Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern (German: 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.
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to reassert its dominant position in continental Europe, which appeared in question following the decisive Prussian victory over Austria in 1866.
After a prince of the Roman Catholic branch Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen had been offered the vacant Spanish throne in 1870 and had withdrawn his acceptance, the French ambassador approached Prussian King Wilhelm I at his vacationing site in Ems demanding Prussia renounce any future claims, which Wilhelm rejected. The internal Ems dispatch reported this to Berlin on July 13; Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck quickly then made it public with altered wording. Thus the French newspapers for July 14, the French national holiday contained translations of Bismarck's press release, but not a report from their own ambassador. A crowd in the streets of Paris demanded war, and soon French mobilization was ordered.
Ferdinand I (Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad; 24 August 1865 – 20 July 1927), nicknamed Întregitorul ("the Unifier"), was King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Infanta Antónia of Portugal, (daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal and of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Kohary). His family was part of the Catholic branch of the Prussian royal family Hohenzollern.
In 1886, Ferdinand became heir presumptive to the Romanian throne, following the renunciation of his father (in 1880) and older brother. From the moment he settled in Romania, he continued his military career, gaining a series of honorary commands and being promoted to the rank of corps general. He married in 1893 Princess Marie of Edinburgh, granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and Emperor Alexander II.
William, Prince of Hohenzollern (German: Wilhelm August Karl Joseph Peter Ferdinand Benedikt Fürst von Hohenzollern) (7 March 1864 – 22 October 1927) was the eldest son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and Infanta Antónia of Portugal.
William was an older brother of Ferdinand of Romania. His first cousins included (among others) Carlos I of Portugal, Albert I of Belgium, Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony.