Princess Sophie of Hohenberg

Who was Princess Sophie of Hohenberg?

Princess Sophie of Hohenberg was the only daughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg.

Following the assassination of her parents, Sophie and her two surviving brothers, Maximilian and Ernst, were taken in by their father's close friend and shooting partner Prince Jaroslav von Thun und Hohenstein.

In late 1918, their properties in Czechoslovakia including Konopiště and Chlumec nad Cidlinou were confiscated. The children moved to Vienna and Schloß Artstetten. In 1938, following the Anschluss, her brothers were arrested and deported to Dachau concentration camp where they spent the next seven years of their lives.

Sophie married Count Friedrich von Nostitz-Rieneck, son of Count Erwein Felix von Nostitz-Rieneck and Countess Amalia von Podstatzky-Lichtenstein on 8 September 1920; they had four children:

Count Erwein Maximilian Franz Peter Paul Hubertus Konrad Maria von Nostitz-Rieneck; died in a Soviet POW camp

Count Franz von Assisi Friedrich Ernst Leopold Josef Maria von Nostitz-Rieneck; killed on the Eastern Front