Hubertus von Hohenlohe

He is the second son of Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Ira von Fürstenberg. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico, where his father ran a Volkswagen factory. His maternal grandparents were Tassilo, Prince of Fürstenberg (1903–1987) and Clara Agnelli, and his maternal great-grandparents were Karl Emil, Prince of Fürstenberg (1867–1945) and the Hungarian Countess Maria Mathilde Georgina Festetics de Tolna (24 May 1881 – 2 March 1953). His grandmother is half Mexican.^[2]

He lived in Mexico for the first four years of his life and then moved to Spain. He later studied in Austria and his main residence was in Vienna, where he worked as a photographer and artist. Although he has Mexican nationality, which makes him eligible to compete for Mexico, he only spends a few weeks per year there. He is fluent in several languages and grew up in Europe, mainly Austria.

He had a brother named Christoph (1956–2006) and has two half-sisters, Arriana Theresa, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 1975) and Désirée, Countess d'Ursel (b. 1980). Max von Hohenlohe, who competed at the 1956 Winter Olympics, was his uncle, and Prince Marco of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 19th Duke of Medinaceli, was his first cousin.

He acted as co-producer for Yello and Shirley Bassey's 1987 collaborative single "The Rhythm Divine".^[3] He has work on display with the Art of the Olympians.^[4] He hosts the travel show Hubertusjagd on Redbull TV.^[5]

On 17 June 2019 in Vaduz, he married Simona Gandolfi,^[6] cousin of the Italian skier Alberto Tomba.^[7] He currently resides in Liechtenstein, of which he is also a citizen.^[8]

Hohenlohe founded the Mexican Ski Federation in 1981.^[9] He first skied for Mexico at a Winter Olympics at the 1984 games in Sarajevo, and he managed to finish 26th in slalom. After the 1984 Winter Olympics, Hohenlohe managed to participate in 1988, 1992, and 1994 Games.^[10] He qualified for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, but the Mexican Olympic Committee decided not to send a one-man team to the Winter Games that year.

Hohenlohe has stated that the only reason why he continues to participate is because it seems that the "exotic skiers" (those from countries without a tradition in winter sports) are disappearing, and that he wants to keep that tradition alive.^[9] Since 1982, he has participated in 15 World Championships and set a World Record.^{[citation needed]} Hohenlohe was expected to retire following the 2007 Alpine Skiing World Championships, after breaking his leg during a World Cup slalom race on 28 January 2007, eliminating him from the competition in Åre.^[11]

He came back to competition in 2009 and competed in his 12th World Championship, the 2009 Alpine Skiing World Championships.

He was the sole athlete in the Mexican team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He participated in two alpine skiing disciplines, the Men's Giant Slalom (78th) and the Men's Slalom (46th). At 51, he was the oldest athlete at the games.^[12] He also competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics,^[13] where he was Mexico's sole athlete again. He participated in slalom but did not finish after a fall during the first run.^[14]

In 2015, he was joined by Sarah Schleper on the Mexican ski team, doubling its size,^[9] at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships of that year.

Hohenlohe, affectionately called El Príncipe, mooted retiring for 2017,^[9] but instead decided to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics.^[15] Another two hopes for Alpine Mexico, aside from Hubertus, and Schleper, are Rodolfo Dickson and Jocelyn McGillivray. Additionally, three more hope to represent Mexico, Robby Franco in freestyle skiing, Sandra Hillen in snowboard and Germán Madrazo in Cross-country skiing.^{[16][17][18][19]} He failed to qualify for the 2018 Olympics, but designed the race suits for the Mexican alpine skiers.^[20]

Hohenlohe participated at 20 editions of FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, from Schladming 1982 to FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2023, from the age of 23 up to 64.^[21]

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hubertus von Hohenlohe.

• Hubertus von Hohenlohe at FIS (alpine)
• Hubertus von Hohenlohe at Olympics.com
• Hubertus von Hohenlohe at Olympedia
• Hubertus Hohenlohe's home page/music site

Olympic Games
Preceded by Jesús Mena	Flagbearer for  Mexico Lillehammer 1994	Succeeded by Nancy Contreras
Preceded by Paola Espinosa	Flagbearer for  Mexico Vancouver 2010	Succeeded by María Espinoza
Preceded by María Espinoza	Flagbearer for  Mexico Sochi 2014	Succeeded by Daniela Campuzano