Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern ({{langx|de|Leopold Stephan Karl Anton Gustav Eduard Tassilo Fürst von Hohenzollern}}; 22 September 1835 – 8 June 1905) was the head of the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, and played a fleeting role in European power politics in connection with the Franco-Prussian War.

He was born into the dynasty's Sigmaringen branch, which inherited all the dynasty's Swabian lands when the Hohenzollern-Hechingen branch became extinct.

Leopold's parents were Josephine of Baden and Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern. Leopold was the older brother of King Carol I of Romania and father of the future King Ferdinand of Romania. Carol ascended to the Romanian throne in 1866, and Leopold renounced his rights to the Romanian succession in favor of his sons in 1880.Renunciation letter of Leopold de Hohenzollern, in French, dated 22 November 1880{{primary source inline|date=October 2018}}{{non-primary source needed|date=February 2024}}

Entry to European controversy

File:Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern (1835-1905).png

After the Spanish Revolution of 1868, which overthrew Queen Isabella II, Leopold was offered the Spanish crown by the new government. The offer was supported by Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck but opposed by French Emperor Napoleon III on the grounds that the installation of a relative of the Prussian king would result in the expansion of Prussian influence and the encirclement of France.

In Spain, when the news spread that Leopold was a candidate for the crown, he began to be called "Leopoldo Olé-Olé si me eligen" (Leopoldo Olé-Olé if they choose me) as a play on words because of the difficult pronunciation of his surname for the Spanish.{{Cite web |last=Villanueva |first=Fernando Díaz |date=2006-05-05 |title=La república relámpago |url=https://www.libertaddigital.com/opinion/fin-de-semana/la-republica-relampago-1276231715.html |access-date=2022-09-08 |website=Libertad Digital |language=es-ES}}{{cite web

|url=http://hemeroteca-paginas.lavanguardia.com/LVE01/PUB/1996/12/01/LVG19961201-029.pdf|title=Castró-Aznar: corbatas y telegramas

|author=Javier Tusell Gómez|website=lavanguardia.com|language=es|date=1 December 1996|access-date=19 May 2023}}

Leopold initially refused the offer, but on 21 June 1870, he accepted the Spanish crown and the name "Leopoldo I". He was forced on 11 July to decline again.Erich Eyck, Bismarck and the German Empire, pp. 168-171.

Additional demands that were made by the French government heightened diplomatic tensions between Paris and Berlin. The deliberate shortening of a diplomatic communiqué, the Ems Dispatch, led to declaration of war by France. Prussia's speedy mobilization, together with the support of the other members of the North German Confederation, resulted in French defeat, the consequences of which were the collapse of the Second French Empire, to be replaced by the Third Republic, and the creation of the German Empire. France lost most of Alsace and part of Lorraine and had to pay Prussia war reparations.

Marriage and issue

File: Prince and Princess Leopold, with their son and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1866) - G & A Overbeck, Düsseldorf.png

On 12 September 1861, Leopold married Infanta Antónia of Portugal, daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal and King Ferdinand II of Portugal. They had the following children:

William, Prince of Hohenzollern (7 March 1864 – 22 October 1927) he married Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies on 27 June 1889. They had three children. He remarried Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria on 20 January 1915.
Ferdinand I of Romania (25 August 1865 – 20 July 1927). King of Romania from 1914 to 1927. In 1893, he married Princess Marie of Edinburgh. They had six children.
Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern (1 September 1868 – 21 February 1919) he married Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium on 28 May 1894. They had four children.

Honours

Leopold received the following decorations and awards:[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_nXwOAAAAYAAJ/page/n37 Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Preußen] (1905), Genealogy p. 5

{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|

{{flagicon image|Flag of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Sigmaringen.png}} Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class with Swords
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg}} Prussia:
Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, 8 May 1858; Knight's Cross with Swords, 1866{{citation|title=Königlich Preussische Ordensliste|journal=Preussische Ordens-Liste|volume=1|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878831&view=1up&seq=5&skin=2021|pages=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878831&view=1up&seq=16&skin=2021 8], [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878831&view=1up&seq=29&skin=2021 21], [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878831&view=1up&seq=1006&skin=2021 934]|language=German|location=Berlin|year=1886}}
Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, 8 May 1864
Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class
Knight of the Black Eagle, 11 June 1879; with Collar, 1880
Service Award Cross
{{Flagicon|Anhalt}} Duchy of Anhalt: Grand Cross of Albert the Bear, 24 March 1865Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt (1867) "Herzoglicher Haus-orden Albrecht des Bären" p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TYEp3N5O48EC&pg=PA18 18]
{{Flag|Baden}}:Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1868), "Großherzogliche Orden" [https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/periodical/pageview/1872719 pp. 50], [https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/periodical/pageview/1872730 61]
Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1858
Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion, 1858
{{Flag|Kingdom of Bavaria}}: Knight of St. Hubert, 1890Hof- und - Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern (1904), "Königliche Orden". p. 9
{{flagicon|Saxe-Coburg and Gotha}} {{flagicon|Saxe-Altenburg}} {{flagicon|Saxe-Meiningen}} Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, April 1864Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtums Sachsen-Altenburg (1869), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" [https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00243702/Parladrusa_Staatshandbuch_SA_166810592_1869_0035.tif?logicalDiv=jportal_jparticle_00472815 p. 21]
{{flag|Grand Duchy of Hesse}}: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 19 December 1888{{citation|title=Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste|chapter=Ludewigs-orden|page=8|language=German|location=Darmstadt|year=1898|publisher=Staatsverlag|via=hathitrust.org}}
{{Flagicon image|Flagge Großherzogtümer Mecklenburg.svg}} Mecklenburg: Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore
{{flag|Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach}}: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 6 March 1869Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1869), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" pp. [https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00183908/Staatshandbuch_Film_Nr_14_0018.tif 12-13] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608124432/https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00183908/Staatshandbuch_Film_Nr_14_0018.tif |date=8 June 2020 }}
{{Flag|Kingdom of Saxony}}: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1893{{cite book|author=Sachsen|title=Staatshandbuch für den Königreich Sachsen: 1901|year=1901|publisher=Heinrich|chapter=Königlich Orden|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030492006&view=1up&seq=44&skin=2021 4]|location=Dresden|via=hathitrust.org}}
{{Flag|Schaumburg-Lippe}}: Military Merit Medal with Swords
{{flag|Württemberg}}: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1875Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1896), "Königliche Orden" p. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Pc5CAAAAYAAJ/page/n63/mode/2up 28]
{{Flag|Austria-Hungary}}:
Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1878{{citation|chapter-url=http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1904&page=354&size=45|chapter=Ritter-Orden: Leopold-orden|title=Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie|date=1904|access-date=8 June 2020|page=66}}
Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1904{{Cite web|url=http://tornai.com/rendtagok.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222022855/http://tornai.com/rendtagok.htm|url-status=dead