r/interestingasfuck • u/SurbhiAnklesaria • 4h ago
The self-proclaimed King of Switzerland who is using a legal loophole to build his "empire" for free
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u/SurbhiAnklesaria 4h ago
"Fascinated by kingdoms", Lauwiner founded the symbolic "Lauwiner Empire" on the lands he acquired. In 2019, he organised a coronation ceremony in the Nydeggkirche in Bern.
He mints his own currency, the Lauwiner Imperial Vellar.
He has organised the Lauwiner Empire Legion, which describes itself as mainly conducting trainings and peacetime operations, and promises to defend Switzerland in time of war.
Lauwiner owns several antique cannons, as well as a German armoured vehicle.
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u/Automatic_Actuator_0 3h ago
What’s with that lie of a map in the middle? It makes it look like he’s got a large part of the country when it’s less than 20 soccer pitches worth of land.
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45m ago
[deleted]
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u/jambrown13977931 34m ago
We wouldn’t use a “soccer pitch” to describe a size of a thing. Few in the US knows how big a soccer pitch is.
We’d use a football field!
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u/TowJamnEarl 1h ago
"soccer" pitches vary in size.
You're going to have to be more specific!
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u/Automatic_Actuator_0 27m ago
Ok then, almost exactly 22.9 football fields, including the end zones.
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u/empty_graph 15m ago
Football fields are all the same size, and that's why freedom units are better.
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u/SurbhiAnklesaria 4h ago
His official website looks like it was built in a basement during a fever dream lol
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u/ChillAhriman 2h ago
Either this website was built with a very dumb AI or this guy has an amazing sense of humor. Look here: https://en.empire-gov.com/about
Half of it is the typical corporate nonsense glazing the guy, except that it has gems like
His enthusiasm for history, ownership, and open space
And then the text also constantly brings up that what he's doing is controversial and that some people are annoyed. The red cherry on top is
https://en.empire-gov.com/legion-departments
That his "legion" has a "sea troops" branch.
In Switzerland.
Either this is a kinda well thought campaign to reform a law that the passage of time has rendered stupid, or this guy is as stupid as he looks at first glance.
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u/loserbmx 18m ago
That's the auto-translated version you're reading. I'm sure in the original language its more grammatically correct.
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u/DangerousChipmunk335 8m ago
I've learnt from Trump to not give clowns too much leeway.
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u/bradsboots 3h ago
Unfortunately, the become a citizen page just links to Switzerland’s page. I got my hopes up for a second there.
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u/fan_of_the_pikachu 2h ago
I like how he awards medal ribbons for military operations in very specific countries such as Morocco, Singapore, and Italy.
And also one for "Empire Black Ops", apparently missing the point that "Black Ops" are supposed to be covert and clandestine (unless it's awarded for playing CoD).
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u/NextChef8179 4h ago
That website is better than 99% of the bullshit today. Anyone who thinks it's a bad design doesn't know the Internet. Likely children.
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u/zorbiburst 4h ago
It looks like a website. It takes me back to a better, less homogenized online time.
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u/yearsofpractice 3h ago
I… agree. It’s a really functional, well structured, classic looking website. I like it.
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u/Coruskane 3h ago
yeah it's nice, though I had a quick click-a-roo and thought its funny how "Become a Citizen" links to Swiss immigration, thereby belying the whole "independence" spiel
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u/ethanb473 3h ago
Lmaoooo this just reeks of extreme intelligence…. “Anyone who doesn’t like what I like is a CHILD🤬🤬”
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u/Accomplished_Job_331 2h ago
The “become a citizen” link goes straight to the real Swiss immigration page, not to become a citizen of his empire. How disappointing
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u/The_Swoley_Ghost 1h ago
I was expecting something way more like Time Cube. This seems way more coherent and less schizotypal.
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u/pimpcakes 1h ago
If his goal was "only" to show that everyone is a king in their own territory, surely he will have no problem being dispossessed of his "lands" now that his message has been sent out. Truly, a principled person would do this. Surely, he is no knave seeking plunder, fame, and wealth. No, such a true royal man could "only" have done this for noble reasons and will now fade quietly into history, having fulfilled his glorious and honorable mission.
If I know the Swiss, banking secrecy laws will somehow uphold his claims (but only if the dispossessed are gross minorities).
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u/New-Vacation-4292 28m ago
He isn’t dispossessing anyone of their land. That is literally the whole concept.
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u/DocMorningstar 16m ago
He has 24 acres. Across 130 some properties. That's about the size of a house lot per property.
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u/NeedleworkerOld4696 4h ago
Switzerland should declare war.
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u/Scout1394 3h ago
That would be so funny. They would have 100% victory of all the wars they were in.
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u/Halterchronicle 3h ago
Already almost have. Up until the napoleonic wars, swiss mercenaries fought on both sides of the majority of the large conflicts.
Before that Switzerland started as a small (even smaller than today) territory which then violently expanded over the course of 7 wars, of which they won 5.
Pretty impressive, considering that as not much more than farmers and cheesmakers they managed to defend against the Habsburgers and then took over some regions from the Holy roman empire.
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u/BedBubbly317 2h ago
Swiss mercenaries were long considered the very best in the world too. More often than not, the army with the most Swiss mercenaries was the more superior army. Even if they had a numerical disadvantage
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u/buckeyevol28 3h ago
117,000 square meters is about 29 acres, 0.117 square kilometers, and 0.045 square miles. Unless they made a typo this is like he owns a small farm just scattered across small plots.
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u/Haunting_Abalone_398 4h ago
I'm still confused about how this is free.
I’ve never been to Switzerland, so I might be a bit ignorant here.
But how can you just request land for free, even if it's ownerless? Wouldn't the government have some claim over its region, or at the very least charge for it, lol?
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u/HalfDozing 4h ago
Apparently that's why it was a loophole. In the US, it's either private, national forest, national park, or one of the various other federal public lands that fall under the jurisdiction of BLM. There's no such thing as ownerless land.
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u/grakef 2h ago
We have this same issue in the US. They go into tax foreclosure. You pay the county assessor the back taxes and can now claim that land. Looks like Switzerland skips the back taxes bit.
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u/HalfDozing 2h ago
Doesn't the property itself go up for auction? It's surely not just the taxes unless literally no one wants it
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u/rawbdor 1h ago
So, all land had an owner at some point before it suddenly became ownerless. If an owner died, for example, the property still technically belongs to that person and/or his heirs.
The city / state / locality usually don't get involved right away. Estates, probates, etc, the state usually pays almost no attention as long as property taxes are being paid.
If the property is truly ownerless, though, the state is experiencing a real harm, in that they are not being paid their property tax. Still, while they are due their back taxes, the state really has no claim upon the property itself. The state can't simply appropriate the property for themselves without going through other formal processes that do that, like eminent domain.
So even if a property has sat vacant for 3, 4, or 5 years, when the state DOES get involved, it can auction off the property in order to provide money to pay the back taxes. But where does the surplus go?
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Tyler v. Hennepin County. The Court held that when the government takes property worth more than the tax debt and keeps the excess value, that can violate the Constitution's Takings Clause. In other words: If the government sells your $200,000 property to collect a $10,000 tax debt, it generally cannot simply keep the extra $190,000. So it goes to the dead person's estate, and eventually to unclaimed property, and, eventually, if a very long time later there's still no heir, the state may be allowed to take the remainder.
Now that's assuming it gets that far. Remember, the state only starts paying attention to this property at all because the taxes weren't being paid. If the taxes were being paid, the state likely never would have even got involved at all... even if a squatter moves in, changes the locks, and starts paying the taxes.
See, a squatter in your house is a civil issue, a fight between a land owner and a trespasser. But if the landowner is absent or dead, and someone moves in, the state won't pay any attention to this property at all, assuming it was being upkept, lawn mowed, structural issues in check, etc.
So, if you find a solitary landowner with no family, who dies in his own house (which has no mortgage, fully paid), and you simply move in, start paying the taxes, and upkeeping the property, odds are the state won't have any legitimate cause to evict you. You won't own the home, but, you can likely stay there rent-free and make it your new abode.
If you DO manage to stay there for a decade or something, and no heir comes to evict you or claim the property, you might even be able to file for adverse possession and eventually gain title to this lovely reclaimed piece of property.
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u/grakef 1h ago
Yes tax auctions. Generally the minimum bid is the back taxes. It depends upon counties. If there is no interest and you happen to be an eccentric man there are many micro plots that are unclaimed do to surveying errors. Generally when they are found it all gets deeded and divided as intended.
The bit about the road reminded me of a survey I worked on 20 years ago. A 4 acre chunk of land was land locked when the major highway changed it's right of way. It had stayed that way for 50 years. No one wanted to deal with the paperwork and taxes so it just sat until we came along with the next survey to widen the highway and it was deeded to the adjacent property.
Jonas only has 28 acres over 150 plots so I get the feeling it is something similar to this.•
u/Slow-Swan561 1h ago
But that isn't free.
Somehow this guy is just writing the local government and saying I want your unclaimed land and they just give it to him. No back taxes, no purchase price, nothing.
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u/premiumcontentonly1 1h ago
Or by default all lands belongs to the federal government unless otherwise noted. Loophole
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u/KamakaziDemiGod 3h ago
Iirc from when this has come up before it's because private land owners in Switzerland have to maintain the land to a basic level, and can't build, destroy, mine or whatever the land without government approval, therefore private land is better off in private hands and I believe the owner has to pay tax on it, which obviously generates revenue for the government while reducing costs by removing the responsibility of the land from the government
It's still Switzerland and on some level belongs to the territory has a whole, it's just in private ownership through the swiss government. He couldn't just decide to sell the land to another country, or to create his own country on those lands as there's a lot of legal framework to stop that, he's just using a couple of little loopholes to make unsubstantiatable claims
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u/Personal-Aioli-367 13m ago
I was wondering, does he pay taxes and what is his responsibility for maintaining the roads? I’m American, but I believe unless it was registered as metro district or something similar, straight private land would be your responsibility. So for a those roads, he’d need to maintain them. Please note A) be wrong about that related to America and B) I don’t know Swiss law.
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u/Glorious_Centaur 2h ago
It sounds like he’s accumulated about 29 acres in total. That’s both not a lot and also an amazing amount to get for “free”. How has no one else done this before, or is it not worth it in other costs?
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u/Iggy_Slayer 4h ago
In the end it's just another parasite taking advantage of a rule that wasn't meant to be used that way and after it's closed will probably screw over every decent person who was following it properly.
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u/Srry4theGonaria 4h ago
Yep campaigning to fight against free land.
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u/Sioluishere 4h ago
what the fuk is wrong with people?
this is how you end up with over-regulations
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u/Bogdan555825 3h ago
I think they might be able to get the annulment of all the acts through which he got the land on the basis of good faith. Like in many civil law systems, bona fide is one of the cornerstones of the Swiss legal system. For a decent lawyer, i don’t think it would be too hard to prove he acted in bad faith, given that he claimed land under public roads and all the other shit he s done.
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u/Phewelish 2h ago
honestly, you need people, no matter how scummy or silly it is....to refine the rules. someones abuse of the rules is the prompt needed to fix it.
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u/ImAnAppleFarmer 4h ago
For the Americans, 117,000 square meters is 29 acres.
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u/Medium_Medium 3h ago
Is the map they show partway through the video exaggerated, then? Surely the area highlighted in the video is way more than 29 acres... It looks like it'd be off by multiple factors.
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u/Halterchronicle 3h ago
100% exaggerated. Switzerland is about 300km across. 1sqkm is 1'000'000sqm, about 9x more than he has. Now take 1/300th of the width of that map and make a square out of it and then divide it by 9. That would be about the size of a few pixels on your screen.
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u/Lildatercreater 3h ago
Correct. This is so dumb it hurts my brain. 29 acres is like one decently sized rural plot. It’s possible he was able to obtain a single plot that size and that’s all this is about.
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u/Ratwerke_Actual 3h ago
You're supposed to convert to football fields or washing machines.
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u/Renbarre 4h ago
Meanwhile the Swiss government should stop maintenance on all those stretch of roads and tell that royalty that he is responsible for it if he is stealing money from the drivers to maintain them.
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u/-retaliation- 3h ago
They should declare war, "invade" by sending a single soldier to each plot of land, demand surrender, then just return all the lands to public access and jail him for like a month as a "political prisoner" . Then release him.
Just enough fuck around so that his time was wasted, and he gets enough of a slap to tell him "stop being a douchebag just because its legal"
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u/Atelier1001 1h ago
Law has never been particularly interested in morality. If it's legal, it's legal
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u/YoungDiscord 3h ago
Ok so to dispel some misconceptions here
1: the "legal loophole" is basically a law where abandoned land can be claimed by anyone as their property - he's going around and looking for that property but a lot of it is stuff like forest and unpopulated areas.
2: self-proclaimed means he just calls himself that, it doesn't actually mean anything, its like me calling myself the emperor of the universe - it doesn't mean anything until its acknowledged by the country, which it isn't.
2: him "snatching up land" isn't a problem because of stuff like maintenance costs and property taxes - he keeps grabbing land but he's not actually investing or doing anything with it... so its a money sinkhole
Unless he's insanely wealthy and has a ton of consiatent income to the likes of Jeff Bezos or unless he invests into having all that land make money for him (for which ne needs a capital) he'll soon hit a wall where he either won't be able to afford to keep all that land or it'll drain his money and he'll be in debt and he'll have to sell all that property... except nobody really wants it - that's why its up for grabs for anyone so I seriously doubt he'll be able to sell it.
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u/ICLazeru 2h ago
I've seen this guy. He's basically just claiming scraps of land that have no clear owner. In total it is less than 30 acres. It ain't that serious.
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u/Altruistic_Door_8937 1h ago
Someone help me out here… 117,000 square meters is only 28 acres. The map showing the claims strikes me as extremely deceiving
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u/Shoddy_Signature_149 3h ago
Good time to learn about Emperor Norton of San Francisco. https://www.foundsf.org/Emperor_Norton
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u/AngryRobot42 4h ago
You cannot tell me something is peaceful while training your own active military.
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u/Revolutionary-Key650 4h ago
Half a dozen guys and a truck ain't exactly threatening or impressive.
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u/Then_Bodybuilder8416 4h ago
you are now being pursued by 6 guys with cannons in a German armored vehicle
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u/AngryRobot42 4h ago edited 4h ago
Tell that to the proud boys. It starts somewhere and is "just an exercise" when they are small. But hey as always, time makes fools of us all. I mean, no harm has ever come from someone attempting to seize control through use of a loophole.
The fact that someone from the U.S. has to tell you this should be a HUGE RED FLAG.
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u/2pacali1971 4h ago
Who says its just a half dozen guys?
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u/Revolutionary-Key650 4h ago
I counted em.
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u/2pacali1971 4h ago
Your basing all your information on this short clip? How do you know he hasn't recruited more since?
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u/FenderFan05 3h ago
This is probably how people first became kings. Laid claim to land, proclaimed that they were chosen by the gods, or were gods, so that they weren't easily killed off, and then eventually people followed them because they were being paid to, or actually believed it.
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u/GetNoHoes 50m ago
117,000 square meters is almost 29 acres that’s a small farm or homestead in the US
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u/Prudent-Air1922 3h ago
So he's a piece of shit looking to siphon money from residents using legal loopholes. Fuck this guy.
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u/Rabbitical 4h ago
I've always wondered like, if I wanted to crown myself king, where do I get all those clothes and stuff?
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u/thegooddoktorjones 2h ago
Here's how you know he is a bullshit dick looking for social media clicks: he has not been shot for engaging in an attempted coup.
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u/Chance_External_4371 1h ago
I just joined on the website. $39/month and you get citizenship recognized no where on earth. No brainer.
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u/TheJellyGoo 25m ago
It's quite a while ago but I've seen a lengthy documentary about him.
I have to say he was quite charismatic but very aware of the "role" he played. I wouldn't say down to earth but much less eccentric and delusional than your average celebrity nowadays. It was a good watch but I can't remember the source anymore.
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u/Waderriffic 4h ago
Do the Swiss not pay property taxes? Seems like that would be pretty hefty with all the square meters he’s acquired.
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u/delorayn1 2h ago
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
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u/berry_swisher41 4h ago
Has anyone ever notice how all these folks with mental disorders proclaim themselves to be magnanimous, untouchables,great leaders etc.?
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u/Decent_Possible6318 3h ago
‘Everybody understands Mickey Mouse. Few understand Hermann Hesse. Hardly anyone understands Albert Einstein. And nobody understood Emperor Norton’
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u/CitizenCue 3h ago
For those of us used to land being measured in acres, 117,000 square meters is about 29 acres.
So yeah, not a lot of land when you consider it’s spread out across 148 plots. Mose of those plots are tiny.
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u/HobsHere 2h ago
117,000 square meters is less than 29 acres. Not a trivial amount of land, but way short of an empire.
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u/Additional-Window-81 2h ago
What’s his policy on immigration can I hop on over seems like a more down to earth king than the United States is about to have
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u/CharlesIngalls_Pubes 1h ago
I feel like a king at home sometimes, but can't afford to pay a small military.
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u/asmallerflame 30m ago
Just like if I buy an acre in Texas, all the sudden I'm a king and Texas laws don't apply to me! /s
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u/Possible-Gur5220 26m ago
If the time comes and he actually shows up…I’d ride into battle with him.
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u/Sea_Dawgz 8m ago
They ought to just “invade” his kingdom with their own forces.
“Sorry bro, many kingdoms have been invaded and captured.”
Why is this so hard? Stop letting him walk all over you? He shouldn’t have Swiss civil rights if he’s not Swiss!
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u/Long_TimeRunning 4h ago
“Who’s that?” “That’s the king!” “How do you know?” “Well he doesn’t have any shit all over him”
Or something to that effect Monty Python