Presentation of “A King’s Heritage – The Memoirs”

 

Presentation of  “A King’s Heritage – The Memoirs”

 by King Peter II of Yugoslavia

 Belgrade, 17 May 2013 – Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine, together with Mr. Novica Jeftic, the director of the Evro-Giunti Publishing House, Mr. Dusan Babac, director of the Royal Palace Fund, and Dr. Slobodan G. Markovic, historian and professor at the Faculty of Political Science, presented the book “A King’s Heritage – The Memoirs” by King Peter II of Yugoslavia this evening at the Royal Palace.

 This exceptional event at the Royal Palace was attended by members of the Privy Council Mr. Dragomir Acovic and Dr. Dusan Batakovic, members of the Crown Council Academician Matija Beckovic and Prof. Dr. Slobodan Perovic, members of the Crown Cabinet Mr. Djordje Djurisic, Mr. Milorad Savicevic and Mr. Mirko Petrovic, Dr Ljubomir Kostic, a friend from teenage days of HM King Peter II, members of diplomatic corps H.E. Mr. Abdellah Zagour, Ambassador of Morocco, H.E. Mr. Abdelkader Mesdoua, Ambassador  of Algeria, H.E. Mr. Abolghasem Delfi, Ambassador of Iran, Col. William English, defence attaché at the UK Embassy and other distinguished guests.

  HRH Crown Prince Alexander II, son of HM King Peter II, addressed the guests: “Today, when my father would have been 90, reading his memoirs helps us to see his life, his decisions and acts in a quite different way. This in turn helps us also to better understand the times in which we live. Readers of this book will find in it a clear picture of the true face of the person about which it speaks and see the huge difference between the communist’s decades-long brutal propaganda against my father and what he truly was.“

 On the occasion of the state funeral of HM King Peter II, his wife HM Queen Alexandra and his mother HM Queen Maria, the Publishing House Euro-Giunti in cooperation with the Royal Palace Fund prepared the memoirs of the of HM King Peter II the father of HRH Crown Prince Alexander. The Memoirs represent a priceless heritage telling us about people and occurrences which marked the first half of the 20th century.   

 “A King’s Heritage – The Memoirs” by King Peter II of Yugoslavia is a luxurious  bilingual edition, in Serbian and English, with more than 250 authentic photographs and facsimile of original documents. Some of these documents and photographs were never published before; especially the ones referring to the period of the Second World War, the exile, the visit to the United Kingdom and the Middle East, as well as the official visit to the United States of America in 1942 and the King’s meeting with the President Franklin Roosevelt. King Peter II was the youngest head of state to address the Unites States Congress.

 The book that was presented this evening is of extreme value to our history, it is a true picture of the time, portraits, decisions shown through the prism of personal experience and destiny of the Yugoslav King. The documentation build in the body of the memoirs, as well as the material selected by the editor in order to create a capital work, are of an enormous importance. While the epilogue written by prof. dr Slobodan Markovic represents a contemporary overview of the life and work of HM King Peter II.

The King Peter’s memoirs revive and reveal an era, a social moment in time, characters and roles of the participants and the contemporaries of that time, giving us an opportunity to build a clear picture of them and to relive, for ourselves, these historical moments that now belong to the past.