Prince Georg of Hannover and his mother Princess Sophie in 1996 Photograph (c) Seeger-Presse |
Today, 9 December, Prince Georg of Hannover marks his seventieth birthday. Through his father Georg Wilhelm, Georg of Hannover is a nephew of Prince Ernst August of Hannover (1914-1987), Queen Frederica of Greece (1917-1981; wife of King Paul of the Hellenes), Prince Christian of Hannover (1919-1981), and Prince Welf of Hannover (1923-1997). Through his mother Sophie, George of Hannover is a nephew of Princess Margarita (1905-1981; wife of Fürst Gottfried zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg), Princess Theodora (1906-1969; wife of Margrave Berthold of Baden), Princess Cecilie (1911-1937; wife of Hereditary Grand Duke Donatus of Hesse and by Rhine), and Prince Philip (b.1921; husband of Queen Elizabeth II; Duke of Edinburgh).
Prince Georg Wilhelm and Princess Sophie of Hannover |
Ernst August of Hannover and Viktoria Luise (née Prussia) with their grandsons Welf and Georg in 1953 |
Prince Georg Paul Christian of Hannover was born at Salem on 9 December 1949 as the second son and child of Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hannover (1915-2006), son of Prince Ernst August of Hannover, Duke of Brunswick (1887-1953), and Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia (1892-1980), and his wife Princess Sophie (1914-2001; née Greece and Denmark; formerly Hesse), who had married in 1946. Sophie was the daughter of Prince Andreas of Greece and Denmark (1882-1944) and his wife Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969). Georg was preceded by an elder brother, Prince Welf (1947-1981), and followed by a younger sister, Princess Friederike (b.1954).
Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark with her first husband Prince Christoph of Hesse Photograph (c) Mary Evans Picture Library/Charlotte Zeepvat |
Civil wedding of Princess Christina of Hesse and Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia |
From his mother’s first marriage to Prince Christoph of Hesse (1901-1943), Georg has five half-siblings: Princess Christina (1933-2011; former wife of Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia, and then of Robert van Eyck), Princess Dorothea (b.1934; wife of Prince Friedrich zu Windisch-Graetz), Prince Karl (b.1937; husband of Countess Yvonne Szápáry de Muraszombath, Széchysziget et Szapár), Prince Rainer (b.1939), and Princess Clarissa (b.1944).
Prince Georg of Hannover and Victoria Bee on their wedding day in 1973. Also pictured is Georg’s paternal grandmother Viktoria Luise, daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II. |
Countess Eleonore Fugger von Babenhausen, mother of Princess Victoria of Hannover |
Prince Burchard and Princess Eleonore of Prussia, mother and stepfather of Victoria of Hannover (née Bee) |
In 1973, Georg of Hannover married Victoria Ann Bee (b.1951), the daughter of Robert Bee (1920-1994) and Countess Eleonore Fugger von Babenhausen (1925-1992), who married in 1946 and divorced in 1959. In 1961, Victoria’s mother Eleonore took as her second husband Prince Burchard of Prussia (1917-1988), son of Prince Oskar of Prussia (1888-1958) and his wife Countess Ina Marie von Bassewitz (1888-1973; created Countess von Ruppin in 1914; recognised as Princess of Prussia in 1920). Victoria of Hannover’s mother Eleonore was thus married to the first cousin (Prince Burchard of Prussia) of Victoria’s father-in-law Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hannover.
Princess Sophie of Hannover, the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip), and the Landgrave of Hesse (Prince Moritz) Photograph (c) Seeger-Presse |
Prince Georg of Hannover, Princess Marianne and Prince Ludwig of Baden, Margrave Moritz of Hesse, and Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hannover (1997) Photograph (c) Seeger-Presse |
Prince Georg and Princess Victoria of Hannover have two daughters: Princess Vera Alice (b.1976) and Princess Nora Sophie (b.1979). In 2006, Princess Vera married Manuel Dmoch (b.1977), with whom she has two children. Princess Nora is married to Christian Falk (b.1972), with whom she has two children.