Today, Princess Leonie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach celebrates her thirty-fifth birthday.
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| Princess Leonie held by her grandmother Hereditary Grand Duchess Elisabeth of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and surrounded by her aunt Princess Elisabeth, her parents Prince Michael and Princess Dagmar, and her aunt Princess Beatrice. |
Born on 30 October 1986 at Frankfurt, Princess Leonie Mercedes Augusta Silva Elisabeth Margarethe of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach is the only child of Prince Michael Benedikt of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b.1946) and his wife Princess Dagmar (b.1948; née Hennings), who married in 1980. At her baptism, Princess Leonie received Countess Silvia von Wedel as a godmother. Leonie’s paternal grandparents were Hereditary Grand Duke Carl-August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and his wife Hereditary Grand Duchess Elisabeth (née Baroness von Wangenheim-Winterstein). Leonie’s maternal grandparents were Heinrich Hennings and Margarethe Schacht.
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| Princess Leonie with her parents at the wedding of Hereditary Prince Hubertus and Hereditary Princess Kelly of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 2009. Photo (c) Alamy. |
Leonie’s education began at the well-known Schule Schloss Salem, the establishment founded by Kurt Hahn and attended by the late Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Sofía of Spain. The princess went on to receive her bachelors in media and cultural studies from the University of Arts London. Leonie is a reporter.
After the tragic death of her cousin Prince Georg-Constantin in June 2018, her father Prince Michael, who is the Head of House Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, decided that Princess Leonie would become the inheritor of the family properties and charitable associations after Michael’s death. The Grand Ducal House is governed by Salic law, and thus Leonie is not currently able to succeed as Head of the House after her father. The princess was very close to her cousin Georg-Constantin; Leonie and Georg-Constantin often spoke about the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, an important cultural heritage organisation of which Leonie had become a trustee of in January 2018. It was noted by the press that at Georg-Constantin’s funeral his cousin was dressed in deep mourning. Although she is a very discreet person, one hopes that Princess Leonie will be allowed to carry on the legacy of the Grand Ducal House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in an official capacity at some point.
Our best wishes to the Princess on her birthday!
