Bernhart, Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein

Prince Bernhart was born in Marburg the son of Christian-Heinrich, Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1908-1983) and his second wife, Princess Dagmar of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1919–2003).

Prince Bernhart was married at Castle Schwarzenau, Germany on 31 August 1996 to Countess Katharina von Podewils-Dürniz, the daughter of the German diplomat Count Max von Podewils-Dürniz (1919-1982) and his wife Baroness Elisabeth von Hirschberg (1927-1974). She has a doctorate in Art History and in 2003 was appointed Sotheby's representative in Hamburg. The couple have one child, Wenzel Max, Hereditary Prince (Erbprinz) of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (b. 1997).[3]

Prince Bernhart is Chairman of the Board of the Fürst Wittgenstein`sche Waldbesitzergesellschaft Forestry company and also joint Managing Director of Verlag Dashoefer publishers.[4][5] He was the patron of the 300th Anniversary celebrations for the Schwarzenau Brethren, which were held on his estate in 2008.[6]

Four dynastic branches of the princely House of Sayn were extant at the beginning of the 20th century, each possessing its own secundogeniture.[7][8] In order of seniority of legitimate descent from their progenitor, Ludwig I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein (1532-1605), they were the:[7][8]

1. Princes (Fürsten) zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, descended from Count Georg (1565-1631)
2. Princes (Fürsten) zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, descended from Count Christian Ludwig (1725-1797)
3. Counts (Grafen) zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, descended from Count Georg Ernst (1735-1792)
4. Princes (Fürsten) zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, descended from Count Ludwig (1571-1634)

Some of these lines had junior branches, dynastic and non-dynastic, the latter including families whose right to the princely title was recognized by the Russian, Prussian and Bavarian monarchies, whereas other morganatic branches used lesser titles in Germany.[8]

On the death of Ludwig, 3rd Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn in 1912, the eldest of his three sons, Hereditary Prince August (1868-1947), became 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein and head of the third branch of the House of Sayn.[7][8] Being a childless bachelor, the elder of whose two younger brothers, Georg (1873-1960), had married morganatically, while the younger, Wilhelm (1877-1958), was 49 and yet unmarried, August preserved the name and heritage of his branch of the House of Sayn by adopting Christian Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1908-1953).[7][8] He was the second son of the late head of the entire House of Sayn, Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1882-1925), whose eldest son, Gustav Albrecht, 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1907-1944) had inherited the senior line's fortune and position.[7][8]

In November 1960 Christian Heinrich, being the divorced father of two daughters by his dynastic marriage to Beatrix Grafin von Bismarck-Schönhausen (1921-2006), married Dagmar Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1919-2002), elder daughter of his adopted father's younger brother, Georg, who died seven months before the wedding.[7] As Georg's children by his morganatic wife, Marie Rühm, (created Baroness von Freusburg by the reigning Prince of Lippe in 1916) had been de-morganatized by declaration of their uncle August on 11 February 1947, her marriage to Christian Heinrich was deemed a dynastic match, ensuring that their son Bernhart would be born in compliance with the house laws of his adoptive ancestors, the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohensteins, as well as being a grandson of the last dynastic male of that family, Prince Georg.[7]