princesselisabethofhesse

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse (on the left of the picture) with her father, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, and her uncle, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Skierniewice, November 1903.

source: kindly shared with me by infantamike from princessellaofhesse Instagram page.

[princesselisabethofhesse]

You can see ella in the center wearing all black. also in the photo is her father Ernst-Louis and her uncle Tsar Nicholas II. This is i think the last known photo of princess Elisabeth of hesse (i think this is how im supposed to give you the photo)

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse in a traditional Romanian costume, a gift from her maternal aunt, Queen Marie of Romania. According to the Hessian State Archives, the photo session took place in November 1903.

+ Close up with the original resolution.

source: Hessian State Archives, edited and enlarged by me.

[princesselisabethofhesse]

1903 Autumn

Margaret Eagar’s memories

One evening when the game was laid out, Miss W., Princess Ella’s English nurse, said to me, “I should so much like to show my baby this, it would interest her.” We got blankets and shawls and prepared a warm little nest for her in the window seat, and brought her from her bed, wrapped in a dressing-gown and shawl, to see the wonderful sight. She was quite delighted, and everyone came to the window and talked to her through it for a minute. Next morning the Grand Duchess Olga was disposed to grumble at having been left in bed all night, and said to me, “Ella is only eight months older than I am, and Miss W. took her up to see it all, and you left me in bed, like a baby.” The little Princess said so sweetly, “Oh! dear Olga, don���t be angry, you will often see it again, but I shall never again see it.” She so often made use of this expression, “ I shall never see it again,” that I sometimes wonder if she had any premonition of approaching fate.

source: Six years at the Russian Court by Margaret Eagar

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Elisabeth horse riding in Wolfsgarten, October-November 1903.

Thank you Klara from vk.com/whitegrandduchess for the lovely size and quality.

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Letter excerpt from Princess Marie of Romania to

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna

Sinaia, 25 October 1904

My dear Mama,

(...)

It's really a year now that poor little Ella died. Last year I was with you at this time.

source: My dear Mama by Diana Mandache. 

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Two photo-postcards depicting Princess Elisabeth of Hesse with her mother Victoria Melita in 1901 by Eduard Uhlenhuth.

On the left: plain edition. On the right: edition with the photographer's stamp at the bottom right.

source: my collection

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Photo-postcard of Princess Elisabeth of Hesse in 1901 by Eduard Uhlenhuth.

+ Enhanced close-up:

source: my collection

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Postcard depicting Princess Elisabeth of Hesse in 1902.

"Villa Carola, Bad-Nauheim, Sept. 20th (1902).

Dear Georgena,

I thought you would like to have a picture of the little Princess who lives in the old Castle at Friedberg where we drove one day. She comes over from Friedberg to Nauheim often on her wheel + sometimes in a carriage drawn by fine horses. Her great-grandmother was Victoria, Queen of England, friend of "unreadable"."

source: my collection. I already had a few postcards with different editions of this image, but when I read the text, I felt so touched I needed to buy it.

[princesselisabethofhesse]

These are the latest postcards I have purchased.

1 Photo-postcard by Uhlenhuth with the photographer's stamp on it. It had been in my Wishlist for many years. This one made me very happy, since I loved the image and the photo-postcard quality is amazing.

2 I already had a couple of editions of this postcard. But I needed to buy THIS one because the 1902 message written on it is about Elisabeth.

3 I already had it, but without Uhlenhuth's stamp. This edition had been in my Wishlist for some years too.

I will scan them and upload them as soon as possible.

source: my collection

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Tall-case clock for the playhouse of Princess Elisabeth of Hesse.

Clock: yellow pine; weights and pendulum: copper; face: paint, gilt, paper, glass; hands: brass, glass.

Height: 200 cm. Width: 42 cm. Depth: 17 cm.

source: Hesse. A princely German collection.

[princesselisabethofhesse]

When browsing through my folders, I usually tend to go to my favourite pics of Elisabeth. But I just realised that when put together, they fit perfectly. 7 years had passed between one photograph and the other. Still, her fairy features and magical eyes remained the same.

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Photograph-postcard by E. Uhlenhuth, depicting Princess Elisabeth of Hesse in 1901.

source: my collection. I recently acquired this photo-postcard that had been in my Wishlist for years and it was the one I was missing to complete the set.

Even if all 4 postcards depict the same image, they vary in tone, edition of the images and format:

1. No signature, no title, photographer's stamp at bottom right.

2. Signature and title at the bottom right, no photographer's stamp.

3. Signature and title at the bottom right, no photographer's stamp, black margin at the bottom.

4. Signature and title at the bottom right, photographer's stamp at the left of the white margin.

source: my collection

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Hand-tinted postcard depicting Princess Elisabeth of Hesse with her mother, Grand Duchess Victoria Melita in 1898. Both mother and daughter are wearing matching hats.

source: latest addition to my collection.

This is one of the earliest hand-tinted postcards of Elisabeth that I own. This is the first time I have ever seen a hand-tinted version of this postcard.

Its black and white version, below, is still on my Wishlist =(

[princesselisabethofhesse]

1902

Letter excerpt from Princess Marie of Romania to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna

Nice, 16 March 1902

Ducky was also becoming quite jolly, only alas! since her daughter is back from Darmstadt, it had brought back all the remembrances of her former life and she has cried a great deal. Every time she is taking to life again, something comes between to spoil all her existence. We had terrible tears again after she had long talks with Georgina Rotsmann who brought back the little girl. She was not a bit disagreeable, but only they all have at Darmstadt their point of view, which is to pity Ernie and to lay all the blame on Ducky. I cannot, cannot conceive that she did not think more beforehand of the step she was taking and of all its consequences! Naturally this wretched story with Kyrill is at the bottom of all the ill feeling they have now against her.

source: My Dear Mama by Diana Mandache

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Letter excerpt from Princess Marie of Romania to

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna

Castel Peles, 22 August 1903

Dear Mama,

(...)

The other children are intensely excited and delighted, it's killing to hear their conversations about the new little brother (Nicolae). Carol feels as if he had triumphed them all because it is a boy whilst my daughter encouraged by Cousin Ella, come & try to persuade me to let its hair grow that it should become a girl; whilst Mignon is simply enchanted with it at it is.

source: My dear Mama by Diana Mandache. 

image: princess Elisabeth of Hesse sitting between her Romanian aunt and cousins: Princess Marie, Princess Elisabeta and newborn Mignon in 1900

[princesselisabethofhesse]

Two cabinet cards depicting the same photograph by C. Ruf: Elisabeth of Hesse and her mother, Grand Duchess Victoria Melita, in 1898.

On the right, a fuller and bigger version from my personal collection. On the left, a cropped and smaller version recently sold online.