Prince Charles welcomed by PM, meets with president

Prince Charles welcomed by PM, meets with president

The British royals will have a series of meetings. Prince Charles will make his only public address while in the country during a reception at the National Assembly on the second day of the visit.

President Nikolic received on Wednesday, together with his wife Dragica, Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles. They spoke about "the strong friendship between Serbia and Britain forged in two world wars, the current situation in Europe and relations between the former Yugoslav republics."

Shortly before the beginning of the meeting, Prince Charles showed interest in the "Dawn of Renaissance" exhibition, a permanent exhibition on display in the lobby of the Presidency building at Andricev Venac in Belgrade.

Nikolic presented his guests with a Cyrillic edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, printed as a single volume on Bible paper, which includes previously unpublished works, and a copy of the book "The Christian Heritage of Kosovo and Metohija," a monograph in English.

After the reception at the presidency building, the Serbian president and the prince of Wales laid wreaths at the memorial dedicated to the defenders of Belgrade and at the Commonwealth military cemetery.

They thus paid tribute to the joint fights, ordeals and suffering of soldiers, but also citizens of Serbia and the United Kingdom during the two world wars.

The anthems of the two countries were played during the wreath-laying ceremony which was also attended by Camilla Parker Bowles and Dragica Nikolic. Prince Charles also visited Kalemegdan Park, talked with Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej, and attended a meeting of religious leaders from the Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Islamic and Jewish communities. This will be "followed by a dinner with his wife organized by Prime Minister Vucic," Beta agency reported earlier.

The Duchess of Cornwall will visit a family care project being supported by UNICEF and the Novak Djokovic Foundation, while in the afternoon she will visit Crown Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic in the royal residence in Dedinje, alongside Charles.

As for March 17, the couple will visit Novi Sad, the Kovilje monastery and Sremski Karlovci, and will then attend the reception in the Serbian National Assembly. The visit is aimed at promoting peace and reconciliation in the region and building future for Serbia, its youth and bilateral relations, British Ambassador to Serbia Denis Keefe told a press briefing ahead of the visit, adding that it came at a good moment considering that Serbia is moving closer to the EU and the fact that bilateral relations are developing well despite disagreements on some issues.

In an article he wrote for Belgrade daily Politika, the diplomat said that the visit was the most important one from the United Kingdom since 1978.