Former Yugoslav Royals Demand Montenegro Property Return

Djordje Djurisic, the legal representative of the Karadjordjevic family in Montenegro, said on Tuesday that the descendants of the former Yugoslav royals were taking court action after a deadline passed for the government’s restitution commission to respond to their plea for their property to be returned.

Djurisic said that the request for restitution was originally filed in April 2005 but no action was taken by the authorities and that the case was now pending at Montenegro’s administrative court.

“[The authorities] are waiting for something, but we do not know what it is,” Djurisic told the CDM news portal.

The Karadjordjevic family’s property was seized after WWII when the Communists came to power in the former Yugoslavia.

They are now demanding the return of a luxury villa in the coastal village of Milocer, near the resort town of Budva, which was the summer residence of King Alexander, along with the Queen's Beach, which got its name for being the favourite holiday destination of Queen Maria of Yugoslavia.

Villa Milocer, which is currently a luxurious state-owned hotel rented to Singapore company Aman Resorts, was registered as the property of Queen Maria until WWII.

The descendants of the former royal family are also seeking the return of the house where King Alexander was born in the historic former capital Cetinje, which is now an ethnographic museum.

They are also asking for a castle on Lake Skadar, near Cetinje, which served as the winter residence for the royals.

A Belgrade court on Monday rehabilitated former Queen Maria, ruling that she was illegally stripped of her property and citizenship by the communist authorities in 1947.

The decision will allow the heirs of the former royal...