Countess Sophie of Hohenberg was born on March 1, 1868, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. She was a member of the Hohenberg family, which was a branch of the Austrian nobility. Sophie is best known for her marriage to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which was a significant union that defied the norms of royal marriages at the time. Her marriage to Franz Ferdinand took place in 1900, and it was morganatic, meaning that Sophie and her children were not entitled to the same rights as those born to a royal marriage. This union played a crucial role in the events leading up to World War I, as Franz Ferdinand's assassination in 1914 triggered a series of political conflicts.