Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark ( el, Σοφία, translit=Sofía; 26 June 1914 – 24 November 2001) was by birth a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Danish princess, as well as
Princess of Hesse-Kassel and
Princess of Hanover through her successive marriages to
Prince Christoph of Hesse
Prince Christoph Ernst August of Hesse (14 May 1901 – 7 October 1943) was a nephew of Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was an SS-Oberführer in the Allgemeine SS and an officer in the Luftwaffe Reserve, killed on active duty in a plane crash during World ...
and
Prince George William of Hanover
Prince George William of Hanover (''Georg Wilhelm Ernst August Friedrich Axel Prinz von Hannover''; 25 March 1915 – 8 January 2006) was the second-eldest son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia ...
. An elder sister 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 ...
(husband of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
), she was, for a time, linked to the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
The fourth of five children of
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark ( el, Ανδρέας; da, Andreas; – 3 December 1944) of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantino ...
and
Princess Alice of Battenberg
Princess Alice of Battenberg (Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie; 25 February 1885 – 5 December 1969) was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, and the paternal grandmother of King Charles III ...
, Sophie spent a happy childhood. Her early years, however, were affected by the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
(1914–1918) and the
Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, ota, گرب جابهاسی, Garb Cebhesi) in Turkey, and the Asia Minor Campaign ( el, Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, Mikrasiatikí Ekstrateía) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe ( el, Μικ ...
. For the young princess and her relatives, these conflicts had dramatic consequences and led to their exile in Switzerland (between 1917 and 1920), and then in France (from 1922 to 1936). During their exile, Sophie and her family depended on the generosity of their foreign relatives, in particular
Marie Bonaparte
Princess Marie Bonaparte (2 July 1882 – 21 September 1962), known as Princess George of Greece and Denmark upon her marriage, was a French author and psychoanalyst, closely linked with Sigmund Freud. Her wealth contributed to the popularity ...
(who offered them accommodation in Saint-Cloud) and
Lady Edwina Mountbatten (who supported them financially).
At the end of the 1920s, Sophie fell in love with one of her distant cousins,
Prince Christoph of Hesse
Prince Christoph Ernst August of Hesse (14 May 1901 – 7 October 1943) was a nephew of Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was an SS-Oberführer in the Allgemeine SS and an officer in the Luftwaffe Reserve, killed on active duty in a plane crash during World ...
. Around the same time, her mother was struck by a mental health crisis which led to her confinement in a Swiss psychiatric hospital between 1930 and 1933. Married in December 1930, Sophie moved to Berlin with her husband. She then gave birth to five children:
Christina (1933–2011), Dorothea (1934–2002), Karl (1937–2022), Rainer (born 1939) and Clarissa of Hesse (born 1944).
Close to the Nazi circles, in which her husband and several of her in-laws were involved from 1930, Sophie joined the
National Socialist Women's League
The National Socialist Women's League (german: Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft, abbreviated ''NS-Frauenschaft'') was the women's wing of the Nazi Party. It was founded in October 1931 as a fusion of several nationalist and Nazi women's assoc ...
in 1938. Deceived by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, whom she saw as a modest and charming man, the princess became close to
Emmy Sonnemann
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
– who later married ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' Commander-in-Chief
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
in April 1935 – and became her friend. Attached to
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
, Sophie and her in-laws therefore served as unofficial intermediaries between
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the European dynasties to which they were related. Under these conditions, the social status of Christoph and Sophie continued to improve and they moved into a large house located in
Dahlem, in 1936. The
outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, however, forced the couple to separate. An
SS officer since 1932, Christoph joined the ''Luftwaffe'', which led him to various European theaters of operation. For her part, Sophie moved with her children to
her mother-in-law at
Friedrichshof Castle in
Kronberg im Taunus
Kronberg im Taunus is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau; in that year the whole Duchy was ab ...
.
The ''
Führer
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany ...
''s growing distrust of the German aristocracy (from 1942) and the
betrayal
Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Ofte ...
of King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. He also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–1941) and ...
(in 1943) led the Nazi regime to turn against the
House of Hesse-Kassel
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. Burke's Royal Families of the World, ...
.
Princess Mafalda, daughter of the Italian monarch and sister-in-law of Sophie, was thus imprisoned in
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
, where she was seriously wounded and died shortly after, while her husband,
Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse
Philipp, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (6 November 1896 – 25 October 1980) was head of the Electoral House of Hesse from 1940 to 1980.
He joined the Nazi Party in 1930, and, when they gained power with the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancel ...
, was confined in
Flossenbürg until the victory of the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. At the same time, Christoph was found dead in mysterious circumstances, leaving Sophie almost alone with her four children and a fifth one on the way, as well as the children of Philipp and Mafalda. The tragic events made Sophie realize the true nature of Hitler's regime and turn against Nazism.
The
defeat of Germany
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...
and
its occupation by the Allies brought new difficulties in the life of Sophie, who found herself in a precarious financial situation due to the theft of her jewelry by American soldiers in 1946 and the sequestration of the property of her first husband until 1953. After living for several months in
Wolfsgarten, she began a relationship with another cousin,
Prince George William of Hanover
Prince George William of Hanover (''Georg Wilhelm Ernst August Friedrich Axel Prinz von Hannover''; 25 March 1915 – 8 January 2006) was the second-eldest son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia ...
, whom she married in 1946. She had three more children by her second husband: Welf Ernst (1947–1981), Georg (born 1949) and Friederike of Hanover (born 1954). The couple moved to
Salem, where George William worked as director of
Schule Schloss Salem
Schule Schloss Salem (Anglicisation: ''School of Salem Castle'', ''Salem Castle School'') is a boarding school with campuses in Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany.
It offers the German Abitur, as well as the Inter ...
(1948–1959), before settling in
Schliersee
Schliersee is a small town (Markt) and a municipality in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany. It is named after the nearby Lake Schliersee. It comprises the districts Schliersee (town), , , , Josefsthal and Spitzingsee.
Among the p ...
(from 1959).
Excluded from the
1947 wedding of her brother Prince Philip to Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (later Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
) because of her past links to the Nazi regime, Sophie was reintegrated into the royal circles in the early 1950s and attended major events of the aristocracy afterwards. She nevertheless led a discreet and withdrawn life, spending her time reading, listening to music and gardening. The last surviving sibling of the Duke of Edinburgh, she died in a retirement home in Schliersee in 2001, after losing one of her sons in 1981 and a grandson in 1994. She was the paternal aunt of
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
.
Biography
Childhood
First World War and exile in Switzerland
The fourth daughter of
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark ( el, Ανδρέας; da, Andreas; – 3 December 1944) of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantino ...
and
Princess Alice of Battenberg
Princess Alice of Battenberg (Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie; 25 February 1885 – 5 December 1969) was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, and the paternal grandmother of King Charles III ...
, Sophie was born on 26 June 1914 at
Mon Repos, a palace in
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
that her parents inherited after the assassination of
King George I in 1913. Nicknamed "Tiny" by her family, the princess grew up within a united household, together with her elder sisters
Margarita
A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). T ...
(1905–1981),
Theodora
Theodora is a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift".
Theodora may also refer to:
Historical figures known as Theodora
Byzantine empresses
* Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church
* Theodora o ...
(1906–1969), and
Cecilie (1911–1937). With their mother, Sophie and her sisters communicated in English, but they also used French, German, and Greek in the presence of their relatives and governesses.
Sophie's early childhood was marked by the instability that the
Kingdom of Greece
The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label=Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, where ...
experienced due to the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The conflict divided her family into opposing branches, and Greece eventually set aside its neutrality due to the
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
. Sophie and her sisters were in the
royal palace of Athens when it was
bombarded by the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
during the battle in the capital on 1 December 1916. In June 1917,
King Constantine I
Constantine I ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αʹ, ''Konstantínos I''; – 11 January 1923) was King of Greece from 18 March 1913 to 11 June 1917 and from 19 December 1920 to 27 September 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army ...
, Sophie's uncle, was finally deposed and driven out of Greece by the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
, who replaced him on the throne by his second son, the young
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
. Fifteen days later, Sophie's family was in turn forced into exile and had to leave Mon Repos in order to remove the possibility of the new monarch being influenced by those close to him. Forced to reside in German-speaking Switzerland, the small group first stayed in a hotel in
St. Moritz, before settling in
Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...
, where they lived with uncertainty about their future.
Homesickness
Homesickness is the distress caused by being away from home.Kerns, Brumariu, Abraham. Kathryn A., Laura E., Michelle M.(2009/04/13). Homesickness at summer camp. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 54. Its cognitive hallmark is preoccupying thoughts of home ...
caused by exile was not the only source of anguish for the family, however. Following the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, Sophie's
Romanov relatives were murdered in Russia. Shortly after these events, the Grand Ducal family of
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
, to which Sophie was closely related through her mother, was overthrown along with all the other German dynasties during the
winter of 1918–1919.
At the beginning of 1919, Sophie reunited with her paternal grandmother, the
Dowager Queen Olga, spared by the Bolsheviks thanks to the diplomatic intervention of the Danes. In the following months, Sophie attended a family reunion with her maternal grandparents, and met her aunt
Louise
Louise or Luise may refer to:
* Louise (given name)
Arts Songs
* "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005
* "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984
* "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013
* "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929
*"Louise", by Clan of ...
and uncle
Louis Mountbatten
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...
. For Sophie, who now formed a duo with her third-eldest sister Cecilie, exile was not only synonymous with sadness; it was also an opportunity for long family reunions and walks in the mountains.
Brief return to Greece
On 2 October 1920, King Alexander, cousin of Sophie, was bitten by a domestic monkey during a walk in Tatoi. Poorly cared for, he contracted
sepsis
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...
, which prevailed on 25 October, without any member of his family being allowed to come to his bedside. The death of the sovereign caused a violent institutional crisis in Greece. Already stuck, since 1919, in a
new war against Turkey, Prime Minister
Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos ( el, Ελευθέριος Κυριάκου Βενιζέλος, translit=Elefthérios Kyriákou Venizélos, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movem ...
lost the
1920 Greek legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 14 November 1920,John S. Koliopoulos and Thanos M. Veremis (2010''Modern Greece: A History since 1821''Wiley-Blackwell, p87 or 1 November 1920 old style. They were possibly the most crucial el ...
. Humiliated, he retired abroad while a
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
reinstalled Constantine I on the throne.
Prince Andrew was received triumphantly in Athens on 23 November 1920, and his wife and four daughters joined him a few days later. Sophie then returned to live in Corfu with her family. At the same time, Princess Alice found out that she was pregnant again. On 10 June 1921, the family welcomed
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
(1921–2021), later the
Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...
. The joy that surrounded this birth, however, was obscured by the absence of Prince Andrew, who joined the Greek forces in Asia Minor during the
Occupation of Smyrna
The city of Smyrna (modern-day İzmir) and surrounding areas were under Greek military occupation from 15 May 1919 until 9 September 1922. The Allied Powers authorized the occupation and creation of the Zone of Smyrna ( el, Ζώνη Σμύρν ...
. Despite worries about the war, Sophie and her siblings enjoyed life at Mon Repos, where they received a visit from their
maternal grandmother
Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic g ...
and their aunt Louise in the spring of 1922. In the park near the palace, built on an ancient cemetery, the princesses devoted themselves to archeology and discovered some pottery, bronze pieces and bones.
During this period, Sophie and her sisters also participated, for the first time, in a number of great social events. In March 1921, the princesses attended in Athens the wedding of their cousin
Helen
Helen may refer to:
People
* Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world
* Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress
* Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Helen, ...
to
Crown Prince Carol of Romania. In July 1922, they visited the United Kingdom to be bridesmaids at the wedding of their uncle Louis Mountbatten to the wealthy heiress and aristocrat
Edwina Ashley
Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, (''née'' Ashley; 28 November 1901 – 21 February 1960), was an English heiress, socialite, relief worker and the last vicereine of India as the wife of (the then) Rear Admiral ...
.
However, the
military defeat of Greece against Turkey and the political unrest that it caused disrupted the life of Sophie and her family. In September 1922, Constantine I abdicated in favor of his eldest son,
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
. A month later, Prince Andrew was arrested before being
tried by a military tribunal, which declared him responsible for the
defeat of the Sakarya. Saved from execution by the intervention of foreign chancelleries, the prince was condemned to banishment and
cashiering
Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline.
Etymology
From the Flemish (to dismiss from service; to discard r ...
. After a brief stop in Corfu, the prince and his relatives hurriedly left Greece aboard
HMS ''Calypso'' in early December 1922.
Exile in France
After a journey of several weeks, which led them successively to Italy, France and the United Kingdom, Sophie, her parents and her siblings settled in
Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthiest towns ...
in 1923. Settled in a house adjoining that of Princess
Marie Bonaparte
Princess Marie Bonaparte (2 July 1882 – 21 September 1962), known as Princess George of Greece and Denmark upon her marriage, was a French author and psychoanalyst, closely linked with Sigmund Freud. Her wealth contributed to the popularity ...
, the family depended for seven years on her generosity, and two other aunts of Sophie: first
Princess Anastasia and then
Lady Edwina Mountbatten. Marie Bonaparte financed the studies of her nieces and nephew, while Lady Mountbatten gained the habit of offering her nieces her "used" clothes. In fact, Sophie's parents had little income and the children were the regular witnesses to their money problems and their difficulty in maintaining a household.
Deprived of their Greek nationality after the
proclamation
A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...
of the
Second Hellenic Republic
The Second Hellenic Republic is a modern historiographical term used to refer to the Greek state during a period of republican governance between 1924 and 1935. To its contemporaries it was known officially as the Hellenic Republic ( el, Ἑλλ ...
in March 1924, Sophie and her family received Danish passports from their cousin
King Christian X
Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rath ...
. In Saint-Cloud, the small group spent a relatively simple life. Sophie and her siblings continued their studies in private institutions, and, during their free time, their father took them regularly to Paris or to the
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...
. He also spent long hours playing tennis with them. Every Sunday, the family was received for lunch by Princess Marie Bonaparte and
Prince George of Greece and Denmark
Prince George of Greece and Denmark ( el, Γεώργιος; 24 June 1869 – 25 November 1957) was the second son and child of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, and is remembered chiefly for having once saved the life of his ...
. Sophie and her family also regularly met
Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark
Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark ( el, Νικόλαος; 22 January 1872 – 8 February 1938), of the Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg, was the fourth child and third son of King George I of Greece, and of Queen Olga. He was kn ...
and his wife
Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, who had also chosen France to spend their time in exile with their daughters. Finally, they often saw their cousin
Princess Margaret of Denmark
Princess Margaret of Denmark (Margrethe Françoise Louise Marie Helene; 17 September 1895 – 18 September 1992) was a Danish princess by birth and a princess of Bourbon-Parma as the wife of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma. She was the youngest g ...
, who settled in the Paris region after her marriage to
Prince René of Bourbon-Parma
Prince René of Bourbon-Parma (17 October 1894 – 30 July 1962) was the seventh surviving son of Robert I, Duke of Parma, and his second wife, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal. In 1921, he married Princess Margaret of Denmark. They had four chil ...
.
Sophie and her relatives made frequent stays abroad, and in particular in the United Kingdom. In 1923, the princess was invited to London to be a bridesmaid at the wedding of her aunt
Louise Mountbatten
Louise Alexandra Marie Irene Mountbatten (born Princess Louise of Battenberg; 13 July 1889 – 7 March 1965) was Queen of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until her death in 1965 as the wife of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Born a princess of the German ...
to the future
Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden
Gustaf VI Adolf (Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf; 11 November 1882 – 15 September 1973) was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death in 1973. He was the eldest son of Gustaf V and his wife, Victoria of Baden. Before Gustaf Ado ...
. She returned to England in 1925 for the funeral of her great-aunt,
Queen Alexandra
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King ...
. In 1926, she went to Italy for the funeral of her paternal grandmother, Queen Olga. A few weeks later, she returned to spend the summer in Great Britain, with her maternal grandmother, the
Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven.
Young adulthood
First marriage and settling in Germany
In 1927, Sophie met one of her distant cousins,
Prince Philipp of Hesse-Kassel. Shortly after, she met two of his brothers, the twins
Christoph Christoph is a male given name and surname. It is a German variant of Christopher.
Notable people with the given name Christoph
* Christoph Bach (1613–1661), German musician
* Christoph Büchel (born 1966), Swiss artist
* Christoph Dientzenho ...
and Richard of Hesse-Kassel at the manor of Hemmelmark, the home of her great-aunt
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Irene Luise Marie Anne of Hesse and by Rhine (11 July 1866 – 11 November 1953) was the third child and third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Her maternal grandparents wer ...
. Despite her being 13 years their junior, the two German princes soon attempted to court her and it was Christoph who managed to grab her attention. Their romance eventually ended in an engagement, which was officially celebrated when Sophie turned 16, in 1930. Around the same time, Cecilie, Sophie's favorite sister, became engaged to another member of the
House of Hesse
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. Burke's Royal Families of the World, ...
,
Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse
en, George Donatus William Nicholas Edward Henry Charles
, spouse =
, issue = Prince LudwigPrince AlexanderPrincess JohannaUnnamed son
, house = Hesse-Darmstadt
, father = Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of ...
.
The happiness of the princess was however clouded by the situation of her mother, whose mental health deteriorated sharply after the celebration of her silver wedding anniversary with Prince Andrew, in 1928. Struck by a mental health crisis, the princess convinced herself that she possessed healing powers and that she was receiving divine messages about potential husbands for her daughters. She then took herself for a saint and soon declared herself the bride of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. Distraught by the situation, Prince Andrew finally made the decision to place his wife in a sanatorium. He took advantage of his family's stay in Darmstadt, on the occasion of the celebration for Cecilie's official engagement in April 1930, to send Alice to a psychiatric hospital located in
Kreuzlingen
Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second-largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of about 22,000. ...
, Switzerland.
In the absence of their mother, Sophie and Cecilie made their wedding preparations together. The two princesses thus went to London, in the spring of 1930, in order to obtain new clothes. Shortly after, they returned to Paris to put together their trousseau and buy their wedding dresses. The nuptials of Sophie and Christoph were celebrated in
Kronberg im Taunus
Kronberg im Taunus is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau; in that year the whole Duchy was ab ...
on 15 December 1930. They were married in two religious ceremonies, with the Orthodox one held at
Friedrichshof Castle and the Lutheran one at a church in the city. A few weeks later, on 2 February 1931, Cecilie and Georg Donatus married in the presence of their family at the ''Neue Palais'' in
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
.
With their honeymoon over, Sophie and Christoph moved into an apartment in Berlin's
Schöneberg
Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelh ...
quarter. After working for a long time in the
Maybach
Maybach (, ) is a Automotive industry in Germany, German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Lufts ...
car factory in
Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''Kre ...
, the prince had just been hired as a
broker
A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...
by the
Victoria insurance company. While the princess moved to Germany to start a family, Greece went through a tumultuous political period, marked by numerous coups d'état. Confronted with permanent instability, the population gradually lost confidence in the institutions of the
Hellenic Republic
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and
King George II (Sophie's cousin) was finally
reinstalled on the throne in November 1935.
Family life and adherence to Nazism
In October 1930,
Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia
Prince August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther Viktor of Prussia (29 January 1887 – 25 March 1949), nicknamed "Auwi", was the fourth son of German Emperor Wilhelm II by his first wife, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was a vocal supporter ...
, son of
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
, introduced his cousin Christoph to the politician
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
, and it did not take long for the two to form a closer relationship.
[Perhaps the two men had already known each other for several years, but it was after this meeting that they began to regularly see each other. ] Under the influence of Göring, the prince and his wife then met
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, who deceived them with his charm and his apparent modesty.
Under these conditions, Christoph joined the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
, first secretly in 1931, and then publicly in 1933. He also joined the
SS in February 1932. However, in his family, Christoph was not an exceptional case. His older brother Philipp had become a member of the Nazi Party in 1930. Subsequently, their respective twins, Princes
Wolfgang and Richard of Hesse-Kassel, joined the party in 1932. Finally, their parents,
Frederick Charles, Landgrave of Hesse and
Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...
, followed the example of their sons in May 1938.
Unlike her sisters Cecilie and Margarita, who joined the Nazi Party at the same time as their husbands in 1937, Sophie never became a member of the Nazi Party. Like her sisters-in-law,
Princess Mafalda and
Princess Marie Alexandra, she nevertheless joined the
National Socialist Women's League
The National Socialist Women's League (german: Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft, abbreviated ''NS-Frauenschaft'') was the women's wing of the Nazi Party. It was founded in October 1931 as a fusion of several nationalist and Nazi women's assoc ...
in 1938. In fact, Sophie had long shown enthusiasm for
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Linked to the elite of the Hitler regime, the princess thus maintained friendly relations with
Emmy Sonnemann
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
, and was one of the guests of honor at the time of her marriage in April 1935 to Hermann Göring, who notably had Adolf Hitler as a witness.
From a financial point of view, the coming to power of Adolf Hitler significantly improved the situation of Christoph and Sophie. In 1933, the prince was appointed personal advisor to State Secretary to the
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 ...
State Ministry
Paul Körner. Two years later, Göring placed Christoph in charge of the ''
Forschungsamt'', an intelligence service responsible for spying on the telecommunications of Nazi Germany. Under these conditions, Sophie and her husband left their old apartment for a new one in 1933, before moving into a large red brick villa located in
Dahlem in 1936.
[The villa was financed by the ''Kurhessische Hausstiftung'', via an advance on the inheritance of the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. After the Second World War, the mansion served as the residence of the British High Commissioner stationed in Berlin .]
At the same time as these events, Sophie and Christoph's family grew larger with the successive births of
Christina (1933–2011), Dorothea (1934–2002), Karl (1937–2022), and Rainer of Hesse (born 1939). The birth of their eldest son was also an opportunity for the couple to underline their support for Nazism, since the child received, among his names, that of Adolf, in tribute to the ''
Führer
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany ...
''. Sophie also continued to worry about the fate of her mother Alice, whom she visited several times during the latter's confinement in
Kreuzlingen
Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second-largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of about 22,000. ...
between 1930 and 1933. Sophie also happily attended the weddings of her two eldest sisters, Margarita and Theodora, to German princes
Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, house = Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, father = Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, mother = Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Langenburg, German Empire
, death_date =
, death_place = Langenbur ...
and
Berthold, Margrave of Baden
Berthold, Margrave of Baden (''Berthold Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst August Heinrich Karl''; 24 February 1906 – 27 October 1963), was the head of the House of Baden, which had reigned over the Grand Duchy of Baden until 1918, from 1929 until his deat ...
in 1931. She was also present at the funeral of her sister Cecilie and her family, who were
killed in a plane crash in 1937.
Sophie and Christoph also maintained their ties to their foreign relatives. The princess made several visits to the United Kingdom, and also stayed in Italy (1936) and Yugoslavia (1939). According to historian Jonathan Petropoulos, their travels were an opportunity for the couple to carry out, for the benefit of the Nazi Germany, a parallel diplomacy with their European cousins, such as
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and his wife
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark ( el, Όλγα; 11 June 1903 – 16 October 1997) was a Greek princess who became princess of Yugoslavia as the wife of Prince Paul, Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Princess Olga was a daughter of P ...
.
Second World War and the death of Prince Christoph
As a means of protection, Christoph warned Sophie about the need to beware of prying ears and never to speak politics with people other than her sisters and cousins. Even though he probably moved away from the
SS from 1934, the prince nonetheless remained a staunch supporter of the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. When
Germany invaded Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
in September 1939, he spontaneously enlisted in the ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'', while retaining his post as director of the ''
Forschungsamt''. Sophie and her four children then left Berlin to settle in
Friedrichshof, near her husband's parents the
Landgrave
Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), a ...
and the
Landgravine of Hesse. Then began a close correspondence between the couple, which testified to the love that Sophie and her husband had for each other.
Shortly after Sophie moved to
Kronberg im Taunus
Kronberg im Taunus is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau; in that year the whole Duchy was ab ...
on 28 May 1940, her father-in-law died in
Wilhelmshöhe, making his eldest surviving son
Philipp
Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
"Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews.
Surname
* Adolf Philipp (1864 ...
the new head of the
House of Hesse-Kassel
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. Burke's Royal Families of the World, ...
. At the same time,
most of Europe fell under Nazi rule and Sophie's parents found themselves isolated far from their children. After the
invasion of France
France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans.
* the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...
, Prince Andrew was stuck on the
French Riviera
The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
in June 1940. For her part, Princess Alice chose to stay in Athens despite the
occupation of Greece and the departure into exile of other members of the
Greek royal family
The Greek royal family (Greek: Ελληνική Βασιλική Οικογένεια) is a branch of the Danish royal family, itself a branch of the House of Glücksburg, that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. It ...
in April 1941. This did not prevent Sophie from continuing to support the Nazi regime, as illustrated by the continuation of her visits to Emmy and Hermann Göring.
The situation changed from 1942 as the Nazi authorities began to distance themselves from the German aristocracy. In January and October 1943, Princes
Wolfgang and Richard of Hesse-Kassel were successively
dismissed from the army, without being threatened by the Nazi regime. In April, the ''Führer'' placed
Landgrave Philipp under house arrest, before having him confined in the
Flossenbürg camp after
Italy's surrender to the Allies on 8 September 1943. A few days later, on 22 September, it was Philipp's wife,
Mafalda
''Mafalda'' () is an Argentine comic strip written and drawn by cartoonist Quino. The strip features a six-year-old girl named Mafalda, who reflects the Argentinian middle class and progressive youth, is concerned about humanity and world pea ...
's turn to be arrested. After two weeks of interrogation, Mafalda, who was the daughter of King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. He also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–1941) and ...
, was imprisoned in
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
, where she died on 27 August 1944, after being seriously wounded following an aerial bombardment. At the same time, searches were carried out by ''
Obergruppenführer
' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...
''
Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (german: Josias Georg Wilhelm Adolf Erbprinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont) (13 May 1896 – 30 November 1967) was the heir apparent to the throne of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont and a genera ...
, in the residences of Philipp and his mother. All these events led Sophie to open her eyes completely to the true nature of the Nazi regime.
The tragedies of the House of Hesse-Kassel did not end there, however. On 7 October 1943, Prince Christoph died under mysterious circumstances
[Although no evidence has ever been able to corroborate this hypothesis, several people close to the House of Hesse-Kassel (such as ]Lord Mountbatten
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...
) considered that the plane crash in which Christoph was killed was due to an ordered sabotage by Adolf Hitler. Regardless, the circumstances of the accident were never determined and even the flight plan chosen by the prince to return to Germany raised questions. ( and ). during a plane crash in the
Apennine Mountains
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
, near
Forlì
Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna.
The city is situated along the Via E ...
. A few months later,
Princess Marie Alexandra of Baden (wife of Wolfgang) perished buried during an
air-raid on Frankfurt am Main on 29–30 January 1944. Widowed and pregnant with her fifth child (Princess Clarissa, who was born on 6 February 1944), Sophie therefore found herself in a precarious situation, with her mother-in-law,
Landgravine Margaret as her main support. Tired and emaciated, the princess was now responsible for bringing up her children on her own, while also taking care of Philipp and Mafalda's four children.
As Christoph's death was not made public by the Nazi regime, Sophie published a simple death notice for her husband in the ''
Völkischer Beobachter
The ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (; "'' Völkisch'' Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-four years it formed part of the official pub ...
'' on 18 October 1943. A few weeks later, in November 1943, the princess and her mother-in-law received a visit from ''
Obergruppenführer
' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...
''
Siegfried Taubert, commissioned by
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
to discreetly spy on the family. Aware of their vulnerability, the two women then refrained from expressing doubts about the conditions surrounding Christoph's death. Eager to know more about the fate of Philipp and Mafalda, Sophie tried, on the other hand, to obtain information from Emmy Göring, without success. At the same time, several relatives of the princess visited
Friedrichshof, including her mother, Princess Alice, who managed to obtain a pass for Germany at the end of January 1944 and stayed with her daughter until April. Other relatives, including her brother-in-law Wolfgang and their cousin
Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia
Prince August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther Viktor of Prussia (29 January 1887 – 25 March 1949), nicknamed "Auwi", was the fourth son of German Emperor Wilhelm II by his first wife, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was a vocal supporter ...
arrived at the castle in February 1945.
Post-war years
Occupation of Friedrichshof
The
defeat of Germany
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...
and
its occupation by the Allies affected the lives of Sophie and those close to her. The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
entered Kronberg on 29 March 1945 and
Friedrichshof was then partially occupied. Before the arrival of the US Army, the Hesse-Kassels removed compromising documents, such as books of a political nature from their library. They also hid some of their belongings, especially family gems and jewels. This precaution was not unnecessary since the American troops engaged in numerous thefts in the castle. Many objects were stolen there, and its cellars were looted while the estate's peacocks were killed and roasted in front of their owners.
In the days following the beginning of the occupation, the
American intelligence services arrested Princes
August Wilhelm of Prussia (7 April) and
Wolfgang of Hesse (12 April). With
Landgravine Margaret suffering from pneumonia, Sophie found herself in the situation of having to represent her family alone before the authorities. However, on 12 April, the American army ordered the evacuation of Friedrichshof, leaving to Hesse-Kassel family only the use of its dependencies. A week later, on 19 April, they gave them the order to leave, within four hours, the cottages they occupied in the area. Sophie and her mother-in-law had to find refuge with neighbors, and in particular with the parents of the future
MP Walther Leisler Kiep
Walther Gottlieb Louis Leisler Kiep (5 January 1926 – 9 May 2016) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was a member of the Bundestag between 1965 and 1976 and again from 1980 to 1982. After switching to state-le ...
.
While Friedrichshof was transformed into an officers' club by the American army, the Hesse-Kassels settled in
Wolfsgarten in May, where they were received by
Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine
Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine (''Ludwig Hermann Alexander Chlodwig'', 20 November 1908 – 30 May 1968) was the youngest son of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse by his second wife, Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich. He was a great ...
and his wife
Margaret Campbell Geddes, who soon took care of the younger children of
Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse
Philipp, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (6 November 1896 – 25 October 1980) was head of the Electoral House of Hesse from 1940 to 1980.
He joined the Nazi Party in 1930, and, when they gained power with the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancel ...
. The landgrave was in fact kept in detention by the Americans until 1947 and the investigation which was carried out against him as part of the
denazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
initiative did not end until 1950. Deprived of her husband's property, which was placed in receivership until 1953, Sophie found herself in a very precarious financial situation. Under these conditions, the death of her father Prince Andrew (who died in France in December 1944) brought her a mediocre, but welcome inheritance.
Second marriage
Widowed since October 1943 and mother to five children, Sophie got close to
Prince George William of Hanover
Prince George William of Hanover (''Georg Wilhelm Ernst August Friedrich Axel Prinz von Hannover''; 25 March 1915 – 8 January 2006) was the second-eldest son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia ...
, son of
Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
Ernest Augustus (Ernest Augustus Christian George; german: Ernst August Christian Georg; 17 November 1887 – 30 January 1953) was the reigning Duchy of Brunswick, Duke of Brunswick from 2 November 1913 to 8 November 1918. He was a grandson of Geor ...
, and brother of
Frederica, Queen of the Hellenes. Encouraged by
Princess Margaret of Hesse and by Rhine, their romance ended in an engagement, which was celebrated in January 1946. As the
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...
was related to the
British royal family, George William's father had previously
sought permission from
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
to proceed with the engagement. However, with the UK and Germany still at war, the UK government banned the monarch from responding to it, except in an informal capacity.
As her wedding was scheduled for April, Sophie was trying to convince to the
American authorities to allow her to use the jewelry she left in Friedrichshof and wished to wear during the ceremony. Having obtained the necessary permit, the princess and Landgravine Margaret went to the castle, where they thought they would find the jewelry that Prince Wolfgang hid in the cellar in 1943. To their dismay, however, the two women realized that the jewels had been stolen and an investigation was soon opened to find out what happened to them.
It was then established that on 5 November 1945, Captain Kathleen Nash, Major David Watson and Colonel Jack Durant had discovered the jewels, whose value was estimated at £2 million at the time, and that they eventually stole them in February 1946. Brought to justice, the three American soldiers were found guilty, but only some of the stolen pieces were found intact, the rest having been dismantled to be more easily sold in Switzerland. In addition, the American government procrastinated for several years around the question of the return of the remaining pieces, which were not given back to their owners until 1 August 1951. In the end, the family recovered around 10% of the stolen jewelry.
Under these conditions, the marriage of Sophie and George William took on a simpler form than expected. Organized at
Salem Castle, property of
Berthold, Margrave of Baden
Berthold, Margrave of Baden (''Berthold Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst August Heinrich Karl''; 24 February 1906 – 27 October 1963), was the head of the House of Baden, which had reigned over the Grand Duchy of Baden until 1918, from 1929 until his deat ...
(husband of
Princess Theodora), the event was the occasion for the bride to reunite with her brother
Prince Philip
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 E ...
, whom she had not seen since 1937 and who came to Germany with his arms laden with food and gifts. In the years that followed, Sophie gave birth to three more children: Welf Ernst (1947–1981), Georg (born 1949) and Friederike of Hanover (born 1954).
Philip's marriage
Since 1939, Sophie's brother
Prince Philip
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 E ...
had been linked to
Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom. Already in love, the two were unofficially engaged at
Balmoral in 1946, and shortly after, Philip adopted British nationality. The couple's engagement was announced officially on 10 July 1947, and preparations for the wedding began immediately thereafter. However, the ties of Philip's family to Germany frightened the British court and government, who feared that the public could be reminded of the Germanic origins of the
House of Windsor
The House of Windsor is the reigning royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. In 1901, a line of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (itself a cadet branch of the House of Wettin) succeeded the House of Hanover to t ...
if the royal family were publicly associated with former Nazi Party members.
Prince Philip found himself unable to invite his sisters to
his wedding. Aware of the difficulties their brother had to face, Sophie, Margarita and Theodora nevertheless considered their sidelining wrong and hurtful. They felt particularly dismayed and snubbed when they realized that their cousins, the
Queen Mother of the Romanians and the
Duchess of Aosta
The Duchess of Aosta is the wife of the Duke of Aosta, a title created by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in the 13th century. The Duchy of Aosta had already been ruled by the House of Savoy for some time; it is a corner of the Italian Alps now ...
, had been invited despite their countries having been
allies of the Nazi regime during the conflict.
Harassed by the press, who submitted requests for interviews with them, Sophie and her sisters spent the wedding day, 20 November 1947, at
Marienburg Castle with their families. Invited by the
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
and
Duchess of Brunswick, they celebrated the union of their brother in the company of their cousin
Princess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark
Princess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark (; 24 May 1904 – 11 January 1955) was the middle daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia.
Early life
Princess Elizabeth was born on 24 May 1904 at the Tatoi P ...
and
Prince Louis and
Princess Margaret of Hesse and by Rhine. A few days later, the Greek princesses received a visit from the
Queen of the Hellenes (who came to bring them a letter from their mother Princess Alice describing the wedding in detail) and the
Duchess of Kent
Duchess of Kent is the principal courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward. He inherited the dukedom ...
, widow of
the bride's uncle.
Return to normal life
Settling in Salem
With George William having completed his law studies at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
in 1948, he was approached by his brother-in-law,
Berthold, Margrave of Baden
Berthold, Margrave of Baden (''Berthold Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst August Heinrich Karl''; 24 February 1906 – 27 October 1963), was the head of the House of Baden, which had reigned over the Grand Duchy of Baden until 1918, from 1929 until his deat ...
, to take over the management of the
Salem Castle School, which had since been closed due to the Second World War. A former student of the institution, the prince then went to Scotland with his wife to meet with
Kurt Hahn
Kurt Matthias Robert Martin Hahn (5 June 1886, Berlin – 14 December 1974, Hermannsberg) was a German educator. He was decisive in founding, among other organizations and initiatives, Stiftung Louisenlund, Schule Schloss Salem, Gordonstoun, ...
, the founder of the school, and to visit
Gordonstoun
Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is located ...
, the establishment that the latter founded when he had to flee Nazi Germany because of his Jewish origins. For Sophie, who was very affected by the way she was treated at the time of her brother's wedding, this trip to the United Kingdom was an opportunity to discreetly reconnect with Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth.
Once in
Salem, George William and Sophie settled in a large house provided by the Margrave of Baden, and the children of the princess are educated in the institution run by George William. In fact, the financial situation of Sophie and her husband remained precarious for a long time. For the princess, however, things gradually improved from 1950, when she received a small inheritance from her maternal grandmother, the
Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven. The conclusion in 1951 of the case of jewelry theft from the residence of Hesse-Kassels, and the end of the investigation into the role of Sophie's first husband Christoph in the Nazi regime in 1953
[Organized posthumously between 1950 and 1953, the denazification trial of Prince Christoph established that he could not have been classified either in category I ("major delinquents") or II ("delinquents"), nor even in category III ("Juvenile delinquents"), and that there was therefore no reason to confiscate his inheritance .] then helped to normalize her financial situation and that of her five elder children.
Sophie and her family remained in Salem until 1959, when George William gave up his post of school director. In the meantime, the couple welcomed their nieces to their home, Princesses
Sophia and
Irene of Greece and Denmark, sent to Salem by their father,
King Paul, to complete their studies.
Reintegration into royal circles
Once the
monarchy was restored in Greece in 1946, Sophie was invited to Athens by her mother, Princess Alice, some time later, in 1948. In the years that followed, Sophie and George William got closer to their brother-in-law, King
Paul of Greece
Paul ( el, Παύλος, ''Pávlos''; 14 December 1901 – 6 March 1964) was King of Greece from 1 April 1947 until his death in 1964. He was succeeded by his son, Constantine II.
Paul was first cousin to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh an ...
, and to his family.
Queen Frederica thus came to consider Sophie as her best friend. As a result, the princess and her husband were regularly welcomed at the Greek Court, and the couple was among the many personalities invited by the Greek sovereign to the "cruise of the kings" in 1954. Sophie and her family were also invited to Athens on the occasion of the
wedding
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
of
Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark and
Juan Carlos, Prince of Asturias in 1962. They were also present at the
wedding
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
of King
Constantine II of Greece
Constantine II ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Βʹ, ''Konstantínos II''; 2 June 1940) reigned as the last King of Greece, from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Monarchy of Greece, Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973.
Constantine is the only ...
and
Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark
Anne-Marie, ( el, Άννα-Μαρία ; born 30 August 1946) is a Greek and Danish royal who was the last Queen of Greece
Consorts of the Kings of Greece were women married to the rulers of the Kingdom of Greece during their reign. All monar ...
in 1964.
In the early 1950s, relations between the
British royal family and their German relatives in turn normalized, and Sophie, her sisters and their husbands were all invited to the
coronation of Elizabeth II
The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...
in 1953. The princesses and their families were then frequently invited to
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
and
Sandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house in the parish of Sandringham, Norfolk, England. It is one of the royal residences of Charles III, whose grandfather, George VI, and great-grandfather, George V, both died there. The house stands in a estate ...
. In 1964, Sophie was chosen as godmother to her nephew
Prince Edward. In 1978, she attended the wedding of
Prince Michael of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent, (Michael George Charles Franklin; born 4 July 1942) is a member of the British royal family, who is 51st in the line of succession to the British throne as of September 2022. Queen Elizabeth II and Michael were firs ...
(son of her cousin
Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (27 August 1968), born Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark ( el, Μαρίνα), was a Greek princess by birth and a British princess by marriage. She was a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark a ...
) and
Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz. In 1997, she was invited, with her husband, to the celebrations for the golden wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Over the years, Sophie also developed a special relationship with
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
(later King Charles III), who received her on several occasions at his
Highgrove residence.
Family losses
In 1958, Sophie and George William bought a large chalet located in
Schliersee, Bavaria. Well integrated with the local population, the couple led a relatively simple and discreet life in the village. When she was not taking care of her children, Sophie would devote herself to gardening, reading and listening to music while her husband went about his professional tasks. In the same years, the elder children of the princess formed their own families.
Princess Christina was the first of Sophie's eight children to marry, in 1956.
Over the years, Princess Alice's state of health became a source of concern for Sophie and her family. Despite repeated requests from her children and her advancing age, she refused to move abroad and continued to live almost alone in Athens most of the year. After the establishment of the
Regime of the Colonels
In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...
in 1967, however, Sophie went to the Hellenic capital to persuade her mother to leave Greece and settle in the United Kingdom, which she finally agreed to do. Two years later, in 1969, Alice died at Buckingham Palace and Sophie and her family traveled to London to attend her funeral. Meanwhile, she had also lost her sister Theodora, who died in
Salem a few weeks before their mother.
Struck by these successive losses, Sophie accompanied, in the weeks that followed, her sister-in-law,
Queen Frederica and her niece
Princess Irene on a spiritual journey to India. This was not the last trip she would make to the subcontinent. In 1975, her son Welf Ernst left Germany with his wife and their five-year-old daughter to settle in an
ashram
An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...
in
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
, with the
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controv ...
. Six years later, Welf Ernest died of an
aneurysm
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus (s ...
in 1981 and was cremated in a Hindu ceremony. His death deeply affected his parents, who felt that their son and daughter-in-law had been somehow brainwashed into embracing an unchristian faith. A long legal battle ensued, during which Sophie and George William challenged their daughter-in-law, Wilbeke von Gunsteren, to win the custody of their granddaughter, Princess Saskia of Hanover, who was finally entrusted to her aunt Princess Christina.
Final years
In 1988, Sophie had the satisfaction of making her mother's last wishes come true by transferring her remains to the
Church of Mary Magdalene, on the
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...
, in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. A few years later, in 1993, the
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
Memorial honored Princess Alice as "
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
" for supporting a Jewish family during the Second World War. Sophie and Philip, her last surviving children since Margarita's death in 1981, were invited to the Israeli capital in 1994, for a ceremony in honor of their mother. As the Spanish historian Ricardo Mateos Sainz de Medrano pointed out, there was a certain irony here, considering Sophie's past links to the Nazi regime.
The year 1994 also brought the accidental death of one of Sophie's grandsons, Prince Christopher of
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. A science teacher at a high school in
Bowmore
Bowmore ( gd, Bogh Mòr, 'Big Bend') is a small town on the Scottish island of Islay. It serves as administrative capital of the island, and gives its name to the noted Bowmore distillery producing Bowmore single malt scotch whisky.
History
...
, Scotland, the 34-year-old prince died when he was hit by a car on his way home on his bicycle. Informed by the Duke of Edinburgh while staying in the UK, Sophie was shocked by the news.
The princess spent the last months of her life in a nursing home in
Schliersee
Schliersee is a small town (Markt) and a municipality in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany. It is named after the nearby Lake Schliersee. It comprises the districts Schliersee (town), , , , Josefsthal and Spitzingsee.
Among the p ...
, where she died on 24 November 2001 and was survived by her husband, seven children, fourteen grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren.
Her funeral was held at
Wolfsgarten Castle in the presence of many members of the aristocracy, and her remains were buried at the cemetery of St Martin's Church in Schliersee, where she was eventually joined by her second husband, in 2006.
In popular culture
Documentaries
Prince Karl of Hesse briefly discusses his mother's childhood and her ties to the Nazi regime in a documentary about his uncle, ''Prince Philip: The Plot to Make a King'' (2015).
In the same documentary, it is mentioned that Princess Sophie is the author of an as of yet unpublished memoir.
Princess Sophie is also mentioned in episode 7 ("Hesse Jewels") of the second season of the documentary series ''Daring Capers'' (2001).
Film and television
Sophie features as a character in the 2009 Belgian pseudo-
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
''
The Hessen Affair'' (''The Hessen Conspiracy'' on DVD), the plot of which centers around the theft of her jewels and the entirely fictional post-1871 Imperial German crown jewels from
Kronberg Castle
Kronberg Castle is a High Middle Ages Rock castle in Kronberg im Taunus, Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse state, Germany. The castle is beside Altkönig in Taunus
The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The t ...
.
Sophie is briefly portrayed by actress Eliza Sodró in the episode "Paterfamilias" of the
second season of the television series ''
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
'' (2017).
Ancestry
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
On Sophie
*
Press articles devoted to Sophie
*
*
*
*
On Sophie and the Greek royal family
*
*
*
On Sophie and the princely family of Hesse-Kassel
*
*
*
*
*
Biographies of Sophie's relatives
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sophie Of Greece And Denmark, Princess
1914 births
2001 deaths
20th-century Greek people
20th-century Greek women
Danish princesses
Greek princesses
House of Glücksburg (Greece)
Hanoverian princesses by marriage
Nobility from Corfu
Princesses of Hesse