As part of the official solemnities dedicated to marking the Statehood Day of Serbia, TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine attended today a Memorial service officiated by His Grace Bishop Jovan of Šumadija and a wreath-laying ceremony afterward, held in Saint George’s Church in Oplenac.
The Crown Prince laid a wreath on the tomb of his ancestor, the founder of the Royal Dynasty Karadjordjevic and Leader of the First Serbian Uprising, Supreme Leader Karadjordje. Mr. Zoran Živanović, Mr. Predrag Marković, and Mr. Darko Spasić, members of the Crown Council, accompanied Their Royal Highnesses on this occasion. The ceremony was also attended by: HE Mr. Miloš Vučević, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Serbia, HE Mr. Radovan Višković, Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska, HE Mr. Nikola Selaković, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs of Serbia, TRH Hereditary Prince Philip, Princess Danica, Prince Mihailo, Princess Ljubica, Princess Natalija, and Princess Isidora, representatives of the Army of Serbia, Mr. Milos Pavkovic, President of the Kingdom of Serbia Association, which is under Crown Prince’s patronage, Mr. Dragan Reljic, Director of the Foundation of King Peter I in Oplenac, representatives of Municipality of Topola, and many other associations and people who gathered to celebrate this very important day for our country.
Members of the Crown Council, as the Crown Prince’s emissaries, also laid a wreath on the monument of Supreme Leader Karadjordje in Orasac, a place where the First Serbian Uprising began.
“On the occasion of the Statehood Day, the holiday of the Meeting of our Lord, the day on which our roots were renewed and strengthened, I extend my sincere congratulations and warmest wishes to all citizens of Serbia! The great Serbian writer Branislav Nusic once said: “Homeland is not a limited, bordered, embodied object. Homeland is thought, the homeland is faith, and thought and faith never die.” In these 220 years since that fateful meeting, when the people’s leaders met in the Marićević Gorge in Orašac and raised the First Serbian Uprising under the leadership of the founder of the Karađorđević dynasty, the Supreme Leader Karađorđe, but also in the 189 years since the adoption of the first constitution of modern Serbia, which was so much ahead of its time, we have heard many times that word – homeland.
In that one word, everything that we truly are is contained, all the love for our country and people, the love for all those who built our state, but also for all future generations, for whom we are continuing to build and for whom we are preserving our Serbia. Proud of the heritage of our ancestors, by preserving and improving the legacy they left us, we are building the future of our Homeland. On Sretenje, we celebrate our statehood, our state-making and constitution-making traditions, our freedom and everything that has been done to preserve it, we celebrate our existence. We are proud of everything our ancestors have achieved, but we also have a huge responsibility towards their legacy. Their courage and willingness to do the seemingly impossible things should be our inspiration and guide.
Remembering the Meeting of the Lord of 1804 and wishing that we always celebrate this day as proud citizens of Serbia, and that we are all united in love towards our people and our country, I congratulate this great holiday, wishing all of us and our country much success and prosperity. Long live Serbia!”, stated HRH Crown Prince Alexander.
