Princess Sophie | |||||
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Princess consort of Schwarzburg | |||||
Period | 7 April 1938 – 1 November 1938 | ||||
Predecessor | Alexandra of Anhalt | ||||
Successor | Gusella Marie Parsoll | ||||
Born |
Weimar, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
20 March 1911||||
Died | 21 November 1988 Hamburg, West Germany |
(aged 77)||||
Spouse | Friedrich Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg | ||||
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House |
House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach House of Schwarzburg |
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Father | William Ernest of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | ||||
Mother | Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen |
Full name | |
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German: Sophie Luise Adelheid Marie Olga Carola |
Princess Sophie Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (20 March 1911 – 21 November 1988) was a princess of the House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. She was born in Weimar, the eldest child and only daughter of William Ernest, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach by his second wife Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen.
As a relative of Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Sophie was invited to the 1937 wedding of her daughter Crown Princess Juliana as a bridesmaid. She became entangled in a diplomatic scandal however after the passports of Sophie and two other German princesses were withheld by the Nazi government. Though they were later released, Sophie opted out of attending at the last moment. In 1938 Sophie married Friedrich Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg, but the couple were divorced by the end of the year.
Preparations for the wedding of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands's only child Crown Princess Juliana to the German Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld were under way in 1937 when a small diplomatic scandal occurred.
The affair was the result of Wilhelmina's opinion that the wedding be a family affair; consequently, she did not invite foreign royalty unless she was personally familiar with them. As a result, Juliana’s chosen bridesmaids were either her relatives or family friends. These included Sophie herself (her and Bernhard's second cousin), Duchess Thyra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (her second cousin), Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (her first cousin once removed), Duchess Woizlawa of Mecklenburg (her cousin), and two of Bernhard’s sisters, among others.