German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives a statement to comment on a planned gas levy, on August 18, 2022 at the Chancellery in Berlin. Germany will temporarily lower taxes on natural gas to ease the pressures on people struggling with soaring energy costs fueled by the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Scholz said. Photo: AFP

 Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss is one of the last descendents of a dynasty that once ruled over swathes of eastern Germany. He is suspected of hoping to become the country's new leader in a violent coup to overthrow the democratic order.

The 71-year-old was one of 25 members and supporters of a far-right group planning the alleged putsch who were arrested early on Wednesday in nationwide raids, according to the authorities.

The real estate developer has for years publicly advocated the theory life was better worldwide under monarchy.

He stems from House of Reuss, which for centuries ruled over parts of present-day Thueringen state until Germany's 1918 revolution that led to the establishment of the Weimar Republic.

He said in a 2019 speech at the World Web Forum, which describes itself as bringing together those with progressive minds in order to empower positive radical change, that in the principality of Reuss people led "happy lives" because the tax rate was just 10 percent, and the structures were "straightforward and transparent."

Heinrich was arrested at his house in Frankfurt, led out by balaclava-clad policemen in handcuffs, sporting mustard-colored corduroy trousers and a tartan-patterned jacket, with long grey hair.

Police also searched his hunting lodge in Thueringen where he was suspected of stockpiling weapons, according to the Ostthueringer newspaper.

The federal prosecutors' office declined to comment on the report, saying only there had been a raid in that area.

Reuters