The ‘little’ King & the Prince of Prague
PRAGUE — This capital city of the Czech Republic is magical, and to a significant number, miraculous.
The 17th-century-old statue of the Sto. Nino of Prague enshrined in The Church of Our Lady of Victories, also the Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague, is sometimes referred to as the little “King of Prague.”
The church itself is small and simple compared to Prague’s other majestic and ornate cathedrals — the city, after all, is known as the city of a “hundred spires.”
But many faithful head to the shrine of the Infant Jesus because many miracles have reportedly occurred through His intercession. According to online and published sources, during one invasion, all the children of the city were taken to the church for protection — they were all saved.
Thus, for almost four centuries, this promise of protection and blessing has inspired many to pray before the statue of the Infant, which is atop a side altar of the church.
The statue was a gift to Princess Polyxena of Lobkowicz, who donated it to the Carmelites in 1628.
Fast-forward to 2023, and Czech Tourism and the Czech Embassy in Manila arranged for a group of Philippine media to pray at the church of the miraculous “little” King of Kings and, the following day, meet the Prince of Prague, the “other” Prince William.
Tall, dark, handsome and Harvard-educated, Prince William Rudolf Lobkowicz, a descendant of Princess Polyxena, oversees the Lobkowicz Palace, the only privately-owned palace in the Prague Castle complex.
Many of Lobkowicz’s castles were returned to his family after the Nazi Occupation and the Communist regime. The family had reportedly sold some castles to finance the preservation and upkeep of the Lobkowicz Palace and a few other castles they owned through the centuries. The Czech Republic has over 300 castles.
According to Prince William, 95 percent of the paintings and other treasures of the family’s castles were returned to them by the Nazis, and the family decided to put most of them on exhibit for the public to appreciate in the Lobkowicz Palace. It is the largest privately owned art collection in the Czech Republic.
The Infant Jesus, a glass replica of which is in the Palace, is special to his family.
“I really saw this as a miracle, actually, because my great-great-great grandmother (Polyxena) had a son very late in her own life, and they believed in the religious powers of the (Infant Jesus). To this day, our family goes and prays to Him.”
According to Prince William, the Lobkowicz Palace “has also been witness to so many wonderful events in history as well. Some interesting ones.”
So what is the role of noble families in modern times in a republic?
“I think we’re a modern noble family in many ways. We have a lot of traditions and things that we respect and we respect the history of our family but we obviously have to change with the times as well and be cognizant of the different things that are happening around us. Otherwise, without change, we can’t survive. The way our family — if you look at all these stories throughout history — the way we survived is by adapting according to the times. And that’s what we have to do in a modern way today,” William told us as he toured us around a portion of the Palace. With us were Maros Martin Guoth, head of the Economic and Trade Section of the Czech Embassy in the Philippines, and Czech Tourism’s Michal Prochyoff.
“We always say that we’re trying to share the past so that we can inspire others to create the future. So that these collections stay relevant for other people in the 21st century as well, which is difficult to balance. So now, as family members, our role, we really try to help connect people to the collections. We act as storytellers, creating that bridge, and how people want to use the collections in the future is really up to them. We’ve opened up all our properties to the public, and what we ask in return is that you all engage with them to find ways to inspire yourself.”
Indeed, this city of magical castles and religious miracles isn’t just a fairy tale.
You may e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.
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