Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia

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Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, also claiming the crowned royal numeral title of Alexander II Karađorđević, was the last heir-apparent or heir-presumptive to the defunct throne of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and is currently the claimant to the abolished throne of the precursor Kingdom of Serbia. He is the head of the House of Karađorđević. Alexander is the only child of former King Peter II and his wife, Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. He held the position of crown prince in the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia for the first four-and-a-half months of his life, from his birth until his father's deposition by Yugoslavia's communist authorities in late November of the same year.

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, he enjoys close relationships with his relatives in the British royal family, and is known for his support of monarchism and his humanitarian work. His godfather was King George VI and the then-Princess Elizabeth (the future Elizabeth II) of the United Kingdom.

As with many other European monarchs during World War II, King Peter II left his country to establish a government-in-exile. He left Yugoslavia in April 1941 and arrived in London in June 1941. The Royal Yugoslav Armed Forces capitulated.

After the Tehran Conference, the Allies shifted support from royalist Chetniks to communist Partisans. Commenting on the event and what happened to his father, Crown Prince Alexander said, “He [Peter II] was too straight. He could not believe that his allies –- the mighty American democracy and his relatives and friends in London –- could do him in. But that's precisely what happened.” In June 1944 Ivan Šubašić, the Royalist prime minister, and Josip Broz Tito, the Partisan leader, signed an agreement that was an attempt to merge the royal government and communist movement.

On 29 November 1943, AVNOJ (formed by the Partisans) declared themselves the sovereign communist government of Yugoslavia and announced that they would take away all legal rights from the Royal government. On 10 August 1945, less than a month after Alexander's birth, AVNOJ named the country Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. On 29 November 1945, the country was declared a republic and changed its name to People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In 1947, all members of Alexander's family except for his grand-uncle Prince George were deprived of their Yugoslavian citizenship and their property was confiscated.

As of 8 July 2015 the High Court in Belgrade found that decree 392, issued by the Presidency of the Presidium of the National Assembly on 3 August 1947, which deprived King Peter II and other members of the House of Karađorđević of their citizenship, was null and void from the moment of its adoption, in the parts pertaining to Crown Prince Alexander, and that all of its legal consequences are thus null and void.

Alexander was born in Suite 212 of Claridge's Hotel in Brook Street, London. The British Government is said to have temporarily ceded sovereignty over the suite in which the birth occurred to Yugoslavia so that the crown prince would be born on Yugoslav territory, though the story may be apocryphal, as there exists no documentary record of this.

He was christened at Westminster Abbey. His godparents were King George VI and Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II. He was the only child of King Peter II and Queen Alexandra and the only grandchild of King Alexander of Greece by his wife Aspasia Manos.

His parents were relatively unable to take care of him, due to their various health and financial problems, so Alexander was raised by his maternal grandmother. He was educated at Institut Le Rosey, Culver Military Academy, Gordonstoun, Millfield and Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot, and pursued a career in the British military.

Alexander graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1966 and was commissioned as an officer into the British Army's 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers regiment, rising to the rank of captain. His tours of duty included West Germany, Italy, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland. After leaving the army in 1972, Alexander, who speaks several languages, pursued a career in international business.

On 1 July 1972 at Villamanrique de la Condesa, near Seville, Spain, he married Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans-Braganza, from the Brazilian Imperial Family. They had three sons: Peter (born 5 February 1980), and fraternal twins: Philip and Alexander (both born 15 January 1982).

By marrying a Roman Catholic, Alexander lost his place in line of succession to the British throne, which he had held as a descendant of Queen Victoria through her second son Alfred, although forfeiture of succession rights on the basis of marriage to a Roman Catholic was retroactively rescinded in 2015. Alexander is also descended from Queen Victoria's eldest daughter Victoria. His sons remain in the line of succession to the British throne.

Alexander and Maria da Gloria divorced in 1985. Crown Prince Alexander married for the second time, Katherine Clairy Batis, the daughter of Robert Batis and his wife, Anna Dosti, civilly on 20 September 1985, and religiously the following day, at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church, Notting Hill, London. Since their marriage, she is known as Princess Katherine, as per the royal family's website.

Alexander first came to Yugoslavia in 1991. He actively worked with the opposition to Slobodan Milošević and moved to Yugoslavia after Milošević had been deposed in 2000.

On 27 February 2001, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) passed legislation conferring citizenship on members of the Karađorđević family. The legislation may also have effectively annulled a decree stripping the family of its citizenship of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) in 1947.

The annulment was the topic of some debate. Notably, the FRY was not the successor of the SFRY; rather the FRY was a new state (and was admitted to the United Nations as a new state on that basis). Therefore, the jurisdiction of a new state to annul an action of a different former state was questioned. In effect, the Karađorđević family had FRY citizenship conferred upon them, not "restored" as such.

The FRY legislation also addresses restoration of property to the Karađorđević family. In March 2001, the property seized from his family, including royal palaces, was returned for residential purposes with property ownership to be decided by parliament at some later date.

He currently lives in the Royal Palace (Kraljevski Dvor) in Dedinje, an exclusive area of Belgrade. The Palace, which was completed in 1929, is one of two royal residences in the Royal Compound; the other is the White Palace, which was completed in 1936.

Alexander is a proponent of re-creating a constitutional monarchy in Serbia and sees himself as the rightful king. He believes that monarchy could give Serbia "stability, continuity and unity".

A number 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 Đinđić 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.

Crown Prince Alexander has vowed to stay out of politics. He and Princess Katherine spend considerable time engaging in humanitarian work.

On 16 December 2017, Alexander attended with his wife the state funeral of his first cousin once removed, King Michael of Romania in Bucharest, along with other heads of European royal families and invited guests.