The paternity battle of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter Dannielynn has taken a surprise turn in the 24 hours after Anna Nicole’s death as a third man is claiming there is a chance he’s the father of the five month old baby.

Prince Frederick von Anhalt, who has been married to Zsa Zsa Gabor for 20 years, has told the Associated Press that he had a ten year affair with Anna Nicole.

He told the news agency: “If you go back from September, she wasn’t with one of those guys, she was with me.”

It has yet to be seen whether he’ll make a formal claim for paternity or submit his DNA for testing but the court overseeing Larry Birkhead’s paternity case has denied a request for a DNA sample to be extract from Anna Nicole’s body.

In a court hearing this morning, Birkhead’s lawyer Debra Opri requested an emergency DNA test on Anna Nicole: the judge refused but ordered Anna Nicole’s body to be preserved until a further hearing on 20th February.

After today’s hearing, Opri commented that “Nothing was granted. Nothing was denied” but that the DNA is critical in order to ensure that the DNA submitted as Dannielynn’s is actually hers: “so that no one can switch the babies.”

The judge at the hearing also refused the requested for Dannielynn to be taken under the jurisdiction of the court until the matter is settled. The baby is reportedly with friends of the family in the Bahamas at the moment.

Anna Nicole’s attorney Ron Rale criticised the emergency requests made during the hearing but when asked if Larry Birkhead was the father, he replied “maybe he is, maybe he isn’t”: the first time any member of Team Smith has conceded that there is a possibility that Howard K Stern is not the father of the child.

Regarding Anna Nicole’s death itself, TMZ is reporting that the hotel, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, is under a lockdown: “[lainclothes officers and private security are stationed all over the hotel, roaming the floors and protecting the elevators” backed up by six police cruisers stationed outside.

The site also reports that hotel staff have been banned from talking to the media but several reports have slipped through: inside sources have reportedly told WCBS-TV in New York that both illegal narcotics and prescription drugs were found in the room and Access Hollywood that Anna Nicole choked on her own vomit.

The nurse and bodyguard (a former paramedic) that tried to resuscitate Anna Nicole have been interviewed by local police as had Anna Nicole’s partner Howard K Stern.

Entertainment Tonight’s anchor Mark Steines has claimed that Howard and Anna Nicole were planning to marry later this month (on the 23rd February) and that he had been invited to the ceremony in the Bahamas.

Steines added that he had heard Anna Nicole nearly died just a few weeks ago after being found face down in the swimming pool at her island home. According to his report, Howard found her and her bodyguard administered CPR: “[he] saved her life at that point.”

Steines himself believed Anna Nicole was “living a very fragile existence” at that point with Howard telling him personally that Anna Nicole was “falling into a deeper and deeper depression” since the death of her son Daniel in September.

UPDATE: At a press conference this afternoon, Police Chief Charlie Tiger denied reports that illegal narcotics had been found in the room and there is “no evidence has been revealed to suggest that a crime has occurred”. Regarding the cause of death, Broward County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper said “the death might be due to some medication, or combination of natural causes and medication” but no pills or tablets were found in her stomach. He also ruled out asphyxia, dispelling rumours she choked on her own vomit. The cause of death will be confirmed in 3 to 5 weeks after tests are completed.