Royal Dies ‘Unexpectedly’: Prince Constantin Was 51

Prince Constantin, the youngest son of Lichtenstein’s royal family, has died at 51. According to E! News, the prince died “unexpectedly” earlier in the week, with the Princely House of Liechtenstein confirming the sad news in a statement.

“The Princely House regrets to announce that S.D. Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein died unexpectedly on December 5, 2023. Prince Constantin was the youngest son of Prince Hans-Adam II,” the statement reads. “He leaves behind his wife, Princess Marie of Liechtenstein, née Countess Kálnoky of Kőröspatak, and his children Prince Moritz, Princess Georgina and Prince Benedikt.”

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Constantin has been the general director and chairman of the board of the Prince Liechtenstein Foundation for over a decade, with the group holding “almost all of the royal family’s assets, such as one of the largest private art collections in the world, the LGT Group, a museum, the Vaduz Hofkellerei [one of the royal family’s wine cellars] and various properties.”

The organization also released a statement on the passing. “His death comes as a terrible shock to all those who knew him, and the Liechtenstein Group is in deep mourning,” they wrote. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his widow Princess Marie von und zu Liechtenstein, and their children Moritz, Georgina, and Benedikt.”

Liechtenstein is the German-speaking nation that sits between Austria and Switzerland, with PEOPLE noting it is roughly the size of Washington, D.C., and has a population of around 40,000. The monarchy still wields power alongside the “democratically elected parliament” and stands as a constitutional hereditary monarchy.

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The current ruler is Prince Hans-Adam II, while Constantin’s older brother Prince Alois is the next in line for the throne. The House of Liechtenstein has origins in the early 1600s and they share plenty of connections to the more well-known British Royal Family. Prince Alois and Princess Sophie both attended King Charles’ coronation, while Prince Hans-Adam II is a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

“Hereditary Prince Alois … therefore is the ninth nephew of HM Queen Elizabeth II,” the royal family confirmed. Princess Sophie has her own connections to the U.K. due to her origins with Bavarian royalty that can be traced back to Scotland’s Bonnie Prince Chares. Her uncle is the first in line for the Jacobite throne of England and Scotland, leaving her hypothetically in the running.