Sophie, Princess of Prussia

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

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, Countess Christine of Saurma-Jeltsch. He is head of a mediatized Catholic line of Princess 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 Castle Birstein, the family seat in Hesse, Sophie studied at a primary school in Birstein and at St. Mary's school in Fulda. She then attended the boarding school Kloater 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 the Frederick the Great.

Numerous sources called it the most lavish Hohenzollern wedding since the marriage of the bridegroom's aunt, Princess Marie Cecile of Prussia, to Duke of 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 deigned by Wolfgang Joop. Sophie wore the Isenburgs' traditional diamond diadem to the alter, replacing it with the 1905 Prussian Meander tiara of diamonds-and platinum for the wedding supper.

Although the Prussian branch of the Hohenzollerns reigned 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 (His Royal Highness Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia and Her Serene Highness Princess Sophie of Isenburg").

The religious wedding ceremony was broadcasted live by RBB, a public television station, over the objections of some leftists 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, Mattias Platzeck and Manfred Stolpe. Vladimir Kotenev, Russia's ambassador to Germany from 2004 to 2010, also attended.

Titles and Styles

7 March 1978-25 August 2011: Her Serene Highness Princess Sophie Johanna Maria of Isenburg

25 August 2011-present: Her Imperial and Royal Highness The Princess of Prussia

House: Isenburg

Religion: Roman Catholic

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