Raid against Reich citizens: Who is Heinrich XIII. Prince Reuss? – Region & Country

Bad Lobenstein – Heinrich XIII. Prince Reuss, born in Büdingen near Frankfurt, where his family fled after 1945, is no stranger to the “Reichsbürger” scene. That became clear at the beginning of 2019 at the largest IT event in Switzerland, the “Worldwebforum” in Zurich: In a lecture peppered with crude theses, the prince explained there that he did not see himself as part of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Market Festival escalated by attack

The most recent incident was an official invitation for Henry XIII. Prince Reuss in August 2022 at the market festival in Bad Lobenstein (Saale-Orla district), as a result of which the then mayor Thomas Weigelt (independent) was suspended. He had attacked a journalist who wanted to photograph him and the prince together.

After this incident, the spokesman and head of the noble house of Reuss, Heinrich XIV Prince Reuss, officially announced that the House of Reuss distanced itself “very clearly” from the political statements of Heinrich XIII. Prince Reuss, who incidentally left the family 14 years ago at his own request. There has also been no personal contact for a long time. The spokesman also described his – quote – “distant” relative as a “partially confused” old man who was caught up in “conspiracy theory misconceptions”.

Dubious meetings

Henry XIII did this. Prince Reuss obviously went further: in his Waidmannsheil hunting lodge in Saaldorf near Bad Lobenstein, which he bought back after reunification, he is said to have met regularly with conspirators from the “Reich Citizens” scene to prepare for the now thwarted coup. Henry XIII likes to emphasize his relationship with the Romanov family: his family, the Reussen, archaic for “Russian”, has been so named since the marriage of an early regent to a Russian-Ukrainian prince’s daughter. The prince has a Russian partner, Vitalia B., who was also arrested on Wednesday.