Royal Crisis (Lyngaard)

Prince Hans Erik, subject of the controversy

The Royal Crisis (Nørdspråg: Kongelig Krise) was a major Political Crisis in Lyngaard that lasted from 1961 until 1967. The cuase of the crisis was the revelation of Prince Hans Erik's involvement with the Far-Right Kultur og Tradition group. The group had been implicated in several Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Communist, and Anti-Union attacks since the mid 1940's. The media scrutiny placed on Prince Hans Erik also helped to uncover illegal banking praticies he was involved in as a board member of Kongelig Investeringsbank. This would come to a head when bank official and co-conspirator Rasmus Mortensen was found dead, hung at the Sort Munk Bridge in 1966. Several members of both Kultur og Tradition and the Royal Investment Bank were implicated in the killing. Victories for the Socialist Labor Party of Lyngaard in 1963 and again in 1967 would eventually force Hans Erik to abdicate his claim, making the way for his Cousin King Gustav Fredrik II to be elected king by the Regency Council in 1967.

Background

Monarchy and the Constitution

King Christian Magnus X

Since the End of the Second Lyngaardian Civil War the monarchy had been left as a ceremonial Head of State. While the Republicans were defeated, Republicanism remained a prominent political trend. Culminating in the Grand Compromise that allowed for the passage of the 1890 Lyngaardian Constitution. The Monarchy had transitioned into a symbolic and ostensibly apolitical institution which gave political power to the Lundsthing. The constitution expressly limited the political influence the monarchy would have. The monarchy could no longer endorse candidates, it could no longer vocally endorse or criticize government policy, nore could it talk to politicians without it happening within an open forum.

One thing that the 1890 Constitution formalized was the existence of the Regency Council. Traditionally an ad hoc assembly of the Royal Family, Church Bishops, The Army, and invited guests. The Regency Council would advise the Royal Family on who should succeed the king at the onset of their death. With the 1890 Constitution established the Regency Council as the body who would elect via 2/3rds majority the Monarch after the Death or Abdication of the previous Monarch. a total of 30 seats. 15 seats are appointed by the Monarch, 5 seats are occupied by Bishops of the Church, 3 Seats for the Military, 3 Seats for representatives of the Royal Bank of Lyngaard, and 4 Seats elected by popular vote for life terms.

The constitution also stipulates that the Lundsthing has the power to Veto the Election of a Monarch by the regency Council, however that was considered more a formality, with the Lundsthing never attempting to block a vote from the Regency Council until 1962.

Prince Hans Erik

Prince Hans Erik was the oldest son of King Christian Magnus X and generally seen as his fathers natural successor. Educated at the St. Hilda School in Fyrhøgh he went on to university at Lyndholm where he graduated with degrees in Classical Studies, and Strategic Financial Management. He then went on to work for Voss Bank where he rose quickly in the corporate leadership. He was noted for his reserved and diplomatic personality. Scott F. Albaugh, CFO of Voss Bank, would describe Hans Erik as "Someone who listen to you one on one for hours, and asks deeper questions as you go along. He could also give a poetic speech about anything to a whole conference hall. but he struggled to entertain in groups, he would simply melt into the background."

Hans Erik would be given a position at the newly established Royal Investment Bank of Lyngaard in 1956. Something he personally had advocated for, speaking to the Lundsthing on multiple occasions about the value of such an institution. He would be placed on the board of the Investment Bank and would be tasked with investing a large portion of the Royal Family's assets into various Holding Companies and Assets. Upon the death of his Father in 1961 Hans Erik would become the primary candidate to succeed his father, as per his own wishes at the time of his death on April 3rd 1961.

KIB Investment Fraud and Money Laundering

From june 2nd 1959 until March 8th of 1961 reporters from Providence Times, particularly Mary Ann LaMay, and Robert Irving Rowe would investigate claims brought up by an anonymous source from 1957. These reporters had uncovered that nearly $50 Million in assets belonging to the Lyngaardian Royal Family had been placed in stocks held by Voss Bank via trading between them and the Royal Investment Bank. According to them this effectively prevented any financial oversight of lyngaardian financial assets from being under the authority of Lyngaardian legal authority. Accruing interest and sell offs would be nontaxable or would face very little taxation if wired to a Lyngaardian bank account. Funds would then be transferred from those accounts to various anonymous accounts from within the Voss Bank System. meaning that one could access money through a Voss Bank branch in Lyngaard but not be subject to Lyngaardian finance law because the money and account would all be located within Arcadia. It is assumed that from 1957 up to 1961, the accounts affiliated with the Royal Family Assets had made roughly $43 Million based on interest and trade.

The report published on March 10th 1961 would name several KIB members as involved in the scandal. The team was able to name KIB Head Risk Management Officer Rasmus Mortensen, based on financial trades he made in order to buy a third home in Vangsødrup, which was subject to public release upon request via the Municipal Transparency Act. After his arrest multiple other KIB workers would be arrested by the Royal Constabulary, including CFO Markus Bohr, and Chairmen Augustus Callisen, Thorvald Braae, Frederik Henning, and Bergnart fra Langstenvik. A police Investigation and Reporting from the Providence Times would show that nearly $1 Million made from an account with nearly $5.2 Million in Royal Assets was sent to Ulysse Ngenyo, who was known to be a finance adviser in Vailleux who had close ties to Asemese Military Officer Cléas Twe. From testimonies by Callisen and Henning it was also revealed that nearly $100 Million Dollars (roughly $990,000,000 when adjusted for inflation) was held in Arcadian accounts, mostly tied up with KIB holdings and Royal Family Assets. The money was used to not only enrich members of the KIB Board but also to fund political activities abroad.

Prince Hans Erik would also be implicated as holding and personally handling accounts which would be involved in sending money abroad. He was also accused of personally benefiting from this fraud, with nearly 900,000 (~$8,900,000 adjusted for inflation) being wired from an anonymous Aradian account implicated in the scandal to a Voss Bank account associated with Prince Hans Erik since the same account was used to pay for expenses relating to a youth athletic center Hans Erik had sponsored. However the Royal Constabulary had declined to arrest him, stating the evidence against him was "spotty at best". However after the Death of King Christian Magnus X, the Regency Council would hold its own investigation into the matter. Lord Regent Jens Immanuel Fåborg would halt Council Hearing on 4th, establishing the Council Hearing on the Voss-KIB Scandal on April 6th. The council would subpeona nearly four dozen individuals named in both police and journalistic reports.

Arrest of Rasmus Mortensen and KoT Outtings

Rasmus Mortensen circa 1961

Rasmus Mortensen would be arrested on March 30th, Royal Constables would flank his residence in Fyrhøgh's Palisander Parkere Neighbourhood. In his residence Constables would find nearly 40,000 pages of finance documents related to his work at both TriMark Financial, R.A.B & T Investment Group and the Royal Investment Bank. They would also collect about 10,000 pages of personal paperwork. Constabulary officers would attempt to hold Mortensen in prison, however on the 8th of April a judge granted him house arrest while his investigation was ongoing.

of the 10,000 pages of personal documents, most pertained to personal finances and letters to and from other business partners. During the initial runthrough of the documents, officer Jens Henning would stumble across a list of names, with the title "Active Members of the KoT Oversight Committee". This list included Mortensen himself, Bankers David Amalberti, Knut Salomonsen, Industrialist Markus Ibsen, Businessman Christian Schønberg, and Frans Gehl. the list also named members of the royal family Christoffer, Duke of Bygekyrkje, and Prince Hans Erik.

The list would go unnoticed from April 9th, all the way until September 18th. When the papers were passed off to evidence processing. It was here that Officer Claude Erlang would review the papers. Erlang would recognize the name as shorthand for Kultur og Tradition, a Far-Right, Royalist, Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Femisnist and Anti-Union political organization founded by former Soldier and Constable Wilhelm Luther Stenbrønd in 1947. The group had been known to police, specificially for the Dockman Shootings, Hederækken Attacks, and the murders of William Ulysses Johnson, Jean-René Yeboah, and Afsoon Akbarzadeh. When Erlang presented the document to his commanding officer Sergeant Bengt Tromborg he refused to bring it into evidence. According to Erlang, Tromborg felt that they could not reasonably bring the document into evidence as it did not relate to any financial dealings. Erlang would take the document with him, along with several personal letters from Mortensen to the various people mentioned in the list.

Erlang would use the Constabulary Headquarder's brand new Photocopier to make several dozen copies of all documents. However Erlang, fearing reprisal, would hold onto the documents until January 4th 1962. During that time Erland submitted his resignation from the Constabulary and went on to work for a private security company. Erlang would mail his copies of the letters and the KoT list to every major Newspaper and Television Station in the country. The first paper to report on his evidence was Arbejdsdagligt, the official Newspaper of the Lyngaardian Section of the Workers International League on January 6th. Reporter Søren Bendtner would then be the first to present the revelations to a national television audience on January 8th.

The revelation that the Prince had some connections to a far-right political group was shocking to the normally tame national political scene in the country. Labour Unions would organize strikes and all parts of the Populær Front would organize protests both at the royal palace and at Grønkjærholm Estate where the Regency Council meets. These protests would go on to include Socialist Labour, the only Left-of-Center party not involved in the Populær Front. With Leader Nicolaj Dinesen approving and attending several strikes and protests. Prince Hans Erik would initially not comment on the matter. however on February 17th he would give a statement to the public on the matter. Famously saying "These allegations are based purely in fantasy. There are those who want to relitigate the past, fight battles they've already lost. They do not have the moral standing or the political support to do so, and thus they slander and defame."

Political Fight and Regency

As the case unfolded in the public eye, the Regency Councils Hearing on what was being called the Voss Affair came to an end. The Council on a vote refused to bring into evidence anything pertaining to the Kulture og Tradition findings uncovered as part of the police investigation. The Council would release the Reenberg Report on , authored by Major General Jan Olaf Reenberg who co-chaired the hearings in the council. In the report the Council found several incidents of "Moral Lapse" on the part of Prince Hans Erik. However the report said that it did not find any evidence that Hans Erik acted in a way which would forfeit his right to the monarchy. on February 6th the Regency Council would hold a new hearing, this time a questioning and cross-examination of Prince Hans Erik.

Hans Erik would sit for 10 Hours of Questioning from Members of the Regency Council and Representatives from the Ministry of Justice, Attorneys David Køhlert, and Astrid Reedtz. Hans Erik would answer most of the questions presented to him. However, a question asked by Lord Bishop Dagmar Lundstrøm asked Hans Erik ``Do you hold any accounts with Voss Bank or any other institution. that would put you in a position of privilege as compared to your average countryman; and would said accounts hold assets that belong to the Royal Family and thus be under the jurisdiction of Lyngaardian Monetary Regulators and Overseers?". Hans Erik would decline to answer the question, requesting his right to not speak against himself. This would be televised as well as broadcasted over radio. The moment became known as the Unanswered Truth (Ubesvaret sandhed), Protests would go through the streets chanting "Fortæl os Hvad vi Allerede Ved!" (Tell Us What We Already Know).

on February 19th, the Regency Council would hold its final vote on selecting its new Monarch. In a 20-10 vote the Regency Council would elect Prince Hans Erik to be the new Monarch. the Dissenters would issue a statement, authored by Lord Bishop Dagmar Lundstrøm would state "It is an affront to the church that it may be led by a man who does not agree to core stipulations of faith. A man who steals money from his subjects to enrich himself, a man who does not hold those made in our shared creator's image as equal is not a man who should occupy the highest authority of the church. I fear that if Hans Erik takes the mantle of the Churches Highest Command we will see a rift form, and a rejection of the church as it exists today."