PHS Interview with the Prince of Yugoslavia
Prince Michel Antoine Umberto Peter Marie of Yugoslavia
A Prince with an incredible family history, People & High Society speaks to Prince Michel of Yugoslavia about his passions, detective work and travels.
Please tell us your story.
I was born in France. My father [Prince Alexander of Yugolsavia] is Yugoslav; when I say Yugoslav we are the royal family of Yugoslavia, but we originally came from Serbia. My mother [Princess Maria Pia of Savoy] is Italian and her father was the last King of Italy [Umberto II of Italy]. I go to Italy a great deal but Serbia less because my family was banned until about 15 years ago. My aunt [Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia] moved back to Serbia to live in Belgrade. Last year she sued the government to rehabilitate the image of my grandfather [Prince Paul of Yugoslavia] who was the last Regent. She won the case and we took my grandfather’s body back to Serbia in a very emotional ceremony, which happened about a year ago.
What are your passions?
I love sports: skiing, cross country skiing, and I used to water ski when I lived in Florida. When I can’t do sports I walk.
My other passion is photography. I am even preparing an exhibition at Easter. It is something I fell into but I have been doing for a while. Some of my friends asked me ‘Why don’t you exhibit?.’ So now I will this Spring in a Geneva gallery. My subjects are landscapes and architecture; I like repetition of objects and alignment.
You are known to be quite the globe trotter and have travelled to many parts of the world. Can you tell us a bit more about your time in the States?
I lived in New York for nine years and Florida for twelve years. Whilst living in Florida, I went to real estate school, I got my license and went to work with Sotheby’s. Florida was lovely; great people and atmosphere.
Work brought me back to Europe. I was offered a job with Diligence, which is a business intelligence company. I loved the idea of being a private detective. I was basically selling information instead of houses. We get some great cases coming through, every day. You could make great movies with it but it’s confidential.
Tell us about your involvement with charitable organisations.
A friend of mine launched a company called Echo Verde. They make biodegradable plastic bags and I have been helping them a bit with that because I love the idea. They decompose in 2 years instead of the usual 100 years.
Then I have a friend of mine, Ghislaine Maxwell who started a company called TerraMar. All the oceans outside of territorial waters, which basically make up most of the planet, are unregulated and there aren’t any enforcements like coastal waters, so waste gets dumped in these unprotected areas. TerraMar is looking to bring a stop to this. Every time I can help them promote their cause and talk about it I am delighted to do so.
