Figure 2.--Here Princess Yvonne and Prince Alexander of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Saynin have a swig and puff in 1955. They were about 12-13 years old. We are not sure who took the photograph, but it was likely their parents. They were too young to remember the war years, but grew up during the German Economic Miracle.

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county in the Rhineland-Palatinate of Germany. It consisted of territory in and around Sayn. The It was created as a result of the partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein (1607). It took about a year before it was fully recognized as principality--the Countship of Sayn. The succession was contested and as a result was annexed byb the Archbishop of Cologne (1623). Germany at the time was a patchwork quill of small principalities including Church lands. This and many other territorial disputes were settledv with the Treatly of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years War (1648). One decesion was that the county would be inheried by sisters Ernestine and Johanette of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. As they were minors, itv was under the regency of their mother, Countess Louise Juliane von Erbach (1603–70). The country was partitioned for the sisters into Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen and Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hachenburg.

Created: 7:33 PM 12/8/2023
Last updated: 7:33 PM 12/8/2023