House Hohenzollern Name Prince of | Great-grandparents Wilhelm II | |
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Born 14 March 1946 (age 78) ( 1946-03-14 ) Issue Isabelle-Alexandra Grandmontagne-Prinzessin von Preusen
Prince Christian Ludwig of Prussia
Princess Irina Maria Nina Kira of Prussia Father Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia Mother Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia Spouse Nina Helene Lydia Alexandra (m. 1984) Children Princess Irina of Prussia, Prince Christian Ludwig of Prussia Parents Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia Grandparents Wilhelm, German Crown Prince Similar People Louis Ferdinand - Prince of, Grand Duchess Kira Kirill, Princess Marie Cecile of, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg‑Schwerin, Wilhelm - German Crown Pri | ||
Prince Christian-Sigismund of Prussia (born March 14, 1946) is one of the three paternal uncles of Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, head of the House of Hohenzollern since 1994, which reigned over Germany until 1918. He is the youngest of four sons born to Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (1907-1994) and Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (1909-1967). He was the heir presumptive to the headship of the deposed House of Hohenzollern from the death of his father to 20 January 2013, when Georg Friedrich fathered twin sons, relegating Christian-Sigismund to a more remote place in the Line of succession to the former German throne.
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Dynastic status
His two eldest brothers, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (born 1939) and Prince Michael (born 1940) married commoners in the mid-1960s and renounced their historical rights as Prussian princes. In 1975 his brother Prince Louis Ferdinand Jr. (1944-1977), dynastically wed a mediatised countess, Donata Countess of Castell-Rüdenhausen (1950 - 2015), but died accidentally during German military maneuvers two years later, leaving an only son, Georg Friedrich, as heir to the Hohenzollern legacy. Aware that his father strongly desired that he marry dynastically after his eldest brothers' morganatic marriages, Christian Sigismund nonetheless maintained that he did not feel unduly pressured: his eventual marriage to a countess, although non-mediatised, was also accepted as "equal" by his father.
Prior to his death, Louis Ferdinand Sr. made Georg Friedrich his principal heir, designating Christian Sigismund as guardian responsible for his education and management of his financial share in the Hohenzollern trust during his minority.
However, by the time of his nephew's marriage, alienation among the male dynasts in the family had become entrenched. After their father's death, Friedrich Wilhelm and Michael, whose first marriages to commoners had ended in divorce, retracted their renunciations during their second marriages. Christian Sigismund's marriage having been recognised, he and his son remained Hohenzollern dynasts; nonetheless he joined his two surviving brothers in filing a lawsuit against Georg Friedrich to dissolve the Hohenzollern trust and obtain larger appanages. None of the three brothers attended their nephew's wedding in 2011, although Christian Sigismund's son and younger daughter were in attendance.
Marriage and issue
Prince Christian-Sigismund has three children. His first child was born from a relationship with Christiane Grandmontagne (later daughter-in-law of Count Lennart Bernadotte of Wisborg), whom he had legitimised:
He also has two children with his wife Countess Nina Helene Lydia Alexandra zu Reventlow (born Kiel, 13 March 1954) whom he married on September 29, 1984, at Gut Damp an der Ostsee in Holstein, daughter of Count Carl Ludwig zu Reventlow, and his second wife Nina Pryadkin.