Prince Harald von Hohenzollern of Germany “unexpectedly” died just days before his wife was due to give birth to their first child.
Princess Josefa von Hohenzollern said her husband, who worked in the diamond industry, went into cardiac arrest while on a business trip in Namibia last week. He was 63.
“My beloved husband, Harald v. Hohenzollern, died completely unexpectedly of a sudden cardiac death,” she said. “This loss hits me very deep.”
The couple met in 2022 and got married last year in Josefa’s hometown of Kollnburg, Germany, a resort village in the Bavarian Forest. She told Bild that their meeting at a trade show in Stuttgart was “love at first sight.”
Josefa, 51, said her baby is due in July, but has not posted to her Instagram since announcing the prince’s passing. She shared a collage of smiling selfies of them.
The princess said she would be “stepping back” from social media and actively campaigning to be re-elected as mayor of Leonberg, a city of 50,000 in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. She is a member of the center-right Free Democratic Party.
“I need time to grieve, say goodbye, and be there for our unborn child,” she said.
The Spanish website La Nacional reported that Harald kept a low profile, despite his royal title.
The prince was part of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty, which has maintained royal titles despite Germany’s monarchy being abolished after World War I. Unlike other European royals, the former royal houses in Germany are not recognized by the state. Still, two lines of Hohenzollern aristocracy—that once produced German emperors, kings of Prussia, and Romanian royalty—remain intact today.
