Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia (; born 7 April 1936) is a member of the royal House of Karađorđević, a human rights activist and a former presidential candidate for Serbia. Yugoslavia abolished its monarchy in 1945 and decades later broke up into several countries.
Biography
Princess Elizabeth was born in the White Palace, Belgrade as the third child and the only daughter of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (prince regent of Yugoslavia 1934–1941) and Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark. Her older brothers were Prince Nicholas and Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia, who married, firstly, Princess Maria Pia of Savoy and, secondly, Princess Barbara of Liechtenstein. She is a paternal second cousin of Queen Sofía of Spain and King Charles III, and a maternal first cousin of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and his siblings, Prince Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy. She is also a maternal third cousin of king Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. She is a great-great-granddaughter of Karađorđe, who started the first Serbian uprising against the Turks in 1804.
Her godmother and namesake was her maternal aunt Princess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark.
A businesswoman and writer, she is the author of four storybooks for children and she has created two perfumes- "Jelisaveta" and "E". Permanently settled in Belgrade, she lived in Villa "Montenegrina", which was owned by her mother, Princess Olga, the wife of Prince Regent Paul. The Villa has been recently sold off by the Princess.
Education
Princess Elizabeth was educated in Kenya, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, finally she studied the history of fine art in Paris. She speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and Serbian.
Personal life
Princess Elizabeth was married to Howard Oxenberg (1919–2010), an American Jewish dress manufacturer and close friend of the Kennedy family. They married on 21 January 1961 and were divorced in 1966. They have two daughters (and three granddaughters):
Catherine Oxenberg (b. 22 September 1961) briefly married Robert Evans in July 1998 and had the marriage annulled nine days later. She married Casper Van Dien on 8 May 1999. They had two daughters and divorced in 2015. She also has a daughter, born in 1991, from a previous relationship. India Riven Oxenberg (b. 7 June 1991) Maya Van Dien (b. 20 Sep 2001) Celeste Alma Van Dien (b. 3 Oct 2003) Christina Oxenberg (b. 27 December 1962) married Damian Elwes in May 1986. They later divorced.
Princess Elizabeth's second marriage was to Neil Balfour of Dawyck (born 1944) on 23 September 1969. He was the grandson of Alexander Balfour. They divorced in November 1978. They have one son (and four granddaughters):
Nicholas Augustus Roxburgh Balfour (b. 6 June 1970) married Jonkvrouw Stéphanie de Brouwer (b. 1971) in 2000. They have four daughters: India Lily Balfour (b. 17 October 2002) Gloria Elizabeth Balfour (b. 11 November 2005) Olympia Rose Balfour (b. 27 June 2007) Georgia Veronika Stefania Balfour (b. 10 September 2010)
In 1974, she was briefly engaged to the actor Richard Burton, after his first divorce from Elizabeth Taylor.
Princess Elizabeth married a third time, to former Prime Minister of Peru Manuel Ulloa Elías (1922–1992) on 28 February 1987. They separated in 1989, although the marriage was never officially dissolved. In 1992 Ulloa Elías died, which made the princess officially a widow.
Property status
After the death of King Alexander I, and during the Regency administration (of Regent Prince Paul, Radenko Stanković and Ivo Perović) that followed, the City of Belgrade District Court issued Decree N° 0.428/34 on 27 October 1938. The decree, which became official law on 4 March 1939, pronounced King Alexander I's underage sons King Peter II, Prince Tomislav and Prince Andrew, in equal parts, heirs to his entire estate. This included all real estate at Dedinje: the Royal Palace (Old Palace) in Belgrade, its surrounding land and forest, and the White Palace, with its appertaining houses. On 2 August 1947, Edvard Kardelj, then vice president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, issued a decree that confiscated all these properties from the royal Karadjordjević family. This followed an earlier decree in March 1947, stripping the family of their citizenship.