Background
He was born in Madrid, the eldest son of Prince Maximilian Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1897–1968) and his wife, María de la Piedad de Yturbe y von Scholtz-Hersmendorff, Marchioness de Belvís de las Navas (known as Piedita) (1892–1990) daughter of Manuel Adrián de Yturbe y del Villar, Mexican ambassador to St. Petersburg, Vienna, Paris and Madrid, and María de la Trinidad von Scholtz-Hersmendorff y Caravaca, Marchioness de Belvís de las Navas. Hohenlohe came, on his father's side, from a family who traced their history back to the twelfth century and were reigning Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in Württemberg until Napoleon I's invasion. His mother Piedad was Marquesa de Belvís de las Navas, granddaughter of Francisco-María de Yturbe, Mexican Minister of Finance of Basque origin. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was his godfather at a christening in the royal palace.
Alfonso had five siblings, Maria Francesca (known as Pimpinella, his eldest sister, Marquesa de Belvís de las Navas), Alfonso, Christian, Elisabeth, Max Emanuel and Beatrice (known as Teñu).
The hereditary wealth of Prince Hohenlohe's family was depleted in the 20th century. His mother lost a few estates in the Mexican Revolution; and after the fall of the Third Reich, property in Germany and Czechoslovakia disappeared behind the iron curtain.
Read more about this topic: Prince Alfonso Of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)