As Germany marks the 300th anniversary this week of the
coronation of Prussia's first king, today's head of the Hohenzollern dynasty has
said he is ready to assume the throne again. But if that fails, the man who
would be king said he might try to get a job in computers.
When outlining his vision of the throne, Georg Friedrich, Prince
of Prussia, apparently did not have in mind the autocratic rule his ancestors
had when forging Prussia and later a united Germany into a major and
often-feared European power. "My family could undertake a representative
role by setting an example," the 24-year-old great-great-grandson of the
last German Emperor said in an interview with Reuters.
As head of the dynasty, Georg Friedrich is a claimant to the
throne that Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918 after leading Germany to defeat
in World War One. His flight from Berlin to Holland ushered in the Weimar
Republic, which later succumbed to Hitler.
Georg Friedrich said he hoped to emulate not those iron-fisted,
militaristic forefathers, but rather today's European monarchs working within a
parliamentary democracy. "I totally identify with the democracy in
Germany," he said.
Most of the family fortune vaporized in World War II, and
representing the Hohenzollerns is not a full time job for the prince. After
studies in Scotland, military service and apprenticeship in Ecuador, Georg
Friedrich is still looking for a profession. "At the moment," he said,
"I would like to get into the information technology sector."
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