Sophie Johanna Maria of Isenburg was born on 7 March 1978 in Frankfurt, West Germany,[2] to Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg (1943-2018), and his wife, Countess Christine Saurma, Baroness von und zu der Jeltsch (born 1941).[3]
Her father was the head of the Birstein branch of the House of Isenburg, a mediatized Catholic line of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, who lost their independence in 1815.[3] She has two sisters, Archduchess Katharina of Austria-Este and Isabelle, Dowager Princess of Wied, and two brothers, Alexander, 10th Prince of Isenburg, and Prince Viktor.[3]
Growing up at Birstein Castle, the family seat in Hesse, Sophie studied at a primary school in Birstein and at Marienschule Fulda in Fulda.[4] She then attended the boarding school Kloster Wald and passed her A-Levels as well as a trade test as a dressmaker. Sophie studied Business Administration at the University of Freiburg and Humboldt University of Berlin and worked at a firm that offers consulting services for nonprofit business.[2][5]
^In 1919 royalty and nobility were mandated to lose their privileges in Germany, hereditary titles were to be legally borne thereafter only as part of the surname, according to of the Weimar Constitution.[1][dead link]
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