, title = , image = LeopoldHS.jpg , image_size = 180px , caption = , succession =

Prince of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenbu ...

, reign-type = Tenure , reign = 2 June 1885 – 8 June 1905 , predecessor =

Karl Anton Karl Anton or Karel Anton (25 October 1898 12 April 1979) was a Bohemian-born German film director, screenwriter and film producer. Biography He was born in Prague on 25 October 1898. His father Wilhelm Anton (1861–1918) was a physician. An ...

, successor =

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, spouse = , issue =

William, Prince of Hohenzollern , title = , image = William, Prince of Hohenzollern.jpg , caption = , succession = Prince of Hohenzollern , reign=8 June 1905 – 22 October 1927, reign-type=Tenure, predecessor = Leopold , successor = Frederick , spouse ...

Ferdinand I of Romania Ferdinand (Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad; 24 August 1865 – 20 July 1927), nicknamed ''Întregitorul'' ("the Unifier"), was King of Romania from 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and ...

Prince Karl Anton , house =

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...

, father =

Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern , spouse = Princess Josephine of Baden , issue = Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern Stephanie, Queen of Portugal Carol I, King of Romania Prince Anthony Prince Frederick Princess Marie, Countess of Flanders , house = Hohenzo ...

, mother =

Princess Josephine of Baden Princess Josephine Friederike Luise of Baden (21 October 1813 – 19 June 1900) was Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from 27 August 1848 to 7 December 1849 during the brief reign of her husband, Prince Karl Anton. Josephine was the second ...

, birth_date = , birth_place =

Krauchenwies Krauchenwies is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geography Krauchenwies lies about south of Sigmaringen and north of Lake Constance. It is on the ''Oberschwäbischen Barockstraße'' (west route) ...

, death_date = , death_place =

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, burial_place = , religion =

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern (german: Leopold Stephan Karl Anton Gustav Eduard Tassilo Fürst von Hohenzollern; 22 September 1835 – 8 June 1905) was the head of the

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

n branch of the

House of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzol ...

, and played a fleeting role in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an power politics, in connection with the Franco-Prussian War. He was born into the dynasty's

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen (district), Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowne ...

branch, which inherited all the dynasty's Swabian lands when the

Hohenzollern-Hechingen Hohenzollern-Hechingen was a small principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty. History The County of Hohenzollern-Hechingen was created in 1576, upon the partition of the Coun ...

branch became extinct. Leopold's parents were Josephine of Baden and

, Prince of

. Leopold was the older brother of King

Carol I of Romania Carol I or Charles I of Romania (20 April 1839 – ), born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914. He w ...

and father of the future King

Ferdinand of Romania Ferdinand (Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad; 24 August 1865 – 20 July 1927), nicknamed ''Întregitorul'' ("the Unifier"), was King of Romania from 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and ...

. Carol ascended the Romanian throne in 1866, and Leopold renounced his rights to the Romanian succession in favor of his sons in 1880.

Entry into European controversy

Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern (1835-1905)

After the Spanish Revolution of 1868, which overthrew Queen

Isabella II Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...

, Leopold was offered the

Spanish Crown , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

by the new government. The offer was supported by

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

but opposed by the French Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

on the grounds that the installation of a relative of the Prussian king would result in the expansion of Prussian influence and the encirclement of France. In Spain, when the news spread that Leopold was a candidate for the crown, he began to be called "''Leopoldo Olé-Olé si me eligen''" (Leopoldo Olé-Olé if they choose me) as a play on words because of the difficult pronunciation of his surname for the Spanish. Leopold initially refused the offer, but on 21 June 1870, he accepted the Spanish crown. He was forced on 11 July to decline again.Erich Eyck, Bismarck and the German Empire, pp. 168-171. Additional demands that were made by the French government heightened diplomatic tensions between Paris and Berlin. The deliberate shortening of a diplomatic communiqué, the

Ems Dispatch The Ems Dispatch (french: Dépêche d'Ems, german: Emser Depesche), sometimes called the Ems Telegram, was published on 13 July 1870 and incited the Second French Empire to start the Franco-Prussian War and to declare war on the Kingdom of Prus ...

, led to declaration of war by France. Prussia's speedy mobilization, together with the support of the other members of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

, resulted in French defeat, the consequences of which were the collapse of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...

, to be replaced by the Third Republic, and the creation of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. France lost most of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

and part of

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

and had to pay huge

war reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. History Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history. R ...

Marriage and issue

Prince and Princess Leopold, with their son and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1866) - G & A Overbeck, Düsseldorf

On 12 September 1861, Leopold married

Infanta Antónia of Portugal , house = Braganza , father = Fernando II of Portugal , mother = Maria II of Portugal , birth_date = , birth_place = Belém Palace, Lisbon, Portugal , death_date = , death_place = Sigmaringen, German Empire , ...

, daughter of Queen

Maria II of Portugal , image = Queen Maria II by John Simpson.jpg , caption = Portrait by John Simpson, 1835 , succession = Queen of Portugal , reign = , predecessor = Pedro IV , successor = Miguel I , reg-type = Regents , regent ...

and King

Ferdinand II of Portugal ''Dom'' Ferdinand II (Portuguese: ''Fernando II'') (29 October 1816 – 15 December 1885) was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, and King of Portugal '' jure uxoris'' as the husband of Queen Maria II, from the birth of ...

. They had the following children: *

(7 March 1864 – 22 October 1927) he married Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies on 27 June 1889. They had three children. He remarried

Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria (german: Adelgunde Auguste Charlotte Caroline Elisabeth Amalie Marie Sophie Luise von Bayern; 19 March 1823 – 28 October 1914) was a daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. She was Du ...

on 20 January 1915. * Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern (25 August 1865 – 20 July 1927) he married

Princess Marie of Edinburgh Marie (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was the last Queen of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I. Marie was born into the British royal family. Her parents were Prince Alfred, D ...

on 10 January 1893. They had six children. *

Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (german: Karl Anton Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Prinz von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) (1 September 1868 – 21 February 1919) was a member of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Princely House of Hohenzollern- ...

(1 September 1868 – 21 February 1919) he married

Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium nl, Josephine Caroline Maria Albertina , title = Princess Karl Anton of Hohenzollern , image = JosephineBelgHohenz.jpg , image_size = , caption = , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = , ...

on 28 May 1894. They had four children. Had Leopold succeeded to the Spanish throne, he could possibly have founded a second German dynasty in Spain, following the extinction of the

House of Austria The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

less than two centuries earlier.

Honours

Leopold received the following decorations and awards:
Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Preußen
' (1905), Genealogy p. 5

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold Of Hohenzollern, Prince 1835 births 1905 deaths Generals of Infantry (Prussia) German people of the Franco-Prussian War Members of the Prussian House of Lords People from Sigmaringen (district) People from the Province of Hohenzollern Princes of Hohenzollern Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen German landowners Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary 2 2 Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Romania) Heirs apparent who never acceded