The Kaiser’s family accepts it will not get all its stuff back

It seemed odd for Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia to stage an event at a press centre used by the government, since Prussia has no government: indeed, it has not existed since 1947. The event on March 9th was billed as a presentation of historical research on the Hohenzollerns, the family that ruled the kingdom and later all of Germany. Improbably, it made headlines. The prince, a great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, announced he was dropping two claims for restitution of property seized by the Soviets after the second world war.Georg Friedrich clearly hoped to rehabilitate the House of Prussia’s image after years of negative press. But even conservative-leaning publications failed to applaud him. The called it “a [public-relations] debacle—and what else is monarchy other than public relations?” The 46-year-old prince had launched the claims in 2014, citing a law that entitles descendants of victims of Soviet expropriation to get back mobile property (furniture, paintings and so forth) as well as compensation—unless their ancestors actively supported the Nazi regime.