Antoine De Saint Exupéry Solves the Riddle of the Lost Prince

The disappearance of Saint Exupéry’s F5-B plane over the Mediterranean near Marseilles was one of the many riddles unsolved for decades after the war. Finally in 1998, a fisher found a bracelet bearing an inscription identifying the author. The find in his nets gave the clue to pinpoint the place where the plane had gone down. The fisher was first disbelieved and then ridiculed by ‘official France’, meaning government agencies and historians.

In a private venture, French and German divers eventually recovered remains of the F5-B at that exact spot, but also parts of a Messerschmitt lying on the ground beside it, as well. The remains of the F5-B have been confirmed as the plane of Saint Exupéry, those of the Messerschmitt was that of Prince Alexis. But otherwise the two planes had nothing to do with each other.

Image source

Alexis Friedrich Carl Christian Hereditary Prince at Bentheim and Steinfurt was born the first child of Viktor Adolf Prince at Bentheim and Steinfurt and Estefania Princess at Schaumburg-Lippe on the 30th of July, 1922. He was shot down by allied planes on the 2nd of December, 1943, on his very first flight. As Saint Exupéry had disappeared on the 31st of July, 1944, any connection between the two planes could be dismissed.

Image source

In 1943, the body of Alexis was found some days after his crash into the sea at the island of Riou, one of the many small Calanques islands that dot the Mediterranean near Marseilles. Locals buried him in an unmarked grave. This unmarked grave was found and opened in the ‘60s by a local doctor. In the belief of having found the grave of Saint Exupéry, a well known author as well as a French national hero, he gathered the remains.

The daughter of this local doctor emigrated from France after the death of her father and took everything with her, amongst it the carton containing the remains of Alexis. Her whereabouts could be traced and she gave the remains to German officials for verification. Meanwhile, DNA probes have established the identity of Alexis and his interment at the family cemetery of Burgsteinfurt is planned for later this year.

(Photographs have been graciously released to the public by His Serene Highness Christian Prince at Bentheim and Steinfurt.)