Princess Vesna and Prince Alexander Karađorđević Have a Son: His Grandfather Granted Him the Title of Royal Highness, Even Though the Serbian Royal House Has Had No Throne Since 1945

On the afternoon of 13 October, Princess Vesna and Prince Alexander Karađorđević welcomed their first child - a son. The little one is called Marko Alexander, and in his very first days he got something most babies in the Balkans don't have: a title. From now on he is officially His Royal Highness Prince.

The title was granted by the head of the Serbian Royal House, Alexander Karađorđević - the groom's father and the baby's grandfather. Protocol was respected down to the last comma. There's just one detail protocol doesn't mention: the monarchy in Yugoslavia was abolished back in 1945. The house has no throne, but it runs its rules of succession as if someone might call it back to the palace tomorrow.

The name wasn't chosen by chance. According to the family, it honours both grandfathers: Marko is Vesna's father, and Alexander is the name of the paternal grandfather - and of the father himself. In dynasties, names are passed down like family jewellery, from generation to generation, and this baby is already carrying two generations on his back at birth.

The date has its own symmetry. Vesna and Alexander married in Seville in September 2025, so their son arrived almost exactly in time for their first wedding anniversary. The Spanish connection is also the reason the story reached Spanish celebrity magazines so quickly - there, a Serbian royal baby sells just as well as a Spanish one.

Behind the smiles in the photos there has also been a harder family year. The baby's grandmother, Princess Katherine, announced in December 2024 that she has cancer. The family now says she is recovering well, and in one of the photos she and her husband hold their grandson with a pride that needs no translation. The head of the house said he had long dreamed of this moment.

The parents left hospital with the baby in their arms and publicly thanked the medical staff. The photos were published by the Royal House itself: a smiling father in glasses, a mother in a white shirt and a newborn wrapped in a white blanket. A scene that could happen in any maternity ward - except that in this family the baby enters the genealogy book in his very first week.

Whether a title without a kingdom is a symbol of continuity or a pretty family crest on the wall, everyone will judge for themselves. But in a region that remembers its dynasties well and its wars even better, the birth of a new Karađorđević is news that monarchists and republicans alike will read - each with their own raised eyebrow.