New prince named Andrej

August 15, 1929

The third son of King Alexander and Queen Marie of Yugoslavia was officially named today, according to a special cable to the New York Times.  In the presence of Premier General Zivkovitch, senior ministers, representatives of the military and members of the diplomatic corps at the Suvobor Castle at Bled in Slovenia, the infant prince was given the name Andrej, which is the Slovenian form of Andrew.


King Alexander granted amnesty to hundreds of prisoners in honor of his son's birth.

Prince Andrej was born at Bled on June 28.

Tonight beacon fires will be lit on the mountain tops in honor of the naming ceremony.

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, the king's first cousin, and former Queen Elizabeth of the Hellenes were Andrej's godparents.  Elizabeth represented the Duke of York as the "chief sponsor" and "in this capacity entered the chapel beyond besides the Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania, who carried the royal infant." 

Prince Andrej was "blessed with holy water."  Queen Elizabeth took a lighted candle in "her left hand, the child in her right," and approached the Patriarch and "asked him to name the infant Andrej."

After the ceremony, King Alexander, said to be in high spirits, "received congratulations tendered by a series of delegations."

The prince's baptism took place on the day he was born.  Today's ceremony is described as a "formal reception" into the Orthodox church, "with the supplementary baptismal ritual," which was not included in first ceremony.

The baby had received the "provisional name of Paul" at the first service.