Monday, January 4, 2010

Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg to wed German commoner

Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein0-Berleburg today announced the engagement of their daughter, Nathalie0 to Alexander Johannsmann. The couple have been dating for more than two years. Johannsman, 32, works for his uncle's horse transport business, and his father, former international horse jumper, now trains horse jumping. Nathalie, 34, is the youngest of three children of Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg.
Princess Nathalie is breeds horses and runs her own stud farm at Bad Berleburg.
She also rides for Denmark, and was a member of Denmark's bronze medal in team dressage at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Princess Nathalie was born in Copenhagen on May 2, 1975, but she did not acquire Danish nationality until she was an adult. She and her brother, Gustav, who is a German national, and her sister, Alexandra, who also became a Danish citizen as an adult, do not have dynastic rights in Denmark.
The Princess and Mr. Johannsmann are currently in Australia and expect to return to Germany at the end of January. No date for the wedding has been announced.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Marlene,

Thanks for sending this on.

It is good to hear happy news at this time of the year.

Cheers, Keith

jason said...

Sigh, not even an aristocrat. Still they have a stromg interest and lifestyle in common. That the sisters have been able to marry who they chose highlights the unfairness of the situation for their brother

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

Jason,

The princesses have no dynastic rights, and were not subject to their grandfather's will. Alexandra married a count. Life is unfair, actually, Gustav knew the situation. He must also be aware of the precedence set by the Leiningen and Prussian cases regarding inheritance. The person who makes out the will does have the right to establish criteria for the main inheritance. (Under German law all children inherit something, but the deceased can leave the bulk of the fortune to one person.)

Karin said...

This is nice news about Nathalie. Gustav probably just doesn't want to get married because he was engaged to be married before, so hew knows it's not like he will become a pauper and end up on the streets or something. He will have a nice life so if he finds someone he wants to marry, all the nicer.

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

Karin,

Gustav has been living openly with the American-born Carina Axelsson for several years now. He cannot marry her without losing his home and inheritance because of his grandfather's will. Carina is not of noble birth.