RETURN CROWN AND DIGNITY TO SERBIA

Let 2027 be the year Serbia ends the 80-year travesty – the denigration of its proud history and traditions

© Bob Djurdjevic 2026

To the Royal Family Karadjordjevic which had suffered intolerable indignities from evil or crass politicians

Prologue

Never a Monarchist – Till Now

I was never a monarchist. Till now.

Something snapped in me after the September 2026 visit to the Royal Palace – the “Beli Dvor” – during which Crown Prince Alexander and Princess Katherine and I renewed our acquaintance and friendship after 34 years.

We talked warmly and candidly as if 34 seconds had passed since our last meeting.

Listening to Prince Alexander’s story – how he and his family were mistreated by the successive governments of Yugoslavia and Serbia – brought tears to the eyes of my wife Olivera.

She had never been a monarchist, either. Until then.

And it brought about a resolve in me to try to right this indignity.

For the sake of Serbia. 

For the sake of fairness.

For the sake of traditions.

For the sake of dignity.

A SHORT STORY

RETURN THE CROWN AND DIGNITY TO SERBIA

Let 2027 be the year Serbia ends the 80-year travesty – the denigration of its proud history and traditions

Why have the crown and the royal crest in the national flag if there is no monarchy?

For years something grated on me when I saw the Serbian national flag. Look at the caption under the picture at the official government website: 

State Flag of the Republic of Serbia

The REPUBLIC of Serbia.

Not Kingdom of Serbia.

Not Fiefdom of Serbia.

Not even Serbian Empire.

The crown and the royal crest imply a monarchy. 

They imply long and deep traditions. A rich history.

All of which is true. 

Except that there is no monarchy in Serbia. So all governments since 1947 till now had NO RIGHT to use the Royal Coat of Arms of the Karadjordjevic family without their permission and compensation.

Which is a travesty.

The politicians like what this symbol implies but are not willing to pay for it.  

Which means they STOLE it from the royal family.

Physical Abuse

Worse, the Vučić government has been literally abusing them. 

“Vučić ordered the electricity to the Royal Compound cut off—in the dead of winter,” the Crown Prince told me during our September visit to the Royal Palace. He also identified the minister of finance Siniša Mali as another member of Vučić’s circle who was hostile to the monarchy.

It took King Charles, then Prince Charles, to have the electricity restored.

Prince Charles and Camilla visited Serbia on March 16–17, 2016. Prince ALexander said there was a formal dinner at a military/government facility outside Belgrade.  

Present were Charles and Camilla, Vučić and his wife, the British ambassador and his wife, and others.

Prince Alexander and Princess Katherine were originally not invited, but the British ambassador insisted.

During dinner, Charles told Alexander: “I’ll fix your electricity problem.”

And the electricity was subsequently restored. 

Financial Abuse

Nor was the only time the Vučić government took a swipe at the Serbian royal family. In December 2025, Vučić ordered all financial assistance stopped.

Why?

“Because Filip said he supported the students,” the Crown Prince told me during our September our Blackjack Ranch in Višnjica.

Filip is Prince Alexander’s son who also lives on the royal property along with his twin brother Alex.

And here are the facts about that financing.

Royal Compound (Dvorski kompleks) at Dedinje:

• 2024: 67 million dinars
• 2025: 77 million dinars
• 2026 budget: 0 dinars

So it went from 77 million dinars to zero. The 2026 Serbian state budget was adopted on December 3, 2025.

That means the entire annual Serbian allocation was only about 1/60th of one year’s £34.5 million for just the Buckingham Palace renovation allocation.

And then Serbia’s appropriation went to zero in 2026.

That’s crass vindictiveness and assault not only on the royal family, but on Serbian history and the crown which Vučić and his cohorts love to wave in everyone’s faces.

I have traveled around the globe more times than I can remember, but I have never seen a country that flies its flags like confetti. 

Everywhere.

Which means the royal crest is also everywhere. Which the Serbian government has confiscated from the Karadjordjevic family.

“So how are you paying for the upkeep?” I asked the Crown Prince.

“Well, we have exhausted all our savings,” he said. “So we are renting out some places on the Royal Compound for conferences and special events.

During the visit to Blackjack Ranch, Princess Katherine repeatedly admired Blackjack Ranch and said she would like them to buy a property nearby.

Prince Alexander muttered dryly: “And pay with what?”

My chest tightened up. First filled with empathy. Then with rage.

“How can you respect a country’s leader who spits on its history and traditions while beating himself on the chest as a great patriot?”

Phony.

Crass.

Bully.

Those are the epithets that befit such a leader.

All my life I have dealt with bullies. That’s what my book BEING DAVID is about. I even invited Serbia’s current bully to the September 25 book promotion. Personally. To his “palace.” 

Of course, he did not show.

Probably had to turn off electricity to another critic.

The Original Sin

The “original sin” against the Karadjordjevic Royal family was committed by Tito and his communist henchmen in 1945-1947. They brazenly and illegally confiscated the crown properties and banned the royal family from ever returning  to Yugoslavia.

And then Tito moved in there and lived like a king, enjoying all the royal perks and carrying out none of the duties.

Tito also ordered some of the royal symbols covered up or painted over. Like the white royal eagles which he covered up with the red stars.

My wife and I saw such a disgrace with our own eyes during the recent tour of the Royal Palace.

But what is especially irksome about this travesty is the silence of the Serbian allies in two world wars. Neither the United States nor Britain lifted a finger to stop Tito and help the Serbian royal family regain their birthrights.

The Betrayals

The US was demobilizing and Britain was too exhausted after six years of vicious warfare against Nazi Germany. And the Empire of Japan in Asia. Neither was ready to face up to the next biggest menace – the Soviet Union. 

So it was easier to just look away and let Tito and Stalin rule the roost in that part of the world. The Serbian royal family be damned.

Prince Alexander told me that they had even filed a grievance with the World Court in the Hague. But the court dismissed the case saying this transgression happened too long ago. “Apparently they did not want to take up at any cases older than 1953,” the Prince said.

So wherever the Royal Family turned they hit the brick wall. But a lack of support from the US and the UK hurt the most.

The Attack

“And then they even bombed Serbia,” the Prince lamented. “I pleaded with Clinton, with Blair, with Chirac… not to do it.”

(Bill Clinton, US president in the late 1990s, Tony Blair, the British PM, Chirac, the French president).

Clinton blew him off saying “go see Sandy Berger,” the NSA director at the time.

“Blair was a hopeless liberal, so I did not have a chance.”

But Chirac listened carefully and invited Prince to come to Paris to talk about it.

The meeting never happened. And France joined other NATO countries bombing Serbia in 1999.

So much for Serbia’s WW I friend after whose statesmen and generals dozens of streets are named in Belgrade. 

With “friends “like that…

The US Embassy on Royal Land

In nearly every direction the Crown Prince looked, he saw another piece of his family’s property that had been taken away.

Then he pointed to perhaps the most extraordinary example.

“The new US Embassy is built on my grandfather’s land,” Prince Alexander told me. “They just took it.”

He was talking about the former Maršalat, right next door to the Royal Compound on Dedinje.

After the Karadjordjevic property was confiscated by Tito’s communist regime, the Maršalat was used by the Yugoslav military, including the Guard Brigade.

Then came 1999.

NATO bombed it.

Eight years later, the United States bought the site from the Serbian government.

Think about that sequence for a moment.

First the communists confiscated the royal family’s land.

Then the Yugoslav military occupied it.

Then NATO bombed it.

Then Serbia sold it to the Americans.

And today the United States Embassy sits on it.

According to the US State Department, the American government paid $15.1 million for the approximately 10-acre site in 2007. Contemporary Serbian reports put it at about 4.2 hectares and said the property had originally been valued at roughly twice the eventual sale price. 

Construction began in 2010. The new embassy was formally opened on July 1, 2013. The State Department described the $149-million complex as occupying a site “adjacent to the Beli Dvor.”

The American government’s own internal real-estate publication had an even more interesting name for it:

“the King’s Palace site.”

Apparently somebody in Washington knew whose neighborhood they were moving into.

But Prince Alexander told me another extraordinary detail.

When the time came to clear the ruins of the Maršalat, he wanted to go over and see what was happening on what he regarded as his family’s land.

He was warned not to.

Why?

Depleted uranium.

That sounded incredible to me when he told me. But the United States and NATO subsequently acknowledged that American A-10 aircraft had indeed fired depleted-uranium ammunition during the 1999 war—about 31,000 rounds in Yugoslavia.

Whether depleted uranium was actually used against the Maršalat itself is another matter. I have found no evidence establishing that.

But imagine the Crown Prince’s perspective.

His grandfather’s land was confiscated by a communist government.

Decades later it was occupied by the military of that government.

Then it was bombed by the United States and its NATO allies.

When the ruins were eventually being removed, he says he was warned to stay away because of possible depleted uranium.

And finally the Serbian government sold the property to the United States—which built its new embassy there.

Nobody asked the Karadjordjevic family.

Nobody paid them for their land.

And nobody gave it back.

The United States paid the Serbian government.

For land Prince Alexander says belonged to his grandfather.

Somewhere along that chain of transactions, you would think somebody might have asked a rather elementary question:

Who actually owned it in the first place? Or how can someone who illegally acquired the property sell it?

The Serbian People Were Never Asked

In nearly 80 years, no one ever asked the Serbian people what they wanted. They were simply told what the current “czar” wanted. Vučiċ in the latest edition.

This needs to stop. And Serbia needs to regain not just its crown but its dignity. Because the leaders from Tito on to Vučiċ have been doing what’s’ good for them, not for the people.

There are indications that people want the crown back, not just on the flag, but on a crowned head. The year 2027 would be a perfect time for that to happen. Because it will have been 80 years since Tito confiscated. 

It is time that all Karadjordjevic properties be restored to their rightful owners. And if in doubt, why not ask the Serbian people? No one has till now. 

SRPSKA VERZIJA

KRATKA PRIČA

VRATIMO SRBIJI KRUNU I DOSTOJANSTVO

Neka 2027. bude godina u kojoj će Srbija okončati osamdesetogodišnju sramotu — ponižavanje svoje ponosne istorije i tradicije

Zašto imamo krunu i kraljevski grb na državnoj zastavi ako nemamo monarhiju?

Godinama me je nešto žuljalo svaki put kada bih pogledao srpsku državnu  zastavu. Pogledajte samo natpis ispod njene slike na zvaničnom sajtu Vlade:

Državna zastava Republike Srbije

REPUBLIKE Srbije.

Ne Kraljevine Srbije.

Ne Kneževine Srbije.

Čak ni Srpskog carstva. 

Kruna i kraljevski grb podrazumevaju monarhiju.

Oni predstavljaju duboku i dugu tradiciju. Bogatu istoriju.

Sve je to tačno.

Osim što u Srbiji nema monarhije. Pa ipak, sve vlasti od 1947. do danas koriste kraljevski grb Karađorđevića bez njihove dozvole i bez ikakve naknade.

To je travestija.

Političarima se dopada ono što taj simbol predstavlja, ali nisu spremni da za njega plate.

Što znači da su ga UKRALI od Kraljevske porodice.

Fizičko zlostavljanje

Još gore, Vučićeva vlast ih je i bukvalno zlostavljala.

„Vučić je naredio da se Dvorskom kompleksu isključi struja — usred zime“, rekao mi je Prestolonaslednik tokom naše septembarske posete Kraljevskom dvoru.

Pomenuo je i ministra finansija Sinišu Malog kao još jednog čoveka iz Vučićevog kruga neprijateljski nastrojenog prema monarhiji.

Bio je potreban kralj Čarls, tada princ Čarls, da bi struja ponovo bila uključena.

Princ Čarls i Kamila posetili su Srbiju 16. i 17. marta 2016.  Prestolonaslednik Aleksandar mi je rekao da je priređena svečana večera u jednom vojnom objektu u Beogradu.

Prisustvovali su Čarls i Kamila, Vučić i njegova supruga, britanski ambasador i njegova supruga i drugi.

Prestolonaslednik Aleksandar i princeza Katarina prvobitno nisu bili pozvani, ali je britanski ambasador insistirao da budu uključeni.

Tokom večere Čarls je rekao Aleksandru:

„Ja ću rešiti vaš problem sa strujom.“

I struja je potom ponovo uključena.

Finansijsko zlostavljanje

To nije bio jedini put kada je Vučićeva vlast udarila na srpsku Kraljevsku porodicu.

U decembru 2025. Vučić je naredio obustavljanje celokupne finansijske pomoći.

Zašto?

„Zato što je Filip rekao da podržava studente“, rekao mi je Prestolonaslednik tokom naše septembarske posete Blackjack Ranchu u Višnjici.

Filip je sin Prestolonaslednika Aleksandra koji takođe živi na kraljevskom imanju, zajedno sa svojim bratom blizancem Aleksom.

A evo činjenica o tom finansiranju.

Dvorski kompleks na Dedinju:

• 2024: 67 miliona dinara
• 2025: 77 miliona dinara
• budžet za 2026: 0 dinara

Dakle, sa 77 miliona dinara palo se na nulu. Budžet Republike Srbije za 2026. usvojen je 3. decembra 2025.

To znači da je celokupno godišnje izdvajanje Srbije iznosilo svega oko jedne šezdesetine od 34,5 miliona funti koliko je samo u jednoj godini izdvojeno za renoviranje Bakingemske palate.

A onda je Srbija za 2026. sve svela na nulu.

To je sirova osvetoljubivost i napad ne samo na Kraljevsku porodicu već i na srpsku istoriju i krunu kojom Vučić i njegovi saradnici toliko vole da mašu svima pred očima.

Proputovao sam svet više puta nego što mogu da se setim, ali nikada nisam video zemlju koja svoje zastave razbacuje kao konfete.

Svuda su.

A to znači da je svuda i kraljevski grb koji je srpska država prisvojila od Karađorđevića.

„Pa kako onda plaćate održavanje?“ pitao sam Prestolonaslednika.

„Potrošili smo svu svoju ušteđevinu“, odgovorio je. „Zato sada iznajmljujemo neke prostore u Dvorskom kompleksu za konferencije i posebne događaje.“

Tokom posete Blackjack Ranchu, princeza Katarina se više puta divila našem imanju i rekla da bi volela da i oni kupe nešto u blizini.

Prestolonaslednik Aleksandar je suvo promrmljao:

„A čime da platimo?“

Nešto me je steglo u grudima. Prvo saosećanje. A onda bes.

Kako poštovati vođu jedne zemlje koji pljuje po njenoj istoriji i tradiciji, a istovremeno se udara u grudi predstavljajući sebe kao velikog patriotu?

Lažnjak.

Prostak.

Siledžija.

To su epiteti koji pristaju takvom vođi. Crown and Dignity

Celog života sam imao posla sa siledžijama. O tome govori moja knjiga BEING DAVID. Čak sam i sadašnjeg srpskog siledžiju pozvao na promociju knjige 25. septembra.

Lično.

U njegovu „palatu“.

Naravno, nije došao.

Verovatno je morao da isključi struju nekom drugom kritičaru.

Prvobitni greh

„Prvobitni greh“ prema Kraljevskoj porodici Karađorđević počinili su Tito i njegovi komunistički poslušnici 1945–1947. Drsko i protivpravno konfiskovali su kraljevsku imovinu i zabranili Kraljevskoj porodici da se ikada vrati u Jugoslaviju.

A onda se Tito tamo uselio i živeo kao kralj, uživajući u svim kraljevskim privilegijama, a ne izvršavajući nijednu kraljevsku dužnost.

Tito je takođe naredio da se neki kraljevski simboli prekriju ili prefarbaju. Bele kraljevske orlove, na primer, prekrio je crvenim zvezdama.

Moja supruga i ja smo tu sramotu videli sopstvenim očima tokom nedavne posete Kraljevskom dvoru.

Ali ono što ovu travestiju čini posebno iritantnom jeste ćutanje srpskih saveznika iz dva svetska rata.

Ni Sjedinjene Države ni Britanija nisu prstom mrdnule da zaustave Tita i pomognu srpskoj Kraljevskoj porodici da povrati ono što joj pripada po rođenju. Crown and Dignity

Izdaje

Amerika se demobilisala, a Britanija je bila iscrpljena posle šest godina krvavog rata protiv nacističke Nemačke. I Japanskog carstva u Aziji.

Nijedna nije bila spremna da se suoči sa sledećom velikom pretnjom — Sovjetskim Savezom.

Bilo je, dakle, lakše jednostavno okrenuti glavu i pustiti Tita i Staljina da gospodare tim delom sveta.

A srpska Kraljevska porodica?

Ko ih šiša.

Prestolonaslednik Aleksandar mi je rekao da su čak podneli tužbu Međunarodnom sudu u Hagu. Ali sud je odbacio slučaj uz obrazloženje da se prestup dogodio isuviše davno.

„Izgleda da nisu hteli da uzimaju predmete starije od 1953“, rekao je Prestolonaslednik.

Gde god se Kraljevska porodica okrenula, nailazila je na zid.

Ali najviše je bolela činjenica da podrške nije bilo od Sjedinjenih Država i Velike Britanije.

Napad

„A onda su još i bombardovali Srbiju“, rekao je Prestolonaslednik. „Molio sam Klintona, Blera, Širaka… da to ne rade.“

(Bil Klinton, predsednik SAD krajem devedesetih, Toni Bler, britanski premijer, Žak Širak, francuski predsednik.)

Klinton ga je otkačio rečima:

„Idi kod Sendija Bergera.“

Berger je u to vreme bio Klintonov savetnik za nacionalnu bezbednost.

„Bler je bio beznadežni liberal, tako da kod njega nisam imao nikakve šanse.“

Širak ga je, međutim, pažljivo saslušao i pozvao Prestolonaslednika da dođe u Pariz da razgovaraju.

Do tog sastanka nikada nije došlo.

A Francuska se pridružila ostalim zemljama NATO-a u bombardovanju Srbije 1999.

Toliko o prijatelju Srbije iz Prvog svetskog rata, po čijim državnicima i generalima desetine ulica u Beogradu nose imena.

Sa takvim „prijateljima“… Crown and Dignity

Američka ambasada na kraljevskoj zemlji

Kuda god bi Prestolonaslednik pogledao, video bi još jedan deo imovine svoje porodice koji joj je oduzet.

A onda mi je ukazao na možda najneverovatniji primer.

„Nova američka ambasada sagrađena je na zemlji mog dede“, rekao mi je Prestolonaslednik Aleksandar. „Jednostavno su je uzeli.“

Govorio je o nekadašnjem Maršalatu, neposredno uz Dvorski kompleks na Dedinju.

Nakon što je Titov komunistički režim konfiskovao imovinu Karađorđevića, Maršalat je koristila Jugoslovenska vojska, uključujući Gardijsku brigadu. 

A onda je došla 1999.

NATO ga je bombardovao.

Osam godina kasnije Sjedinjene Države su kupile tu lokaciju od Vlade Srbije.

Razmislite na trenutak o tom redosledu.

Prvo su komunisti konfiskovali zemlju Kraljevske porodice.

Zatim ju je zauzela Jugoslovenska vojska.

Onda ju je NATO bombardovao.

Potom ju je Srbija prodala Amerikancima.

A danas na njoj stoji Ambasada Sjedinjenih Država. Crown and Dignity

Prema podacima američkog Stejt departmenta, američka vlada je 2007. platila 15,1 milion dolara za parcelu od približno deset jutara. Tadašnji srpski izveštaji navodili su oko 4,2 hektara i tvrdili da je zemljište prvobitno bilo procenjeno na približno dvostruko veću sumu.

Gradnja je počela 2010. Nova ambasada zvanično je otvorena 1. jula 2013. Stejt department je kompleks vredan 149 miliona dolara opisao kao objekat na lokaciji „uz Beli dvor“.

A interna publikacija američke vlade o nekretninama koristila je još zanimljiviji naziv:

„the King’s Palace site“ — „lokacija Kraljeve palate“.

Izgleda da je neko u Vašingtonu ipak znao u čije se susedstvo useljavaju.

Ali Prestolonaslednik mi je ispričao još jedan neverovatan detalj.

Kada je došlo vreme da se ruševine Maršalata uklone, želeo je da ode tamo i vidi šta se događa na zemlji koju je smatrao imovinom svoje porodice.

Rečeno mu je da ne ide.

Zašto?

Osiromašeni uranijum. 

Kada mi je to rekao, zvučalo mi je neverovatno. Ali Sjedinjene Države i NATO kasnije su priznali da su američki avioni A-10 tokom rata 1999. zaista koristili municiju sa osiromašenim uranijumom — oko 31.000 projektila u Jugoslaviji.

Da li je osiromašeni uranijum korišćen baš prilikom napada na Maršalat, drugo je pitanje. Nisam našao dokaze koji bi to potvrdili.

Ali zamislite sve to iz ugla Prestolonaslednika.

Zemlju njegovog dede konfiskovala je komunistička vlast.

Decenijama kasnije zauzela ju je vojska te iste države.

Onda su je bombardovale Sjedinjene Države i njihovi saveznici iz NATO-a.

Kada su ruševine konačno uklanjane, kaže da su ga upozorili da se ne približava zbog mogućeg osiromašenog uranijuma.

A na kraju je srpska vlada prodala tu zemlju Sjedinjenim Državama — koje su na njoj izgradile novu ambasadu.

Niko nije pitao Karađorđeviće.

Niko im nije platio za njihovu zemlju.

I niko im je nije vratio.

Sjedinjene Države platile su Vladi Srbije.

Za zemlju za koju Prestolonaslednik Aleksandar kaže da je pripadala njegovom dedi.

Negde u tom lancu konfiskacija, okupacija, bombardovanja i prodaje čovek bi očekivao da neko postavi jedno sasvim elementarno pitanje:

Čija je to zemlja zapravo bila?

Ili još jednostavnije:

Kako neko može da proda imovinu koju je protivpravno stekao?

Srpski narod nikada niko nije pitao

Za gotovo 80 godina niko nikada nije pitao srpski narod šta želi.

Jednostavno mu je saopštavano šta želi trenutni „car“. U najnovijem izdanju — Vučić.

Tome mora doći kraj.

I Srbija mora da povrati ne samo svoju krunu već i svoje dostojanstvo.

Jer su vođe od Tita do Vučića radile ono što je dobro za njih, a ne za narod.

Postoje nagoveštaji da narod želi da se kruna vrati — ne samo na zastavu nego i na krunisanu glavu.

Godina 2027. bila bi savršen trenutak za to.

Biće to 80 godina od Titove konfiskacije.

Vreme je da sva imovina Karađorđevića bude vraćena svojim zakonitim vlasnicima.

A ako postoji dilema, zašto jednostavno ne pitati srpski narod?

Do sada ga niko nije pitao. 

Srpski narod nikada niko nije pitao