Friday, May 14, 2010

Taxi driver prince claims Serb throne

May 14, 1928

Just two weeks ago Prince Alexanxer Dabischa-Kotromanich, 33, was earning a meager living as a taxi driver in Berlin. Today, the Prince is "preparing an attempt to oust King Alexander from the Jugo-Slav throne." The Chicago Daily Tribune's report says that the "prince proposes to assert the rights of the Kotromanich family, which reigned in what is now Jugo-Slavia from 1163 to 1443." The prince claims he is the "sole direct heir."
He is married to Princess Ariadne Cantucuzene, of the "well known Roumanian family."
The prince "makes no secret of source of the sudden financial support," and his aide-de-camp, Capt. Grischka, said "emanates from Rome and London."
The Marquese Antionari, an attache at the Italian embassy in Berlin, is said to "have an active share in the negotiations for financing the prince." This support is based on the "view of the present Jugo-Slavian king's uncompromising refusal to deal with Premier Mussolini."
The British government "has not compromised itself directly," but, the prince claims "that private capital has been invested in the venture." This venture, he says, includes "the promise of of a squadron of airlines."
The Kotromanovich dynasty is said to be older than either the Karageorge or the Obrenovich dynasties, "which have been alternating in Serbia lately, marking each change with murder."
When the Turks overran Jugo-Slavia, the Kotromanovich family fled to Austria, and then settled in Russia, where members of the family "rose to high positions in the Russian army."
Prince Alexander said he was thrown into prison by the Bolsheviks, "which prevented him stating his claim at the Versailles peace congress."

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