READ THIS ON WEB
FEATURED INTERVIEW
by Miloš Mihajilica
It Feels Natural to Live Among our People My title gives credibility to the important issues we aim to resolve
I
n his interview for our magazine, hereditary prince and then pretender to the throne Filip Karadjordjević talks about his return to Serbia, the challenges Serbia is facing during these difficult times, ideas on how to fight for national interests, and the role of the modern monarchy. What does it mean to you to be a prince in modern Serbian society? I want to continue the tradition of the Karadjordjević dynasty who paved the way for the monarchy. We come from Karađorđe, who was born in the heart of Šumadija. Later, King Peter I and King Alexander I traveled the country, met with the people, shook hands, stayed in the houses of ordinary people throughout Serbia, drank coffee with them, listened to their problems, and helped in solving them. I am open to people on the same level. I want to continue that, not traditional, but rather a normal way of life. By our life in Belgrade, Danica and I want to preserve that tradition, and we will continue to connect all branches of our big family. I have a very good relationship with all Karadjordjević members, and we will strengthen family ties. We will continue to tour the country, work and live here, and provide everything we can for a better future for my family and country. I want to connect our history with the future. Preserving and understanding our cultural heritage is important to our prosperity. If we lose that, we stand to lose ourselves, to lose our identity.
It is imperative that we protect our cultural assets, our nature, and the natural resources of our beautiful Serbia. The Serbian public praised your return to the homeland. How important is it for you and your family to return to Serbia? Ever since our wedding took place in Belgrade, my wife and I have been thinking of returning back to Serbia. We made our final decision to move to Belgrade during the pandemic in 2020. It feels natural to live among our people, especially in the very difficult times that the world was going through during Covid. The Karadjordjevic dynasty came from the people, so we chose to live in downtown Belgrade in Vračar.
toms, that is a significant part of the cultural package of being a prince – the interaction with it, nurturing it, fostering it, sometimes gently guiding it into a beneficial frame, in a nutshell giving it a face and giving that face-expression. As a successful entrepreneur and business person, you meet various people all over the world. How do they react to the fact that you are actually a hereditary prince and then pretender to the throne? In the business world, through my professional activities and, more recently, in Bitcoin, my title gives credibility to the important issues we aim to resolve. I can see that my added presence is giving hope to those
IN MY PRIVATE AND DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES, I ALWAYS TRY TO UNDERLINE HOW IMPORTANT THE SOLUTION TO THE KOSOVO AND METOHIJA ISSUE IS FOR SERBIA To be able to live life with our citizens, to understand the mentality and the customs but also to have a very organised and functional life. Given that you were born and raised abroad, do you think you easily fit into Serbian society, our mentality, and customs? Both our son and my wife were born in Belgrade, which really helped me to get accustomed to our new life in Serbia. However, it’s not hard to fit into an open, easy-going society. Serbs are, by nature, warm and embracing people. As to mentality and cus-
whom I share common goals with. I will continue to use my voice and platform to improve individual rights and freedoms further and to shine a light on the various economic, social, and cultural issues I see in our world. This is why we are establishing the “Foundation of Hereditary Prince Filip and Princess Danica of Serbia”. Through the Royal Foundation that Danica and I created, we envisage a “roof” to all our activities that will present our vision of the future. It is a young project that we started one year ago. The goals are mainly to preserve our traditions and cul-
tural heritage and to talk and raise important issues relating to today’s society, supporting individuals to prosper, so our communities work at their best. This is where my engagement in the sphere of bitcoin will play a big role, as I believe that its implementation will change the future for the better. But also to think about our people in the diaspora, one of the largest numbers of expatriates in the whole world. Both Danica and I have spent time with Serbs that live in Paris and London, and we want to help our diaspora feel united and preserve belonging to the country they live far away from. These are only some initiatives and projects that we want to work on and develop in the future to continue to give a contribution to our beautiful country. What are your views on the issue of monarchy in general, and do you think that the subject of monarchy is discussed properly in Serbia? Quintessentially positive. I do not think the subject of monarchy is discussed properly in my homeland. Therefore, we are working on leading this conversation. I wish for our Serbian people to connect with traditional values, as Serbia has a far larger history as a Monarchy. When understanding monarchies, one can begin to see how monarchies, at their best, can represent a lower time preference approach to governance. On the one hand, the monarchy is hereditary and passed down through the family. That is, there is a sense of ownership rather than
7