While the world watches the coronation of the new King of the United Kingdom and the 14 commonwealth realms, on the other side of Europe some will be thinking about the disappearance of their own monarchical traditions.

“A fellow Hungarian villager, Feri Augusztin, came to my father and told him to hand over his daughters, me and my sister Ella, to the Russians. This was the same person who earlier chased the Jews out of their homes. He informed the Russians that we were wealthy Hungarians and threatened Dad, saying that they would execute him unless he gave up his daughters.”

President Katalin Novák stressed that after the torments of the 20th century, the 21st century envisages a better, more peaceful, and safer life for the Hungarian people. At the moment, however, a dark cloud casts a shadow, namely the war in neighboring Ukraine.

“We will remember this victory until the end of our lives because we had to fight against a huge number of opponents,” Viktor Orbán said in his speech on Sunday night. “We have had a victory so great it can be seen from the moon; no doubt it can be seen from Brussels.”

According to data disclosed on Tuesday, close to 400,000 refugees arrived in Poland since the war broke out, and around 100,000 refugees have found shelter in Hungary. And the tiny country of Moldova, outside of the EU, also received 60,000 Ukrainians so far.