Sophie of Prussia (1870–1932)

Sophie of Prussia

Princess Sophie Dorothea Ulrike Alice of Prussia VA (born June 14, 1870 in the New Palace in Potsdam ; † January 13, 1932 in Frankfurt am Main ) was Crown Princess of Greece by marriage and Queen of the Hellenes from 1913 to 1917 and again from 1920 to 1922 .

Life

family

Sophie, called "Sossy" in the family circle, was the third daughter of Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (1831–1888, later Emperor Friedrich III.) And his wife Victoria , Princess Royal (1840–1901), the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and hers Prince Consort Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Her paternal grandfather was the first German Emperor and King of Prussia Wilhelm I.

The engagement to the Duke of Sparta, Crown Prince Konstantin (1868-1923), eldest son of the Greek King George I and his wife Olga Konstantinovna Romanova , a born Grand Duchess of Russia, took place shortly after the death of their father. The wedding was celebrated in Athens on October 27, 1889 . Despite the clear consent of her grandmother, Queen Victoria , and her brother Wilhelm II , her mother had great reservations about this connection: the Greek throne was considered unsafe.

As queen with Constantine I and the daughter Catherine, 1920

The marriage, which was considered harmonious and happy, had six children:

George II (1890–1947), King of Greece ⚭ 1921 Princess Elisabeth of Romania (1894–1956)
Alexander I (1893–1920), King of Greece ⚭ 1919 Aspasia Manos (1896–1972)
Helena (1896–1982) ⚭ 1921–28 Crown Prince Karl, later King Charles II of Romania (1893–1953)
Paul (1901–1964), King of Greece ⚭ 1938 Friederike Princess of Hanover (1917–1981)
Irene (1904–1974) ⚭ 1939 Prince Aimone of Savoy , Duke of Spoleto (1900–1948)
Katharina (1913–2007) ⚭ 1947 Richard Brandram (1911–1994)

Act

Sophie took great care of health care, sanitary improvements, the school system and creating job opportunities for women through the promotion of handicrafts. In 1891, Sophie decided to convert to the Orthodox faith. This led to her break with her brother Kaiser Wilhelm II, who forbade his sister Sophie and her family to enter Germany . On the advice of her mother, she ignored this order, and gradually the relationship between the siblings returned to normal.

Portrait of Sophias as Queen of the Hellenes by Georgios Iakovidis , 1915

Queen Sophia's tomb in the royal cemetery in Tatoi

In 1913 Sophie's father-in-law, King George I, was assassinated and Constantine succeeded him on the throne. At first he was very popular, not least because of his success in the war against Turkey and Bulgaria . When the First World War broke out in 1914, Constantine was determined that Greece should remain neutral. The government and the allies pressed for a stand against Germany. The king was accused of being friendly to the Germans and it was assumed that the queen supported her brother Kaiser Wilhelm II. The royal palace in Tatoi was destroyed by fire and after the Allied blockade, Constantine was forced to go into exile with his family in Switzerland . The eldest son, Georg, was also suspected of collaborating with the Germans, so it was the second son, Alexander, who succeeded his father on the throne. Alexander died in 1920 of blood poisoning as a result of a monkey bite . Now the third son, Paul, was asked to take over the throne. When the latter refused, Constantine was brought back from exile after a change of government and a referendum and was enthusiastically welcomed by the people. But even this enthusiasm should only last a short time. After a failed campaign against Turkey, Sophie and Constantine were again forced to leave the country in 1922. The crown passed to the eldest son, Georg. Konstantin died a few weeks later of a brain haemorrhage in Palermo . In later years Paul also became king, which he had refused during his father's lifetime. All three of Sophie's sons became kings of Greece.

Sophie spent her last years in Florence . She died on January 13, 1932 in Frankfurt am Main, where she received treatment for her cancer. She was buried at her husband's side in the Greek Orthodox Church in Florence. After the restoration of the Glücksburg house in November 1936, the coffins were transferred to Greece and buried in the cemetery of the royal palace in Tatoi.

Salutation and title

Royal coat of arms

1870–1889 Her Royal Highness Princess Sophie of Prussia
1889–1913 Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Sophie of Greece
1913–1923 Her Majesty Queen Sophie of Greece
1923–1932 Her Majesty Queen Mother Sophie of Greece

various

In the city of Flensburg in 1882 was Sophie Street and in 1898 the neighboring Little Sophie street named after her.

literature

Karin Feuerstein-Prasser: The German Empresses. Piper Verlag 2006.
Barbara Beck: Wilhelm II and his siblings. Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2016; ISBN 978-3-7917-2750-9 .

Web links

Commons : Queen Sophia of Greece - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Sophie of Prussia at preussen.de

Individual evidence

↑ Andrew Sinclair: Victoria. Empress for 99 days. Gustav Lübbe Verlag, ISBN 3-404-61086-5 . (Reprint of the book of the same name from Societäts Verlag, ISBN 978-3797304056 , 1984)

predecessor	Office	Successor
Olga of Russia	Queen of Greece 1913–1917 1920–1922	Elisabeth of Romania

personal data
SURNAME	Prussia, Sophie von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Sophie of Greece and Denmark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Queen of Greece
DATE OF BIRTH	June 14, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH	New Palace in Potsdam
DATE OF DEATH	January 13, 1932
Place of death	Frankfurt am Main

[1] Andrew Sinclair: Victoria. Empress for 99 days. Gustav Lübbe Verlag, ISBN 3-404-61086-5 . (Reprint of the book of the same name from Societäts Verlag, ISBN 978-3797304056 , 1984)