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PRESS
RELEASE
THEIR ROYAL
HIGHNESSES BECOME PATRONS
OF
SERBIAN
ORTHODOX CHURCH COLLEGE
Sydney, November 12,
2005 - Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander
II and Crown Princess Katherine became today the patrons of the first
Serbian Orthodox Church College in Australia expected to open in Sydney in
2008.
Crown Prince
Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine attended a fund-raising for the
establishment of the college at a gala dinner in the Sydney’s Superdome
sports arena.
The list of
guests included HE Milivoje Glisic, Serbia and Montenegro’s Ambassador to
Australia and
New
Zealand, the Rt. Hon. Attorney General
Phillip Ruddock, Rt. Hon. Maurice Iemma, the New South Wales Premier, Rt.
Hon. Roger Price, MP, Rt. Hon. John Ryan, opposition MP, and Ms. Virginia
Judge, MP.
Cheered by some
1,100 people, who collected AUD 400,000 for the college, Crown Prince
Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine were greeted by His Grace
Serbian Bishop Milutin of Australia and New Zealand who said it was a
God’s blessing that Their Royal Highnesses came to Australia to support
the establishment of the college and to call on the Serbs
unite.
The sports hall
that hosted the last Olympics’ basketball and gymnastics competitions was
decorated with the Australian, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbian flags and the
ceremony started with the national anthems of Australia and Serbia.
‘’The
project of St. Sava College is an effort at integration, not a
separation,” HRH Crown Prince Alexander said. ‘’I commend
Australia for its exemplary
treatment of the many nations that settled here. I praise
Australia for its respect of
human rights, religion and ethnic origin,’’ he
added.
Mr. Iema said
that the NSW government supported the Serb community in its effort to be
good Australians and remain good Serbs. He added his praise to the Serbian
Orthodox Church ‘’for this splendid educational programme.” Mr. Ruddock passed on the greetings
from the Australian Prime Minister John Howard who said that 95 % of the
Serbs in Australia become Australians
and that they had enriched the life in the country. ‘’And that is evidence
to me of their loyalty.” Mr. Ryan also said that Serbs ‘’make a wonderful
contribution’’ to the Australian diversity.
At the end of the
ceremony, hundreds of people, many of whom remember the 1960 visit to
Australia of HM King Peter II,
Crown Prince Alexander’s father, queued to be photographed with the Royal
Couple and to get Their Royal Highnesses’ pictures autographed. They
chanted ‘’Long live the Serbian King’’ and were overwhelmed by Crown
Princesses Katherine’s words spoken in Serbian: ‘’I’m a Serb by marriage,
and I kindly ask you to help build this college. As my husband said – only
the unity saves the Serbs.’’
Earlier on
Saturday, the Royal Couple and HE Ambassador Glisic visited St. Simeon
Retirement Village and met with a group of Australian Serb
doctors.
Please
visit www.royalfamily.org.
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