Princess Theodora zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (''Theodora-Louise Victoria Juliana Yvonne''; born 29 December 1986) is a German aristocrat and international relations professional. After completing a degree in international relations from the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

in 2011, she worked in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

for a green energy firm owned by her father, Prince Ludwig Ferdinand zu Sayn Wittgenstein-Berleburg. In 2014, Wittgenstein was arrested in Scotland and charged with breaching of the peace aggravated by religious prejudice, two counts of physical assault, and an offense under the 2012 Police and Fire Reform Act after she took off her clothes, made

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

, and

anti-Muslim Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

remarks, and physically assaulted two security personnel during an

Oktoberfest Oktoberfest (; ) is the world's largest , featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, and is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, from mid- or late-September to the first Sunday in October. The annual event attracts more than seven milli ...

party. She was fined £1,000 by

Dundee Sheriff Court Dundee Sheriff Court is a judicial building on West Bell Street in Dundee in Scotland. The building, which operates as the main courthouse for the area, is a Category B listed building. History The first judicial building in Dundee was the old ...

. In 2020, her family used the European Union's

Right to be forgotten The right to be forgotten (RTBF) is the right to have private information about a person be removed from Internet searches and other directories in some circumstances. The issue has arisen from desires of individuals to "determine the developmen ...

law to have

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

remove 197 links from their search engine in Germany that led to articles about her arrest.

Early life and family

Wittgenstein was born on 29 January 1986 in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

and is a member of the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, an old German noble family. She is the daughter of Prince Ludwig Ferdinand zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Countess Yvonne

Wachtmeister af Johannishus The Wachtmeister family () is a Swedish noble family from Livonia, who immigrated to Sweden in the 16th century. The name ''Wachtmeister'' is German for 'sergeant'. The family branched out in 1683, and was "introduced" at the Swedish House of No ...

, a member of the

Swedish nobility The Swedish nobility (, or , ) has historically been a legally or socially privileged Social class, class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic term for nobility, ''fr ...

. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Princess Friederike Juliane of Salm-Horstmar. She is a great-granddaughter of

Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (, 27 May 1882 – 25 April 1925) was Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg from 1904 to 1918. Life Prince Richard was born on 27 May 1882 at Berleburg, Germany, to Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgen ...

and Princess Madeleine of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg. Wittgenstein is the younger sister of the journalist and writer Anna von Bayern, Prince Carl Albrecht zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and the actor

August Wittgenstein Prince August Fredrik zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (), known professionally as August Wittgenstein, (born 22 January 1981) is a German-Swedish actor and member of the princely Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. ...

Education and career

Wittgenstein was educated at boarding schools in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. She attended the

, where she earned a degree in international relations in 2011. She lived in

while working for her father's green energy firm.

Personal life

On 21 July 2018, she married Count Miklós "Nikolaus" Bálint Béla Bethelen de Bethlen in a ceremony in

Bad Laasphe Bad Laasphe () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Geography Location The town of Bad Laasphe lies in the upper Lahn Valley, near the stately home of Wittgenstein Castle (de) (nowadays a boarding ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. She and her husband live on a property at Schloss Berleburg, her childhood home.

Anti-Islam incident and arrest

In March 2014, Wittgenstein was arrested after taking her clothes off, making homophobic remarks, yelling racial slurs, and making anti-Muslim remarks towards Farah Jasmin Hussain, a first aid responder, at an

party for

students at Kinkell Byre. She was put in leg restraints by police due to her aggressive behavior after she physically assaulted two members of staff. She was taken into police custody and held for two days. Wittgenstein was fined £1,000 by Sheriff Mark Steward of the

. She admitted to one charge of breach of the peace aggravated by religious prejudice, two counts of assault, and an offence under the 2012 Police and Fire Reform Act. Wittgentstein's solicitor, Douglas Williams, said that she has a thyroid condition which may have contributed to her behavior. In 2020, the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg tried to make online reports of Wittgenstein's arrest disappear via the European Union's

law.

removed nearly 200 links from its search engine about Wittgenstein's behavior at the Oktoberfest party and her arrest and fine. The incident raised questions about who has the "right to be forgotten" by law. In Google's bi-annual Transparency Report, where the company shares data about how governments and corporations make requests to the company, an entry in Germany was listed that included a "lawyer's removal request from a member of a German noble family" who was "prosecuted following a drunken night out in Scotland." As an outcome of the request, Google removed 197 links following a preliminary injunction against a third party that the identifying content is illegitimate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayn-Wittgenstein, Theodora Living people 1986 births Alumni of the University of St Andrews Bethlen family German people of Swedish descent German expatriates in Jordan

Theodora Theodora may refer to: * Theodora (given name), a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift" Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodo ...

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