Sophie Johanna Maria of Isenburg was born on 7 March 1978 in Frankfurt, West Germany,[2] to Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg (1943-2018), and his wife, Countess Christine Saurma, Baroness von und zu der Jeltsch (born 1941).

[3] Her father was the head of the Birstein branch of the House of Isenburg, a mediatized Catholic line of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, who lost their independence in 1815.

[4] She then attended the boarding school Kloster Wald and passed her A-Levels as well as a trade test as a dressmaker.

[6] The religious wedding took place at the Church of Peace on 27 August 2011, in commemoration of the 950th anniversary of the founding of the House of Hohenzollern.

[9] The 700 guests included: Prince Hassan bin Talal and Princess Sarvath al-Hassan of Jordan; Prince Laurent of Belgium; Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor; and then Crown Princess Margareta of Romania.