Sophie, Princess of Prussia

Family and career

Princess Sophie was born on 7 March 1978 in Frankfurt, West Germany. Her parents are Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg and his wife, née Countess Christine von Saurma-Jeltsch. He is head of a mediatized Catholic line of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, who lost their independence in 1815. She has two sisters (Archduchess Katharina of Austria-Este and Isabelle, Dowager Princess of Wied) and two brothers (Hereditary Prince Alexander and Prince Viktor).

Growing up at Birstein Castle, the family seat in Hesse, Sophie studied at a primary school in Birstein and at St. Mary's school (de) in Fulda. She then 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. 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.

Marriage

On 21 January 2011, Georg Friedrich, the head of the House of Hohenzollern, announced the couple's engagement. The civil wedding was conducted in Potsdam's city hall by Mayor Jann Jakobs on 25 August 2011, 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. Following the ceremony, a reception was held on the grounds of the Sanssouci summer palace of Frederick the Great.

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. 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. Her bridal gown was designed by Wolfgang Joop. Sophie wore the Isenburgs' traditional diamond diadem to the altar, replacing it with the 1905 Prussian Meander tiara of diamonds-and-platinum for the wedding supper.

Although the Prussian branch of the Hohenzollerns are as Evangelical Protestants, Princess Sophie retains 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").

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.

Approximately 720 guests witnessed the wedding inside the church; 1300 well-wishers attended a reception at the nearby Neue Kammern afterwards. 370 people joined the couple in the evening for the white-tie wedding dinner and ball at the Palace Orangerie. Some had also attended a charity concert with the couple at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin the previous night, following their civil wedding.

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. Vladimir Kotenev, Russia's ambassador to Germany from 2004 to 2010, also attended.

From abroad came relatives of the bridal pair who were also the family members or near kin of the reigning monarchs of Belgium (King Philippe's brother, Prince Laurent); the Netherlands (Queen Beatrix's nephew and niece, Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma and his sister Princess Carolina of Bourbon-Parma); Sweden (King Carl XVI Gustaf's brother-in-law, Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern); the United Kingdom (Queen Elizabeth II's Kent cousin-once-removed and his wife, Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor); Luxembourg (Grand Duke Henri's sister-in-law, Princess Sibilla); and Liechtenstein (Prince Hans-Adam II's son, the Hereditary Prince Alois and his wife the Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein, and Prince Hans-Adam's niece Princess Maria Annunciata); as well as Prince Hassan and his wife, Princess Sarvarth of Jordan.

The hereditary heads, 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 Franz, the Duke of Bavaria; Monika, Dowager Princess of Hanover and her step-grandson, Hereditary Prince Ernst August; the Duke Duarte Pio and his wife Isabel, Duchess of Braganza; Margarita, Princess Royal of Romania; Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia and her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich (who is paternally a prince of Prussia); Prince Alexander and his wife Princess Gisela of Saxony; and Duke Carlo and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Castro.

Members of other formerly reigning families were also present, including Archduke Georg and his wife Archduchess Eilika of Austria; Duke Max and his wife, Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria; Duke Philipp and his wife, Duchess Marie Caroline of Württemberg; the Margrave Maximilian and his wife Valerie, Margravine of Baden; Moritz, the Landgrave of Hesse; Duke Friedrich August (stepfather of the bridegroom) and his wife Duchess Donata of Oldenburg (mother of the bridegroom); Margherita, Dowager Archduchess of Austria-Este and her son Archduke Martin and his wife Archduchess Katharina (sister of the bride); Andreas, the Prince of Coburg; Armin, Prince of Lippe and Stephan, Hereditary Prince of Lippe; Alexander, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; the Prince Andreas and his wife Alexandra, Princess of Leiningen, Prince Karl and his wife Princess Isabelle of Leiningen; and the Prince Carl and his wife Isabelle, Princess of Wied (another sister of the bride).

Also in attendance were numerous relatives of the bridegroom's family, the House of Hohenzollern, including Prince Christian Ludwig of Prussia, Princess Irina of Prussia, Prince Adalbert of Prussia, Prince Franz Friedrich of Prussia, Princess Anastasia of Prussia and her husband Alois-Konstantin, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Princess Marie Louise of Prussia and her husband Count Rudi von Schönburg-Glauchau (former owner of the Marbella Club Hotel). Ehrengard von Preussen and the heir of the senior branch of the dynasty, Alexander, Hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern also attended. 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 largest share of which had been initially inherited by Georg Friedrich following the death of his grandfather, Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, in 1994.

Issue

On 20 January 2013, Sophie gave birth to twin sons, Carl Friedrich Franz Alexander and Louis Ferdinand Christian Albrecht. Carl Friedrich, the elder of the two, is the heir apparent to the House of Hohenzollern. Their third child Emma Marie Charlotte Sophie was born on the 2 April 2015. The couple's fourth child, Heinrich Albert Johann Georg was born on 17 November 2016.

Titles and styles