 Outside the country and in diplomatic correspondence, she was styled "Princess consort", but in Albania she was referred to as "Mbretëreshë", or Queen.Princess Sophie was born in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Prusia, as daughter of Hereditary Prince (1856-1888) and Princess Lucie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1859-1903).Her paternal grandparents were Prince Otto Friedrich von Schönburg-Waldenburg (1819-1893) and Polish noblewoman Pamela (1837-1901), while her maternal grandparents were (1824-1878) and Princess Pulcheria Cantacuzene (1840-1865).