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When the cash-strapped royal family of Serbia tapped Hunter Biden for help with the upkeep of their two palaces in Belgrade, they had already exhausted most of their own savings and tried the patience of even their most ardent benefactors, sources told The Post.
“They have petitioned the government repeatedly for financial aid,” said a source close to the family. “And this is the wrong government to ask for cash because Serbia is a relatively poor country, and people are starting to resent them.”
The royals returned to Serbia in 2001 after a long exile in London after the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia in 1941, and later, the communists. Serbia became a sovereign republic in 2006, five years after the overthrow of Communist strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2001.
Since their return, they have occupied a full-time ceremonial role, and have not been gainfully employed.
The Serbian federal government pays the equivalent of $520,000 a year for the upkeep of the sprawling palaces, one of which is used to house Crown Prince Alexander Karađorđević of Yugoslavia and his second wife, Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia, according to press reports. Katherine’s adult daughter from her first marriage, Alison Andrews, also lives with the couple.
The government funds have recently been a cause of friction between Alexander and his son Philip, the heir to the throne, who has demanded greater “transparency” over how the royal couple spends the cash.
The palace has reportedly spent $2.87 million in state revenue over the last five years.
“I do not live in the palace and I am not familiar with the distribution of the funds,” Philip told a Serbian daily last month. “The distribution of these funds are overseen by Prince Alexander and Princess Katherine. When I asked for explanations as to how these funds are being used, they declined to answer“
Katherine and Alexander met with Hunter Biden in Nov. 2015 when Joe Biden was Vice President and handled a broad international portfolio for the White House that included Serbia, The Post revealed. Shortly after the meeting, Alexander sent an email thanking Hunter.
“Katherine and I are very grateful to you for being so good to us and for being so understanding,” wrote Alexander in an email found on Hunter Biden’s abandoned computer.
Requests for comment from Prince Alexander and the Serbian government were not returned Friday.
