Beatrix von Storch

Family background

She was born Beatrix Amelie Ehrengard Eilika, Duchess of Oldenburg, and by tradition holds the style of "Her Highness." She is the elder daughter of Huno, Duke of Oldenburg, and Felicitas-Anita, Countess Schwerin von Krosigk. Her father is a younger son of Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg (1897–1970), erstwhile head of the former ruling family of Oldenburg. She belongs to the same family as the royal houses of Denmark and Norway, the deposed royal house of Greece, and Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms. Her immediate family is itself a branch of the Danish line of the family; she is a male-line descendant of King Frederick I of Denmark and Norway, while her more recent male-line ancestors ruled the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp and the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. She is also a descendant of King Frederick William III of Prussia, Emperor Paul I of Russia and Empress Catherine the Great.

Her mother is a daughter of Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, who served as finance minister under Adolf Hitler and was the last chief of government (as Leading Minister) of the Third Reich.

Her cousin Eilika Herzogin von Oldenburg is married to Georg von Habsburg.

Education and early career

Storch was a banker before she studied law in Heidelberg and Lausanne. She worked as a lawyer in Berlin when she began her political career.

Political career

Since 2014, Beatrix von Storch has been a Member of European Parliament representing the far-right Alternative for Germany party. Initially a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, she left the group in April 2016, forestalling her imminent expulsion, and immediately joined the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group.

Legal battle with the Berliner Schaubühne

In November 2015, a leading Berlin theatre, the Schaubühne, was brought into legal conflict with Beatrix von Storch over a piece, Falk Richter's FEAR, that parodied AfD leaders as zombies and mass murderers. Beatrix von Storch is depicted facing retribution for her grandfather's role as a minister in Hitler's government. AfD Spokesperson, Christian Lüth, responded by interrupting a performance and filming it. Beatrix von Storch, and Conservative spokesperson Hedwig von Beverfoerde, then requested and obtained a preliminary injunction against the theatre, prohibiting it from using images of them in the production. They charged that the images' use violated their human dignity protected under the Constitution. On 15 December 2015, the court ruled against the complainants in favour of the theatre's freedom of expression and lifted the injunctions against using the images. The judges commented that 'any audience member can recognize that this is just a play'.

Remarks about the use of deadly force against refugees

In late February 2016, Storch was "pied" by members of the German left-wing group Peng Collective at a party meeting in Kassel. The activists, dressed as clowns, protested against her controversial remarks when she had asserted that German border control personnel had the right to shoot at incoming illegal immigrants. A YouTube video of the pieing gained wide attention in social media.

Personal life

In 2010 she married the business man Sven von Storch (born 1970).

Ancestry

Storch is the daughter of Duke Huno of Oldenburg, by his marriage to Felicitas-Anita Gräfin von Schwerin-Krosigk. As well as her mostly German descent, she also has some distant Scottish blood. The ducal family of Oldenburg is a cadet branch of the royal family of Holstein-Gottorp, different branches of which have held the crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and the Russian Empire.

On her father's side, Storch is a great-grandniece of Queen Emma of the Netherlands. She is descended in three lines from the House of Hanover and is thus in the extended line of succession to the British throne. Her maternal great-great-grandmother Lisette von Krosigk, a daughter of the German-Scottish Ludwig von Westphalen, was a sister-in-law of Karl Marx.