BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Yugoslavia's former royal family says it will receive keys to two of its palaces in a prelude to a return of full ownership decades after the communists stripped family members of their citizenship and property.
The office of Crown Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic said the government was to hand over the keys to the White Palace and Old Palace, both in a Belgrade residential area, on Tuesday. The prince also would be given a document authorizing use of the buildings, scheduled for full restitution this fall.
"It can be expected that the palaces of the Karadjordjevic family will become gathering places for all those who have the welfare of our fatherland in our heart," the prince's London-based office said.
During his time in office, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic used the two palaces in the plush Belgrade Dedinje district as his offices and to receive foreign officials.
The government's move was part of a promise by Yugoslavia's new authorities who replaced Milosevic in October to restore the full citizenship rights of the royal family, banned by the communists when they took power after World War II.
Earlier this year, the Karadjordjevics were given Yugoslav passports and a law to return their property was drafted. It is expected to come into effect in the fall, making the palaces theirs once again.
The communists, led by late dictator Josip Broz Tito, abolished the monarchy, stripped the Karadjordjevic family of Yugoslav citizenship and confiscated their property.
The Karadjordjevics, originally a Serbian dynasty that expanded its rule when Yugoslavia was formed after World War I, fled the country in 1941 to escape the Nazis and were banned from returning after the communists took over.
They settled in Britain, where Aleksandar was born in London in 1945.
In the early 1990s, Milosevic allowed members of the family to come to Yugoslavia but refused to return their land or citizenship. Only one member of the family, Prince Tomislav, settled permanently in central Serbia at the time.
Aleksandar, now 56, was first allowed a short visit to his ancestral land in 1992. Several other family members have visited in the past decade, offering support to the pro-democracy movement or distributing humanitarian aid.
Over time, Aleksandar became an open critic of Milosevic's ruinous policies, and with the former Yugoslav president's ouster, he announced plans for a permanent homecoming.
The prince said he would move into the palaces, adding he planned to settle there with his wife, Princess Katherina, and open a "royal office" on the premises.
The Karadjordjevics said they plan to "work for the better of our people."
Recent opinion polls on the restoration of the monarchy showed one-third of the public supported the idea, and more than two-thirds wouldn't object if it brought stability.