Lahnstein family

The Lahnstein family is a very wealthy and aristocratic prestigious fictional family on the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love). The Lahnsteins have been a staple on Verbotene Liebe since their introduction in September 2003.

The Lahnsteins are a family of tradition and appear with high morals to which they don't see to hold up to. They are known for their conversations on the dinner table. It became a choice by the producers over the years that the "evil characters" would sit on the right side of the table, while the "good characters" sit on the left side with the patriarch of the family on the head.

Over the years, the Lahnsteins also became known for their celebrations and events. Several weddings took place at their residence, Königsbrunn Castle. There were also festivities like a masquerade ball or an oldtimer race. All events are known for going not as planned. A hostage crisis, shocking paternity reveal, attempted murder or the reveal of affairs took place at those events. But they are also known for the beginning of great love stories.

It has become known that members of the Lahnstein family have had affairs with their servants. These affairs may have ended in producing illegitimate children or even marriage. This fact also caused the family to gain a reputation of hypocrisy and caused them to be known as a dysfunctional clan.

Family history

Background

The Lahnstein family, according to story in 2012, is first mentioned in 1512 and is one of the prestigious names along the German aristocracy. Their back story starts in the 1960s, when Johannes von Lahnstein is about to marry Francesca di Balbi, after having an affair with her younger sister Maria. She ends up pregnant with Johannes' child, but eventually has to give up her baby boy as she is committed to an insane asylum after tried to shoot Johannes. Her sister Francesca takes the boy, names him Ansgar and raises him as her own. Francesca and Ansgar have a special bond and she always looks out for him, while Johannes starts to resent the boy somehow at a young age. While Johannes and Francesca end up with the first child of their own, a daughter named Carla, Johannes' older brother Ludwig falls in love a maid named Madeline. Dietrich von Lahnstein, Johannes and Ludwig's father, wants Ludwig to end things with Madeline as she is below its level. Ludwig doesn't want to leave Madeline and gets disowned by his father. Ludwig and Madeline end up living aboard, raising their five children.

In the meanwhile, Johannes and Francesca's marriage is troubled. While Francesca finds comfort in the arms of Johannes' best friend, Adrian Degenhardt, Johannes has a one-night-stand with young maid Elke Käppler. Francesca ends up pregnant with Adrian's child, which gives her marriage to Johannes new strength as Johannes doesn't know about the affair. Elke ends up pregnant as well. After she hides her pregnancy, she gives up her daughter for adoption. Francesca and Johannes welcome a boy named Leonard. As Francesca and Johannes get estranged from each other, Johannes has an affair with the married Vera Brandner. The affair is short-lived, but his marriage with Francesca stays unhappy. Francesca soon finds comfort in the arms of Adrian again and wants to break free from Johannes. But ending up pregnant once again, Francesca is unsure if a future with Adrian is what she really wants. Johannes finds out about Francesca's affair and wants her to stay, even telling her that he will take on Adrian's bastard, a boy named Constantin, on as his own. Francesca agrees as she knows that Johannes can provide better for her than Adrian.

Ludwig and Madeline live a happy marriage in the aboard but are thorn apart as Madeline kills some South American business man in self-defense. Madeline faces prison time as there is no proof to her shooting in self-defense. Ludwig takes the blame and gets separated from his family. As he faces a life time in prison, he and Madeline decide that it's better if their children think their father has died. Madeline never overcame her guilt and died later on. Adrian became provider and father figure for Ludwig's children. His oldest son Hagen, not wanting to deal with his parents death, takes off and the second oldest Sebastian starts to take care of his three younger siblings.

Francesca, while accepting her marriage to Johannes, is never ever really happy again in spite of Johannes trying to make things work. Their children grow up with a distorted picture of Johannes and Francesca, believing that they are happy and that Johannes carries his wifs on his hands. Ansgar is the only one who seems to notice Francesca's sadness. She later dies in her children's youth in a car accident with Leonard behind the weel, who would blame himself for the death of his mother for the rest of his life. After Francesca's death, Johannes sends Constantin to Francesca's sister Carlotta as he resembles his the mother the most and can't bare to look at him. Constantin starts to blame himself for his father's resentment, while Ansgar becomes vicious towards Johannes and is power hungry for his inheritance.

2003-2009

Johannes' love for oldtimer stars a friendship with Cécile de Maron. She just had a troubled relationship and isn't interested in anything more than a friendship with Johannes. But he soon falls for the dark haired French. Johannes tries to win Cécile over, which is soon crowned with success. In the meanwhile, Vera Brandner's husband Achim finds out that he's not the biological father of his daughter Nico. She starts to look from where she came and finds old letters, written by Johannes. Nico soon is revealed to be Johannes' illegitimate daughter. After some differences, Nico and Johannes have a healthy father-daughter relationship.

Against the will of Carla and Ansgar, Johannes soon decides to marry Cécile just when Leonard comes back to town. Leonard and Cécile soon find themselves drawn to each other and start having an affair. In the meanwhile, Carla is a closet lesbian and can't bring herself to come out to Johannes. Instead she starts a relationship with Bernd von Beyenbach. As he finds out about Carla's secret, Bernd makes sure that Carla thinks of him as a friend she can trust and soon opts to marry Carla. She thinks it might be the best idea and agrees. Even though Johannes finds out about Carla before the wedding takes place, he wants his daughter to go along with the ceremony. With tears in her eyes, Carla exchanges the 'I do's' with Bernd.

As Constantin comes back to Königsbrunn, it does not take long for him to clash with Johannes over shipping him off to Italy to live with Carlotta. Johannes tries to assure Constantin that he loves him and even feels sorry for his doings, when Constantin finds out about not being Johannes' son. That causes them to drive apart even further. However Johannes eventually makes right by Constantin and even though they continue to have their differences, the two share a loving relationship with each other.

Johannes' marriage with Cécile falls apart after she can't hide her feelings for Leonard anymore. When Johannes finds out about Cécile and Leonard, he disowns his son and divorces Cécile. She tries to reconnect Johannes and Leonard, but Johannes thinks she made a fool out of him while he's hurt by Leonard's actions. Only after Cécile is killed in a car accident and Leonard not only loses the love of his life but also their unborn baby, he and Johannes reunite at Cécile's grave.

Critical response

Over the years, the Lahnstein family has become the "soapiest soap family", thanks to unexpected twists such as Johannes' never ending affairs from the past and juicy schemes in their own family, like poising, attempted murder and blackmail. Overall the Lahnstein family has remained very popular with fans, thanks to viewer's favourites Claudia Hiersche (Carla), Wolfram Grandezka (Ansgar) and Verena Zimmermann (Nico) and the involvement with other popular actors like Miriam Lahnstein (Tanja) and Yvonne Burbach (Cécile). In 2009, even though the character Maria di Balbi was a success, fans felt that former patriarch Johannes, who supposedly died in 2008 in a plane crash, was made out to be a hypocrite and liar, who seemed to treat Maria like dirt. It didn't seem to fit in with the character the audience had watched for years. With the change in the family and the focus pushed onto Ludwig's children, the audience didn't respond well by saying that Helena, Rebecca, Sebastian and Tristan just weren't characters you cared about. Only new family patriarch Ludwig, who became center of a love triangle with Johannes' former wive Elisabeth and Maria seemed to be interesting.

Residence

The family residence is Castle Königsbrunn

• Currently living there: Elisabeth von Lahnstein, Ansgar von Lahnstein, Hannes von Lahnstein, Sebastian von Lahnstein, Tanja von Lahnstein, Emma von Lahnstein, Tristan von Lahnstein, Marlene von Lahnstein, Rebecca von Lahnstein,

The city residence is a Penthouse

• Currently living there: -.

Business

The Lahnstein Holding

Once appeared as the Lahnstein empire, founded for over hundred years. Johannes von Lahnstein was the CEO for a very long time, later omit by his eldest son Ansgar, which led to Johannes founding a company named JCL Investment. After Johannes could reclaim his title as CEO of the Lahnstein Holding, he merged JCL into the Holding. After Johannes died, Ansgar faked his father's will. In that he made the family believe that Ansgar's son Hannes is the heir and Ansgar can have control over the business until Hannes is at a legal age to take charge of his inheritance. The family later realizes that Ansgar faked the will, and Carla took over as the rightful heir. Ansgar tried to scheme his way back to the head of the company, but failed several times in his attempts to discredit Carla as a businesswoman. After Carla leaves town, she leaves control over the company to her stepmother Elisabeth and her uncle Ludwig. The company soon gets in serious money trouble and Ludwig has to buy off some parts of the company. Ansgar's devilish wife Tanja von Anstetten manages to get her hand on the real estate department, while Ludwig decides to form a new company named Lahnstein Enterprises.

Lahnstein Enterprises

Lahnstein Enterprises is a new company founded by Ludwig von Lahnstein with the help and money of his nephew Ansgar in 2010. Part of the company also becomes the real estate department that Tanja von Anstetten bought off from the Lahnstein Holding. In June 2011, a board is formed that's headed by Ludwig. The Lahnstein Bank rejoins the company when Ansgar signs on and the Lahnstein Entertainment department is formed. In order to bring Tanja to sign on, Ludwig buys her the fashion company Ligne Clarisse, a company formerly owned by Tanja's archenemy Clarissa von Anstetten, out of the heritage of late Marie von Anstetten. When Clarissa turns up alive, she gets half of her former company, only to be blackmailed by Tanja to leave her shares to her.

Employees

• Ludwig von Lahnstein: Founder and member of the Board of Directors
• Ansgar von Lahnstein: Chairman of the Board of Directors; Head of the Lahnstein Bank
• Tanja von Lahnstein: Member of the Board of Directors; 50%-Owner and co-head of the fashion company Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein
• Sebastian von Lahnstein: Member of the Board of Directors; Head of the legal department at Lahnstein Enterprises
• Tristan von Lahnstein: Member of the Board of Directors; Head of Lahnstein Entertainment
• Helena von Lahnstein: Member of the Board of Directors; Co-head of the Lahnstein Auction house
• Hagen von Lahnstein: Member of the Board of Directors; Manager of the Lahnstein stud farm
• Rebecca von Lahnstein: Member of the Board of Directors; Designer for Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein
• Nico von Lahnstein: Co-head of the Lahnstein Auction house; CEO of the Jana von Lahnstein foundation
• Elisabeth von Lahnstein: Co-head of the fashion company Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein
• Clarissa von Anstetten: Consultant for Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein
• Sonja Jäger: Head designer of Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein
• Jessica Stiehl: Personal assistant of Tanja von Lahnstein
• Kim Wolf: Personal assistant of Ansgar von Lahnstein
• Viktoria Wolf: Receptionist at Lahnstein Enterprises
• Marlene Wolf: Musical actress; Under contract with Lahnstein Entertainment
• Christian Mann & Dana Wolf: Grooms at the Lahnstein stud farm

v. L. Faces

Is a model agency founded and owned by Tanja von Lahnstein. Former known as v. A. Faces (changed the name after Tanja married Ansgar). The company is written out without any explanation in late 2009.

Employees

• Tanja von Lahnstein: Founder, Owner and COO
• Kitty Kübler: Personal assistant
• Olivia Schneider: Former model and secretary
• Sarah Hofmann: Former model

Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein

Ligne Clarisse is a fashion company founded by Clarissa von Anstetten and appears for the first time in the show's premiere. As a business rival to Cara Donna, another fashion house owned by Clarissa's rival Barbara von Sterneck, the company was used in many storylines within the first five years of the show. For a short time, Clarissa's arch enemy Tanja von Anstetten could get her hands on the company before Clarissa got it back. When Clarissa was presumed dead in 2001 the company went to Marie von Anstetten, Clarissa's goddaughter, as part of her will. Marie suddenly dies ten years later and Tanja buys the moribund company, who now becomes part of Lahnstein Enterprises to one last laugh over Clarissa. But it is eventually explain that Clarissa isn't dead. Instead she spent the last ten years in prison and has now to find out that Tanja is owning her lifelong work. Even though she promises her children to stay away from Tanja, Clarissa secretly plans to get her company back. Later in 2011, the company is renamed to Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein (sometimes named Ligne CL or LCL) and plans a comeback with the legendary Incest campaign, who presents the company's golden year of 1997. As of February 2012, Tanja owns now half of the company.

Family

The forefathers

• Ansgar I., a Count of Lahnstein who lived in the 17th century. In 2012, Ansgar finds out about his existence and gets obsessed over his life story. Ansgar I. was a ruthless man, who was having an affair with a maid. She ended up pregnant and Ansgar I. threw her from the castle. She and the baby died, leaving Ansgar I. mourning over what he's done.
• Eckehard von Lahnstein, was alive around the year 1710.
• Dietrich von Lahnstein, the father of both Ludwig and Johannes von Lahnstein.

The patriarchs

• Ludwig von Lahnstein is the son of Dietrich von Lahnstein and his wife Astrid. He is the half-brother of Johannes von Lahnstein and father of Hagen, Sebastian, Helena, Tristan and Rebecca. As of January 2011, he is married to Elisabeth von Lahnstein.
• Johannes von Lahnstein was the son of Dietrich von Lahnstein and Mimi Baxter. He owned the successful business empire, the Lahnstein Holding. He was married three times and had four biological children and two grandchildren. He is presumed dead after a plane crash over the Atlantic ocean in January 2008.

Second generation

Children of Ludwig von Lahnstein

• Hagen von Lahnstein is the eldest son of Ludwig von Lahnstein. After the death of Madeleine, his mother, he refused to look after his siblings and abandoned them. The family found him several years later, and moved back to Könnigsbrunn. He was married to Marlene Wolf but later fell in love and married her sister, Dana Wolf. He disappeared in a storm in the Caribbean and is presumed dead.
• Sebastian von Lahnstein is the second eldest son of Ludwig von Lahnstein. He graduated from Harvard University and has become a lawyer. He is the father of Christina Brandner, who lives in New Zealand, and has been married to and later divorced Lydia Brandner. He is currently married to Tanja von Lahnstein who is the mother of his other daughter Emma von Lahnstein.
• Helena von Lahnstein is the daughter of Ludwig von Lahnstein and twin-sister of Tristan. She studied archeology at the University of Heidelberg. She had a relationship with Andi Fritzsche.
• Tristan von Lahnstein is the youngest son of Ludwig von Lahnstein and twin-brother of Helena. He was engaged to his brother's ex-wife Marlene Wolf.
• Rebecca von Lahnstein is the youngest daughter of Ludwig von Lahnstein. She is in a relationship with Marlene Wolf. She is a fashion designer.

Biological and adoptive children of Johannes von Lahnstein

• Ansgar von Lahnstein is the illegitimate son of Johannes von Lahnstein and Maria di Balbi. He works as a business executive at the Lahnstein Holding and has been married and divorced once with Nathalie Brander. Ansgar has also been married to Tanja von Anstetten, but he has divorced her as well in 2011. Ansgar has a son, Hannes von Lahnstein (born 2005), with Tanja. Ansgar has two illegitimate children, a daughter Kim Wolf with Viktoria Wolf and a son Nick Brandner with Lydia Brandner.
• Carla von Lahnstein is the daughter of Johannes von Lahnstein and Francesca von Lahnstein. She works as the executive director of the Lahnstein Holding and has been married and divorced twice, first to Bernd von Beyenbach and then Susanne Brandner. Carla has a daughter, Sophia von Lahnstein (born 2007), with Lars Schneider.
• Sarah Hofmann is the illegitimate daughter of Johannes von Lahnstein and his former head maid Elke Käppler. She studies music and is a former model. She was given up for adoption and reunited with her father and mother in 2006. Sarah is divorced once with Gregor Mann. She was once pregnant, with Gregor's child, but had a miscarriage. In fall 2008, she married Leonard von Lahnstein and later moved with him to Boston.
• Nico von Lahnstein is the illegitimate daughter of Johannes von Lahnstein and Vera Brandner. She was raised by Vera's husband Achim, who thought she was his daughter. Nico found her real father in 2003 and was later adopted by him to become the rightful Countess of von Lahnstein. She has chosen to leave Düsseldorf for a while to work at a professional photographer in South Africa, but she has since returned and was married to the late prince Philipp zu Hohenfelden.
• Leonard von Lahnstein is the illegitimate son of Adrian Degenhardt and the late Francesca von Lahnstein. He worked as a doctor at St.-Vinzenz-Hospital. His legal father and the one who raised him was Johannes von Lahnstein. He was married and divorced with Silke Voss. Leonard was also married to death twice with Cécile de Maron and Jana Brandner. He had a son, Julius de Maron, with Cécile, who died shortly after his birth. In autumn 2008, he married Sarah Hofmann and later moved with her to Boston.
• Constantin von Lahnstein is the illegitimate son of Adrian Degenhardt and the late Francesca von Lahnstein. He has studied journalism in London, England. His legal father and the one who raised him was Johannes von Lahnstein. He has known for years that Johannes wasn't his real father, but found out in 2007 that Adrian is his father. In early 2011, Constantin moved to Madrid to work as an executive for the Spanish magazine 'Oso y Toro'.

Third Generation

• Kim Wolf is the illegitimate daughter of Ansgar von Lahnstein and Viktoria Wolf. As her marriage with Thomas was troubled, Viktoria had a one-night-stand with Ansgar, which later presented Kim as result. Viktoria keeps this secret for twenty years and is shocked when her other daughter Marlene marries into the Lahnstein clan; letting her face Ansgar again. Kim is the half-sister of Marlene Wolf, Dana Wolf, Hannes von Lahnstein and Nick Brandner. Kim is married to Emilio Sanchez.
• Hannes von Lahnstein is the son of Ansgar and Tanja von Lahnstein. He was born in November 2005. While an ugly custody battle between his parents, he lived with his aunt Carla and cousin Sophia for a while. After Ansgar faked Johannes' will, Hannes was the heir to the Lahnstein empire for a while. Hannes is the half-brother of Kim Wolf, Nick Brandner and Emma von Lahnstein.
• Sophia von Lahnstein is the daughter of Carla von Lahnstein and Lars Schneider. She was born in September 2007. Her father Lars donated his sperm, but remained together with Carla as her legal parent. In Summer of 2008, Sophia was kidnapped by Adrian Degenhardt for a few days. It was confirmed that he was behind her kidnapping.
• Christina Brandner is the illegitimate daughter of Sebastian von Lahnstein and the late Katja Brandner. She is currently raised by Matthias and Nathalie Brander in New Zealand. Matthias was Katja's husband until her death. Christina is the half-sister of Lydia Brandner, David Brandner, Fabian Brandner and Emma von Lahnstein.
• Nick Brandner is the illegitimate son of Ansgar von Lahnstein and Lydia Brandner. He was born in July 2011, months after a pregnant Lydia left Ansgar and started a new life in New Zealand. Nick is the half-brother of Kim Wolf and Hannes von Lahnstein.
• Emma von Lahnstein is the daughter of Sebastian von Lahnstein and Tanja von Lahnstein. She was born October 21, 2011. She was born while Sebastian and Tanja were trapped in the Lahnstein office elevator. Emma is the half-sister of Hannes von Lahnstein and Christina Brandner.
• Maximilian von Lahnstein is the son of Hagen von Lahnstein and Jessica Stihl. Hagen had a one night stand with Jessica after a fight with his wife Dana Wolf. Maximilian as born in May 2013, short after Hagen was presumed dead.

Johannes' wives

• Francesca di Balbi was the first wife of Johannes von Lahnstein. She was also the mother of Carla, Leonard and Constantin von Lahnstein. Francesca had an affair with Adrian Degenhardt, while she was married to Johannes. She died in a tragic car accident, which Leonard thought for years was his fault. Her marriage to Johannes was dissolved with her death. In 2009, Francesca's younger sister Maria di Balbi, who once had an affair with Johannes and even impregnated by him, comes to Königsbrunn and wants to take her sister's place; making the family believe that she is Francesca, since they didn't know about Maria's existence.
• Cécile de Maron was the second wife of Johannes von Lahnstein. Their marriage lasted only one year, after Cécile had an affair with Leonard von Lahnstein, her step-son. Cécile divorced Johannes and later married Leonard. She became pregnant, but because of a car accident Cécile's son, Julius, died and a little while later, she died as well.
• Elisabeth Cornelius was the third wife of Johannes von Lahnstein. They had a secret affair in 2006, when Elisabeth was still married to Arno Brandner. She later divorced him and Elisabeth and Johannes were married in 2007. The marriage dissolved with Johannes' presumed death in January 2008, but with Maria pretending to be Francesca, the marriage was annulled in September 2009, but later reinstated when Maria's scheme came to light.

Family trees

Legend

Descendants

• Dietrich von Lahnstein (deceased)
  • m. Mimi Baxter [divorced] (deceased)
    • c. Ludwig von Lahnstein
      • m. Madeleine von Lahnstein [dissolved] (deceased)
        • c. Hagen von Lahnstein
          • m. Marlene Wolf [divorced; 2011-2012]
          • m. Dana Wolf [married 2012–present]
          • a. Jessica Stiehl
            • c. Maximilian von Lahnstein.
        • c. Sebastian von Lahnstein
          • a. Katja Brandner (deceased)
            • c. Christina Brandner
          • m. Lydia Brandner [divorced; 2009-2011]
          • m. Tanja von Anstetten [married; 2011–present]
            • c. Emma von Lahnstein
        • c. Helena von Lahnstein
        • c. Tristan von Lahnstein
        • c. Rebecca von Lahnstein
      • m. Elisabeth Cornelius [married; 2011–present]
    • c. Johannes von Lahnstein (presumed deceased)
      • a. Maria di Balbi (deceased)
        • c. Ansgar von Lahnstein
          • a. Viktoria Wolf
            • c. Kim Wolf
              • m. Emilio Sanchez [married; 2012–present]
          • a. Tanja von Anstetten
            • c. Hannes von Lahnstein
          • m. Nathalie Käppler [divorced; 2007-2008]
          • m. Tanja von Anstetten [divorced; 2008–2011]
          • a. Lydia Brandner
            • c. Nick Brandner
      • m. Francesca di Balbi [dissolved] (deceased)
        • c. Carla von Lahnstein
          • m. Bernd von Beyenbach [divorced; 2005-2006]
          • m. Susanne Brandner [divorced; 2006–2008]
          • s. Lars Schneider
            • c. Sophia von Lahnstein
        • c. Leonard von Lahnstein (legal child) [biological son of Adrian Degenhardt]
          • m. Silke Voss [divorced]
          • m. Cécile de Maron [dissolved; 2006] (deceased)
            • c. Julius de Maron (deceased)
          • m. Jana Brandner [dissolved; 2007-2008] (deceased)
          • m. Sarah Hofmann [married; 2008–present]
        • c. Constantin von Lahnstein (legal child) [biological son of Adrian Degenhardt]
      • a. Elke Käppler
        • c. Sarah Hofmann
          • m. Gregor Mann [divorced; 2007–2008]
            • c. Amelie Mann (deceased)
          • m. Leonard von Lahnstein [married; 2008–present]
      • a. Vera Brandner (deceased)
        • c. Nico von Lahnstein
          • m. Philipp zu Hohenfelden [dissolved; 2011] (deceased)
      • m. Cécile de Maron [divorced; 2004-2005] (deceased)
      • m. Elisabeth Cornelius [dissolved; 2007-2008]

Legend:

• m. = married
• c. = child
• s. = sperm donation
• a. = affair/lovers/one night stand

Distant relatives

• Luise von Waldensteyck is a distant cousin of Ansgar, Carla, Sarah and Nico, as well as Sebastian, Rebecca, Tristan, and Helena.