Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a small principality in south-western Germany whose rulers came from the junior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. It originated in 1576, when the county of Hohenzollern was divided among the three sons of Count Karl I; Charles II received Sigmaringen and founded the line that bore its name. The counts were elevated to princes in 1623, and the principality remained Catholic, unlike the Protestant Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg and Prussia. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 it joined the Confederation of the Rhine, and from 1815 it was a sovereign member of the German Confederation. The revolution of 1848 forced Prince Charles to abdicate in favour of his son Karl Anton, who turned to Prussia for help. Prussian troops occupied the principality in 1849, and by a treaty signed in December it was annexed to Prussia, effective in March 1850, becoming part of the Province of Hohenzollern. The family's importance did not end there: Karl Anton's son Karl Eitel became Prince and then King Carol I of Romania, and the Sigmaringen branch remained connected to the Romanian throne until 1947.