#Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse

[loiladadiani]

Queen Victoria, surrounded by some of her family members

This photograph dates from 1882. In it, we see Queen Victoria surrounded by (from left to right) her son in law Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse, her daughter, Princess Beatrice, her two Hessian grandchildren, Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine and Hereditary Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, the Duchess of Connaught and little Margaret Connaught in her lap.

[empress-alexandra]

Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse with his surviving children: Princess Victoria of Battenberg, Marchioness of Milford-Haven, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, Princess Irene of Prussia, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia and Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse, 1884.

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

Rare photo of Grand Duke Ernst Louis of Hesse and By Rhine with his nieces Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, Livadia, Crimea 1912

[adini-nikolaevna]

“I was photographed as Princess Charlotte because Grandmother thinks I look like her.”

— Princess Victoria of Hesse to her brother, Hereditary Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, 1882.

[thepaleys]

The Funeral of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich

My uncle was buried on the morning of the twenty-third of February. My uncle’s brothers, as well as his sister-in-law, the Dowager Empress, expressed a desire to attend but found at the last moment that they could not do so. Disorders were feared; strikes were breaking out one after another in all the great industrial centers. Any gathering of royal persons would only invite new catastrophes. A cousin of my uncle, the Grand Duke Constantine, took the risk, and so did the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, her daughter Beatrice, and the Grand Duke of Hesse and his wife. Finally, my father, in his banishment now installed in Paris, asked the Emperor’s permission to come. It was granted.

Dmitri and I went to see him at the railway station and received him with sobs, which could not lessen the joy we had at seeing him again. We took him back to the house. The meeting between him and his sister-in-law was painful.

My aunt had conceived the idea of building a chapel in the crypt of the Miracle Monastery to shelter the remains of my uncle. While waiting for the chapel to be built, she obtained permission to place the coffin in one of the convent churches.

The funeral service was celebrated with great solemnity. Officers with drawn swords and sentinels were stationed around the bier. The Archbishop and the high clergy of Moscow celebrated the mass, a service so long and tiring that I almost fainted, and my father had to take me out. The church was full of people; wreaths and flowers were heaped around the coffin and on the steps of the catafalque. By this time, I had reached such a degree of physical lassitude that I could hardly think or feel anything. We had lived for six days in a state of nervous tension that never relaxed. At the end of the service, the coffin was carried to one of the little churches of the monastery, and here, for forty days and nights, prayers were said. We attended them every evening.

Some days later, my father and other members of the family departed. Little by little, life took up its normal course. "Normal" is an expression only relatively exact, for my aunt never left off her mourning and rarely went out.

"Education of a Princess" - Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna Jr.

[ykzzr]

Grand Duchess Eleonore of Hesse and by Rhine, Prince Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his wife, Hereditary Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine and Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine at the Bayreuth Festival in 1932.

[princesselisabethofhesse]

1902-1903 Postcards

In December 1902, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig began his trip to India and Egypt. During his journey, he sent his daughter, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, numerous postcards, which are preserved in the Hessian State Archives in Darmstadt.

When he departed in December 1902, Ernst Ludwig left his first “Gruss Haus Darmstadt” postcard for his beloved daughter, where he wrote in English: “Goodbye my darling. God bless you. Papa’s love is always near you, sleeping or walking."

On the outward journey, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig sent numerous postcards to Elisabeth, e.g. “tender kisses” from Paris or a picture of his hotel in Marseille with details of his balcony.

On the postcard above, written on board the Arabia on December 16, 1902, Ernst Ludwig told his daughter: "I send you a big kiss. Till now the weather was bad & I was seasick but now it is lovely & the sun is shinning & it is warm. I saw flying fish. A big kiss from Papa.” He celebrated Christmas on board the "Arabia" and Elisabeth sent him and his entourage a Christmas card.

On January 1, 1903, Ernst Ludwig enthusiastically reported to his daughter about his impressions from Delhi: “All those many people dressed in every color of the rainbow. It was lovely. A big kiss from Papa.” The cards are mostly in black and white, but for her daughter to get a better impression, he also described the colours of everything he saw.

On the postcard above, written on January 15, 1903, he wrote: "This lovely place is all in white marble with a blue (sky ?) & lots of green parrots flying about & screaming. They are green with red beak & a red ring round their necks. Papa"

Almost every day he sent his daughter postcards with picturesque pictures and short, sweet greetings. Postcards with motifs that were exotic to Elisabeth document his journey to destinations in northern India that are still classic today, such as Benares, Agra with the Taj Mahal, Jaipur and Fatehpur Sikri.

At the end of February, Ernst Ludwig finally began his return journey - but made a stopover in Egypt. On March 5, 1903, on a postcard from the Shephard's Hotel, the most famous luxury hotel in Cairo at that time, Ernst Ludwig announced to his daughter what should not be missed on a trip to Egypt: “Today, I go for a week up the Nile.”

On March 11, 1903, he sent birthday greetings to Elisabeth on a card from Aswan. He also visited Luxor and Karnak and, of course, the pyramids of Giza at the end.

On the postcard above, written on March 22, 1903, he proudly reported to Elisabeth about his climb to the pyramids: "I klimbed (sic.) up the pyramid yesterday & got very out of breath. Today I krept (sic.) into the inside. It was very difficult because all was so very slippery. Papa."

On the postcard above, written on March 23, 1903, Ernst Ludwig sent his daughter "a big hug from Papa".

He finally returned to Darmstadt via Genoa on April 3, 1903. In the following months, Ernst Ludwig continued to send postcards with loving greetings to Elisabeth from his travels through Germany. In one of his last cards, written on August 6, 1903, he told her: “Next time you must come with me.”

source: landesarchivhessen.de Thank you Thomas Aufleger for sharing this little treasure with me!

[grossherzoginalice]

Alice, the Princess Louis of Hesse and her husband Prince Louis of Hesse at the wedding of Alice's brother Albert Edward and Princess Alexandra of Denmark on 10th March 1863.

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

A candid photo of Grand Duke Ernst Louis of Hesse with his two sons Prince Georg Donatus (smiling at camera) and Prince Ludwig (looking down), Livadia 1912

[postcard-from-the-past]

Ernst Ludwig Karl Albrecht Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Hesse and her daughter Princess Elisabeth Marie Alice Viktoria of Hesse

German vintage postcard, mailed in 1903

[loiladadiani]

Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine and his niece Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna

I have read that Ernst Ludwig was full of energy and full of fun and was always coming up with ways to amuse himself and those around him, especially children. He might have been more compatible with Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna. Olga looks somewhat serious here...I am sure she loved the lovable Uncle Ernie as much as everybody else but probably did not have his high-octane energy.

Grand Duchess Olga. Livadia. 1912

[loiladadiani]

Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich and the Hessians

The main reason I like this picture is that Ella is smiling in a very different, spontaneous way. Her eyes are involved in the smile. She has not turned into the “ethereal” beauty yet. I don't have a date for the picture. It might be around her engagement to Serge.

In the picture, from left to right: A very young Ernst Ludwig with a pup under each arm, Ella with a little girl in her arms whom I don't know; sitting on the steps in front of Ella, Princess Victoria, standing by Ella, Princess Alix, sitting right in front of Alix, the Grand Duke Ludwig IV, and sitting next to him, Grand Duke Serge.

There are two young women in the photo, one sitting next to Victoria and the other standing behind Sergei, whom I do not know.

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana Nikolaevna playing with their little cousins Princes Georg Donatus and Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine, also with their maternal uncle Grand Duke Ernst Louis of Hesse and By Rhine, Livadia Crimea 1912 🤍

[adini-nikolaevna]

Grand Duchess Eleanore of Hesse with her two sons, Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus and Prince Ludwig. Courtesy of Schloss Wolfsgarten.

[loiladadiani]

I am beginning to fall in love with Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig’s boys. They are very cute. And there is a definite resemblance between Alexey and this two cousins. They all have that Hessian cutie gene. (gcl)

OTMAA’s Hessian cousins Georg Donatus and Louis (Ludwig). 

[ykzzr]

16 November 1937

On this day 86 years ago, 6 members of the Hesse and by Rhine family were killed after their plane crashed in Belgium. The victims were the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, Georg Donatus, his pregnant wife, the Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, Cecilie, her fetus, his mother, Dowager Grand Duchess Eleanor, and his two sons, Princes Ludwig and Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine.