Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein

Hans-Adam II (Johannes Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marco d'Aviano Pius; born 14 February 1945) is the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, since 1989. He is the son of Prince Franz Joseph II and his wife, Countess Georgina von Wilczek. He also bears the titles Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf, and Count of Rietberg. Under his reign, a 2003 constitutional referendum expanded the powers of the Prince of Liechtenstein. In 2004, Hans-Adam transferred day-to-day governmental duties to his eldest son Hereditary Prince Alois as regent, like his father had granted him in 1984 to prepare him for the role.

Hans-Adam II
Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf
Count of Rietberg
A photo of Prince Hans-Adam II aged 68
Hans-Adam in 2013
Prince of Liechtenstein
Reign13 November 1989 – present
PredecessorFranz Joseph II
Heir apparentAlois
RegentAlois (2004–present)
Prime Ministers
See list
Born (1945-02-14) 14 February 1945
Zürich, Switzerland
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1967; died 2021)​
Issue
Detail
Names
Johannes Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marco d'Aviano Pius
HouseLiechtenstein
FatherFranz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein
MotherCountess Georgina von Wilczek
ReligionCatholic

Early life
Photo by Erling Mandelmann, 1974

He was born on 14 February 1945 in Zürich, Switzerland, as the eldest son of Prince Franz Joseph II and Princess Gina of Liechtenstein,[1] with his godfather being Pope Pius XII.[2] His father had succeeded as Prince of Liechtenstein in 1938 upon the death of his childless grand-uncle, Prince Franz I, and Hans-Adam was thus hereditary prince from birth.[3][4]

In 1956, he entered the Schottengymnasium in Vienna. In 1960, he transferred to the Lyceum Alpinium Zuoz in Switzerland, earning a Swiss Matura and a German Abitur in 1965. He then worked as a bank trainee in London before enrolling at the University of St. Gallen to study business administration, graduating with a licentiate in 1969. He is fluent in English and French in addition to his native German.[5]

In 1984, Prince Franz Joseph II, while legally remaining head of state and retaining the title of sovereign prince, formally handed the power of making day-to-day governmental decisions to his eldest son as a way of beginning a dynastic transition to a new generation. Hans-Adam formally succeeded as Prince of Liechtenstein upon the death of his father on 13 November 1989.[6]

Powers

A referendum to adopt Hans-Adam's revision of the Constitution of Liechtenstein to expand his powers passed in 2003. The prince had threatened to resign and leave the country if the referendum did not result in his favour.[7]

On 15 August 2004, Hans-Adam formally handed the power of making day-to-day governmental decisions to his eldest son Hereditary Prince Alois as regent, as a way of beginning a dynastic transition to a new generation. Legally, Hans-Adam remains the head of state.[8] Hans-Adam's father Franz Joseph II had similarly done so on 26 August 1984.[9]

In a July 2012 referendum, the people of Liechtenstein overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to curtail the political power of the princely family. A few days before the vote, Hereditary Prince Alois announced he would veto any relaxing of the ban on abortion, also up for referendum. 76 per cent of those voting in the first referendum supported Alois' power to veto the outcome of future referendums.[10] Legislators, who serve on a part-time basis, rose in the hereditary prince's defence on 23 May, voting 18 to 7 against the citizens' initiative.[11]

Entrepreneurship and personal wealth
Hans-Adam II led the LGT Bank on an expansion course until his accession to the throne in 1989.

Before his accession to the throne, he transformed LGT Bank which is wholly owned by his family, from a small local bank into an internationally operating financial group. As of 2003 he had a family fortune of US$7.6 billion and a personal fortune of about US$4 billion,[12] making him one of the world's richest heads of state, and Europe's wealthiest monarch.[13]

He inherited his main residence, Vaduz Castle in Liechtenstein, furthermore in Austria Liechtenstein Castle, Wilfersdorf Castle (with a wine farm), the Liechtenstein Garden Palace and the Liechtenstein City Palace in Vienna. In addition to real estate, viticulture, agriculture and forestry, the prince owns a number of companies, the most important being the American company RiceTec.

He also inherited an extensive art collection, much of which is displayed for the public at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna. As of July 2022, his net worth was estimated by Bloomberg Billionaires Index around US$6.20 billion, making him the 380th richest person on earth.[14] However, he placed these assets in a family foundation, the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation, from which each family member receives an equal annual allowance and which maintains the family's castles, cultural assets, collections and museums and last but not least, the costs of the princely court including even some salaries for princes who are ambassadors abroad, which are not a burden on the taxpayer.

His successful entrepreneurship allowed him to buy back parts of the family art collection[15] which his father had had to sell after World War II due to lack of money after his vast land holdings in Czechoslovakia had been expropriated (measuring 7.5 times the total area of the Principality itself) and after his Austrian properties had become inaccessible until the end of the Soviet occupation in 1955. In addition, he continues to expand the collection of classical paintings and applied arts to this day.

Personal life
Princely family of Liechtenstein

The Prince
Extended princely family
Descendants of Prince Aloys
  • Prince Andreas
    Princess Silvia
  • Prince Gregor
  • Princess Maria-Pia
  • Princess Katharina
  • Princess Brigitta

Princess Marie Christine

  • Princess Maria Assunta
  • Princess Isabelle, countess zu Erbach-Fürstenau
  • Prince Christoph
  • Princess Marie Helene
  • Princess Georgina, Countess von Waldburg zu Zeil und Trauchburg
  • Princess Michaela

Princess Amalie

  • Princess Maria Elisabeth
  • Prince Hubertus
  • Princess Marie Therese

On 30 July 1967, at St. Florin's in Vaduz, he married his second cousin once-removed Countess Marie Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau.[16] They have four children: Hereditary Prince Alois, Prince Maximilian, Prince Constantin, and Princess Tatjana (also known after marriage as Tatjana von Lattorff).[17] They remained married until her death on 21 August 2021, at the age of 81.

The Prince is an honorary member of K.D.St.V. Nordgau Prag Stuttgart, a Catholic students' fraternity that is a member of the Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities.

The Prince donated $12 million in 2000 to found the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) at Princeton University's Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.[18][19] In his childhood he joined the Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Liechtensteins in Vaduz.[20] He is also a former member of the Viennese Scout Group "Wien 16-Schotten".[21] He is a member of the World Scout Foundation.[22]

Viewpoints and book

Hans-Adam has written the political treatise The State in the Third Millennium (ISBN 9783905881042), which was published in late 2009. In it, he argues for the continued importance of the nation-state as a political actor. He makes the case for democracy as the best form of government, which he sees China and Russia as in transition towards, although the path will be difficult for these nations. He also declared his role in a princely family as something that has legitimacy only from the assent of the people. He stated that government should be limited to a small set of tasks and abilities, writing that people "have to free the state from all the unnecessary tasks and burdens with which it has been loaded during the last hundred years, which have distracted it from its two main tasks: maintenance of the rule of law and foreign policy".[23] Hans-Adam is a friend of the German anarcho-capitalist economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe.[24]

Hans-Adam wrote to the foreword to a Sourcebook, on Self-Determination and Self-Administration, which was edited by Wolfgang F. Danspeckgruber and Arthur Watts (ISBN 1-55587-786-9, 1997), and in the Encyclopedia Princetoniensis.[25]

In an interview with Radio Liechtenstein in February 2021, Prince Hans-Adam II expressed his support for same-sex marriage but said he opposed allowing same-sex couples to adopt.[26][27]

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles
  • 14 February 1945 – 13 November 1989: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein
  • 13 November 1989 – present: His Serene Highness The Prince of Liechtenstein

The official title of the monarch is "Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf, Count of Rietberg, Sovereign of the House of Liechtenstein" (German: Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein, Herzog von Troppau und Jägerndorf, Graf zu Rietberg, Regierer des Hauses von und zu Liechtenstein).[28]

Honours and awards
See also: List of honours of the Liechtensteiner princely family by country

Foreign

Awards

Arms
Coat of arms of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
Coronet
Ducal hat of Liechtenstein
Escutcheon
Quarterly: I Or, an eagle displayed Sable crowned and armed Or charged with a crescent treflée, issuing from the middle thereof a cross pattée Argent (Silesia); II barry of eight Or and Sable, a crown of rue bendways throughout Vert (Kuenring); III per pale Gules and Argent (Duchy of Troppau); IV Or, a harpy displayed Sable the human parts Argent crowned and armed Or (Cirksena); on a point entée Azure, a bugle-horn stringed Or (Duchy of Jägerndorf); en surtout, an inescutcheon per fess or and Gules (House of Liechtenstein).[33]

See also

References
  1. "H.S.H. Prince Hans Adam II | Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination". lisd.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  2. "Baby Prince Named for Pope". The New York Times. 19 February 1945. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  3. "Liechtenstein Royal Family". Monarchies of Europe. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  4. "Liechtenstein Princess Has Son". The New York Times. 18 February 1945. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  5. admin (30 March 2021). "H.S.H. Prince Hans-Adam II | Das Fürstenhaus von Liechtenstein". Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  6. Pendleton, Devon (26 October 2017). "The Richest Royal in Europe Just Keeps Getting Richer". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  7. Liechtenstein prince wins powers BBC News Online, 16 March 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  8. Country profile: Liechtenstein – Leaders BBC News, 6 December 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  9. "WHAT'S DOING IN: Liechtenstein". The New York Times. 23 July 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  10. Foulkes, Imogen. (1 July 2012) BBC News – Liechtenstein referendum rejects curbs on royal powers. BBC News.
  11. The Prince vs. the 'Paupers' – By Michael Z. Wise Archived 9 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Foreign Policy (29 June 2012).
  12. Fleck, Fiona (17 March 2003). "Voters give billionaire prince new powers". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  13. Liechtenstein redraws Europe map BBC News Online, 28 December 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2006.
  14. "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Prince Hans Adam II". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  15. Odysseys of Art: Masterpieces Collected by the Princes of Liechtenstein, Hong Kong Palace Museum 2022–2023
  16. "Liechtenstein's Crown Prince Takes a Bride". The New York Times. 31 July 1967. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  17. "SOS KINDERDORF". SOS Villages Liechtenstein. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2022. I.D. Tatjana von Lattorff. Our patroness: Princess of Liechtenstein
  18. Bloom, Molly. (12 December 2000) Opening of Liechtenstein institute draws international dignitaries. The Daily Princetonian
  19. Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University Mission & Outreach: The Liechtenstein Institute (retrieved 23 January 2015)
  20. Fürst Hans-Adam II. Archived 23 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 29 January 2008.
  21. Brósch-Fohraheim, Eugen (October 2008). "Schwedischer König als Pfadfinder in Wien-Zusammenkunft der "Weltpfadfinderstiftung" in Wien 2008". 29 Live (in German): 21.
  22. Seine Majestät Carl XVI Gustaf König von Schweden zu Gast in Wien Archived 11 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 29 October 2008.
  23. "H.S.H. Prince Hans-Adam II – The State in the Third Millennium". Uncommon Knowledge. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  24. Woods, Tom. "Ep. 979 Liechtenstein: The Closest Thing to a Libertarian Country?". Tomwoods.com. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  25. "Encyclopedia Princetoniensis: The Princeton Encyclopedia of Self-Determination (PESD) - Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination". lisd.princeton.edu.
  26. "Prince Of Liechtenstein: "Gays Can Get Married, But They Can't Adopt"". Gay Nation. 22 February 2021.
  27. "Gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe: Von Entrüstung bis Zustimmung". Liechtensteiner Vaterland (in German). 17 February 2021.
  28. "Hausgesetz". Fuerstenhaus.li. Sekretariat Seiner Durchlaucht des Fürsten von Liechtenstein. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  29. "Johannes Adam II, Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein, * 1945 - Geneall.net". www.geneall.net.
  30. Parliamentary question, page=903.
  31. "Uni Innsbruck ehrt verdiente Persönlichkeiten". www.uibk.ac.at.
  32. "Principele Suveran de Liechtenstein, omagiat la Cluj - Familia Regală a României / Royal Family of Romania". www.romaniaregala.ro.
  33. "The Emblems". The Princely House of Liechtenstein. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
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