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28-686: Hans-Adam II (Johannes Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marco d'Aviano Pius; born 14 February 1945) is the Prince of Liechtenstein . He is the son of Prince Franz Joseph II and his wife, Countess Georgina von Wilczek . He also bears the titles Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf , and Count of Rietberg . Under his reign, a 2003 constitutional referendum expanded the powers of the Prince of Liechtenstein. In 2004, Hans-Adam transferred day-to-day governmental duties to his eldest son Hereditary Prince Alois as regent , like his father had granted him in 1984 to prepare him for

56-539: A Sourcebook, on Self-Determination and Self-Administration , which was edited by Wolfgang F. Danspeckgruber and Arthur Watts ( ISBN   1-55587-786-9 , 1997), and in the Encyclopedia Princetoniensis . In an interview with Radio Liechtenstein in February 2021, Prince Hans-Adam II expressed his support for same-sex marriage but said he opposed allowing same-sex couples to adopt. The official title of

84-582: A hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of Liechtenstein . The current monarch is Prince Hans-Adam II . The House of Liechtenstein , after which the sovereign principality was named in 1719, hails from Liechtenstein Castle in Lower Austria , which the family possessed from the middle of the twelfth century to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. It is the only remaining European monarchy that practises strict agnatic primogeniture . Through

112-427: A July 2012 referendum , the people of Liechtenstein overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to curtail the political power of the princely family. A few days before the vote, Hereditary Prince Alois announced he would veto any relaxing of the ban on abortion , also up for referendum. 76 per cent of those voting in the first referendum supported Alois' power to veto the outcome of future referendums. Legislators, who serve on

140-411: A part-time basis, rose in the hereditary prince's defence on 23 May, voting 18 to 7 against the citizens' initiative. Before his accession to the throne, he transformed LGT Bank which is wholly owned by his family, from a small local bank into an internationally operating financial group. As of 2003 he had a family fortune of US$ 7.6 billion and a personal fortune of about US$ 4 billion, making him one of

168-600: A piece of ground that is 12 by 13 metres (39 by 43 feet) in area. At the ground floor, the tower walls have a thickness of up to 4 metres (13 feet). The original entrance lay at the courtyard side at a height of 11 metres (36 feet). The chapel of St. Anna was presumably built in the Middle Ages as well. The main altar is late-gothic. In the Swabian War of 1499, the castle was burned by the Swiss Confederacy . The western side

196-460: A small set of tasks and abilities, writing that people "have to free the state from all the unnecessary tasks and burdens with which it has been loaded during the last hundred years, which have distracted it from its two main tasks: maintenance of the rule of law and foreign policy". Hans-Adam is a friend of the German anarcho-capitalist economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe . Hans-Adam wrote to the foreword to

224-665: The Council of Europe branded the event as a retrograde move. A proposal to revoke the prince's new veto powers was rejected by 76% of voters in a 2012 referendum . On 15 August 2004 Prince Hans-Adam II formally delegated most of his sovereign authority ( regency ) to his son and heir-apparent, the Hereditary Prince Alois , as a way of transitioning to a new generation. Formally, Hans-Adam remains head of state . The prince receives an untaxed salary of 250,000 Swiss francs (234,000 euros or 252,000 US dollars ). Succession to

252-720: The Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Liechtensteins in Vaduz. He is also a former member of the Viennese Scout Group " Wien 16-Schotten ". He is a member of the World Scout Foundation . His younger son Prince Constantin died on 5 December 2023 at the age of 51. Hans-Adam has written the political treatise The State in the Third Millennium ( ISBN   9783905881042 ), which was published in late 2009. In it, he argues for

280-871: The Schottengymnasium in Vienna . In 1960, he transferred to the Lyceum Alpinium Zuoz in Switzerland , earning a Swiss Matura and a German Abitur in 1965. He then worked as a bank trainee in London before enrolling at the University of St. Gallen to study business administration , graduating with a licentiate in 1969. He is fluent in English and French in addition to his native German . In 1984, Prince Franz Joseph II, while legally remaining head of state and retaining

308-853: The Liechtenstein family, although noble , did not qualify for a seat in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire . By purchase in 1699 and 1712 from the counts of Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems of, respectively, the small lordship of Schellenberg and the county of Vaduz , the Liechtensteins acquired immediate lands within the Holy Roman Empire which made them eligible for elevation to the Imperial Diet. Thereby, on 23 January 1719, Emperor Charles VI decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were henceforth united and raised to

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336-472: The Liechtensteiner throne follows agnatic primogeniture , as laid down by the house law since 1606. According to their house law, the monarch bears the titles: Vaduz Castle The former owners, who were presumably also the builders, were the counts of Werdenberg-Sargans . The bergfried (the keep , built in the 12th century) and parts of the eastern side are the oldest. The tower stands on

364-526: The age of 81. The Prince is an honorary member of K.D.St.V. Nordgau Prag Stuttgart, a Catholic students' fraternity that is a member of the Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities . The Prince donated $ 12 million in 2000 to found the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) at Princeton University 's Princeton School of Public and International Affairs . In his childhood he joined

392-464: The calling of referendums . The 2003 referendum was a proposal put forth by Prince Hans-Adam II to revise parts of the Constitution , on the one hand expanding the monarch's power with the authority to veto legislation, while on the other hand securing for the citizenry the option to abolish the monarchy by vote at any time without being subject to princely veto. The right of the parishes that make up

420-567: The centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia , Lower Austria , Silesia , and Styria , though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Without any territory held immediately from the Imperial crown ,

448-409: The continued importance of the nation-state as a political actor. He makes the case for democracy as the best form of government, which he sees China and Russia as in transition towards, although the path will be difficult for these nations. He also declared his role in a princely family as something that has legitimacy only from the assent of the people. He stated that government should be limited to

476-415: The country if the referendum did not result in his favour. On 15 August 2004, Hans-Adam formally handed the power of making day-to-day governmental decisions to his eldest son Hereditary Prince Alois as regent , as a way of beginning a dynastic transition to a new generation. Legally, Hans-Adam remains the head of state . Hans-Adam's father Franz Joseph II had similarly done so on 26 August 1984. In

504-537: The family's castles, cultural assets, collections and museums and last but not least, the costs of the princely court including even some salaries for princes who are ambassadors abroad, which are not a burden on the taxpayer. His successful entrepreneurship allowed him to buy back parts of the family art collection which his father had to sell after World War II due to lack of money after his vast land holdings in Czechoslovakia had been expropriated (measuring 7.5 times

532-420: The imperial capital of Vienna or on their larger estates elsewhere, not taking up permanent residence in their principality for more than 300 years, moving into their Alpine realm only in 1938, after dissolution of both the Holy Roman Empire and Austria-Hungary . The prince of Liechtenstein has broad powers, which include the appointment of judges, the dismissal of ministers or government, veto power , and

560-495: The monarch is "Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf , Count of Rietberg , Sovereign of the House of Liechtenstein" ( German : Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein, Herzog von Troppau und Jägerndorf, Graf zu Rietberg, Regierer des Hauses von und zu Liechtenstein ). Prince of Liechtenstein The monarchy of Liechtenstein is the constitutional form of government by which

588-737: The most important being the American company RiceTec . He also inherited an extensive art collection, much of which is displayed for the public at the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna. As of July 2022, his net worth was estimated by Bloomberg Billionaires Index around US$ 6.20 billion, making him the 380th richest person on earth. However, he placed these assets in a family foundation, the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation , from which each family member receives an equal annual allowance and which maintains

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616-418: The principality to secede was simultaneously recognised. Prince Hans-Adam II had warned that he and his family would move to Austria if the referendum were rejected. Despite opposition from Mario Frick , a former Liechtenstein prime minister, the referendum was approved by the electorate in 2003. Opponents accused Hans-Adam of engaging in emotional blackmail to achieve his goal and constitutional experts from

644-449: The role. He was born on 14 February 1945 in Zürich , Switzerland , as the eldest son of Prince Franz Joseph II and Princess Gina of Liechtenstein , with his godfather being Pope Pius XII . His father had succeeded as Prince of Liechtenstein in 1938 upon the death of his childless grand-uncle, Prince Franz I , and Hans-Adam was thus hereditary prince from birth. In 1956, he entered

672-423: The status of a Fürstentum (principality) under the name "Liechtenstein" for "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein ". Although the family continued to own larger territories in various parts of central and eastern Europe, it was in right of Liechtenstein's status as an Imperial Estate that the family of wealthy noble Austrian courtiers became a dynasty of imperial princes , continuing to dwell in

700-462: The title of sovereign prince, formally handed the power of making day-to-day governmental decisions to his eldest son as a way of beginning a dynastic transition to a new generation. Hans-Adam formally succeeded as Prince of Liechtenstein upon the death of his father on 13 November 1989. A referendum to adopt Hans-Adam's revision of the Constitution of Liechtenstein to expand his powers passed in 2003. The prince had threatened to abdicate and leave

728-742: The total area of the Principality itself) and after his Austrian properties had become inaccessible until the end of the Soviet occupation in 1955. In addition, he continues to expand the collection of classical paintings and applied arts to this day. The Prince Princess Marie Christine Princess Amalie Princess Josephine On 30 July 1967, at St. Florin's in Vaduz , he married his second cousin once-removed Countess Marie Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau . They have four children and fifteen grandchildren: They remained married until her death on 21 August 2021, at

756-618: The world's richest heads of state, and Europe's wealthiest monarch. He inherited his main residence, Vaduz Castle in Liechtenstein, furthermore in Austria Liechtenstein Castle , Wilfersdorf Castle (with a wine farm), the Liechtenstein Garden Palace and the Liechtenstein City Palace in Vienna. In addition to real estate, viticulture, agriculture and forestry, the prince owns a number of companies,

784-504: Was expanded by Count Kaspar von Hohenems (1613–1640). The princely family of Liechtenstein acquired Vaduz Castle in 1712, when it purchased the countship of Vaduz. At this time, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor , combined the countship with the Lordship of Schellenberg , purchased by the Liechtensteins in 1699, to form the present Principality of Liechtenstein. The castle underwent a major restoration between 1904 and 1920, then again in

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