The young royal couple has already mastered the polite white lie thing. A little girl has come to the cordon with her father, as close as possible to Prince Levi I and Princess Paula I. The girl drew a picture of them, on it two moon faces, knobbly bodies, a princely couple with very little hair. “Wow,” exclaims Princess Paula, “that’s really nice.” Prince Levi looks as if he has just been given Rammstein tickets and says: “Thank you very much.”
Since this Saturday there have been new carnival prince couples in Munich. The carnival society Narrhalla had a stage set up on Marienplatz and invited a Oktoberfest band, a slight smell of sausage rolls wafted across the square. The coronation ceremony takes place in this solemn atmosphere. Paula Piendl, 16, and Levi Kirner, 17, are the new Narrhalla youth prince couple. Ulrike Westenrieder, 58, and Steve Henze, 45, are crowned the official carnival prince couple of the state capital of Munich. In addition to royal blue cloaks, scepters and crowns, they also receive the city key, which is around one meter long, from Munich’s third mayor, Verena Dietl. A flourish.
Prince Steve I is a little excited during his inaugural speech. He was born in Saxony-Anhalt and has been working for BMW in Munich for twenty years. Normally he gives occupational safety training courses, not royal speeches. “There is magic in every beginning,” he quotes Hermann Hesse. The beginning almost didn’t exist. When Ulrike Westenrieder asked him in the fall if he wanted to be her prince, he initially said no. The effort seemed too much for him. A carnival prince couple has around 150 appointments between the coronation and Ash Wednesday on February 22nd. But Ulrike Westenrieder is a physiotherapist, she doesn’t give up easily, she asked three other candidates.
November 11, the start of carnival, was just around the corner when Steve Henze called her again. He had changed his mind. You’re pretty late with everything now. The costumes, the choice of music, the choreographies for their dances – everything is only just finished. Princess Ulrike says in her inaugural speech that she feels like “Suddenly Prince and Princess.” And Prince Steve says, “I think you only get that chance once in a lifetime.”