It's a tangle, I agree, but I think I've worked it out. There were (and still are, come to that) two branches of the House of Hohenzollern - the Catholic branch from Swabia, in southwestern Germany, and the Protestant branch from Prussia. The Catholic Hohenzollerns eventually became princes of Romania (until 1947), and on occasions when they needed a surname for doing-business purposes (as for instance when doing military service as young men), they used "von Hohenzollern". The royal Prussian branch, on the other hand, went by "von Preußen" ("of Prussia") - and still do, since after the German Revolution outlawed the nobility it became the family's legal surname.

Now, in Our Witches at War, the royal and princely branches of the House of Hohenzollern aren't divided by religion (or at least not the same division of religion), but they're still separate ruling houses. The Princes of Dacia use "von Hohenzollern"; the Prussian kings, like Fritz, use "von Preußen". So Hannelore would add the latter to her name if she wanted, but not the former - she didn't marry into the Dacian princely line.

(Regardless, she's never going to drop "von Hammer".)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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