Carl-Friedrich Hubertus Georg Eduardo Paolo Nickolos Franz Alois Ignatius Hieronymus Maria, Hereditary Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (30 September 1966 – 24 April 2010), better known by his racing alias Leonhard "Leo" Löwenstein, was a German prince and endurance race driver participating in the VLN.

Career

Löwenstein drove his first race 2006 in the ADAC "Chevy" Egons 500 in the Nordschleife GP in a

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in ) is a family of German two-door, high performance Rear-engine design, rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche, Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Now in it ...

at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

Death

During the third round of the VLN-long-distance championship of 2010, his Aston Martin V8 Vantage overturned and hit a guardrail and the rear of his car went up in flames. Efforts to extricate him from the wreck were futile, and despite instant rescue efforts, he died at the accident scene of

smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (a kind of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...

. He is the seventh person to have died during the German Endurance Championship since 1977. His funeral took place on 30 April 2010 at the family tomb at the Engelberg Monastery in

Großheubach Großheubach (or ''Grossheubach'') is a market municipality in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. Geography Location Großheubach lies on the right bank of the Mai ...

. The burial was preceded by a funeral service at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Kleinheubach.

Personal life

Löwenstein was the eldest son and heir to Alois-Konstantin, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, who became Hereditary Prince in 1990 upon the death of his grandfather. He was a great-great-great-great-grandson of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

through descent from her eldest daughter, the

Victoria, Princess Royal Victoria, Princess Royal (Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa; 21 November 1840 – 5 August 1901) was German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of Frederick III, German Emperor. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom ...

(German Empress) (although as heir to the Roman Catholic branch of the Princely House of Löwenstein he may have been barred by the

Act of Settlement The Act of Settlement ( 12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2) is an act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Cathol ...

from eligibility for succession to the British throne). He married ''Stephanie'' Sophie Marie Coletta von Brenken (born 1970) in a civil ceremony on 16 May 1998 at Kleinheubach Castle, and in a religious ceremony on 8 August 1998 at Erpernburg Castle. The couple had four children: *Princess ''Augustina'' Sophia Carolina Dominique Anastasia Rosa Kiliana Margarethe Maria, born 8 July 1999 in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, *''Nicodemus'' Hieronymus Alois Georg Hubertus Mario Hugo Eusebius Maria, Hereditary Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, born 2 August 2001 in Oslo, *Prince ''Laurentius'' Christophorus Alois Georg Andreas Benedictus Carl Hubertus Fatima Maria, born 13 February 2006 in Frankfurt, *Princess ''Kiliane'' Olympia Anastasia Rosa Pilar Philippa Josefine Magdalena Maria, born 23 May 2008 in Frankfurt. Löwenstein and his family lived in the village of Laudenbach am Main in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, where they ran a vineyard.Tödlicher Unfall am Nürburgring
His aunt, Princess Marie Christine of Prussia, was killed in an auto accident in 1966, four months before his birth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowenstein, Leo 1966 births 2010 deaths German racing drivers Sportspeople from Frankfurt Racing drivers who died while racing House of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg Princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg German Roman Catholics Heirs apparent who never acceded Sport deaths in Germany Racing drivers from Hesse

Career

Death

Personal life

See also

References