Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt

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Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt

Born Hans Robert Lichtenberg
1945
Germany
Spouse(s) Zsa Zsa Gabor (Aug 14, 1986 - present)

Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt (born circa 1945) is a German-born socialite, best known as Zsa Zsa Gabor's ninth husband, and her longest-lasting marriage.

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[edit] Name

Prinz von Anhalt was born as Hans Robert Lichtenberg (other sources state Hans-Georg Lichtenberg) near Bad Kreuznach, Germany. The son of a German police officer, he was adopted in 1980 by Princess Marie Auguste of Anhalt (1898-1983) which has led confusion in media reports that he is a member of a European royal family, which he is not. The family of Princess Marie Auguste has never recognized him as being part of their lineage nor is he entitled to any official royal title.

Marie Auguste's first husband was Prince Joachim of Prussia, the youngest son of German Emperor William II. Prince Joachim committed suicide in 1920 after four years of marriage. She subsequently (1926) wed Johannes-Michael Freiherr von Loën, whom she divorced in 1935.[1]

Upon his adoption by Princess Marie Auguste of Anhalt, Lichtenberg took the name Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt; he is also known as Frédéric von Anhalt. The adoption and name change did not confer any title or nobility, though this is often assumed by various media outlets unfamiliar with the technicalities of the adoption and which, therefore, frequently refer to him incorrectly as a prince. Prinz von Anhalt is his surname, rather than a title, as per German laws regarding the country's former nobility. In addition to long-standing conventions prohibiting the transfer of German titles to adopted individuals -- except for individuals who are blood relations adopted by another relative -- the Anhalt family does not include Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt as a member. [2]

Some reports have stated that Prinz von Anhalt, a former masseur[3], has said that he was a friend of Princess Marie Auguste's only child, Prince Karl of Prussia (1916-1975), and that the grieving mother adopted him out of kindness and gave him the name Prince Frederic von Anhalt of Munich, the Duke of Saxony. These reports stated that British press reports indicate that Princess Marie Auguste was bankrupt and the adoption apparently was a business transaction. The transaction was masterminded by Hans Hermann Weyer, a former window dresser who became an honorary consul of Bolivia in Luxembourg[4] and who became known in the 1960s for selling certificates of nobility, doctoral degrees from invented colleges and universities, and other decorations in Germany.[5][6] Jailed several times on fraud charges and described in 1982 by John Vinocur of The New York Times as "a Munich rogue who sold phony titles" to "used-car dealers hungry for respectability", Weyer is given credit for Lichtenberg's adoption in the latter's biographical profile in the cast list of the 2005 German reality-television program Die Burg.[7][8] According to the newspaper Rhein-Zeitung, Weyer was adopted as an adult, in 1996, by a Countess of Yorck of Wartenberg (Gräfin von Yorck von Wartenberg), a 78-year-old German noblewoman, and now uses the name Consul Weyer Graf von Yorck.[9][10]

Prinz von Anhalt, according to certain reports, has reportedly profited to the tune of millions of dollars by selling the Anhalt name to other individuals.[citation needed] "If someone offers you $2 million, you do it", he has said. [11]

[edit] Marriage

In 1986, Prinz von Anhalt married Zsa Zsa Gabor. The couple are still married, making it Gabor's longest marriage. "We didn't marry for love", he later said. "It was a friendship, but when you're with someone over a certain time you fall in love." The marriage is legally Gabor's eighth.

[edit] Reported affair with Anna Nicole Smith

On February 9, 2007, Prinz von Anhalt claimed that he had a decade-long affair with Anna Nicole Smith and that he was the biological father of her infant daughter, Dannielynn. He claimed they met in the 1990s, during Smith's brief marriage to elderly oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. He claimed Smith approached him and Gabor at the Plaza Hotel in New York. "She was a very big fan of Zsa Zsa and wanted to be like Zsa Zsa," he said. "She wanted to be a princess".[citation needed] He also claimed the two started an affair soon after, meeting over the years in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City.[citation needed]

Short of divorcing Gabor, Prinz von Anhalt said the only solution would have been adopting Smith, adding that he did consider that and even filled out adoption papers, but Gabor refused to sign them. However when pressed on the issue by television host Bill O'Reilly, he could not give any proof that he had even met Anna Nicole Smith. Prinz von Anhalt then agreed to reappear on O'Reilly's program and submit to a lie detector test. On 12 February 2007, Gabor's former publicist told the television program Inside Edition that the actress's husband is a "chronic fabricator".[3] On 15 March 2007, he announced that he is suing both O'Reilly and Fox News for defamation of character.

[edit] Claims of paternity of Dannielynn Marshall Birkhead

Prinz von Anhalt has been quoted as saying that he could potentially be the father of Smith's infant girl, Dannielynn, who was born in September 2006,[12] and said he would file a lawsuit if Dannielynn is turned over to Howard K. Stern or Larry Birkhead by the courts. Mark "Hollywood" Hatten and Alexander Denk also came forward with paternity claims.

On 12 February 2007, according to the Associated Press, Prinz von Anhalt announced that he planned to file a paternity claim.[13]

On April 10, 2007 it was determined by a Bahamian Court that DNA evidence proved Larry Birkhead to be the father of Dannielynn.

[edit] Robbery and stripping

On July 25, 2007, Prinz von Anhalt was allegedly approached by three women he described as attractive while sitting in his Rolls-Royce in Southern California. They asked him to pose for pictures with them, at which point one of the women robbed him at gunpoint, taking his car keys, jewelry, wallet, driver's license and all his clothes. According to Prinz von Anhalt, his assailants bound him and placed him in handcuffs, yet he managed to call the authorities on a cellular phone. Los Angeles police found him completely naked approximately one hour later. Additionally, no handcuffs were found at the scene. The culprits apparently drove away in a Chrysler convertible. [14]

Celebrity gossip website TMZ.com oftens refers to him as 'Prince Von Ahole'. The website has also filmed Prinz von Anhalt many times, railing against the Hilton Family, to whom he is connected through marriage, as well as other high profile celebrities. [15] It has been suggested by Francesca Hilton, daughter of Zsa Zsa Gabor, that his outbursts in front of paparazzi cameras are the result of his transference of hostility from Hilton, with whom he has had a long standing public feud, to other members of her extended family. [16]

[edit] References

  1. ^ An Online Gotha - Anhalt
  2. ^ The Ducal Family of Anhalt
  3. ^ a b "Inside Edition"
  4. ^ Der Mantel des schönen Konsuls
  5. ^ New York Times article mentioning Weyer's career, 1982
  6. ^ John Vinocur, "For German Who 'Awarded' Titles, First Gold, Then Bars", The New York Times, 16 March 1978, page A2
  7. ^ Cast List for "Die Burg"
  8. ^ John Vinocur, "A Republic of Fear: Thirty Years of General Stroessner's Paraguay", The New York Times Magazine, 23 September 1984, page 20
  9. ^ Consul Weyer Graf von Yorck's website
  10. ^ Abstract of Rhein-Zeitung article about Weyer's adoption
  11. ^ "Who is Prince Frederic von Anhalt?", AP, February 14, 2007
  12. ^ Gabor Husband may be Smith's baby's dad, Associated Press, February 9, 2007.
  13. ^ Gabor's Husband to File Claim for Baby
  14. ^ CNN: Zsa Zsa Gabor's Husband Found Naked In Car, Says He Was Mugged
  15. ^ Prinz von Anhalt caught by TMZ cameras in Los Angeles[1], [2] [3] [4]
  16. ^ Francesca-Hilton's Open Letter to Prinz von Anhalt

[edit] External links

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