#Prince Ernst of Hesse

[epoque-victorienne]

[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 🤍

[ykzzr]

Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, Ernst Louis, Princess Victoria of Battenberg and her family, Princess Alice and her husband Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Louise 1900s.

[loiladadiani]

Nicholas II, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duke Ernst’s sons and unknown ladies, probably Nannies

Grand Duchess Anastasia and her cousins. There is a little boy I don’t recognize.

Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig with his sons, George Donatus and Ludwig and his nieces the Grand Duchesses.

Tsar Nicholas II and Grand Duke Ernst were excellent fathers who enjoyed their children

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

The Children of Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and Princess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland as Babies

Victoria, Elisabeth, Irene, Ernst Louise, Friedrich, Alix, Marie

[roses-of-the-romanovs]

History repeats itself: the five daughters of Queen Victoria (Alice, Helena, Beatrice, Victoria, and Louise) in mourning for their father, Albert, and the five surviving children of Grand Duchess Alice (Ernst, Victoria, Irène, Alix, and Elisabeth) in mourning for their father, Louis.

[grossherzoginalice]

The family of the Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse in 1872. From left to right- Irene, Ernst, Louis, Elisabeth, Alice, Victoria and Friedrich.

[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). 

[princesselisabethofhesse]

1902

In 1902 Ernst Ludwig alone initiated the amendment to article 5 of the Constitution of the Grand Duchy of Hesse on the regulation of the regency.

The question of the succession to the throne in the Grand Duchy of Hesse had been discussed publicly since 1898 at the latest. At the time of the divorce of his first marriage (December 1901), Ernst Ludwig had only conceived one daughter. Paragraph 5 of the constitution of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, which provided for male succession to the throne, was supplemented in 1902 with a paragraph according to which "in the absence of a prince entitled to the succession through family or hereditary brotherhood", the government should pass to "the female gender". The princesses had previously signed a renunciation document "in favor of the Hessian male line".

Ernst Ludwig changed the law and added female succession for the first time ever, in favour of his only daughter, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse.

source: Ernst Ludwig Großherzog von Hessen und bei Rhein - Geschehnisse und Menschen, Erinnerungen by Thomas Aufleger

image: my collection

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

Rare photos of Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and By Rhine with her son Prince Ernst Louis of Hesse and By Rhine (later Grand Duke), 1869 🤍

Source: Hessian State Archives

[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.

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

King George V with his cousins Grand Duke Ernst Louis of Hesse and Prince Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, late 1880s

[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

[heavyarethecrowns]

Prince Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Ernst Ludwig of Hesse (future Grand Duke of Hesse) and Prince George of Wales (future King George V of the United Kingdom)

[stupidgirl2003]

The Old Mausoleum and Princess Elisabeth.

In the Grand Ducal Hessian family, the name Elisabeth evokes melancholic feelings; as the lives of the beholders of this beautiful name, which means 'God-given', the princesses Elisabeth, later Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna (1864-1918) and Elisabeth, Elizaveta Feodorovna's niece (1895-1903), were princesses whose lives and destinies were intermingled with happiness, devotion, service, and sadness. Today, remembering the beholders of this name, we can remember another Hessian princess named Elisabeth who, like Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig's daughter, also died in childhood. Being so young when she passed away, information about her is scarce. She was the fourth child and first daughter of the Hereditary Princely couple of Darmstadt, Ludwig and Wilhelmine, but the fact is that Elisabeth's parents had been leading separated lives for a while and, the age gap with her older brothers, Princes Ludwig and Karl, was of more than a decade. Therefore, that her biological father was not the Hereditary Prince does not come as a surprise, being the most probable biological father August von Senarclens-Grancy, a Swiss noble in service to the court. He was also the possible biological father of her younger siblings, Alexander and Marie, but, like her, they were also recognized by Ludwig. Wilhelmine's pregnancy with Elisabeth is mentioned in a letter from her sister, Russian Empress Elizaveta Alexeievna to her mother, Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt: '...I am very sorry for my poor aunt in Darmstadt [Luise, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by the Rhine, mother-in-law of Wilhelmine], whose eyes are in such a bad state. Is she happy with Mimi's [Wilhelmine's nickname] pregnancy ? Dear mother, I don't think I have been secretive with you, but when Mimi told me that I was the first person she had spoken to about her pregnancy, I thought it was not for me to be the first to speak of it, but for her in every way. I still don't know how far along she is, she hasn't told me, but I'm sure you do, dear mother...' . Three months after this letter was written, on the 20 of May of 1821, Amalie Elisabeth Luise Caroline Friederike was born. Although not directly mentioned, she was possibly named in honor of her maternal grandmother and maternal aunts and her official paternal grandmother. She, as a child, possibly spent the majority of her time with nannies that took care of her, and with her mother Wilhelmine. Elisabeth has been referred to as her mother's favorite daughter. Her mother, who loved to travel to Switzerland and had visited it several times before, decided to take all her children in a travel there, but what was to be a happy event, was marked by tragedy, as Elisabeth, in the outward journey, contracted scarlet fever and died on May 27, 1826, in Lausanne, a week after her fifth birthday.

Little Elisabeth was laid to rest first in the Darmstadt City Church for some time until 1831, when the mausoleum her mother had asked court architect Georg Moller to erect in the Rosehöhe, a most loved place for her, was finished. This mausoleum with time became an important burial place for the Hessian Grand Ducal family.

As for Wilhelmine, with the death of Elisabeth, her love for Switzerland, traveling, and life in general decayed. She said some years later 'the old wanderlust is no longer to be found in me'.

Wilhelmine died in 1836, and asked her husband, now Grand Duke Ludwig II, to have a simple funeral and to be laid to rest with her beloved Elisabeth.

Sources: L'impératrice Élisabeth, épouse d'Alexandre 1er by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, podcast 'Treffpunkt Heilingenberg' #3 'Eine Affäre in der Schweiz', Die Hessin auf dem Zarenthron: Maria, Kaiserin von Russland, http://www.park-rosenhoehe.info/Park_Geschichte.html and https://freunde-des-schlossmuseum-darmstadt.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/flyer_palais.pdf

Thanks to @abigaaal for her feedback on this!

[aimeedaisies]

List of attendees to the service of Thanksgiving to the late King Constantine of Greece on 27th February 2024.

🇬🇧 Queen Camilla

🇬🇧 Princess Anne

🇬🇧 Sir Tim Laurence

🇬🇧 Princess Beatrice

🇬🇧 Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

🇬🇧 Zara Tindall

🇬🇧 Mike Tindall

🇬🇧 Lady Sarah Chatto

🇬🇧 Daniel Chatto

🇬🇧 Prince Richard, The Duke of Gloucester

🇬🇧 Birgitte, The Duchess of Gloucester

🇬🇧 Prince Edward, The Duke of Kent

🇬🇧 George, The Earl of St. Andrews

🇬🇧 Sylvana, The Countess of St. Andrews

🇬🇧 Lady Helen Taylor

🇬🇧 Prince Michael of Kent

🇬🇧 Princess Michael of Kent

🇬🇧 Princess Alexandra of Kent

🇬🇧 James Ogilvy

🇬🇧 Julia Ogilvy

🇬🇧 Marina Ogilvy

🇬🇧 George, The Marquess of Milford Haven

🇬🇧 Clare, The Marchioness of Milford Haven

🇬🇧 Penny, The Countess Mountbatten of Burma

🇬🇧 Lady Alexandra Hooper

🇬🇧 Thomas Hooper

🇬🇧 India Hicks

🇬🇧 David Flint Wood

🇬🇧 Amory Wood-Hicks

🇬🇧 Prince Andrew, The Duke of York

🇬🇧 Sarah Ferguson

🇬🇷 Queen Anne-Marie

🇬🇷 Crown Prince Pavlos

🇬🇷 Crown Princess Marie-Chantal

🇬🇷 Prince Achileas-Andreas

🇬🇷 Prince Odysseas-Kimon

🇬🇷 Prince Aristides-Stavros

🇬🇷 Princess Maria-Olympia

🇬🇷 Prince Nikolaos

🇬🇷 Princess Tatiana

🇬🇷 Prince Philippos

🇬🇷 Princess Nina

🇬🇷 Princess Theodora

🇬🇷 Matthew Kumar

🇬🇷 Princess Alexia

🇬🇷 Carlos Morales

🇬🇷 Princess Irene

🇪🇸 King Juan Carlos

🇪🇸 Queen Sofia

🇪🇸 King Felipe

🇪🇸 Queen Letizia

🇪🇸 Infanta Elena

🇪🇸 Infanta Cristina

🇪🇸 Juan Urdangarian

🇩🇰 Princess Benedikte

🇩🇰 Prince Gustav

🇩🇰 Princess Carina of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg

🇩🇰 Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Countess Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille

🇩🇰 Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille

🇯🇴 Queen Noor of Jordan

🇯🇴 Prince Hassan

🇯🇴 Princess Sarvath of Jordan

🇧🇬 Prince Kyril of Bulgaria

🇷🇸 Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia

🇷🇸 Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia

🇩🇪 Bernhard, Margrave of Baden

🇩🇪 Stephanie, Margravine of Baden

🇩🇪 Landgrave Donatus of Hesse

🇩🇪 Hereditary Prince Ernst August of Hanover

🇩🇪 Princess Saskia of Hohenlohe-Langeburg

Other notable attendees

Nicholas Soames (Conservative politician)

Rocco Forte (British Hotelier)

Hugh Cavendish, Baron Cavendish of Furness (Former member of the House of Lords)

Grania Mary Caulfield (wife of Baron Cavendish of Furness)

John Kerry (United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

Lady Susan Hussey (Lady-in-Waiting)

Sir Jackie Stewart (Racecar Driver and good family friend)

Alexandra von Fürstenberg (American Socialite)

Dax Miller (Alexandra von Fürstenbergs husband)