The daughter of billionaire Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis has fallen in love with a reality TV royal with a murky background.
Andrea Catsimatidis is dating so-called aristocrat Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, who claims to have ancestral links to the regal houses of both Germany and Denmark — though his title has been called into question.
Prince Mario-Max has been called the “King of Trash TV” after appearing on Germany’s “Big Brother,” as well as Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and “Millionaire Matchmaker,” searching for a wife.
But it seems he has found his dream girl in Catsimatidis, the NYC heiress and chairwoman of the Manhattan Republican Party.
We’re told that the pair met at the opening of Rampoldi restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in September 2023.
Andrea, 33, was previously married to Richard Nixon’s grandson, Christopher Nixon Cox — and was married in a fairytale wedding in front of power guests including Henry Kissinger, George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani.
She filed for divorce from Cox, who is the son of New York State Republican party head Ed Cox, in 2014.
Andrea’s father has previously run as a GOP candidate for NYC mayor.
She proclaimed her fairytale love with older Mario-Max, 47, on Instagram on Valentine’s Day with a shot of the duo in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, and the caption, “So in love… celebrating five months on this magical journey with my soulmate. We feel truly blessed to have found true love, it is everything we ever wanted and even more than we could have ever dreamed of.”
She also called the reality TV star “the love of my life.”
But the pairing has the social set buzzing over Prince Mario-Max’s regal bonafides.
The Prince — who once hawked a “wealth elixir” on a shopping network — insists he is the real deal.
According to the Daily Mail, he was adopted at the age of 24 by a member of the Schaumburg-Lippe family, and then took on the regal title.
He caused an uproar in certain circles in January when he took a selfie with Prince Harry during an event, making a slew of headlines in the after the Brits cast doubt on his royal lineage.
According to the Daily Mail, “the head of his family, Prince Alexander of Schaumburg-Lippe, [has] accused [Mario-Max] of ‘harvesting our name for personal gain.’” The outlet also claimed that, “Prince Alexander also warned Harry to ‘stay away from this man’, claiming he could not ‘stoop lower’ than be seen with Mario-Max.”
But Mario-Max’s rep, Robert W. Cabell — who tells us he is writing a book about the Schaumburg-Lippe family — told us when we reached out for comment that questions over the royal’s validity are “both absurd and offensive!”
He also slammed Prince Alexander saying, “He may have the same last name, yet he is unrelated to their family and has no integrity or position in it. His only goal is to harm the reputation of their family with his fabricated claims of superiority. [Mario-Max’s father] Prince Waldemar, [birth mother] Princess Antonia and Prince Mario-Max distanced themselves from Alexander and never comment on him publicly.”
Alexander’s family ruled the sovereign principality of Schaumburg-Lippe in the German Empire until 1918, according to Wikipedia, and several articles name him as the head heir of the house.
Mario-Max’s rep provided a lengthy explanation of his lineage’s legitimacy and added, “These are the legal facts and any propaganda to the contrary have been and will be meticulously litigated.”
The rep also claims that if the new couple has children together, their offspring will also be titled.
“Any future wife and children will be bestowed the titles of Prinz or Prinzessin zu Schaumburg-Lippe by law which is non-negotiable under German and international law,” the rep claims.
Mario-Max has offered up his birth certificate on social media as proof of his heritage. He also posted a family tree, and a convoluted family history on his website.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle biographer Phil Dampier told Daily Mail when Harry posed with Mario-Max: “If Harry wants to be taken seriously he should not be posing up with people like this ‘German Prince’ who has been on their equivalent of ‘Celebrity Big Brother,’ and been dubbed the ‘King of Trash TV’ on shopping channels. It’s very sad to see someone who was once a real life royal with so much to offer reduced to this sort of tacky selfie’.”
Either way, Catsimatidis and the prince are currently chronicling a trip to Palm Beach, Fla. They posted a video of themselves standing by a private plane and kissing by a pool, as well as drawing hearts in the sand.
There is even a shot of Mario-Max — who once modeled lederhosen in a fashion show — striding shirtless from the ocean.
“Prince Mario-Max can offer Andrea a wonderful life together,” his rep tells Page Six. “Andrea is as intelligent as she is beautiful and has his and his families [sic] full support in her pursuits of all her dreams, and career goals.”
The rep added, “Prince Mario-Max appreciates that his beloved Andrea has experienced media storms due to her parents and her own political career so they had a sit down with all documents and she is well prepared about the Royal and all other family FACTS.”
A rep for John Catsimatidis did not respond to request for comment.
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