#cecilie of Hesse and by Rhine

[ykzzr]

Princess Johanna of Hesse and by Rhine with her late mother, Grand Duchess Cecilie of Hesse and by Rhine, and later with her adoptive mother., Grand Duchess Margaret of Hesse and by Rhine. 1936-1938.

My dear Johanna was the only survivor of her family's accident, died just two years later.

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

Princess Cecilie of Hesse (neé Greece and Denmark) with her only daughter Princess Joanna of Hesse, 1937

Cecilie was pregnant with her fourth child when this photo was taken.

[jeannepompadour]

Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, 1936

[loiladadiani]

Princess Alice of Battenberg (Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie; 1885 – 1969) - Princess of Greece and Denmark

One of her Great-Grandmothers was Queen Victoria; her maternal grandmother was Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine; her mother was Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia; her father was Prince Louis of Battenberg. Her son was Prince Phillip, consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

She married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark

She had five children: Margarita, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Theodora, Margravine of Baden

Cecilie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse

Sophie, Princess George of Hanover

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Alice suffered incredibly through her life, but she did not let that stop her from always thinking of others; she was born with a hearing deficit and her brilliant mother Victoria, taught her to lip read not in one but several languages. She had a husband who preferred to gamble in Montecarlo to being with his wife and children or...anything else. She was diagnosed with squizophrenia (there is no evidence that this was a correct diagnosis even though it was issue by Dr. Freud himself) and her pelvic organs irradiated to produce an early menopause (this was supposed to relieve the symptoms according to the medical thinking of the times). She lost her daughter Cecilie in a plane crash.

Yet, like her grandmother Alice, helping others came to her naturally. Israel gave her the award Righteous Among the Nations, bestowed on people who risked their own lives to help Jewish people survive the Holocaust. She worked for the Swiss Red Cross.

The princess founded a nursing order of Greek Orthodox nuns, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, modelled after the convent that her aunt, the martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, had founded in Russia in 1909. She dedicated herself to helping others but eventually the order failed because of lack of funds.

And besides all of that, she was beautiful.

She died at Buckingham Palace at the age of 84.

(I have to add something here: Alice's smile in the picture is one of the most open, sweetest, tenderest, and most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. It filled me with awe, and thinking about her life brought tears to my eyes)

[europesroyalsweddings]

✵ February 2, 1931 ✵

Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark & Prince Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine

[princessvictoriamelita]

Hereditary Grand Duchess Cecilie of Hesse and by Rhine, 1930s.

[thepompandcircumstance]

Her Majesty Queen Olga of the Hellenes with all her granddaughters.

[germanaustriannoblesandroyals]

House of Oldenburg & of Hesse: Princess Cecilie “Cécile” of Greece and Denmark

Cecilie is the third child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his wife Princess Alice of Battenberg. She is the younger sister of Princess Margarita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Theodora, Margravine of Baden. Her younger siblings are Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark as well as Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh. Among family and friends, she was known as Cécile.

In December 1922, she fled Greece alongside her family on a British ship. They went into exile in France and lived in a Parisian house which was lent to them Princess Marie Bonaparte, the wife of her uncle Prince George of Greece and Denmark. In private, the family spoke mostly French, German and English and not much of Greek, as reported by Prince Philip. Cecilie’s youth was not easy since her family was now poor and her father left his family for his mistress. Meanwhile, her mother, Princess Alice, opened an art and needlework shop to keep the family afloat. In 1930, Cecilie’s mother was sent to a mental asylum in Switzerland to treat her for schizophrenia.

In 1931, Cecilie married Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, in Darmstadt. He was her first cousin once removed through Princess Alice and the son of Cecilie’s godfather Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse and by Rhine. The mass that wanted to watch the wedding parade was so huge that although the cars were escorted by police the bride, groom, the groom’s brother and father as well the bride’s father had to walk to church. The bridal couple knew each other since childhood because the Battenbergs were a fairly new morganatic cadet branch of the House of Hesse. Battenberg was Cecilie’s mother’s house of birth. Seven months and 23 days after the wedding, Cecilie’s first child Prince Ludwig was born. Prince Alexander and Princess Johanna followed in 1933 and 1936 respectively.

Cecilie’s husband was a reserve officer of the Luftwaffe (German air force). The couple joined the ruling Nazi party on May 1st, 1937. When Cecilie’s father-in-law died the same October, the parade in his honor was taken over by the Nazis.

Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine was due to marry Margaret Campbell Geddes just a few weeks later in London. Georg Donatus and Cecilie, who was afraid of flying, decided to fly to the wedding and take along their two oldest sons. At this time, Cecilie was eight months pregnant with another prince. Unfortunately, the airplane crashed in Belgium near Ostend on November 16th, 1937. Everyone on board died. Later parts of a baby’s body were found which led to the conclusion that Cecilie must have gone into labour during the flight and that an attempted emergency landing had gone wrong due to the bad weather. The only surviving member of the family was Johanna who was adopted by Ludwig and Margaret. Unfortunately, she too died two years later from meningitis.

Cecilie is buried alongside her sons and husband at Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt, the traditional burial place of the House of Hesse. She was the first of her siblings to die.

// Leonie Benech as Princess Cecilie in The Crown

[empress-alexandra]

Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse  and by Rhine. She was elder sister of Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1934.

[greekroyalfamily]

Cecilie was the third child and daughter of HRH 👑🤴👑 Prince Andreas of Hellenes 🇬🇷and Denmark 🇩🇰and HRH Princess Alice of Batenberg later HRH 👑👸👑Princess Aliki of Hellenes 🇬🇷and Denmark 🇩🇰She was born on 22 June 1911 at the summer estate of the Greek Royal Family at Tatoi fifteen kilometres north of Athens. Although her given name was Cecilie, she was known to her family as Cécile.

Cecilie was baptised at Tatoi on 2 July 1911.

Through her father, Cecilie was a grandchild of HM King Georgios I of Hellenes Prince of Denmark and his wife, HIH Grand Duchess Olga Kostandinovna of Russia (a granddaughter of Tsar Nickolas I of Russia ) through her mother, she was a great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria Cecilie had three sisters and a brother :

a)Margarita (wife of Prince Gottfried of Hohelhohen -Langenburg b)Theodora (wife of Berthold Magrave of Baden ) and c)Sophia (wife firstly of Prince Christoph of Hesse and secondly of Prince George William of Hannover )

Her brother, was Prince Philip, late Duke of Edinburgh, and the husband of Queen Elisabeth II of GB

On 2 February 1931 at Darmstadt Cecilie married George Horatius Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine who was her maternal first cousin once removed.

They had four children.

In October 1937, Cecilie's father-in-law Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig of Hesse died. A few weeks after the funeral, her brother-in-law Prince Ludwig was due to be married to Margaret Campbell Geddes in London.

On 15 November 1937, Georg Donatus, Cecilie, their two young sons and Georg's mother Grand Duchess Eleonore left Darmstadt for London, where they planned to attend the wedding. The aircraft in which they were travelling crashed in flames after hitting a factory chimney near Ostend in Belgium killing all on board. At the time, Cecilie was eight months pregnant with her fourth child, and the remains of the baby, a boy, were found in the wreckage.

Cecilie was buried with her husband and three sons in Darmstadt at the Rosenhöhe, the traditional burial place of the Hesse family. Cecilie's daughter Johanna was adopted by Prince Ludwig and Princess Margaret, but she died two years later from meningitis and is buried with her parents and brothers. Cecilie was the first of Prince Andrew and Princess Alice's children to die. Her last surviving sibling, Prince Philip, died on 9 April 2021. He survived her by more than 83 years.

Η ΑΒΥ Πριγκίπισσα Κεκιλια της Ελλαδος 🇬🇷και Δανίας 🇩🇰ήταν το τρίτο παιδί και κόρη της ΑΒΥ 👑🤴👑 Πρίγκιπα Αντρέα της Ελλάδας 🇬🇷και της Δανιας 🇩🇰 και της ΑΒΥ πριγκίπισσας Αλίκης του Μπάτενμπεργκ αργότερα ΑΒΥ 👑👸👑 πριγκίπισσα Αλικη της Ελλάδας 🇬🇷και της Δανιας 🇩🇰.Η ΑΒΥ Πριγκίπισσα Κεκιλια γεν��ήθηκε στις 22 Ιουνίου 1911 στο θερινό Ανακτορο της Ελληνικής Βασιλικής Οικογένειας στο Τατόι δεκαπέντε χιλιόμετρα βόρεια της Αθήνας.

Η ΑΒΥ Πριγκίπισσα Κεκιλια βαφτίστηκε στο Τατόι στις 2 Ιουλίου 1911.

Μέσω του πατέρα της, η Κεκιλια ήταν εγγόνι της ΑΜ Βασιλέα της Ελλαδος 🇬🇷Πρίγκιπας της Δανίας 🇩🇰και της σύζυγου του, της ΑΑΥ Μεγάλης Δούκισσας Ολγας Κονσταντινοβας της Ρωσίας (εγγονή του Τσάρου Νικολάου Α’ της Ρωσίας) μέσω της μητέρας της, η Κεκιλια ήταν εγγονή της βασίλισσας Βικτώριας .

Η Πριγκίπισσα Κεκιλια είχε τρεις αδελφές και έναν αδελφό:

α) Πριγκίπισσα Μαργαρίτα (σύζυγος του πρίγκιπα Γκότφριντ του Χόχελχεν-Λάντενμπουργκ β) Η Πριγκίπισσα Θεοδώρα (σύζυγος του Μπέρτολντ Μαγκράβε του Μπάντεν) και

γ) Πριγκίπισσα Σοφία (σύζυγος πρώτα του πρίγκιπα Χριστόφου της Έσσης και δεύτερον του πρίγκιπα Τζορτζ Γουίλιαμ του Αννόβερου)

Ο αδερφός της, ήταν ο πρίγκιπας Φίλιππος, αείμνηστος Δούκας του Εδιμβούργου, και σύζυγος της Βασίλισσας Ελισάβετ Β της ΜΒ

Στις 2 Φεβρουαρίου 1931 στο Ντάρμσταντ, η Κεκιλια παντρεύτηκε τον Μεγάλο Δούκα της Έσσης και Ρήνου, ο οποίος ήταν πρώτος ξάδελφος απο την πλευρά της μητέρας της καιαπέκτησαν τέσσερα παιδιά.

Τον Οκτώβριο του 1937, πέθανε ο πεθερός της Πριγκιπισσας Κεκίλιας Μεγάλος Δούκας Eρνεστος Λουδοβίκος της Έσσης. Λίγες εβδομάδες μετά την κηδεία, ο κουνιαδος της Πρίγκιπας Λουδοβικος επρόκειτο να παντρευτεί με τη Μαργαρίτα Κάμπελ Γκάντες στο Λονδίνο.

Στις 15 Νοεμβρίου 1937, ο Γεωργιος Δονατιος η Πριγκίπισσα Κεκίλια οι δύο νεαροί γιοι τους και η μητέρα του Γεωργίου Μεγάλη Δούκισσα Ελεωνόρα έφυγαν από το Νταρμσταντ για το Λονδίνο, όπου σχεδίαζαν να παρευρεθούν στους γάμους . Το αεροσκάφος στο οποίο ταξίδευαν συντρίβεται αφού χτύπησε μια καμινάδα εργοστασίου κοντά στην Οστάνδη στο Βέλγιο σκοτώνοντας όλους τους επιβάτες. Εκείνη την εποχή, η Κεκίλια ήταν οκτώ μηνών έγκυος με το τέταρτο παιδί της .

Το πτώμα του μωρού, ενός αγοριού, βρέθηκε στα συντρίμμια.

Η Κεκίλια θάφτηκε με τον σύζυγό της και τους τρεις γιους τους στο Ντάρμσταντ στο Ροσενχολε, τον παραδοσιακό τόπο ταφής της οικογένειας Χεσσης Η κόρη της Κεκιλιας που δεν ήταν μαζί στο αεροπλά��ο Ιωάννα υιοθετήθηκε από τον πρίγκιπα Λουδοβίκο και την πριγκίπισσα Μαργαρίτα, αλλά πέθανε ��ύο χρόνια αργότερα από μηνιγγίτιδα και είναι θαμμένη με τους γονείς και τους αδελφούς της. Η Κεκίλια ήταν το πρώτο από τα παιδια του Πρίγκιπα Ανδρέα και της Πριγκίπισσας Αλίκης που πέθανε . Ο τελευταίος αδελφός της, ο πρίγκιπας Φίλιππος, πέθανε στις 9 Απριλίου 2021. Την επέζησε για περισσότερα από 83 χρόνια.

[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.

[jeannepompadour]

Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by the Rhine, c. 1930s

[thebritishmonarchycouk]

On This Day In Royal History

6 October 1903

Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark married Princess Alice of Battenberg

◼   In 1902, Prince Andrew met Princess Alice of Battenberg at the coronation of her grand-uncle & his aunt's husband, King Edward VII, in London.

◼ Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child & fourth son of King George I of Greece & Olga Constantinovna of Russia.

◼   Princess Alice was a daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg & Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. They fell in love, & the following year, on 6 October 1903, Andrew married Alice in a civil wedding at Darmstadt. The following day two religious wedding services were performed: one Lutheran in the Evangelical Castle Church, & another Greek Orthodox in the Russian Chapel on the Mathildenhöhe.

◼   She adopted the style of her husband, becoming "Princess Andrew". The bride & groom were closely related to the ruling houses of Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Denmark, & Greece; their wedding was one of the great gatherings of the descendants of Queen Victoria & Christian IX of Denmark held before World War I.

Prince & Princess Andrew had five children;

▪   Princess Margarita born.18 April 1905 - died 24 April 1981

▪   Princess Theodora b.30 May 1906 - d.16 October 1969

▪   Princess Cecilie b.22 June 1911 - d.16 November 1937

▪   Princess Sophie  b.26 June 1914 - d.24 November 2001

▪   Prince Philip b.10 June 1921, Married 1947, to Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (later Queen Elizabeth II)

◼   By 1930, Prince Andrew was estranged from his wife, who by this time had been diagnosed with schizophrenia & committed to a sanatorium in Switzerland..

◼   After her recovery, she devoted most of her remaining years to charity work in Greece. She stayed in Athens during the Second World War, sheltering Jewish refugees, for which she is recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" at Yad Vashem. After the war, she stayed in Greece & founded an Orthodox nursing order of nuns known as the Christian Sisterhood of Martha & Mary.

◼   Their son, Prince Philip, served in the British navy during World War II, while all four of his daughters were married to Germans, three of whom had Nazi connections. Separated from his wife & son by the effects of the war, Andrew died in Monte Carlo in 1944. He had seen neither of them since 1939.

◼   After the fall of King Constantine II of Greece & the imposition of military rule in Greece in 1967, Alice was invited by her son & daughter-in-law to live at Buckingham Palace in London, where she died two years later. Her remains were transferred to the Mount of Olives in 1988.

📷 © National Portrait Gallery, London

[loiladadiani]

Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse (1868 - 1937)

Ernst Ludwig was the elder son of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He grew up with his four sisters (to whom he was very close) in Darmstadt. His only brother died in 1873 at the age of 3. One of his sisters was Alexandra, Empress of Russia.

He married his cousin Victoria Melita, Princess of Saxe Coburg and Gotha; they had two children, one stillborn boy and a beautiful girl, Elizabeth (Ella), who died of typhoid fever. The couple divorced after her death, and Ernest then married Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (nicknamed Onor by the family). The union produced two children: Louis, Prince of Hesse and By Rhine, and George Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and By Rhine. George Donatus married Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, and older sister of Prince Phillip (sometimes all roads seem to lead to our dear Prince Phillip.)

Photographs: 1. Ernst Ludwig, Onor, and their two children, George Donatus and Louis; 2. An older Ernst Ludwig, with his grandson.

[europesroyalsweddings]

✵ February 2, 1931 ✵

Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark & Prince Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine

[princessvictoriamelita]

Cecilie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, 1930s.