Botho Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein

Botho Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein^[1] (His Serene Highness Prince Botho of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein) (16 February 1927 in Eisenach – 27 January 2008 in Salzburg) was a German politician.

Botho Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein.

Coat of arms of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein

Early life and ancestry

Born into the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, one of the oldest houses of German nobility, Botho was second son and youngest child of Prince Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hermann zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1873-1960) and his de-morganatized wife, Marie Rühm, Baroness von Freusburg (1892-1975).^[2]

Career

He was a member of the Christian Democratic Union and represented the party in the Bundestag from 1965 to 1980. He first gained a direct mandate as representative of Siegen-Wittgenstein and subsequently was elected from the land list.

He served as president of the German Red Cross between 1982 and 1994.

Private life

On 25 May in Bad Laasphe, he married Baroness Elisabeth Ilse Sonja Sylvia Karoline von Zedlitz und Leipe (1937-2020).^[3]

They had one son and two daughters:

• Georg Christian Sigmund Winfired Rolf, Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (b. 1960), married Benedikta von Wolffersdorff-Mellin (b. 1961) and had issue
• Friederike Maria Monika Jutta, Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (b. 1961), married Heinrich Frömbling (b. 1959) and has issue
• Katharina Viktoria Ellinor, Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (b. 1965), married Joachim Friedrich (1961) and has issue

External links and references

• Welt Online: Botho Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein obituary (German) 28 January 2008