ROYAL LAW SUIT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 672, 26 October 1933, Page 2

ROYAL LAW SUIT

HABSBURG ARCHDUKE IN SUIT FOR TWELVE MILLION. REIGOVERY OF ESTATES. Archduke Maximilian Habsburg, brother of the late ex-Emperor Karl, has heen In Vienna preparing with a Budapest lawyer ian immense lawsuit ' on hehalf of the Habsburg family for ' th'e recovery of its estates or compen- - sation to the extent of about £12,000,000. This will be one of the biggest lawsuits in history, and the grounds of action are "illegal confisoation." The archdiike repfesents about 50 members of the family who, like him- ' self, have never; reriounced their ' claims and rights. He is in business in Paris, travelling aborit the Continent as ia Lloyd's reinsurance agent, and he lives on ' his earnings remitted from London. The Austrian Government gave him 1 permission to visit Vienna, and he arrived with a French passport issued in the name of Graf M^x voft Wern'berg. In business he is known as 'Dr. "W'ernherg, having taken his de'gree of D.C.L. in Switzerland. He is under a pledge not to take any part in politics in Austria. He would not confirm or deny disclosures which have heen made about 'the forthcoming lawsuit, saying that the statements had not come direct from him.- ' His friends say th'at the Habsburg family's teceipts. from Austria dre nil, because the rent of the o'ne smail estate stjll their property does not suffice to pay the taxes on it. Warth1 olz Castle, Lower Austria, where the ' Archduke Otto (.son of ex-Emperor Karl) was bom, is now a boardinghouse, but the lessee has not paid any rent this year. ' The Habsburg^ and their Budapest lavyyer have not yet decided how th'ey ' shall hegiri their lawsuit when all the material is ready. All members of the family who have married' heneath their ranlc wiil he regarded as havirig forfeited their claims, just as though th'ey had formally renounced them.