Princess Caroline of Monaco to testify at husband’s trial in Germany

Princess Caroline to testify at husband’s trial

HILDESHEIM, Germany — Princess Caroline of Monaco was to testify Wednesday at the trial of her husband Prince Ernst August of Hannover, who is charged with assaulting a hotel owner in Kenya.

The 55-year-old Ernst August — a distant relative of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II — is being retried after being convicted in 2004 of causing serious bodily harm and fined €445,000 ($633,500).

Though he does not deny the assault, in the retrial Ernst August is seeking to have the charge and sentence reduced.

Caroline, 52, testified behind closed doors on her husband’s behalf in a 2008 hearing that led to the retrial. She was scheduled initially to testify in November but canceled at the last minute, citing security concerns.

She agreed to Wednesday’s appearance after the court guaranteed that media and others would be kept at least 3 yards (meters) away from her.

In the first trial, the court ruled that Ernst August repeatedly hit Josef Brunlehner, owner of a hotel on Lamu Island, with a metal object in January 2000 after becoming irritated at the noise from a disco.

Ernst August claimed that he only slapped Brunlehner.

Kenyan authorities did not arrest Ernst August after the incident, but it was pursued in Germany where the law allows prosecutors to charge citizens who commit crimes abroad.

The incident was not the first time Ernst August had a brush with the law.

Among other things, he was fined for attacking a German photographer in 1999 and had his driver’s license suspended for a month in 2003 for speeding on a French highway.

In 2000, Ernst August caused an uproar after photos showed him urinating outside the Turkish pavilion at the World’s Fair in Hannover.