NYT WORLD: What Do We Know About Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss?
By Christopher F. Schuetze
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: December 7, 2022 at 02:00AM
Heinrich was arrested at his home in an upmarket district of Frankfurt on Wednesday.
According to a report in a local newspaper, Ostthüringer Zeitung, police also searched his hunting lodge, a small neo-Gothic castle near the town of Bad Lobenstein in Thuringia, originally built in the 19th century for his ancestor Heinrich LXXII.
Heinrich may claim the hereditary title, but the House of Reuss is less than pleased with him.
Heinrich XIV, a distant relative who acts as the head of the house and its spokesman, told the German broadcaster MRD on Wednesday he was shocked by the news and that he hadn’t spoken to Heinrich XIII for a decade.
“Of course it rubs off catastrophically on the family,” he said “I believe we’ve been a tolerant, cosmopolitan dynasty for 850 years in eastern Thuringia and now we are all around the world, all the way to America, [we’re] ‘terrorists’ and ‘reactionaries’ — it’s really horrible.”
Heinrich XIII, arrested Wednesday wearing a green blazer, brown trousers, blue shirt and a colored silk scarf, is described in German media profiles as an entrepreneur. His personal website vaguely says he offers “coordination of business interests.”
He is accused of contacting representatives of the Russian Federation both in Russia and in Germany in the hope of winning support for the overthrow of the Berlin government, though prosecutors said that there was no evidence Moscow officials reacted positively to the request.
The House of Reuss disowned Heinrich XIII even before Wednesday’s arrest. In August, the house distanced itself from his views, with Heinrich XIV describing him as a “confused old man” who “is now caught up in conspiracy theory misconceptions.”
By Christopher F. Schuetze
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: December 7, 2022 at 02:00AM
Descended from an ancient aristocratic family, Heinrich now stands accused of being a leader of a far-right plot to overthrow the German government.
It sounds like a rejected script for a “James Bond” movie. An obscure German aristocrat with a historic royal title plans to overthrow the government in a violent coup, freeing it from the supposed tyranny of the deep state.
But that is, German prosecutors say, exactly what the self-styled Heinrich XIII Prince of Reuss was doing until he was arrested along with 24 alleged far-right co-conspirators Wednesday, as part of the largest counterterror police operation in German history.
Little is known of the terrorist group that, prosecutors alleged, had access to weapons and training, had recruited from the armed forces and the police, and had drawn up detailed plans to install a new government.
Part of the Reichsbürger, or Reich Citizens, movement which rejects the legitimacy of the German state after Kaiser Wilhelm II stood down in 1918, the group was planning to install Heinrich as the new head of state, authorities say.
Pictures showed him being led away in handcuffs Wednesday by police officers in balaclavas, as he and his fellow plotters saw those hopes dashed.
This is what we know about the man who would’ve been kaiser.
Germany has been a republic for more than 100 years and is now the most powerful democracy in Europe. It has no actual princes or kings, but as with many other former monarchies across Europe, some aristocrats with hereditary royal titles choose to still use them.
Heinrich XIII, 71, belongs to the House of Reuss, an ancient royal lineage that ruled parts of what is now Thuringia in central Germany for hundreds of years until 1918. It is now one of Germany’s 16 federal states.
Reuss is just one of the many branches of German royalty, many of which have familial links across the rest of Europe, including to the British royal family.
In an eccentric quirk dating back to the 12th century, male heirs to the Reuss throne are all called Heinrich, followed by a number. This is in tribute to Heinrich VI, who reigned as the king of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor until his death in 1197.
According to a report in a local newspaper, Ostthüringer Zeitung, police also searched his hunting lodge, a small neo-Gothic castle near the town of Bad Lobenstein in Thuringia, originally built in the 19th century for his ancestor Heinrich LXXII.
Heinrich may claim the hereditary title, but the House of Reuss is less than pleased with him.
Heinrich XIV, a distant relative who acts as the head of the house and its spokesman, told the German broadcaster MRD on Wednesday he was shocked by the news and that he hadn’t spoken to Heinrich XIII for a decade.
“Of course it rubs off catastrophically on the family,” he said “I believe we’ve been a tolerant, cosmopolitan dynasty for 850 years in eastern Thuringia and now we are all around the world, all the way to America, [we’re] ‘terrorists’ and ‘reactionaries’ — it’s really horrible.”
Heinrich XIII, arrested Wednesday wearing a green blazer, brown trousers, blue shirt and a colored silk scarf, is described in German media profiles as an entrepreneur. His personal website vaguely says he offers “coordination of business interests.”
He is accused of contacting representatives of the Russian Federation both in Russia and in Germany in the hope of winning support for the overthrow of the Berlin government, though prosecutors said that there was no evidence Moscow officials reacted positively to the request.
The House of Reuss disowned Heinrich XIII even before Wednesday’s arrest. In August, the house distanced itself from his views, with Heinrich XIV describing him as a “confused old man” who “is now caught up in conspiracy theory misconceptions.”
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