Yugoslav Princess Attempts to Save Granddaughter from Accused Sex Trafficking Group

Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and her daughter, actress Catherine Oxenberg

HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia has been called upon by her daughter, actress Catherine Oxenberg, to help save her granddaughter from the influence of accused sex cult NXIVM. NXIVM's leader, Keith Raniere, was recently arrested in Mexico and extradited by US authorities on sex trafficking charges, and one of Raniere's protogees, Smallville actress Allison Mack, also faces criminal charges for helping Raniere operate a "sex cult" within NXIVM. Oxenberg's eldest daughter, 26-year-old India Oxenberg, began her involvement with NXIVM seven years ago and has reportedly severed contact with her mother following multiple attempts to convince her to end her relationship with Raniere's group. Oxenberg has gone public about her daughter's situation and believes NXIVM is a cult which brainwashes its followers. NXIVM garnered attention after former members revealed that they had been branded with cauterized pens and forced to have sexual relations with Raniere. Oxenberg says her attempts to stage an intervention with India have proved unsuccessful, and that she called on Princess Elizabeth as a last-ditch effort to save her daughter from the group's influence. The recent arrests of Keith Raniere and Allison Mack could lead to India Oxenberg facing legal troubles of her own if it is discovered that she has somehow been involved in the alleged sex trafficking. 

Catherine Oxenberg and her daughter, India.

Catherine Oxenberg is best known to audiences for her role as Amanda Carrington on the hit 1980s television series Dynasty. Oxenberg also portrayed the late Princess Diana in the 1982 CBS TV movie The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana; Diana's former husband, Prince Charles, is Oxenberg's second cousin in real life. She was married to actor Casper van Diem (known for his role in the 1997 film Starship Troopers), and has two daughters with him in addition to India from a previous relationship. Oxenberg appeared with Van Diem and her children in the short-lived Lifetime reality series So I Married a Princess (despite her mother's royal title, Oxenberg herself is not actually a princess). 

Jelisaveta Karađorđević, a.k.a.
Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia 

Oxenberg's mother, Princess Elizabeth (Serbian: Jelisaveta), is the only daughter of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, who ruled the country as regent on behalf of the underage King Peter II from 1934 to 1941. Oxenberg's maternal grandmother, Princess Olga of Greece, was a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Princess Elizabeth was the first member of the deposed Karađorđević dynasty to return to Yugoslavia (which no longer exists and has since been broken up into the countries of Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina) after the Communist government of Josep Tito abolished the monarchy in 1945. Elizabeth's second cousin once removed, Crown Prince Alexander, is the pretender to the Serbian throne and head of the House of Karađorđević.