The Hannover Brothers

Prince Ernst August Junior, as he is being called these days in the German press, is the heir apparent and eldest son of Prince Ernst August V, The Prince of Hannover. In his 27 years, the junior Ernst has cleverly managed to stay under the radar, despite his father’s high-profile marriage to Princess Caroline of Monaco, a marriage that had the added allure of juicy gossip about infidelities and public indecency.

As a student at England’s Malvern College, Ernst August Junior didn’t attract any attention except for one little incident, about 2001, when he was discovered hanging out with a crowd of cannabis users. His father pulled him out of the school, away from the bad influences, and he thus finished high school in Germany. For some reason, his younger brother, Christian, was left to fend for himself among the rascals at Malvern College, and indeed Christian has done very well keeping himself out of scandal! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their father, but that is another story…

Both boys ended up at New York University. Junior had a serious relationship with Francesca Versace before he was tempted away by her fashion-family rival, Margherita Maccapani Missoni. Otherwise, his private life was kept out of the gossip pages and he left NYU to work as an investment banker. He has been working for the First Energy Bank, dividing time between Bahrain and London.

The senior Ernst passed the responsibility of Marienburg Castle in Pattensen, Germany over to Junior and Christian in 2005. A new trust company, named EAC GmbH, for the boys’ combined initials, was set up for the property. The first order of business for EAC had been to clean out the attics with a historian’s dream come to true of an auction! The boys made 41,328,262 euros, minus Sotheby’s fees, to cover expenses for the maintenance of the castle. But the latest news about these brothers relates to two other of the family’s ancestral properties.

Early this year, Junior put up for sale the castle in Calenberg, Germany. And by July this year, he will make a home for himself at Herrenhausen Palace. Like Marienburg, Herrenhausen has been open to the public (another way to pay for expenses) and available for events, such as weddings, for those who can pay for it! However, as of July this year, it will be for Prince Ernst Junior’s personal use when he can or needs to get away from London.

In short, Ernst Junior and Christian are so far doing good credit to the House of Hannover. Their father has been making mostly embarrassing news headlines for the past ten years. After the senior Ernst woke up from a post-surgery coma in 2005, his behavior seemed to go from bad to worse, and his sons have seemingly been trying to run the ship.

Prince Christian graduated from NYU in 2006. He is an administrator of Julio Santo Domingo’s Sheik n’ Beik entertainment company. He works a little bit with Alexander Dellal’s art gallery in London (20 Hoxton Square) but spends a lot of time variously in Monaco and the United Arab Emirates. He makes a home in Dubai and he helped promote the new Stars n’ Bars franchise in Abu Dhabi. Finally, he has been a Sodi W Series karting racer since last year; he registered as an SWS driver at the Dubai Autodrome and is part of the Stars n’ Bars Monte-Carlo team. But probably, Christian’s most important job will be to support and counsel his brother, who after all, has the weight of the Hannoverian royal house on his shoulders!

Filed under Germany
Tagged Auction, Biography, Hereditary Prince Ernst August of Hanover, House of Hanover, Marienburg Castle, Palaces, Prince Christian of Hanover.

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