Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden} (Bernhard Max Friedrich August Gustav Louis Kraft; born 27 May 1970) is a German prince and heir to the head of the

House of Baden A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

Early life

Prince Bernhard was born in Schloss Salem, Salem,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the eldest son of

Maximilian, Margrave of Baden Maximilian, Margrave of Baden (Maximilian Andreas Friedrich Gustav Ernst August Bernhard; 3 July 1933 – 29 December 2022), also known as Max von Baden, was a German businessman and the head of House of Baden. Through his mother, Princess Theod ...

, and Archduchess Valerie of Austria.

Activities

A commercial lawyer by training, he studied business administration and law in Hamburg and Switzerland. Prince Bernhard manages the family estates including Staufenberg Castle and the margravine wineries dedicated to preserving the grape variety

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine R ...

. In the years 2000-2009 he oversaw the transfer of many family assets, including Eberstein Castle and parts of Schloss Salem to the German state in order to stabilise the family's finances. Through his paternal grandmother, Princess Theodora, Bernhard was a grandnephew of

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

. The Duke often went to Germany to shoot with the family. In 2021, Bernhard was one of only 30 mourners at his granduncle's

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gar ...

. He also attended the

state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death wa ...

at Westminster Abbey, London, on 19 September, 2022, with his mother and his wife.

Marriage and children

He married Stephanie Anne Kaul (born 27 June 1966 at

Uelzen Uelzen (; officially the ''Hanseatic Town of Uelzen'', German: ''Hansestadt Uelzen'', , Low German ''Ülz’n'') is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a ...

), daughter of Christian Kaul and wife Hannelore Scheel, in a civil ceremony on 22 June 2001 and a religious ceremony the following day. The marriage was acknowledged as dynastic by his father. The couple has three sons: *''Leopold'' Bernhard Max Michael Ernst-August Friedrich Guillaume of Baden (born 18 May 2002 at

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an impo ...

) *''Friedrich'' Bernhard Leopold Christian Berthold Christoph of Baden (born 9 March 2004 at

) *''Karl-Wilhelm'' Bernhard Max Alexander Ernst-August Heinrich-Donatus Mathais of Baden (born 11 February 2006 at

) The family lives in

Linzgau Linzgau is a historic region in Southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located north of Lake Constance and south of the Danube valley. Geography The region is bounded by the shore of Lake Constance on the south, the Hegau reg ...

near Schloss Salem.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhard Of Baden, Hereditary Prince 1970 births Living people People from Bodenseekreis House of Zähringen Princes of Baden