Prince Among Candidates Ends Campaign

After his wife's hip injury, Prince von Anhalt drops his bid to become California's governor

The race for California governor just became a little less interesting and a lot less flamboyant. Prince Frederic von Anhalt has dropped his bid.

Von Anhalt is dropping out of the race to tend to his 93-year-old wife, Zsa Zsa Gabor, according to her publicist. She was hospitalized last month with a broken hip.

In the end, all we're left with are a few interviews in which von Anhalt outlined his ambitious platform, which included legalizing and taxing marijuana and prostitution. He also wanted to lift the import ban on Cuban cigars, adjust DMV fees and tax bad drivers, lower the drinking age to 18, and overturn Prop 8, the state's same-sex marriage ban.

"Throw the divorce lawyers a bone and quiet the gays," von Anhalt said in a statement issed when he announced his independent candidacy in February. "I believe in marriage between men and women, but I am also a defender of the constitution which says equal rights for all. Let them be as miserable as the rest of us."

A blaring rendition (seriously, turn down your speakers) of the Star-Spangled Banner accompanies the rest of his platform on this page.

Gabor and von Anhalt have been married 24 years.The 65-year-old political independent said his wife wanted to be California's first lady.

"With the recent accident and her ill health, she must now be first lady for me," he added.

He plans to support Democratic candidate Jerry Brown.

There has been speculation regarding whether Prince von Anhalt -- once called a "chronic fabricator" by one of his wife's promoters -- is actually a prince. According to reports,  he was born Robert Lichtenberg, the son of a German policeman and bought his title after being adopted as an adult by a bankrupt daughter-in-law of the last kaiser.

In 2007, he claimed he was the biological father of Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter.

Later that year, LAPD officers found him naked and handcuffed to the steering wheel of a 2006 Rolls Royce. Von Anhalt told officers that he was driving when "three white women" with a gun took his jewelry and clothes.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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