Her Royal Highness Princess Marija is celebrating her first birthday today.

“My wife and I wish our dear granddaughter Marija a very happy first birthday, filled with joy, love, and fun! May you always be healthy, cheerful and happy!” said HRH Crown Prince Alexander.

Her Royal Highness Princess Marija, the daughter and the second child of Their Royal Highnesses Hereditary Prince Philip and Princess Danica, is the granddaughter of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia, and the great-granddaughter of Their Majesties King Peter II and Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia. She was born in Belgrade, Serbia, on 5 November 2023.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, the bells of Belgrade’s St. Sava Temple tolled heralding the birth of the newborn member of the Royal Family of Serbia. That was the second time that the 49 bells of the biggest orthodox temple in the Balkans announced such a birth after it announced the birth of Princess Marija’s brother, HRH Prince Stefan. The bells of St. George church in Oplenac, as well as Gračanica Monastery and Ziča Monastery, tolled celebrating the birth, too.

This birth of a female child was the first one in the Ruling Branch of the Royal Family of Serbia, after 139 years, when Princess Hellene, the daughter of HM King Peter I was born.