Johann II
Prince of Liechtenstein
Johann II (Johann Maria Franz Placidus; 5 October 1840 – 11 February 1929), nicknamed the Good (German: Johann II. der Gute), was Prince of Liechtenstein from 12 November 1858 until his death in 1929. His reign of 70 years and 91 days is the third-longest of any sovereign monarch in European history, after those of Louis XIV and Elizabeth II respectively, and fourth-longest overall for which exact dates are known (after King Louis, Queen Elizabeth, and King Bhumibol Adulyadej respectively). Johann II was the elder son of Aloys II, Prince of Liechtenstein and Countess Franziska Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau. He ascended to the throne shortly after his 18th birthday. Until he was surpassed by Elizabeth II on 9 May 2022, his reign had been the longest precisely documented tenure of any European monarch since antiquity in which a regent (that is, a regent serving in place of an underage sovereign) was never employed. Although his mother acted as his regent from 10 February 1859 to November 1860, she was not the regent for a minor, but was appointed by her son to fulfill his duties because he wished to finish his education before he began his rule. In 1862, Johann II issued Liechtenstein's first constitution. Liechtenstein left the German Confederation in 1866. Not long afterward, the Liechtenstein Army was abolished as it was regarded as an unnecessary expense. Johann II, an outstanding art connoisseur and a generous patron, added much to the Liechtenstein Princely Collections. Although considered a prominent patron of the arts and sciences during
his long reign, Johann II was also considered to be rather unsociable and did not participate in social events. Rarely did he show up in his magnificent Vienna residences, Liechtenstein City Palace and Liechtenstein Garden Palace. He also never assumed any tasks of the Austrian politics or the Austrian military. And he never married or had any children, like several other members of his family.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (Italian: Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; Latin: Supremus Militaris Ordo Hospitalarius Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani Rhodiensis et Melitensis), commonly known as the Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of a military, chivalric, and noble nature. Though it possesses no territory, the order is often considered a sovereign entity of international law. The order claims continuity with the Knights Hospitaller, a chivalric order that was founded about 1099 by the Blessed Gerard in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The order is led by an elected prince and grand master. Its motto is Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum ('Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor'). The order venerates the Virgin Mary as its patroness, under the title of Our Lady of Philermos.
The House of Liechtenstein, from which the principality takes its name, is the family which reigns by hereditary right over the principality of Liechtenstein. Only dynastic members of the family are eligible to inherit the throne. The dynasty's membership, rights and responsibilities are defined by a law of the family, which is enforced by the reigning prince and may be altered by vote among the family's dynasts, but which may not be altered by the Government or Parliament of Liechtenstein. The family originates from Liechtenstein Castle in Lower Austria (near Vienna), which the family possessed from at least 1136 to the 13th century, and from 1807 onwards. The progenitor Hugo von Liechtenstein (d. 1156) built Liechtenstein Castle around 1122-36 on a fief that he received from the Babenberg margraves of Austria. He also received Petronell on the Danube and Rohrau Castle, near the then border with the Kingdom of Hungary, at first as a fief, from 1142 as a free property (allod). Without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial Diet (Reichstag). A seat would add power, and would be afforded by lands which would be
immediate, or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. The head of the family was able to arrange the purchase from the Hohenems family of the minuscule Lordship of Schellenberg in 1699, and the County of Vaduz in 1712. Schellenberg and Vaduz indeed had no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor. On 23 January 1719, after the purchase had been made, Charles VI as Holy Roman Emperor decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg to be united and raised to the dignity of a Principality by the name of "Liechtenstein", in honour of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". On this date, Liechtenstein became a member state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for several decades, a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases. Since the distant little country consisted only of small farming villages, the administration was installed in the nearest town, Feldkirch in Austria, where the prince had an office building built for this purpose. Vaduz Castle, the center of the medieval county of that name, remained unused and was rented out as a restaurant for hikers until the late 19th century. With the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Principality of Liechtenstein became sovereign and was recognized in this status by the Congress of Vienna in 1814/1815. Johann I became the first sovereign ruler. He acquired a number of castles and estates in Austria for his numerous sons, which are still mostly inhabited by their descendants today. The reigning princes continued to live in their magnificent Vienna residences, Liechtenstein City Palace and Liechtenstein Garden Palace, and on their Moravian and Bohemian estates, with Lednice and Valtice (German names: Eisgrub and Feldsberg) as their main residence. The border between Austria and Bohemia-Moravia, both member states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the Habsburg rule, ran through the park between the two castles. The local administration of the Principality of Liechtenstein was overseen by a governor, and the government office was located at the prince's seat.
Awards: Insignia, star and sash of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Collar of the Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece, Stars of the Royal Guelphic Order, the Royal Order of Saint Hubert and the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary.
