Princess Sophie

Junior Jones

New member
Vienna, November 1908

In this episode Indy tells of his first romance. As a boy he fell in love with Princess Sophie, daughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. At the end of the episode, during the "Old Indy" bookends, he is asked if he ever saw her again. He says, "Yes, but that's a story for another time."

I have been doing some research, and altough there is a lot written about Franz Ferdinand, there is not much about his family, especially after the assasination in 1914.

I did learn that Sophie Hohenburg lived until the mid-1970's. And that leaves a lot of opportunity for Indy to meet her again.

Is there anyone with better historical resources than myself who can suggest when Indy and Sophie may have met again?
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Can be anytime. Since these people lost their royal status after the wars, there really is no limitations or possible meetings in the frames of some famous historic event.

I dunno why, but I somehow started to think of the sixties... I guess I just mentally placed it after the time Indy's grand adventures were over.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
raftailgunner said:
This is about as much as i can find.
According to this she died in 1990. Indy must have forgotten about her and stopped wearing the locket by 1935.
Can you picture them meeting again anytime after that?

Indy: I wore your locket for almost 20 years.
Sophie: Oh, Indy, don't exaggerate.
 

Kaczor

New member
The medallion with picture of Sophie saved Indy's life in "Oganga" episode but did you noticed that there was two different medallions? :D

03zc6.jpg


11ka9.jpg
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Looks the same to me, just with the picture on the opposite side.

(Of course, the picture's different, but the hinge and the hook look the same.)
 

Junior Jones

New member
Kaczor said:
I believe this is a picture of the real Sohpie Hohenburg. "German East Africa, 1916" was filmed prior to "Vienna, 1908" and I'm guessing that at the time they hadn't yet cast the part of young Sophie.

Kaczor said:
And this is a picture of the actress who played Sophie in "Vienna, 1908". Obviously not the same person, but a very good resemblance.
 

IndyJr.

New member
Here's the facts...

After the assassination, she and her brothers were taken in by Prince Jaroslav von Thun und Hohenstein (their father's close friend) to live in Czechoslovakia (it actually became it's own separate nation in 1918) until 1918 when their property was confiscated. At that point the children moved to Vienna once again. There they stayed until 1938 when they were arrested by the Nazis and placed in a Bavarian Concentration Camp where they stayed for another 7 years until 1945. After that, I don't know.

Sophie married Count Friedrich von Nostitz-Rieneck on September 8, 1920 and they had four children.

Here's my scenario: Czechoslovakia become it's own nation away from Austro-Hungarian influence on October 28, 1918. According to the Ultimate Guide, in July of 1918, Indy was in Istanbul (correct your timeline, Raiders). Then there's a gap between July and November, where Indy and Remy left to search for the Eye of the Peacock. My idea is that Indy was sent on a mission as a spy into Austrian lands where he met Sophie, say around the beginning of October. Indy and Sophie fall in love, then Indy watches as they are forced out of the newly created Czechoslovakian Empire. Indy is called back to go on another mission... to bring in Rajendra Sing who is supposedly aiding the enemy.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Kaczor said:
The medallion with picture of Sophie saved Indy's life in "Oganga" episode but did you noticed that there was two different medallions? :D
It could be 2 photographs, both cut to fit the locket and placed back-to-back.

Junior Jones said:
In this episode Indy tells of his first romance. As a boy he fell in love with Princess Sophie, daughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. At the end of the episode, during the "Old Indy" bookends, he is asked if he ever saw her again. He says, "Yes, but that's a story for another time."
"Did you ever see her again?"
"Of course, I did...mmph...*wink*...but that's another story!" (Exuent)
Junior Jones said:
I believe this is a picture of the real Sohpie Hohenburg. "German East Africa, 1916" was filmed prior to "Vienna, 1908" and I'm guessing that at the time they hadn't yet cast the part of young Sophie.
Agreed. Look at the necklace!

IndyJr. said:
After the assassination, she and her brothers were taken in by Prince Jaroslav von Thun und Hohenstein (their father's close friend) to live in Czechoslovakia (it actually became it's own separate nation in 1918) until 1918 when their property was confiscated. At that point the children moved to Vienna once again. There they stayed until 1938 when they were arrested by the Nazis and placed in a Bavarian Concentration Camp where they stayed for another 7 years until 1945. After that, I don't know.
Maybe he ran into her after his operations in Flensburg? Indy traveled south to Bavaria and encountered Sophie freshly released from the camp...
Another chance-meeting scenario could have occurred before/after Indy's wacky telephone adventure in Prague.:p
 

AnnieJones

New member
Junior Jones said:
I did learn that Sophie Hohenburg lived until the mid-1970's. And that leaves a lot of opportunity for Indy to meet her again.

Actually,she died on October 27,1990 at the age of 89.
 

AnnieJones

New member
Stoo said:
"Did you ever see her again?"
"Of course, I did...mmph...*wink*...but that's another story!"

He did see her again,when he opened the locket after it(she)saved his life! LOL:D
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Annie Jones said:
He did see her again,when he opened the locket after it(she)saved his life! LOL
Bwa-ha-ha!:D

Insomniac said:
Nice find, Insomniac. This appears to be a painting but it's clearly the source of the one of the photos in the locket. So Junior Jones was right.

Since "Vienna" aired the year after "German East Africa", I used to think that the picture in locket was of a young Vicky Prentiss (or Nancy Stratemeyer).
 

AnnieJones

New member
The locket was also seen in:
Young Indiana Jones and the Phantom Train of Doom
Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye
Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues(the only part of the locket I could see was the chain in this episode)
Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies
 

vf wing

New member
Interesting that the wiki seems to suggest that her daughter is still alive. Some conscientious person should interview her before that sizeable chunk of history is lost to us!
 

Sven

New member
I don't know if the following was posted in that board before but I couldn't find anything by using the search function. So here we go:

An interesting story is IMHO the fact that the real Princess Sophie was the "first cousin once removed" (duh, I needed a dictionary to find the exact term for that difficult constellation! :D ) of the actor Friedrich von Thun, who played Albert Schweitzer in the Congo episodes.

Friedrich von Thun (which is a really popular TV actor here in Germany like also his son Max) is a member of that arictocrat family...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thun-Hohenstein

...and has the full name Friedrich Ernst Peter Paul Maria Thun-Hohenstein, Graf von (Count of) Thun und Hohenstein. The sister of his grandmother (paternal side) was Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg who was murdered in Sarajevo 1914 - which led to the outbreak of WW I.

Whether the casting agents knew about that connection?
 

reinthal

New member
Princess Sophie and Austria, March 1917

Something that's always bugged me is that in the episode "Austria, March 1917" (later edited into "Adventures in the Secret Service") though Indy is directly taken - along with the two princes, Sixtus & Xavier - to the palace where he meets Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary, he never once asks or enquires about the young Princess Sophie who he met in the episode "Vienna, November 1908" (later edited into "The Perils of Cupid").

As Princess Sophie was a cousin of Emperor Karl and as she was Indy's first love/crush and as Indy (nearly always) wore her locket around his neck (though I'm not sure if he wore it in this episode as if he had been captured and/or interrogated by the Austrian Secret Police it would have been pretty incriminating!) it seems strange that he would not ask either the Emperor, or even Sixtus and Xavier during their lengthy mission together, about her.

At the very least we could have had a brief scene where it was made clear to the audience that he really felt like asking about her but because of the importance of his mission had to restrain himself from doing so, perhaps on seeing a royal family portrait somewhere in the palace.

I always wanted to find out what ended up happening between Indy and Princess Sophie as it was pretty clear from watching the series that they would meet again (the locket and his whistful gazes at her portrait were prominent throughout the series) and this was verified when I caught Stoo's "Old Indy" bookend for this episode on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrzsNMES6ds) (thanks Stoo!(y)). It was disappointing when I had gotten through the entire series on DVD without them meeting again.:(

Anyway I thought such a scene in "Austria, March 1917" was an odd omission. It would have been the perfect time - in fact, the *only* time in the series as it stands - to broach the subject of Indy's childhood sweetheart!
 
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