Jersey Prince: CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER ATTENDS VIDOVDAN LITURGY IN PATERSON, NEW JERSEY

Belgrade, 29 June 2025 – HRH Crown Prince Alexander attended the Holy Vidovdan Liturgy and the commemoration service for the heroes of the Kosovo battle which was on great spiritual and national holiday of the Serbian people in St. John the Baptist Church in Paterson, New Jersey, USA, officiated by Priest Đokan Majstorović, and Deacon Vladimir Srbljak. Together with His Royal Highness, Mr Vladimir Bozovic, PhD, Consul–General of Serbia in New York, and many people of faith gathered for the Divine Service to jointly celebrate this sacred day. 

HRH Crown Prince Alexander and HRH Crown Princess Katherine, for some time now, due to important obligations, are in the USA, and therefore could not be in Serbia for Vidovdan. After the church service, the gathering continued at the beautiful Serbian estate, where the Crown Prince and Consul General addressed the present people. In his speech, Father Đokan Majstorović thanked the Crown Prince for his presence and wished him and the entire Royal Family good health, peace, and every blessing from the Lord. With a cultural artistic program, the solemnity was especially enhanced by little Petar, who recited the poem "Vidovdan" by the late Metropolitan Amfilohije. The gathering ended with a sharing table of love at the Serbian Estate.

For our diaspora, Vidovdan represents a very important holiday, one that was always celebrated very solemnly, especially in the period after World War Two, when many true patriots were forced to leave our country, just as our Royal Family. Vidovdan for Serbs abroad symbolizes a connection to the homeland and serves as a reminder of shared history and culture, regardless of geographical distance. It is an opportunity to celebrate our national identity and foster unity.

“Through the centuries, Vidovdan has become a symbol of the moral strength and eternal spirit of the Serbian people - a powerful reminder of our unity, perseverance, and unwavering commitment to the ideals of truth and justice. The legacy of this sacred day lives on in each one of us, as a call to uphold the virtues of dignity, responsibility, and solidarity. We must always be worthy of that legacy. The Serbian people must continually strive for unity. Only united can we show how much we truly love our homeland and work for its future.”, said HRH Crown Prince Alexander.

The entire Vidovdan message from HRH Crown Prince Alexander is available on LINK.

Consul General Dr. Božović particularly emphasized the importance and symbolism of Vidovdan, especially in America and the diaspora. “Vidovdan represents the finest examples of our faith, history, culture, and tradition—values we must preserve, nurture, and promote through modern means, without departing from the essence and foundations rooted in the sacred Kosovo covenant.”

Dr. Božović highlighted the positive examples of the Kosovo Holy Great Martyrs of Kosovo — Holy Emperor Lazar and Saint Sava — as well as contemporary saints and role models such as Saint Bishop Nikolaj, Nikola Tesla, and Mihajlo Pupin, who lived and created in Kosovo, New York, and America. He underscored the importance of gratitude to this great country and the American people, expressing his thanks to Crown Prince Alexander for his presence and highlighting the positive values represented by the Karadjordjević Dynasty.

 

all photos courtesy of HRH Crown Prince Alexander

Passed with flying colors

 

Photo by Michael Rhodes

Royal Musings will be back in a few days after I fly home

A Truly Noble wedding

 

@James Whatling

Lady Violet Manners and Viscount Garnock were married today at St Mary the Virgin in Bottesfird, Leicestershire.   The bride is the eldest child of the 11th Duke and Duchess of Rutland.  Lord Garnock is the son and heir of the 16th Earl and Countess of Lindsay 

@JamesWhatling 

The reception was held in the Belvoir Castle gardens.  The guests included the Duke and Duchess of Noto (the Duchess is the groom’s sister), model Sabrina Percy,  Lady Tatiana and Alick Dru and their daughter, Elodie, who was a flower girl, and Timothy and Flora Vesterberg.  

Sabrina Percy is a model. Several sources have called her Lady Sabrina Percy. She is the great granddaughter of the 9th Duke of Northumberland’s younger son Lord William Percy.

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-truly-noble-engagement-manners.html

.https://archive.ph/EPuHc

Belvoir Castle was on the list to visit this year, but I changed my plans after Lord and Lady Garnock’s wedding date was announced.

A Royal birthday

 

The Prince of Wales is 43 to day

Peter and Harriet in Ascot procession

@Marlene A. Eilers Koenig

Today was the first day of Royal Ascot. I was at Duke’s Lane to watch the carriage possession. This is where the Royals and their guests come down from Windsor Castle in cars and then get into the carriages for the procession..

 The first carriage included the King and Queen. The Princess Royal was in the second carriage the third carriage had the Princess’s son Peter Phillip's girlfriend, Harriet Sperling. Harriet’s invitation surely must mean the confirmation of a relationship that could be heading toward an engagement announcement.

All photos. @ Marlene A Eilers Koenig

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/05/peter-phillips-introduces-new.html

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/07/peter-phillips-steps-out-with-harriet.html

Happy Father’s day

 

Trooping the colour

@Josh Shiner

@josh Steiner

My Trooping the Colour photos will be posted after I return home

The wedding of Valerie von Einsiedel and Count Jakob von Eltz

 

The wedding of Valerie von Einsiedel and Count Johann Jakob von und zu Eltz gennant Faust von Stromberg were married on May 31 at St Jakob Kirche in Straubing, Bavaria.   Valerie is the 7th of 8 children of HSH Princess Marie Amélie Margit Elisabeth Anna of Urach, Countess of Württemberg, and her late husband, Curt-Hildebrand Joachim-Hans Leo Carl von Einsiedel.  Princess Amélie is the daughter of the late Princess Iniga of Thurn und Taxis (1935-2008)  and Prince Eberhard of Urach, Count of Württemberg (1907-1969).

Valerie is 38 years old and has a twin sister, Viktoria.   Another sister, Theresa, married Prince Francois of Orléans in the same church on July 26, 2014.  Theresa and Valerie wore the same tiara.  

Valerie is the sixth of eight children to get married.  Her elder brother, Alexander, and her twin sister, Viktoria, have not married.

Count Johann Jakob is the son of son of Count Karl von und zu Eltz gennant Faust von Stromberg and Countess Sophie Shottgotsch gennant Semperfrei von und zu Kynast und Greiffenstein. He was born in 1979.

In 2018, he assumed responsibility for the family estate, including Burg Eltz. He is the 34th generation to live at Burg Eltz.

HSH Prince Peter of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn with his fiancée, Yurina Hattpri-Roche

Countess Lidvine von Preysing- Lichtenegg-Moos, the groom's paternal aunt

The Prince of Monaco

HSH Princess Amélie, Mrs. von Einsiedel and Count Karl von und zu Eltz

TSH Prince and Princess Inigo of Urach

The Prince of Thurn und Taxis

TSH Prince and Princess Casimir of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn with their young daughter, HSH Princess Annuciata.   Casimir and the groom are second cousins.

Prince Ludwig and Princess Sophie-Alexandra of Bavaria

on the right Count Clemens Moy de Son and his wife, Duchess Katharina von Oldenburg

TSH Prince and Princess Karl Anselm of Urach 

HSH The Duke and Duchess of Urach

Following the wedding, a reception was held at the bride's home, Schloss Schönaich in Mötzing.  

Jakob's grandmother, Baroness Ladislaja Mayr von Meinhof was the sister of Princess Marianne of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn on May 4th.   HSH The Prince of Monaco and the new countess are fifth cousins. 

1863 Count Wilhelm of Württemberg, 1st Duke of Urach, married HSH Princess Florestine of Monaco, daughter of HSH Florestan I, Prince of Monaco.

The newlyweds will live at Burg Eltz in Wierschem, Germany.   In August 2024, Countess Valerie, 38, took a career break and "full-time parenting."  The couple has a 9-month-old son, Karl.

https://burg-eltz.de/en/homepage

Florestan I - Charles III - Albert I - Louis II - Charlotte - Rainier III - Albert

Florestan I - Florestine - Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach,  Eberhard - Iniga - Amélie - Valerie

Valerie is a descendant of Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg.

Adolf - Guillaume IV - Elisabeth - Iniga - Amélie - Valerie.

The bride and groom are fifth cousins and descendants of Constantin, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, and Princess Agnes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Jakob descends from their son, Karl, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, and Valerie is a descendant of Karl's sister, Adelheid, who married King Miguel I of Portugal.

The photos were taken by a friend, who is the copyright holder. Without the copyright holder's permission, these photos cannot be reproduced, used, or republished.  

Prince Nicholas Galitzine (1944-2025)

 

Prince Nicholas was the eldest of three sons of Prince Emmanuel Vladmirovich Galitzine and Gwendolyn Rhodes.  His father's family fled Russia in 1919 and settled in England.  

Nicholas was born on October 19, 1944, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where his father, Prince Emmanuel, an RAF officer, was stationed. Nicholas married Anne Ramsey on April 17, 1971, at Thames Ditton.

The late Prince Nicholas was a descendant of Emperor Paul (1754-1801) through his youngest child, Grand Duke Michael (1798-1849), who married Princess Helene Charlotte of Württemberg.  Michael's third daughter, Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna (1827-1894), married Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1824-1852).

Duke Georg and Grand Duchess Catherine were the parents of four children: Nikolaus, Helene, Georg Alexander, and Karl. In 1890, Duke Georg Alexander (1859-1909) contracted a morganatic marriage with Nataliya Feodorovna Vanljarskaya (1858-1921). Soon after this marriage, Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz created Natalia Countess von Carlow, a title she would pass to her children.

Their eldest child, Countess Catherine von Carlow (1891-1940), married Prince Vladimir Emmanuelovich Galitzine (1884-1954) in 1913. Catherine and Valdimir had three sons: Nicholas (1914-1999), George Galitzine (1916-1992), and Emmanuel (1918-2002).

Catherine was killed in a 1940 London air raid. Five years after her death, Prince Vladimir married Mabel Iris Balfour (nee FitzGeorge), daughter of George Fitzgeorge, eldest of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge's three illegitimate sons. 

Catherine and Mabel Iris were great-nieces of Princess Augusta of Cambridge, the wife of Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm.

His first wife, Anne, died in 2006.  Eight years later, in Guernsey, he married Angela Thompson.

Prince Nicholas is survived by his second wife, Angela,  his three children from his first marriage, Prince Nicholas Alexander (Lisa Boyachuk), Princess Tanya Elizabeth (Daniel Scott), and Prince James Michael (Lisa Lavrov), and four grandchildren, Prince Nicholas Galitzine, Anastasia Mary Galitzine, Princess Alexandra Galitzine, and Princess Seraphina Galitzine.

The late Prince's paternal first cousin, Prince Alexander Galitzine, son of Prince George,  was married to Rohays Butter, the daughter of Myra Wernher and David Butter.  Myra was the younger daughter of  Lady Zia Torby, daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and his morganatic wife, Countess Sophie von Merenberg.

His great-aunt, Countess Marie von Carlow's second husband, was Count Vladimir Petrovich Kleinmichel.  They had one daughter, Sophie, who married Philip Goodman, whose daughter, Marina, married Edward Leigh,whose father, Sir Neville Egerton Leigh, was married to Denise Branch, whose sister, Elizabeth, was the first wife of  Nicholas' paternal uncle, Prince Nicholas Galitzine.

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2025/04/family-connections-but-not-close.html

https://guernseypress.com/news/2014/09/08/town-church-hosts-royal-wedding/

Two QVD weddings:

 

@Lady Violet Manners

Lord George Carnegie and Matilda St Aubyn were married on June 7 at St. Paul's Church in Ashford Hill, Berkshire. Lord George is the second of three sons of the Duke and Duchess of Fife.

The new Lady George is wearing the Fife Fringe tiara, which is usually displayed at Kensington Palace.   The tiara was a gift from the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to their eldest daughter, Princess Louise, when she married Alexander Duff, 6th Earl of Fife, in July 1889.

Louise's grandmother, Queen Victoria, created Lord Fife as the 1st Duke of Fife at the wedding breakfast.  This is not the same as the Fife Tiara, which is given to the nation in lieu of taxes.  Both tiaras are on display at Kensington Palace.  The Duke of Fife has loaned the Fringe tiara to the palace.  Both tiaras can be used by members of the Fife family.

Please see Court Jeweller's excellent article for more information about Princess Louise's tiaras.   

https://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2023/07/princess-louises-sparkling-diamond-wedding-tiaras.html#more-48963

In 2020, Camille Ascoli wore the Fife Fringe tiara when she married the Earl of Southesk, Lord George's older brother. 

Fife Fringe Tiara @Marlene Eilers Koenig

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-earl-of-southesk-gets-married.html

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-qvd-engagement-carnegie-st-aubyn.html

Lady George, known as Tilly, is a BACP psychotherapist in London.

https://tillystaubyn.com/

On August 30, 2025,  the Duke and Duchess of Fife's youngest son, Lord Hugh, will marry Catherine Morgan.  She, too, may wear the Fife Fringe tiara.

Victoria - Edward VII - Louise - Maud - James - David - George

In Italy on June 7, HRH Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia married Freiherr Leonard von Stenglin.   Wilhelmine "Mimi" Auguste Donata Maria Armgard is the daughter of HRH Prince Oskar of Prussia and his wife, Auguste Zimmerman von Siefart.  She was born in Munich on  July 7, 1995.

Leonard Louis William Christian Freiherr von Stenglin is the son of Freiherr Stephan von Stenglin and Elisabeth von Warburg. He was born on January 5, 1991, in Arlington, Virginia.    In the early 1990s, his father was a Senior Advisor at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., and is now President of the Regional Administration of the Deutsche Bundesbank (Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt

@LinkedIn

After earning degrees from the University of Passau and the University of St. Andrews, the latter with a master's in management, Leo is currently a part of eBay with their Strategy and Operations department in Berlin.

@Politico

Princess Wilhelmine received a BA in Social Sciences from Humboldt University in Berlin and a master's in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University.    She worked for the German Parliament for two years as spokesperson for Alexander Graf von Lambsdorff, then a member of Parliament.

The princess is now the security and defense editor at Table Media.  Before this position, she interned with Politico.

https://www.politico.eu/staff/wilhelmine-von-preussen/

https://table.media/en/

Princess Wilhelmine and Freiherr Leonard are third cousins through the marriage of Count Karl von Bassewitz-Levetzow (1855-192) and Margarete von der Schulenburg (1864-1940).

Leo is the great-grandson of their eldest daughter, Countess Alexandrine von Bassewitz (1886-1967) and Freiherr von Stenglin (1877-1957).  Their son, Freiherr Christian von Stenglin (1914-2002) and his wife, (1919-2005) were the parents of Freiherr Stephan von Stenglin (1956), who married Elisabeth von Warburg (1957-2023).

The death notice for Leonard's mother, who died in 2023.

Princess Wilhelmine is a great-granddaughter of Countess Alexandrine's younger sister, Countess Ina-Marie von Bassewitz (1888-1973), who married HRH Prince Oskar of Prussia (1888-1958).

Prince Oskar was the fifth son of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Oskar and Ina-Marie's youngest child, Prince Wilhelm Karl Wilhelm Karl (1922-2007) married  Armgard von Veltheim (1926-2019).  Wilhelm Karl and Armgard's youngest son, Prince Oskar (1959) and his wife, Auguste (1962) are the parents of Princess Wilhelmine.

The marriage in 1992 of Auguste Zimmerman von Siefart and HRH Prince Oskar of Prussia  
@HRH Prince Wilhelm Karl of Prussia

Victoria - Victoria - Wilhelm II - Oskar - Wilhelm Karl - Oskar - Wilhelmine

Lady Violet Manners will marry Viscount Garnock later this month, most likely on June 21st, as Belvoir Castle will be closed from the 16th through the 23rd.