Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia and Sophie Princes: Germany Set for Its Own Royal Wedding

Aug. 27, 2011— -- Germany is all atwitter with its very own royal wedding this weekend. The great-great grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II and a Hessian princess will tie the knot in Potsdam, though festivities will be decidedly more modest than other recent royal nuptials. The couple prefers to keep it low-key.

They may not technically be nobility, but Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia, 35, and his fiancé, Sophie Princes of Isenburg, 33, will still get the royal treatment this weekend in Germany.

The great-great grandson of Wilhelm II, Germany's last Kaiser, and the Hessian princess will wed on Saturday in the eastern German city of Potsdam. They have chosen to celebrate their love at the Hohenzollern dynasty's old summer residence, the famed Sanssouci Palace built by Frederick the Great.

Compared to William and Kate the couple are virtually unknown to all but the most dedicated royal-watchers. But if Germany hadn't done away with its monarchy nearly 100 years ago, in 1918, they would be the country's imperial couple. Still, their nuptials will be significantly more modest than April's festivities in London. Although the 700 guests at the event will include members of the international royal set, none will be first-tier nobility.

"There will be no queen, no Princess Kate or Letizia," manager of the former Prussian royal family's affairs, Michael Blankart, told German news agency DPA. Instead, many royal families are sending representatives on their behalf.

About 100 journalists from at home and abroad have registered to cover the wedding, which will also be broadcast live on television -- though only for three hours by regional Berlin-Brandenburg public broadcaster RBB. The meager coverage seems fitting for a couple that is otherwise rather modest. Both work as business managers in Berlin and Rostock, and are reportedly down-to-earth, comporting themselves without class conceits. They opted to tie the knot officially with a commonplace civil ceremony on Thursday, to which the groom drove the couple himself.