Image courtesy - DPA Picture Alliance

In raids across Germany, 25 people were apprehended on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.

The far-right and ex-military figures are said to be planning a coup against the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building.

A minor aristocrat known as Prince Heinrich XIII, 71, is said to have played a key role in their plans.

He is one of two alleged ringleaders arrested across 11 German states, according to federal prosecutors.

Members of the extremist Reichsbürger [Citizens of the Reich] movement are said to be among the plotters. The group has long been on the radar of German police for violent attacks and racist conspiracy theories. They also refuse to recognize Germany's modern state.

Other suspects came from the QAnon movement who believe their country is in the hands of a "deep state".

An estimated 50 men and women are alleged to have been part of the group, said to have plotted to overthrow the republic and replace it with a new state modelled on the Germany of 1871 - an empire called the Second Reich.

Thousands of police officers took part in 130 raids across much of the country, with two arrests in Austria and Italy.

The federal prosecutor's office said the group had been plotting a violent coup since November 2021 and members of its central "Rat" (council) had since held regular meetings.

They planned to create "civil war conditions" to bring about an end to Germany's democracy. Members understood they could only achieve their goals by "military means and violence against state representatives", he said.

A former far-right AfD member of the lower house of parliament is suspected of being part of a plot to overthrow Chancellor Angela Merkel. Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who was among the 25 people arrested, returned to her role as judge last year. A court has since turned down attempts to dislodge her.

A prominent lawyer was pencilled in to handle the group's foreign affairs, with Prince Heinrich as a leader.

Police carried out raids across 11 of Germany's 16 states - Image - Reuters

Heinrich XIII comes from an old noble family known as the House of Reuss, which ruled over parts of the modern eastern state of Thuringia until 1918. Descendants still own a few castles and Heinrich himself is said to have a hunting lodge at Bad Lobenstein in Thuringia.

The rest of the family have long distanced themselves from the minor aristocrat, with one spokesman telling local broadcaster MDR during the summer that Heinrich was an "at times confused" man who had fallen for "misconceptions fuelled by conspiracy theories".

As well as a shadow government, the plotters allegedly had plans for a military arm run by a second ringleader identified as Rüdiger von P.

They were made up of active and former members of the military, officials believe and included ex-elite soldiers from special units.

The aim of the military arm was to eliminate democratic bodies at the local level, prosecutors said. Rüdiger von P is suspected of trying to recruit police officers in northern Germany and of having an eye on army barracks too officials said.

One of those under investigation had been a member of the Special Commando Forces, and police searched his home and his room at the Graf-Zeppelin military base in Calw, southwest of Stuttgart.

Another suspect has been identified as Vitalia B, a Russian woman who was asked to approach Moscow on Heinrich's behalf. The Russian embassy in Berlin said in a statement that it did not "maintain contacts with representatives of terrorist groups and other illegal entities".

Several violent attacks have been linked to Germany's far-right in recent years. In 2020, a 43-year-old man shot dead nine people of foreign origin in the western town of Hanau, and a Reichsbürger member was jailed for killing a policeman in 2016.

The Reichsbürger movement is estimated to have as many as 21,000 followers, of whom around 5% are considered to belong to the extreme right.