Prince Eduard, Prince of Anhalt

Eduard Julius Ernst August Erdmann Prinz von Anhalt (; born 3 December 1941), also referred to by the courtesy title Prince Eduard, is the head of the House of Ascania, the family which ruled the Duchy of Anhalt until 1918.

Life and family Eduard was born at Schloss Ballenstedt in Ballenstedt, in what is now the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the youngest of the five children of the last reigning duke of Anhalt, Joachim Ernst, and of his second wife, Editha "Edda" Charlotte Wilhelmine Marwitz, who allegedly paid 10,000 marks to Bertha von Stephani to improve her social standing by adult adoption.

On 9 October 1963, Eduard's older brother, Friedrich, died childless in a car crash. Eduard uses the title prince of Anhalt, but is referred to by others as duke of Anhalt. The succession of Eduard and his brother was disputed by their uncle, prince Eugen, who also claimed the headship of house, after the death of duke Joachim Ernst. The death without male issue in 1980 of prince Eugen left prince Eduard as the sole claimant to the headship of the house.

Eduard lived in the United States for several years, working in a number of retail sales positions, before returning to West Germany in 1967. He has been a journalist and columnist for numerous West German magazines. He has also hosted a television programme Adel verpflichet ("Noblesse oblige") for RTL Television. Subsequently, Anhalt became a frequent West German television commentator for royal events.

In 1978, Eduard wrote a book about his family's traditions, Askanische Sagen Über die Entstehung der Deutschen (English: Ascanian legends about the origins of the Germans). A revised and expanded edition of the book with the title Sagenhaftes Askanien: Geschichten und Legenden (English: Incredible Ascania, stories and legends) was published in 2004.

Eduard has served as deputy chairman of the "Société des Amis" of the Almanach de Gotha reboot.

After a further long legal fight with the town administration, which had insisted on first right of refusal, in May 2000 Eduard managed to purchase, for 400,000 D-Marks, another property of the family which had been requisitioned. This was the small, but historic domed neoclassical hunting lodge, Röhrkopf, built in 1770, which lies within the former park of Schloss Ballenstedt. It has now become the family seat and three holiday-apartments for general rental have been constructed within its garden. Fear of lingering animosity towards the family, including over issues of restitution, inhibited his children from resettling in Anhalt, although after her divorce, his wife bought a home in Dessau and worked to promote the region.

Eduard gained international attention in August 2010, when he claimed to have advanced knowledge of the engagement of his distant cousin Prince William of Wales to Catherine Middleton. Although a spokesperson for the British royal family denied Eduard's claim, the engagement was indeed announced a few months later.

Marriage and children On 21 July 1980, in Munich, Eduard married Corinne Gisa Elisabeth Krönlein (born 19 August 1961, Würzburg), daughter of Günther Krönlein (a relative of Rhenish missionary Johann Georg Krönlein) and wife Anneliese Benz, in a civil ceremony. The couple renewed their vows in a religious ceremony on 7 June 1986 in S-charl, near Scuol, Switzerland, but later divorced in 2014. Eduard and Corinne have three daughters. Two Sicilian royal family: Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Justice and Honour with Collar of the Two Sicilian Royal Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George

Ancestry