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Prince criticized for claims of Smith affair

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 14, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Zsa Zsa Gabor once said: "Husbands are like fires. They go out when unattended."

Her flamboyant husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, says he did more than just go out. He says he carried on a decadelong affair with Anna Nicole Smith and may be the father of her baby daughter.

His out-of-left-field assertion has been met largely with disbelief and boosted curiosity about the man who, the British press reports, may have paid a bankrupt princess for his title. He denies those reports.

Von Anhalt is known for making outrageous statements. Even his age has been questioned. He says he's 59; the press puts him in his mid 70s.

Since making his claim the day after Smith died, von Anhalt has appeared on a number of news shows.

Bonnie Stern, the sister of Howard K. Stern, who is listed as the father of Smith's baby on her birth certificate, calls von Anhalt's assertions "nauseating."

"She didn't even know him," Bonnie Stern says.

Ronald Jason Palmieri, attorney for Gabor and von Anhalt, says: "I believe the odds of him ending up to be the parent of this child are remote to none."

Palmieri also says he spoke with Gabor about the situation.

"She said, 'Ron darling, do you believe this? It's so embarrassing,' " the lawyer said.

To hear von Anhalt tell it, he gained his royal title through an act of kindness in the late 1950s, when he became good friends with the son of Princess Marie Auguste of Anhalt. When her son died in a car accident, von Anhalt comforted the princess.

He says she adopted him in 1980 and gave him the title of Prince Frederic von Anhalt of Munich, the Duke of Saxony - or Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, as he is also known.

He says Gabor was as intrigued by the promise of gaining a title as he was about being tied to Hollywood royalty. The two were married in 1987.

Von Anhalt says he and Smith met in the 1990s.

Asked how he managed the alleged affair, he said they met in hotels in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

"You can have an affair in 10 minutes," von Anhalt said.

[Last modified February 14, 2007, 01:05:56]