German Royalty and Nobility

[Alex K]

Hi all, this is a genuine question and an attempt to understand the facts, attached is an image of Eduard Prince of Anhalt, resplendent in ceremonial uniform, image credit "alchetron", no date given for the image but clearly fairly modern

 

As head of the House of Ascania, and Master of the House Order of Albrecht the Bear, which he is wearing, no problem with that, family baubles, he's entitled to award and wear them. In addition, of the other decorations, included are the Prussian "Pour-Le-Merite" military, 2 grades of the Prussian Order of the Crown, and the Austrian Order of Leopold, given that all these were effectively abolished in 1918, long before he was born, who awarded them? or is it a case of dynastic dressing up?

 

Forgot to mention the breast star to the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle

 

regards

 

Alex K

Edited October 19, 2018 by Alex K

[Dave Danner]

The head of the Ascanian House is Eduard Prinz von Anhalt (1941-), son of Joachim Ernst Herzog von Anhalt (1901-1947). That is not him in the picture.

The guy in your picture is Frédéric "Prinz von Anhalt", born in 1943 as Hans-Robert Lichtenberg. In 1980, at the age of 36, he arranged to be adopted by the elderly widow Marie Auguste Prinzessin von Anhalt (1898-1983), sister of Herzog Joachim Ernst. She was apparently poor and lonely after the death in 1975 of her only son Karl Franz Prinz von Preußen, and the person who arranged the adoption helped pay her rent. 

Frédéric has since adopted 10 adults himself, making them so-called princes of Anhalt, as well as selling various knighthoods.

The Albert the Bear is a House Order, and he is not head of, or in reality a member of, the House, so his "knighthoods" are pretty much worthless. Frédéric bought the ones he wears from various dealers and auctions.

Since Germany does not have titles of nobility, the "Prinz" in Frédéric's name, as well as his adopted "sons", is merely a part of a legal name change, and no more a title than that of Prince Rogers Nelson or Elvis "The King" Presley.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frédéric_Prinz_von_Anhalt

Edited October 19, 2018 by Dave Danner

[Alex K]

Thanks, interesting, so the above picture has been mislabelled, I thought there seemed a difference in appearance between it and other images of Eduard, as for the decorations I was wondering if they were an "E-bay" type of purchase, clearly I was not far off, (that PLM looks suspiciously like a 10GBP copy I have lying around somewhere).

 

Interesting link.

 

regards

Alex K

[HeikoGrusdat]

Prince Carnival 

[new world]

clown!

[Claudius]

I think this whole thread should be moved off the Germany: Imperial: The Orders, Decorations and Medals of The Imperial German States forum and put....somewhere else, like the Lounge.

[VtwinVince]

This fraudster and his charlatan wife have been discussed before on the forums. They give Imperial German orders, as well as humanity in general, a bad name.

[Alex K]

Oops, didn't expect such a reaction, apologies, for my ignorance

[Herman]

What a joker this guy. 

[Utgardloki]

He isn't a member of the nobility - you can't become a nobleman through adoption.

[Bayern]

Utgardloki ,Remember the adoption of marshall Bernardotte by King Charles XIII Vasa of Sweden ,

1 minute ago, Bayern said:

Utgardloki ,Remember the adoption of marshall Bernardotte by King Charles XIII Vasa of Sweden ,

By other side I think that this man Lichtenberg is a legitimated fraud

[Utgardloki]

Yes thats true, but somehow different, cause he was just legitimated as king through the adoption i think. Charles XIII was a member of the the house Holstein-Gottorf, but Bernadotte didn't become a member of it. With him the new House of Bernadotte was established. I am sure he was nobilitated by Napoleon before.

I'm not an expert but I doubt the old rules of the nobility would have legitimated something like that, but cause of the power of Napoleon there was nothing to put against it.

[VtwinVince]

This Anhalt woman has been abusing her status by selling 'membership' in her family. Ridiculous.

[Bayern]

Bernadotte was made Prince of Pontecorvo by Napoleon .but not was the power of the Ogre what made Bernadotte King .he was elected as succesor on the throne of the childless Charles Xiii against the wish of Bonaparte. Charles XIII was certainly a Holstein Gottorp but the jure Bernadotte was also a Holstein too

[filfoster]

Wasn't von Ribbentrop adopted by some noblewoman to give him his specious 'von'?

[Utgardloki]

This was after 1919, so he just got the "von" as part of his name, but not as "Adelsprädikat", somehow similiar to Lichtenberg.

The line of the Ribbentrop family Joachim Robbentrop was part of hasn't been nobilitated, but others. Gertrud von Ribbentrop, who adopted him was a far relative.

The "Deutscher Adelsausschuß" calls this "Scheinadel", I don't know an english expression.

On 23/10/2018 at 03:42, Bayern said:

Bernadotte was made Prince of Pontecorvo by Napoleon .but not was the power of the Ogre what made Bernadotte King .he was elected as succesor on the throne of the childless Charles Xiii against the wish of Bonaparte. Charles XIII was certainly a Holstein Gottorp but the jure Bernadotte was also a Holstein too

I don't think Bernadotte was considered a Holstein

Edited October 26, 2018 by Utgardloki

[Utgardloki]

Here is a "Stammliste", were Bernadotte isn't considered a son

http://genealogy.euweb.cz/oldenburg/oldenburg8.html#C13

Edited October 26, 2018 by Utgardloki

[Bayern]

Utgardloki . I said De Jure ,thats legally , formally,