HANS ADAM II, PRINCE OF LIECHTENSTEIN

born Feb. 14, 1945, Zurich, Switz. German Hans Adam, Frst von Liechtenstein, in full Johannes Adam Pius Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marko D'Aviano von und zu Liechtenstein member of the ruling family of Liechtenstein who became prince in 1984. Along with his brothers and his sister, Hans Adam, the eldest son of Prince Francis Joseph II, spent his early youth in the castle of Vaduz, but he and his siblings were not isolated from the everyday life of the principality's citizens. He attended primary school in the town, and as a Boy Scout he took part in camping and other activities. He received his secondary education at the Schottengymnasium (Scottish Academy) in Vienna and in Zuoz, Switzerland. After a brief period as a trainee in a London bank, in the fall of 1965 he entered the Saint Gall (Switzerland) School of Economics and Social Sciences, from which he graduated in 1969. As crown prince, Hans Adam took a keen interest in the principality's economic and financial development and in its relations with other nations. He was head of the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation from 1970 to 1984. In 1972 his father entrusted him with the management of the princely estate, a task he performed with success. In a ceremony in Vaduz on August 26, 1984, his father handed over the greater part of his executive authority to Prince Hans Adam II. The transfer of the duties had been announced the previous July by the monarch, whose reign had begun on July 25, 1938, and who had ruled longer than any other living monarch except Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Although Prince Hans Adam II had earlier expressed his firm belief in European unity, he announced in 1991 that Liechtenstein, which maintained a long tradition of political and economic independence, would not seek membership in the European Union. Under Hans Adam II, Liechtenstein enjoyed a continuation of the prosperity fostered by Francis Joseph II.