1. Spare a thoughtfor the what mighthave been
Russell Grenning
As the worldremembersthe outbreakof WorldWar1 a centuryago spare a thoughtfortwo
footnotestohistory – HisImperial andRoyal Highness,the Prince of Prussiaandthe Imperial Prince
and Archduke of AustriaandRoyal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia.
His Imperial andRoyal Highness,the headof the Hohenzollerndynasty,isknownsimplyinhisnative
Germanyas Herr Georg FriedrichPrinzvonPreubensincehisgreat-great-grandfather,the lastKaiser
Wilhelm11was sentpackingin1918 afterGerman’scollapse inWorldWar 1. The monarchyand all
Royal titleswere officiallyabolished.
The same fate metthe Hapsburg dynastyin1918 whenthe Austro-HungarianEmpire–Germany’s
ally – also collapsed. The Imperial Duke,Karl vonHabsburg,isthe currentheadof the formerruling
family.Atitspeak,the Hapsburgsruleda vastswathe of Europe and Archduke Karl isthe grandson
of the lastEmperor,Charles1.
Both have theirownwebsitesproviding historiesof theirfamiliesbutneither –perhapsinthe
traditionof JohnCleese’sBasil Fawlty - hasanymentionof the war thatultimatelyboughttheir
familiesundone inamostspectacularandpermanentway.
The Hohenzollernfamilywebsite isarather livelyone andincludesanonline shopwhereyoucan
buyall sorts of family-relatedmemorabiliaincluding,forexample,bustsof Prince Georg’sillustrious
forebears.Giventhatthe prince,now37, isan astute businessmanthat ishardlysurprising.
The Hohenzollerndynastydatesbacktoits firstmentionin1061 and reacheditspeakfrom1870 to
1918 whenthe Kaisershadthe title of Emperorof GermanyandKingof Prussia.The Hapsburg
dynasty – arguablyoldEurope’smostextensive andpowerful family –got itsfirstmentionin1020.
Both have beenaroundfora verylongtime and neitherfamilyheadsnowadayshave the slightest
intentof seeingthemfade intothe background.
While bothfamilyheadsrealisticallycannotsee anychance of theirassumingtheirabolished
thrones,theywouldnotbe entirelyaverse tothe idea. If the call came,theywouldanswervery
positively.
Prince Georg,ina 2001 interview,said, “Ido notsee any reason forthepolitical systemin Germany
to be changed and Iamvery happy –probably happierthan many of my forebears.” He was
describedinthatarticle asone of Germany’smosteligible bachelors –he has since married – and
worthan estimated(UK) tenmillionpounds.The familyhasretainedownershipof hisancestral
family seat,avast and imposingpileHohenzollernCastle nearStuttgart.
In that interviewhe talkedabouthisgreat-great-grandfather,the lastKaiser. “Ihavethegreat
advantagethatformeheis notjustan historicalfigure like he is formostof the people of the world
– I had two grandfatherswhoknewhimasa person. He wasoften taken aspompousbutthosewere
the times.Despite that,of course,Iwould havewanted himto do thingsdifferently,in foreign policy
obviously.”

2. That lastsentence hasto be the classicunderstatementandthe closestanyof hisfamilyhasever
come to admittingthatstartingWorldWar 1 washardlya goodidea,particularlyforthe
Hohenzollerns.
The last Kaiser,Wilhelm11,was a cousinof the UnitedKingdom’sKingGeorge V who,verywisely,
changedthe name of the Royal familyfromSaxe-Coburg-GothatoWindsorin1917. It remainstobe
seenif inthree yearsthe Royal Familymarksits“rebirth”- althoughperhapsnotaseverybody
nowadayswantsto be nice to the Germanswho,havinglosttwoworldwars,have won the peace
and nowdominate Europe ina mannerthanthe HohenzollernsandHitlercouldonlydreamabout.
Happilyforthe presumptive ImperialandRoyal Family,Prince Georg andhiswife PrincessSophie
JohannaMarie of Isenberg– daughterof yetanotherdefunctGermannoble family –hadtwinboys
in2013. The first-borntwinhasalreadybeendesignatedheir.
Archduke Karl vonHapsburg,53, spendshistime nowadayssavingcultural artefactsandhistorical
sitesinAfricaand the Middle East.Recently,he wentto Sarajevowhere hisrelative Archduke Franz
FerdinandwasassassinatedonJune 28,1914, thustriggeringthe eventsthatledtothe war for an
interview withthe BBC.Init he saidit was“very painfulto see nationalistmovementsrising again
acrossEurope”.
In January, the Archduke told TheGuardian (UK) that hisfamilyshouldnotbe blamedforWorldWar
1. “If you were to simplify it, you could say thatthe shooting in Sarajevo started thefirstworld war
butif there hadn’tbeen the shooting in Sarajevo,itwould havekicked off three weekslater
somewhereelse,”
He saidthere wasno needforhisfamilytoshow any remorse forthe war,“becausethat would
mean we were guiltyin thefirst place and thatwe would haveto redeemourselvesforsomething.”
He addedthathis grandfatherhadonly “inherited the war”.
He was,like hislate father,amemberof the EuropeanParliament.WhenhisfatherArchdukeOtto
diedaged98 in2011, the funeral transformedViennaintothe imperialcapital of old.Three hundred
journalistsfromaroundthe worldcoveredthe solemneventandmore than100,000 people lined
the streetsto salute the procession. The governmentsof Austria,Hungary,the CzechRepublic,
Slovenia,Latvia,Macedonia,KosovoandCroatia – once part of the Empire - all sentcondolencesto
the familyandmanyhad 13 days of official mourning.
He washailedonall sidesasa greathumanitarianbuthe alsohad a rather deprecatingsense of
humourwhichreflectedhisacute awarenessof the Hapsburgfamily’splace inthe modernworld.
While aEuropeanParliamentMP(1979 – 1999), he ran intoa colleague whowasina terrible rush.
Archduke Ottopolitelyaskedwhere he wasgoingandgotthe reply, “To watch theAustria – Hungary
match on TV.”
Withoutevenapause for breath,the lastImperial CrownPrince asked, “And who areweplaying?”