The Head of the House of Romanoff and Her Heir the Tsetsarevich Attend the Wedding of the Head of the German Imperial House, Prince Georg Friedrich, and Princess Sophie (née Princess von Isenburg)

On August 27, 2011, the Head of the Prussian Royal House, His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, was married. The bride was Her Serene Highness Princess Sophie von Isenburg. The ceremony was part of larger celebrations of the 950-th anniversary of the House of Hohenzollern.

The Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, and Her son and Heir, H.I.H. the Tsetsarevich and Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich, were in attendance to offer their most august relatives their heartfelt congratulations on this happy occasion, and to attend the Church services and other wedding-related events.

The civil marriage took place on August 25, two days before the Church wedding. The ceremony was held at the town hall in the city of Potsdam, and was conducted personally by the city mayor, Jann Jakobs, who stated that “Prince Georg Freidrich of Prussia is an ardent supporter of the city of Potsdam. Therefore for us, it is a great joy that he has selected our city for his wedding.” Only a few very close friends and family were present at the civil ceremony.

After the ceremony, the couple went to the palace of Sans Souci, where they planted a tree commemorating their marriage, and where they oversaw the preparations for their formal wedding and the reception in the Orangery Palace.

On the following day, the Princess Kira of Prussia Foundation arranged a concert in honor of the wedding of the Head of the German Imperial and Prussian Royal House, in the Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt Square in Berlin. The concert was attended by all of the wedding guests.

The wedding took place on August 27, in the Friedenskirche (or “Church of Peace”), in the park at San Souci in Potsdam near Berlin. The church is located in Marly Park, near the main entrance to the palace grounds. It was built by King Friedrich-Wilhelm IV and was designed by the architect Ludwig Persius.

The wedding of the Head of the House of Hohenzollern was celebrated as a public event throughout Germany, in the same way as were the weddings of Prince William of Great Britain in April and of Prince Albert II of Monaco in July. The wedding was broadcast live on RBB (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg) and was covered by more than 100 reporters and photojournalists.

There were more than 700 guests at the wedding, many of whom are members of royal and noble houses of Germany and other European countries, as well as representatives of the ruling families of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Jordan.

In addition to the Grand Duchess and Her Heir, the list of royal guests in attendance at the wedding included: Prince Franz of Bavaria, the Head of the Bavarian Royal House; Prince Carlos and Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the Duke and Duchess of Castro; Duke Dom Duarte Pio III, the Duke of Braganza and the Head of the Portuguese Royal House, and his wife Duchess Dona Isabella; Prince Moritz, the Head of the Hessian House and the Landgraf of Hesse; Prince Eduard II, the Head of the Ducal House of Anhalt, and his wife Princess Corinna; Margrave Maximillian II of Baden, the Head of the Grand Ducal House of Baden, and his wife Margravine Valerie (née Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Tuscany); Prince Alexander, the Head of the Princely House of Schaumburg-Lippe, and his wife Princess Nadja Anna; Prince Karl Friedrich von Hohenzollern and his wife Princess Katharina Nina; Prince Alois-Konstantin of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, and his wife Princess Anastasia (née Princess of Prussia); Prince Andreas of Leiningen, and his wife Princess Alexandra (née Princess of Hanover); Princess Eva-Benita of Schaumburg-Lippe (née Baroness von Tiele-Winckler); Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Bavaria (née Countess Douglas, of the Scottish Douglas clan); Crown Princess Margarita of Romania, with her husband Prince Radu of Romania; Prince Alexander of Saxe-Gessaphe, and his wife Princess Gisela (née Princess of Bavaria); Hereditary Prince Bernhard of Baden, with his wife Hereditary Princess Stephanie; Duke Christian of Oldenburg, with his wife Duchess Caroline (née Countess zu Rantzau); Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and his wife Hereditary Princess Kelly of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Hereditary Prince Stephan of Lippe, and his wife Hereditary Princess Maria (née Countess Solms-Laubach); Archduke Georg of Austria, and his wife Archduchess Eilika (née Duchess of Oldenburg); Archduchess Gabriela of Austria, the current Ambassador from the Republic of Georgia to the Federal Republic of Germany; Archduke Martin of Austria-Este, with his wife Archduchess Katharina, the bride’s sister; Prince Leopold of Bavaria, with his wife Princess Ursula; Duchess Elizabeth of Bavaria, Princess of Bavaria, with her husband Daniel Terberger; Prince Laurent of Belgium, with his wife Princess Claire; Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma, Count of Bardi, with his younger sister Princess Maria Carolina, Marchioness of Sala; Duke Philipp of Württemberg, with his wife Duchess Marie-Carolin (née Princess and Duchess of Bavaria); Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, with his wife Princess Sarvath; Prince Adalbert of Prussia, with his wife Princess Eva Maria and sons Alexander, Christian, and Philipp; Prince Franz Friedrich of Prussia, with his wife Princess Susann; Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg, and her husband Prince Guillaume, the younger brother of Grand Duke Henri I; Prince Johann George of Hohenzollern; Princess Marie Louise of Prussia, with her husband Count Rudolf of Schönburg-Glauchau, with their son Count Friedrich and daughter Countess Sophie; Prince Michael of Baden; Prince Ludwig of Baden, with his wife Princess Anna Maria (née Princess of Auersberg-Breunner); Duke Huno of Oldenburg, with his wife Duchess Felictitas-Anita (née Countess Schwerin von Krosigk); Duke Johann of Oldenburg, and his wife Duchess Ilka (née Countess Ortenburg); Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, with his wife Princess Isabelle (née Countess of Egloffstein); Prince Raimundo Orsini d’Aragon, with his wife Kethevane (née Princess Bagration of Moukhrani) and his son Prince Lelio and daughters Princess Luisa and Dorothea; Lord Nicholas Windsor, the youngest son of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, with his wife, née Paola Doimi de Lupis de Frankopan, and their sons Albert and Leopold; Count Björn Bernadotte, a son of Count Lennart Bernadotte (the great-grandson of Emperor Alexander II of Russia), with his wife Countess Sandra.

The invited guests included political and public figures, as well as members of the diplomatic corps. Among these were: Matthias Platzeck, the Minister-President of the Federal State of Brandenburg (and the former Mayor of Potsdam); Jann Jakobs, the current mayor of Potsdam; Manfred Stolpe, the former Federal Minister of Transport and the former Minister-President of Brandenburg; Michael Glos, the former Federal Minister of Economy; Otto Rehhegel, the former Head Coach of the Greek national soccer team; Friede Springer, the well-known publisher; Max Raabe, the founder and conductor of the Palast Orchester; Jörg Wortman, the banker; V. V. Kotenev, the Russian Ambassador to Germany (from 2004-2010), with his wife Maria; and Yoram Ben-Zeev, the former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, with his wife Iris.

After all the guests had gathered at the church, Prince Georg Friedrich and his mother, Duchess Donata of Oldenburg, and his sister, Princess Cornelie-Cécile, arrived and entered the Church. Following them were Princess Christina von Isenburg with Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg, the second husband of the groom’s mother. The best man was Duke Constantine of Oldenburg.

The bride then arrived in a silver Rolls Royce, accompanied by her father, Prince Franz Alexander von Isenburg, who led her to the altar. Because the bride is Roman Catholic and did not convert to Lutheranism (the groom is Lutheran), the service was officiated by both Lutheran and Roman Catholic clergy. The Protestant service was conducted by Rev. Michael Wohlrab, the Pastor of the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (which was built with the assistance of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany), and the Catholic service was conducted by Fr. Gregor Henckel von Donnersmarck, the Abbot of the Cistercian Heiligenkreuz Abbey, near Vienna.

During the services, Fr. Gregor read a short personal note from Pope Benedict XVI, offering the couple his blessings and best wishes.

After the wedding, the august couple went in procession through the center of Potsdam to the New Chambers Palace, the former palace of Frederick the Great, located in the park at Sans Souci. That evening, a marvelous reception was held there for 1300 guests, including political figures and Lutheran and Roman Catholic clergy. The festivities concluded with a dinner for 350 relatives and friends in the Orangery Palace at San Souci.

A Short Biography of the Head of the German Imperial and Prussian Royal House, His Imperial and Royal Highness, Prince George Friedrich of Prussia

Prince Georg Friedrich was born on June 10, 1976—the only son of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia and his wife, Princess Donata (née Countess Castell-Rüdenhausen, who subsequently married the Duke of Oldenburg). After the tragic death of his father in 1977, the young prince became the Heir of his grandfather, Prince Louis Ferdinand I, who was married to Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna, the eldest daughter of Emperor-in-exile Kirill I (His Highness Prince Georg Friedrich is thus the first cousin once removed of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna). His Highness served for two years in the German army and studied ecnomics at the Freiburg University of Mining and Techology (TUBAF), and is presently a Major in the army reserve and holds a Master’s degree. The Prince is chair of the Princess Kira of Prussia Foundation (Princess Kira was his grandmother), is the honorary chairman of the Federation of German-American Clubs, and, since 2005, has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the German Foundation for Monument Protection.

A Short Biography of Her Imperial and Royal Highness, Princess Sophie of Prussia

Princess Sophie was born on March 7, 1978—the daughter of Prince Franz Alexander von Isenburg and his wife, Princess Christina (née Countess von Saurma, Baroness von und zu der Jeltsch). She spent her childhood and youth in Hesse, and later studied business administration at the University of Freiburg and the Humboldt University of Berlin.

After taking her university degree, Princess Sophie had internships in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and at Sotheby’s auction house in London. The Princess was also for a time an intern in the German Bundestag. She is presently employed in a consulting firm in Berlin that works with non-profit organizations.

После получения учёной степени проходила стажировку в Шанхае, Гонконге и на аукционе Сотбис в Лондоне. Некоторое время Принцесса была стажёром в Бундестаге ФРГ. Сейчас работает в консалтинговой фирме для некоммерческих организаций в Берлине.