Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán’s son discreetly joins the army

Budapest, Hungary – Gáspár Orban, the son of the Hungarian Prime Minister, has quietly joined the army earlier this month, as local investigative media 444.hu discovered.

A video of the official ceremony, where he took his oath along with more than a dozen newly-enrolled soldiers, was broadcast on Szolnok TV.

Although footage from the report was quickly deleted, and the Hungarian army didn’t give official confirmation, Orban’s son clearly appears on the pictures and video unearthed by 444.hu.

The TV report failed to mention that Gáspár Orban was among the soldiers, and also omitted another little nugget of information regarding the ceremony: the discreet presence of Viktor Orban himself, seated in the last row of onlookers who attended the military ceremony.

This is not Gáspár Orban’s first surprising career choice: after a failed bid at becoming a professional football player, the 27-year-old son of Hungary’s PM founded, in 2015, his own Church called Felhaz (roughly translated as “the Upper House”), along with two friends Illés Ember and Donát Prekopa.

The self-proclaimed aim of this religious community? Evangelizing Hungary’s youth aged from 18 to 30, according to the preaching of the Pentecostal religious movement, a reformist Church born in the late 19th, early 20th century in the United States, with allegedly hundreds of millions of followers in the world.

This new venture, of course, raised a few eyebrows, as the Hungarian Spectrum points out: “It might be only malevolent speculation, but some people are convinced that Gaspar Orban’s ‘church’ has political goals”, considering his own father’s pledge to build a Christian democratic state as well as the substantial and suspicious amount of donations Felhaz has received from private donors.

Talking to the Hungarian weekly HVG, he said that although his father “offers him great support”, “I’m not sure he understands what I’m doing”.

Will his new career path receive his father’s seal of approval?