{"id":3630,"date":"2026-09-15T10:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T08:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cok.hr\/en\/?p=3630"},"modified":"2026-09-15T10:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T08:16:12","slug":"in-grateful-memory-of-jadranka-njers-beresford-peirse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cok.hr\/en\/in-grateful-memory-of-jadranka-njers-beresford-peirse\/","title":{"rendered":"In Grateful Memory of Jadranka Njer\u0161 Beresford-Peirse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I was greatly saddened to learn that my good friend \u2013 and a great friend of Croatia \u2013 Lady Beresford-Peirse has unexpectedly died in London. Jadranka Beresford-Peirse and I met in 1991 through our commitment to Croatian independence and our opposition to the war of aggression launched against it. She was charming, well connected \u2013 as the wife of Sir Henry Beresford-Peirse, who selflessly supported her work \u2013 but above all, Jadranka was fearless. I wish I could remember all she told me of her early visits to bombed, bleeding and apparently beaten Croatia at that terrible time. But she is no longer here to remind me of the details&#8230; I do know that she pressed relentlessly all the contacts she had acquired \u2013 and no one knew better than Jadranka how to charm her way into any circle for the great Croatian cause &#8211; to donate to her charity, the International Trust for Croatian Monuments.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Among those she charmed was Margaret Thatcher. Mrs Thatcher was enraged by the West\u2019s indifference to Croatian suffering, and she was ready to listen to any suggestions about how to relieve it. At one event at the Croatian embassy where the two women were present \u2013 I think they had met briefly before that, through me \u2013 Mrs Thatcher remarked on the beautiful but simple brooch that Jadranka was wearing. It was one of those pieces of jewellery from Dubrovnik that have a special attractive simplicity. Jadranka took it off and pinned it on the former Prime Minister\u2019s lapel. Someone accompanying Mrs Thatcher protested and said that she couldn\u2019t possible accept \u2013 but she did. It was a sign of mutual confidence and respect. The Thatcher Foundation later made a substantial gift to Jadranka\u2019s charity.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Over the years, Jadranka revealed to me much about her past \u2013 including the dreadful family circumstances she endured after the Communists took power in 1945. She was, like many emigres, always careful what she said in public. But she knew that Croatian freedom, first from Communist tyranny and then from Greater Serb aggression, was the highest goal she could help to achieve. She did more than this. She put in all her effort in the years remaining to her to raising the level of international understanding of Croatia and its rich and ancient culture, and to protecting Croatia\u2019s artistic masterpieces.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Centre for the Renewal of Culture expresses it sorrow at her passing, its condolences to her family whom she loved so much, and its deep appreciation of her lifetime\u2019s work. And I, personally, express my gratitude for having known such a wonderful woman.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>May she Rest in Peace.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Robin Harris, President of COK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I was greatly saddened to learn that my good friend \u2013 and a great friend of Croatia \u2013 Lady Beresford-Peirse has unexpectedly died in London. Jadranka Beresford-Peirse and I met in 1991 through our commitment to Croatian independence&#8230;&#8221;, writes Robin Harris, COK&#8217;s President.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,239],"tags":[420,419,124],"class_list":["post-3630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-croatia","tag-croatian-independence","tag-lady-jadranka-beresford-pierse","tag-margaret-thatcher"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In Grateful Memory of Jadranka Beresford-Peirse, by Robin Harris<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lady Jadranka Beresford-Pierse was a great friend of Croatia and a friend of COK&#039;s President, Robin Harris. Here are his words of gratitude.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cok.hr\/en\/in-grateful-memory-of-jadranka-njers-beresford-peirse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Grateful Memory of Jadranka Beresford-Peirse, by Robin Harris\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lady Jadranka Beresford-Pierse was a great friend of Croatia and a friend of COK&#039;s President, Robin Harris. 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