Prince Ernst August placed in a coma after too much drinking

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Prince Ernst August of Hanover has been placed in a medically induced coma and is in critical condition at Clinica Delgado in Lima, Peru.

The 64-year-old head of the house of Hanover became ill on Saturday at the Pedro de Osma Museum, where his younger son's Prince Christian's post-wedding party was being held.  On Friday, Prince Christian married Peruvian  Alessandra de Osma.  Original news stories reported that food poisoning was to blame for Prince Ernst August's admittance to the hospital.

It is now clear that the Prince became ill after drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol abuse has been a serious problem for Prince Ernst August for many years.

In June 2000, the prince caused great offense when he urinated against the wall of the Turkish pavilion wat Expo 2000 in Hannover.  Not long afterward, he checked into a private clinic which specialized in detoxification.

The day before the funeral of his father-in-law, Prince Rainier III of Monaco,  Prince Ernst August was rushed to the Princess Grace hospital suffering from an attack of pancreatitis. He was lucky to survive.

"His state of health is serious and requires permanent medical care," a Monegasque statement said at the times.

After two weeks,  Prince Ernst August was released from the hospital and was transferred to a clinic in Austria.   Hello magazine interviewed the then 51-year-old prince at the Austrian clinic.

He was asked how his illness changed his life.  "Normally one looks after others, friends and family. I didn't bother looking after myself. For 35 years, my lifestyle was more than heavy.  I am now 51, and I shouldn't have behaved like a 28-year-old, though I kept doing so.   But from now on, that's going to change.  Only now I have realised the real danger.  I could have died.  And I have no wish for that to happen yet.  My daughter [Alexandra] is only 5.  I want to last at least another year."

Change is difficult.   Prince Ernst August's desire for a healthier lifestyle did not last long.   A 2009 Tatler profile describe Ernst August with a "gargantuan drinking problem."

The Prince is in the midst of a financial battle with his elder son, Hereditary Prince Ernst August, who married last July.   Papa won't recognize his elder son's marriage as dynastic until the younger Prince Ernst August returns property that Papa gave him some years ago.

According to the German magazine, Bunte,  Prince Ernst August was planning to use his younger son's wedding as a "PR show in the inheritance dispute with his older son," but his plan backfired.

The newly married Prince Christian left the wedding party to see his father in the hospital.  His stepbrother, Pierre Casiraghi, the younger son of Prince Ernst August's estranged wife, Princess Caroline of Monaco, stayed overnight at the hospital.

Prince Ernst August's lawyer told RTL that Ernst August and several other guests "suffered food poisoning, which is not unusual in South America."

There are conflicting reports about the current condition of Prince Ernst August and it is not known if he remains in Lima or has since returned to Germany.