Sophie, Princess of Prussia

Sophie
Princess of Prussia[1]
Spouse Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia
Full name
Sophie Johanna Maria of Isenburg
House House of Isenburg
House of Hohenzollern
Father Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg
Mother Countess Christine von Saurma-Jeltsch
Born 7 March 1978 (1978-03-07) (age 34)
Frankfurt-am-Main

Sophie Johanna Maria, Princess of Prussia (née Princess of Isenburg,[1] born 7 March 1978) is the wife of Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, head of the House of Hohenzollern, which reigned as German emperors and kings of Prussia until deposed in 1918.

Contents

Family and career

Princess Sophie was born on 7 March 1978 in Frankfurt-am-Main.[2] Her parents are Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg and his wife, née Countess Christine von Saurma-Jeltsch.[3] He is head of a mediatized Catholic line of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, which lost their independence in 1815.[3] She has two sisters (Archduchess Katharina of Austria-Este and Isabelle, Princess of Wied) and two brothers (Hereditary Prince Alexander and Prince Viktor).[3][4] Growing up at Castle Birstein, the family seat in Hesse, Sophie studied at a primary school in Birstein and at St. Mary's school in Fulda.[4] Next, she attended the boarding school Kloster Wald and passed her A-Levels as well as a trade test as a dressmaker. The princess undertook internships in her country's Bundestag, and in London, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.[2][4] Sophie studied business administration at the University of Freiburg and Humboldt University of Berlin and works at a firm that offers consulting services for nonprofit business.[2][5][6]

Marriage
Extended family

On 21 January 2011, Georg Friedrich announced the couple's engagement. The civil wedding was conducted in Potsdam's city hall by Mayor Jann Jakobs on 25 August 2011,[7]and the religious wedding took place at the Church of Peace on 27 August 2011, in commemoration of the 950th anniversary of the founding of the House of Hohenzollern.[8][9] Following the ceremony, a reception was held on the grounds of the Sanssouci summer palace of Frederick the Great.[10][11]

Numerous sources called it the most lavish Hohenzollern wedding since the marriage of the bridegroom's aunt, Princess Marie Cécile of Prussia, to Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg in 1965.[5][10] The bride arrived with her father in a silver Rolls Royce and departed with her husband in a horse-drawn landau for the reception at the Hohenzollerns' nearby former palace.[5][12] Her bridal gown was designed by Wolfgang Joop [13]. Although the Prussian branch of the Hohenzollerns reigned as Evangelical Protestants, Princess Sophie will retain her own faith, and a congratulatory message was read aloud at the ecumenical service by Count Gregor Henckel von Donnersmarck, Abbot of Heiligenkreuz, from Pope Benedict XVI and addressed to Seine Königliche Hoheit Prinz Georg Friedrich von Preussen und Ihre Durchlaucht Prinzessin Sophie von Isenburg ("His Royal Highness Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia and Her Serene Highness Princess Sophie of Isenburg"). Sophie wore the Isenburgs' traditional diamond diadem to the altar, replacing it with the 1905 Prussian Meander tiara of diamonds-and-platinum at the supper. The religious wedding ceremony was broadcast live by RBB, a public television station, over the objections of some leftist politicians, and drew 160,000 viewers – an 18.6% share of television viewership compared with its average 2.6% rating for that time of the day[14][15][16]

Some 720 guests witnessed the noontime nuptials inside the church, 1300 well-wishers attended a reception at the nearby Neue Kammern afterwards, 370 invitees joined the couple in the evening for the white-tie wedding dinner and ball at the Palace Orangerie (and some had attended a charity concert with the couple at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin the previous night, following their civil wedding).[17]

Germany's political establishment was represented at the wedding by former finance minister Michael Glos and Brandenburg's incumbent and former premiers, (Matthias Platzeck) and (Manfred Stolpe), respectively.[18] Russia's ambassador to Germany (2004–2010), Vladimir Kotenev, also attended.[18] From abroad came relatives of the bridal pair representing the reigning families of:[17][18][19] Belgium (Prince Laurent), the Netherlands (Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma and his sister, Princess Carolina), Sweden (Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern), the United Kingdom (Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor), Luxembourg (Princess Sibilla) and Liechtenstein (the Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie, Princess Maria Annunciata), as well as Prince Hassan and Sarvarth of Jordan.

The pretenders, dowagers or heirs of many of the imperial or royal deposed dynasties of Europe also attended the wedding of the dynastic heir of the German Emperors, including:[17][18][19] Bavaria (Duke Franz); Hanover (Dowager Princess Monika, Hereditary Prince Ernst August of Brunswick); Portugal (Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza and his Duchess, Isabel); Romania (Princess Royal Margarita); Russia (Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son, Grand Duke George, who is paternally a Prince of Prussia); Saxony (Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe and his Princess, Gisela) and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Carlo, Duke of Castro and his Duchess, Camilla).

Members of other formerly reigning families were also present, including:[17][18][19] the imperial House of Habsburg (Archduke Georg and his Archduchess, Eilika); the royal House of Wittelsbach (Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria and his Duchess, Elisabeth); the royal House of Wurttemberg (Duke Philipp and his Duchess, Marie Caroline); the grandducal House of Zahringen (Maximilian, Margrave of Baden and his Margravine, Valerie); the grandducal House of Hesse (Landgrave Moritz); the grandducal House of Oldenburg (Duke Friedrich August, step-father and former uncle-in-law of the bridesgroom, and his Duchess, Donata, the bride's new mother-in-law); the ducal House of Este (Dowager Archduchess Margherita and her son, Archduke Martin with his wife, Archduchess Katharina, sister of the bride); the ducal Houses of Ernestine Saxony (Prince Andreas of Coburg); the princely House of Lippe (Prince Armin and his Princess, Traute, their son Hereditary Prince Stephan and his Hereditary Princess, Maria, Prince Alexander of Schaumburg and his wife, Nadja Anna); the princely House of Hohenzollern (Hereditary Prince Alexander and his wife, Katharina); the princely House of Leiningen (Andreas, Prince of Leiningen and his Princess, Alexandra, Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen and his Princess, Isabelle, née Countess von Egloffstein); the princely House of Wied (consisting of Prince Carl and his Princess, Isabelle, another sister of the bride); and members of the royal House of Prussia itself (Ehrengard von Preussen née von Reden, Prince Christian Ludwig and his sister Princess Irina, Prince Adalbert, Prince Franz Friedrich and his wife Susann, Anastasia of Prussia, Princess of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg and her husband, Prince Alois-Konstantin, Marie Louise of Prussia, Countess of Schönburg-Glauchau and her husband, Count Rudi, former owner of the Marbella Club Hotel).

Absent were Georg Friedrich's paternal uncles, Princes Friedrich Wilhelm, Michael and Christian-Sigismund von Preussen, who were not invited, the first two having renounced their historical rights as Prussian dynasts upon marriage to commoners, and all three of whom had sued for larger portions of the estate and trust of their ancestor, ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II, the lion's share of which had been initially inherited by Georg Friedrich following the death of his grandfather, Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, in 1994.[20]

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ a b In 1919 royalty and nobility were mandated to lose their privileges in Germany, hereditary titles were to be legally borne thereafter only as part of the surname, according to Article 109 of the Weimar Constitution.
  2. ^ a b c "Sophie The Princess of Prussia". Official website of the House of Hohenzollern. http://www.preussen.de/en/family/sophie_the_princess_of_prussia.html. Retrieved 7 September 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XV. C.A. Starke Verlag, 1997, pp.271-275.
  4. ^ a b c Bild. Gottschild, Karen. Sophie Prinzessin von Isenburg: Wer ist die neue Kaiserin?.
  5. ^ a b c Troianovski, Anton (2011-08-26). "No Titles, No Subjects, No Problem: Germans Join Royal Wedding Craze". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530392758604496.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  6. ^ "Germany has its own royal wedding as the last emperor's descendant marries". Hello!. 2011-08-31. http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/201108316028/prince-georg-friedrich-of-prussia-princess-sophie--of-isenburg-wedding/. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  7. ^ Welt. Van der Kraats, Marion. Die preußische Prinzenhochzeit beginnt ganz privat. 25 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia and Sophie Princes: Germany Set for Its Own Royal Wedding". ABC News. 2011-08-27. http://abcnews.go.com/International/georg-friedrich-prince-prussia-germany-set-royal-wedding/story?id=14389085. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  9. ^ Peiffer, Kim (2011-08-31). "Princess Sophie of Isenburg's Wedding Dress: All the Details". People. http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20395222_20524408,00.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  10. ^ a b Liston, Enjoli (2011-08-27). "Kaiser Wilhelm junior gives Germany its own royal wedding". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/kaiser-wilhelm-junior-gives-germany-its-own-royal-wedding-2344704.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  11. ^ "Kaiser heir weds princess in Potsdam". The Local. 2011-08-27. http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110827-37219.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  12. ^ The Guardian. AP. German royals marry with pomp. 27 August 2011.
  13. ^ http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/08/prince-of-prussias-wedding-bridal-gown.html
  14. ^ "German royals marry with pomp". The Associated Press. 2011-08-27. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gvqAJu-aYbDa8wuZhAAhKiGUNOsA?docId=4bee4dc49c784ffd87d7f1d5c60a6101. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  15. ^ RBB Berlin Brandenburg Television. [1]
  16. ^ "Prussian prince marries in televised ceremony". CBS News. 2011-09-01. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20100351-10391698.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
  17. ^ a b c d Bunte. Royales Hochzeitsfieber in Potsdam. 24 August 2011.
  18. ^ a b c d e Getty Images. DEU: Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prince Of Prussia And Princess Sophie Of Isenburg Wedding. retrieved 10 September 2011.
  19. ^ a b c Bild. APA PictureDesk Preussen Hochzeit. retrieved 10 September 2011.
  20. ^ Welt. Oswald, Andreas. Der Taggespiegel Adelshochzeit in Potsdam: Wenn das der Kaiser wüsste. 26 August 2011. retrieved 9 September 2011.
Titles in pretence
Vacant
Title last held by
Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia		 — TITULAR —
Titular German Empress
Titular Queen of Prussia
25 August 2011 – present
Reason for succession failure:
German monarchies abolished in 1918		 Incumbent