Prince Alois: Profile and information about the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein
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Prince Alois, actually Alois Philipp Maria, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein, Count von Rietberg (*1968)
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Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein and Prince Alois von und zu Liechtenstein
Characteristics
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first name
Alois Philipp Maria -
Surname
Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein, Count von Rietberg -
title
(SD) Hereditary Prince Alois von und zu Liechtenstein. -
born
June 11, 1968, Zurich/Switzerland
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Star sign
Twins
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Years
54 -
partner
Princess Sophie (born Sophie Duchess in Bavaria) (married since 1993)
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friendlier
Prince Joseph Wenzel (*1995)
Princess Marie Caroline (*1996)
Prince George (*1999)
Prince Nicholas (*2000)
Not everyone knows that
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Prince Alois bears his first name in memory of his great-grandfather, Prince Alois.
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Liechtenstein may be a dwarf state, but its ruling family is very large and widespread. Prince Hans Adam and Princess Marie have four children: Alois is the eldest, his younger siblings are Prince Maximilian, Prince Constantin and Princess Tatjana. The royal couple has over 15 grandchildren!
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Prince Alois’ wife Princess Sophie comes from the Wittelsbach family and was born a duchess in Bavaria. Her father Max is a great-grandson of the last Bavarian king, Ludwig III. There is also a Scottish-English king from the House of Stuart in the pedigree. Should the Stuarts come to the throne again, the Wittelsbachs, and above all Sophie’s father, would be at the top of the line of succession. However, the probability tends towards zero.
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The formally correct form of address for Hereditary Prince Alois is “Your Highness”. However, he told the Swiss “Aargauzeitung”: “I attended elementary school and high school here and was on first name terms with my schoolmates. That is still the case today.” On the street he is sometimes addressed in this way and in this way. Grandfather and father were often simply dubbed “Hoi Fürst” by people. Because: “In Liechtenstein there is a first-name culture, the prince and hereditary prince are not left out.”
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Prince Alois is one of the royal Sandhurst graduates, just like Princes Harry and William, King Abdullah of Jordan, Luxembourg’s Grand Dukes Jean and Henri, Prince Pavlos of Greece or the Sultan of Brunei.
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After completing his Sandhurst training, Prince Alois served for a time in the Coldstream Guards regiment, one of Queen Elizabeth II’s life regiments.
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Prince Hans-Adam, Prince Alois’ father, is considered the richest monarch in Europe. The family, headed by the prince and his son, has its own bank (LGT Group) and manages a sizeable portfolio of real estate, agricultural and art businesses. A winery and estates in Austria are privately owned.
According to estimates, the wealth of the princely clan in 2017 is already more than four billion euros. Ascending trend.
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The family of Hereditary Prince Alois resides at Vaduz Castle, which is perched on a rock throne above the principality’s capital of the same name. Unlike many royal residences, it is never open to the public. The only exception is the annual national holiday, when the gates open to all citizens of the country. On this occasion, the bad in the crowd is a tradition for the members of the princely family present, even if they otherwise carefully avoid the public.
Biography of Prince Alois
The Liechtenstein Princely House is an economic and financial company headed by Hereditary Prince Alois. His role is not limited to representation and ceremonial duties. In contrast to his royal counterparts, for example in England or Denmark, the eldest son of Prince Hans-Adam is clear more actively involved in the politics of the country.
He’s been doing it since 2004 executive representative of his father with all sovereign rights. The special feature of the small principality is that the old prince will hand over the official business to his successor during his lifetime and as planned. Hans Adam II. did not abdicate, he brought the hereditary prince to power by princely decree and formally remained head of state. It’s that easy in Liechtenstein. And that’s how Hans-Adam had come to power young.
Educated to be a successor
Today’s principality manager, Alois, was born in Zurich in 1968, the eldest son of Prince Hans-Adam and Princess Marie. He spent his youth in the princely castle of Vaduz and – like every other citizen of the country – went to elementary school. While his classmates studied after high school or did an apprenticeship, Alois followed a classic path for royals: he went to the Sandhurst Military Academy and served in an English regiment for a few months.
He completed the second part of his training, studying law, at the University of Salzburg. Because the Princely House is also a company, the prospective head of state worked for three years at an auditing company in London, formerly Alois returned home in 1996, where he took over parts of the Princely business.
Discreet family life: a wife, four children
Discretion is not the only trump card in the Liechtenstein banking business. The royal family acts in a similar way. Although it is considered to be close to the people, it shields private life as well as bank secrets. Notebooks rarely make their way outside and when they do, they are well dosed.
Hereditary Prince Alois married Sophie Duchess in Bavaria in 1993, whom he is said to have met through mutual friends about seven years earlier. More laptops to romance never leaked out. The situation is different at the couple’s wedding: Before saying yes, there was a celebration in the bride’s Bavarian homeland, at Nymphenburg Palace. To the Wedding ceremony in the St. Florin Cathedral in Vaduz Around 500 guests from the royal and princely families who were present and related were invited.
The couple first lived in London, where their first child together, Prince Joseph Wenzel, was born. Born in 1995, he will one day succeed his father and grandfather and, as far as is known, will slowly be introduced to these tasks. He has been considered one of the most eligible royal bachelors in Europe since he burst onto the radar of royal fans. Whether he is really still a bachelor is just as little known as other notebooks about him and his three siblings Marie Caroline, Georg and Nikolaus. Outside of their home country, the four are virtually unknown. And there is intention behind it. The best known is that Marie Caroline works as a fashion designer and Georg in business. They then simply use Liechtenstein as their surname.
Alois and Sophie occasionally reveal a few notebooks from their private lives in interviews. The hereditary princess told the magazine “oho” that her everyday family life hardly differed from those of others. “Our children basically grow up the same as all other children in Liechtenstein also. They go to school, they can invite their friends to the castle and visit them at home.” There there is no special status.
Everyday life of a hereditary prince in management
As manager of the multi-billion dollar family business and deputy head of state in personal union, the father of four has a busy schedule. As he told the Swiss “Handelzeitung”, he spends his working day in the office making phone calls, corresponding, emails, meeting politicians and representatives of the parties or the government. Then there are trips.
“The small size of the country allows it to have an open house.” Individual citizens can contact him with their concerns, which they – Prince Alois said in another interview – even do on the ski slopes. This is another special feature in the 40,000-inhabitant dwarf state: Where else could you imagine being on first-name terms with your sovereign and addressing him in your free time?