His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander extended his Best Wishes for Christmas for the believers who celebrate this holiday according to the Gregorian Calendar with the following message:
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| @HRH Crown Prince Alexander |
“On the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the day of great joy for all Christians, I wish to all the citizens of Serbia and the people around the world who celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar all the best from my family and myself. May everyone enjoy peace, love and happiness
Christmas is also the time for people to unite, to give and share and be at peace, the time to build respect for each other, which helps us all be stronger.
My family joins me in wishing all of you a peaceful and Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year 2016.
Peace on Earth and goodwill for all!
Christ is born!”
Alexander
4 comments:
Marlene, I've been looking around online trying to find any good articles or blog entries regarding something but haven't found much. On the sidebar of your blog it says to let you know of ideas for articles or blog posts, so I thought I'd share. Not sure you (or any of your readers) would be interested, but figured it can't hurt to just leave a comment. :-)
I know from reading and documentaries that the royal families of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are quite close. Of course, most of that is because they are family, and rather close family at that! Denmark & Sweden's monarchs at present are first cousins, making CP Frederik & CP Victoria second cousins. King Harald of Norway is a close cousin to both Margrethe & Carl Gustaf, and of course the Norwegian royal family itself is actually Danish going back to when a Danish prince became king of Norway. All 3 Scandinavian countries have a good deal of intermarriage in their royal families.
I know the current heirs of the 3 countries are very close, so I their children would be as well. This, however, is where I can't find much to back my assumption up. I'm quite curious as to any relationships with the latest generation, and more than that, I'm VERY interested in their connection to the UK royals. The youngest generation is still too young to form true friendships, but I'm curious as to William's relations with them, and if you think George & Charlotte will know their European cousins. I know Elizabeth seems close with Margrethe but haven't seen anything on Charles continuing the tradition. William & his kids are certainly relatives but don't seem to have a connection. You'd think he would want that, not just on a family level but because these cousins understand EXACTLY what his life is like, and are around his age. Any insight?
Charles is friends with Margrethe, and she has stayed at Sandringham. William and Catherine have certainly met several of the European royals (at their afternoon wedding reception), but there is no real interaction. William and Catherine did meet Frederik and Mary during an official engagement in Denmark .. and there may be private contacts. The heirs to the throne (except Charles) meets once a year. The weeks before Willem-Alexander became king, he and Maxima hosted the event - and a nice group photo was taken. It was resurrected last year when Haakon and Mette Marit hosted it and the adult heirs brought their kids. There are three minor heiresses apparent now but they were not invited.
All the marshals of the European courts meet once a year, but the British equivalent stopped coming more than a decade ago. The European royals are no longer close relatives to the British royals. William is in the same position as Christian of Denmark, Estelle of Sweden as second in line, not the heirs to the throne. Harald celebrates his Silver Jubilee next week . so it will be interesting who comes from the UK - perhaps Charles and Camilla (he is the heir), but also could be Edward and Sophie as they attend various Euro weddings. George and Charlotte will not meet European royals for many years ... It would be super as Princess Madeleine lives in London, same age as William, and 2 children same ages as George and Charlotte - oh, the play dates .. but this is unlikely to happen as the Cambridges spend more time in Norfolk, and George starts pre-school this month in near Amner Hall. Carl XVI Gustaf is 70 this year - and there may be a grand party .. again perhaps Charles and Camilla or Edward and Sophie. William and Catherine are unlikely to attend European royal functions, at least in the not to distant future. No eligible European royals of marital age, apart from Harry. Next year, the Dutch king turns 50, and most likely a grand celebration. Look at Fabiola's funeral in December 2014. The new ambassador represented the British sovereign.
Do you have any thoughts as to WHY the British royals aren't particularly close to those in mainland Europe? Obviously the Danish & Swedish royals are immediate relatives so that's one thing, but you have to go quite a way back to find a family connection to the Dutch royal family and they're still part of that circle. It seems a shame to me, not only because they're family but because there are VERY few people in the world who can truly understand their lives. William is probably the most famous non-reigning royal right now, together with his little family, so he does face more attention internationally than the other royals, but still. You would think they could be a good source of support, and if nothing else they would be people he KNEW he could trust. There would be no thoughts in the back of the mind about "Is this person around because I'm William, or because I'm PRINCE William?" (or Harry or whoever). There is, of course, a good solid family base for William & Harry in their grown first cousins, but even THEY cannot understand the way that others in direct line to a throne would understand what pressures he faces. Also, it seems the Danish & Swedish families have children who'd make excellent friends for George & Charlotte - again, people who they could trust & grow up knowing and being part of a support network. Seems a shame is all, and I'm just wondering if you know of any reasons why this is.
Members of the Duke of Kent's family have closer ties to European royals due to Marina's family as Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor have attended numerous European weddings, as private citizens. The days of closeness between royal families has largely ended because royals no longer have diplomatic roles - no need to arrange marriages between countries. The British royals have more ties to the Commonwealth than to Europe. William and Harry love parts of Africa, but have spent far less time visiting the Continent. The Euro royals do not spend every weekend with each other. Victoria's husband is a Swedish commoner, Haakon's wife a Norwegian commoner, Felipe's wife is a Spanish commoner, Crown Princess Mary is an Australian commoner and Maxima was born in Argentina. Every royal couple draws their friends from school, connections, family. William, like his father, has a circle of close friends. Note that neither Charlotte nor George have royal godparent, all are drawn from their parents' circle of friends. The foreign royals that have ties with the British are the Greeks. King Constantine is one of William's godfathers but Pavlos is not a godfather to George .. although William is a godparent to one of Pavlos'sons. George will be starting pre-school this month in Norfolk. he will eventually be sent to boarding school, no doubt eventually Eton, where he will meet other young men of his class. It would be fun to see Madeleine and Catherine spend time together with their kids - but that is unlikely to happen .. unless they actually meet each other. Chris O'Neill's mother is an acquaintance of Charles, and his sister, Tatjana is married to the son of Lady Ursuala Manners, daughter of the 9th Duke of Rutland (the present Duke is the 11th, the grandson of the 9th Duke)... someone has to be a friend of a friend of a friend to introduce them. The Dutch princesses attend schools near their home, riding their bikes. Their friends will come from their social circle as well.
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