynasty has an increasingly greater public presence and where around 30% of the population, according to surveys carried out in recent years , would advocate today for the restitution of the Crown.

The Karaorevi have a very close link with the Spanish Royal Family. Beyond the relationship through the thread of the aforementioned María Gloria, Alexander of Serbia is one of Queen Sofia's most beloved cousins. And the heir's current heir, Prince Philip, is her godson.

Felipe VI's mother did not miss her wedding with the graphic designer Danica Marinkov,

held in Belgrade in October 2017, which brought together a large group from Götha. Quite an event, as it was the first major royal wedding in Serbia since 1922.

The resignation of Prince Pedro once again brought to the fore the bad relationship between Alejandro Karaorevi's children and his current wife, the Greek Catalina Batis, with whom he remarried in 1985.

Prince Philip himself made some statements at the time,

which They greatly offended his father, in which he was hurt at having been raised by his "stepmother" instead of his mother.

Time will tell if the reconciliation is sincere. As Prince Philip stressed when publishing the photo with his father and his children,

"the essence of the Monarchy is in the stability provided by our next generations",

trusting that the head of the Karaorevi will see more of his grandchildren from now on, to "ensure a healthy continuity of the dynasty."