Prince of Prussia is married in Germany

DPA/Potsdam, Germany

Sophie, Princess of Isenburg and Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia leave in a carriage after their church wedding at the Church of Peace in Potsdam, eastern Germany yesterday

It may not have equalled the glamour of Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in London, but thousands of well-wishers still turned out yesterday to celebrate the nuptials of Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia and his bride Sophie, Princess of Isenburg. As the great great grand child of Kasier Wilhelm II, the prince would be Germany’s Kaiser had the country kept its royal family after the end of World War I in 1918. The couple’s titles are no longer recognised - they are officially just their surnames - but the “royal” wedding at Sanssouci palace, just outside Berlin, was still broadcast on television with live comentary from royal experts. Fans of the German’s equivalent to the royals lined the streets from early in the moring to catch a glimpse of the couple. One man, who had travelled from Muensterland in western Germany, told RBB television: “I’m a self-confessed monarchist and would like the monarchy back.” Despite the pomp of their wedding, the couple, who both studied business at university are seen as very down-to-earth. The 33-year-old princess works as a management consultant in Berlin and the prince for a company specializing in innovation in the north German city of Rostock. The 35-year-old prince drove himself and his wife-to-be to their civil ceremony on Thursday - church marriages are not legally recognised in Germany - and, like his guests, arrived on foot at the Church of Peace at Sanssouci yesterday with his mother and sister on his arms. He became the head of the house of Hohenzollern when his grandfather, Louis Ferdinand, died while he was at school studying for his A-levels in Scotland in 1994. Georg Friedrich’s father, a reserve army officer also named Louis Ferdinand, had died just after his first birthday in a military accident. He was crushed between two armoured vehicles during a training exercise and died later of his injuries. The 33-year-old bride arrived yesterday in a grey Rolls Royce borrowed from a Swedish friend and wore a cream silk taffeta dress with a silk tulle skirt by German designer Wolfgang Joop. Over the top she wore a transparent mantel made of organza and satin with a 4m long embroidered trail. “It was a great challenge and an honour,” said Joop. It had been hard to match the dress, which needed 60m of material, to the bride’s antique veil. “It’s well over 100 years old and has taken on its own colour, a chalky white,” the 66-year-old designer said. The bride, who comes from the state of Hesse, also wore a diamond tiara made in Paris and worn by every Isenburg bride since around 1860. The prince wore a morning suit with a grey waistcoat and a baby pink tie. The guests included representavies of the aristocracy from all over Europe - though not many of the highest ranking. “The timing of the wedding is a little unfortunate,” explained ARD television’s society expert, Rolf Seelmann-Eggebert. “Much of the aristocracy is still on holiday.” As the princess is Catholic and the prince Protestant, the service was conducted in two parts, with the Catholic part conducted by retired abbot Gregor Henckel von Donnersmarck, the uncle of Oscar-prize-winning film director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The rings echanged were those of Georg Friedrich’s parents, newly engraved. After the ceremony the couple were driven off in a Landauer open-topped carriage drawn by six chestnut horses to a reception at the palace, to be followed by a dinner for around 370 guests in the evening. The couple would like to have children, the bride told RBB television: “A bit of hustle and bustle belongs to family life,” she said. Despite the thousands who turned out to the wedding many Germans remain indifferent to the prince and princess, and a small demonstration took place outside the palace grounds. “Are there not more important things in life?” asked Spiegel magazine columnist Georg Diez. Those who followed the wedding were stuck in the past and afraid of the future, he said. “It (the Prussian monarchy) remains dusty, narrow-minded and that the television station RBB reported on its website before the wedding that all the women would wear hats when the Kaiser gets married on Saturday at Sanssouci - well not the Kaiser his great great grand son - that doesn’t make it any better,” he wrote.