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30 September 2005
HANOVER, GERMANY – The family of troubled Prince Ernst August of Hanover may face illegal gun possession charges after police discovered that 37 items in the family collection of muskets, pistols and rifles were still in working order.
Prosecutor Thomas Klinge said Friday police scientists were still checking the weapons, which are listed in an online Sotheby’s catalogue for an 11-day antique auction starting next week at the prince’s fairytale Marienburg castle south of Hanover in Germany.
Public viewing of 20,000 items including cannons and suits of armour being sold off by the Royal House of Hanover began Friday.
The vendors are two sons of Prince Ernst August, who is married to Princess Caroline of Monaco and who was given a suspended jail sentence by a German court last year for assault. He is descended from the Hanoverian kings of Britain.
The prosecutor said it was illegal to own unregistered guns, even antique ones. Police seized the weapons Tuesday and were investigating who owned them, whether they were covered by any permit and whether they were dangerous.
DPA
Subject: German news