18 April 2005

HANOVER - Two stepsons of Monaco's Princess Caroline are selling EUR 12 million worth of Royal House of Hanover heirlooms, the German branch of Sotheby's announced on Monday.

The art auctioneers quoted Prince Ernst August, 21, and Prince Christian, 19, as saying they would use the proceeds to maintain two stately homes that are both open to the public.

Their father, Prince Ernst August, 51, was recently admitted to a Monaco hospital with pancreatitis.

The elder Ernst August, who divorced the mother of the two young princes and later married the glamorous Princess Caroline, transferred some of his property to Ernst August junior last year.

The 29 September to 8 October sales at Marienburg Palace near Hildesheim in Germany will clear attics and basements of some 5,000 unused items of furniture, glassware, silver, china and paintings from the Royal House of Hanover collections.

Sotheby's said none of the items, gathered in from German and Austrian homes, was subject to export restrictions. The princes would devote some of the proceeds to creating a family trust to maintain Marienburg and the Herrenhausen royal palace and museum in Hanover.

Previous owners include a wide range of the princes' ancestors, including kings of England and dukes of Cumberland. Germany abolished its aristocracy after World War One, but the nobles' landed estates have been protected by special legal treatment.

DPA

Subject: German news