His Royal Highness Prince Stefan is celebrating his seventh birthday today.
“My wife and I, and the entire Royal family wish a very happy birthday, lots of health, happiness, success, and progress. May you be healthy, cheerful, and happy, my dear Stefan, for many years to come!” said HRH Crown Prince Alexander.
HRH Prince Stefan, the son of Their Royal Highnesses Hereditary Prince Philip and Princess Danica, is the grandson of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia and Her Imperial and Royal Highness Princess Maria da Gloria of Orleans Bragança, and the great-grandson of Their Majesties King Peter II and Queen Alexandra of Yugoslavia. He was born in Belgrade, Serbia on 25 February 2018. He is the second in line of succession of the Royal family of Serbia, after his father. Prince Stefan attends primary school in Belgrade, where he lives with his parents and sister, HRH Princess Marija.
With the blessing of His Holiness the late Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, the bells of Belgrade’s St. Sava Temple tolled heralding the birth of the newborn member of the Serbian Royal Family. That was the first time that the 49 bells of the biggest orthodox temple in the Balkans announced such a birth. The bells of St. George church in Oplenac and Zica monastery tolled heralding the birth, too. This birth of a male child was the first one in the Royal Family in Serbia after 90 years when HRH Prince Tomislav was born in Belgrade, who was the brother of HM King Peter II.
His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia christened young Prince Stefan at the Royal Chapel of St. Andrew the First-Called in the Royal Compound in Dedinje, Belgrade, Serbia on 15 December 2018. Prince Stefan’s godparents are HRH Prince Alexander (twin brother of HRH Prince Philip), Mrs. Petra Lazarevic, and Mr. Dusan Antunovic. Joining the Patriarch in officiating the christening was His Grace the late Bishop Lavrentije of Sabac who also christened Princes Philip and Alexander in 1983 in Villamanrique de la Condesa. Prince Stefan wore the Christening gown that His Majesty King Peter II wore on the day of his baptism officiated by His Holiness Patriarch Dimitrije of Serbia in 1923 in Belgrade, and his godfather was King George V.
Photo: Ana Marija Jovanović