TheEye recalls reading a work of fiction many moons ago in which Hitler had a son. In time this US citizen, as he had become, stood for Mayor of New York. Predictable hand-wringing ensued, with the book switching between the merits (and otherwise) of the individual for office and the stigma attached to his family. To what extent are we our father’s son, the story argued. Are we individuals, or is no man an island?

And so we find our real life version; much more remote ancestry and without any U-boats but the same theory. A Habsburg family member and his daughter-in-law have gone to the Constitutional Court in Austria after they were excluded from presidential elections next year, and Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen, a Green councillor in Wolfsberg, Carinthia, and his daughter-in-law Gabriele Habsburg-Lothringen, want the court to review whether the ban is constitutional.

Austrian election laws prohibit any member of the house of Habsburg or any member of a “ruling house” to become a candidate for the presidency. The ban dates back to the days of the First Republic, when lawmakers wanted to ensure there would be no restoration of the Habsburg monarchy.

Habsburg-Lothringen has also asked Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Werner Faymann to take a stand on the issue. Habsburg said today (Weds): “We will wait for four weeks for the government to take a stand.” Habsburg’s lawyer Rudolf Vouk said the ban was discriminatory and violated Austrians’ right to a free and democratic election.

Vouk said Habsburg was far down the line of succession to Austria’s last Emperor Karl I and that his daughter-in-law had been named Wetschnig before marrying Habsburg’s son. She, too, is excluded from the presidential election because of her marriage. “The Republic can afford to take a milder approach to its history,” he said, adding Habsburg had decided to act now in order to have the issue settled well before the presidential election next year.

The predictable irony, of course, is that he hasn’t declared as a presidential candidate and says he hasn’t actually thought about whether he wants to. It’s the principle.

Surely the time has come to repeal such laws? King Simeon was elected as Prime Minister of Bulgaria and served a term without restoring the Monarchy or randomly invading Chad so it proves that it can work. Perhaps we are still dealing with the politics of class and envy in preventing a certain stratum of society from contributing their talents?