#Hesse-Darmstadt

[colorizedhistory]

[thepastisalreadywritten]

BORN ON THIS DAY:

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (17 October [O.S. 5 October] 1853 – 24 October 1920) was the fifth child and only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.

She was Duchess of Edinburgh and later Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the wife of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

She was the younger sister of Alexander III of Russia and the paternal aunt of Russia's last emperor, Nicholas II.

[princessvictoriamelita]

Battenberg siblings in 1896.

[epoque-victorienne]

[empress-alexandra]

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, 1914.

[ykzzr]

Ernst Louis and his son Georg Donatus in 1907❤️.

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

~ 🤍 Royal Parallels 🤍 ~

❧ Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia look out of the same window at Wolgsgarten hunting lodge, Darmstadt, 4 years apart. 1899 vs 1903 ☙

[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!

[pokadandelion]

Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse (nee Princess of The United Kingdom)

[loiladadiani]

Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt

Alice is usually underrated by history and mentioned mostly in relation to her daughters. But this very bright second daughter of Queen Victoria dedicated her life to helping the least privileged and the sick and the wounded. She had a natural affinity for both nursing and social work and collaborated with Florence Nightingale. Would life had given her more time, much could have been expected of her in these areas.

This is a lovely picture of Alice.

*Photograph from Alexanderpalace.org

[royal-confessions]

“Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt was such an interesting lady! She was said to have a will and ambition like that of Catherine II. She was the grandmother of Europe before Queen Victoria, being five of her six daughters consorts and her children are just as interesting as her!” - Submitted by Anonymous

[colorizedhistory]

[thepastisalreadywritten]

BORN ON THIS DAY:

Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (Irene Luise Marie Anne; 11 July 1866 – 11 November 1953), later Princess Henry of Prussia, was the third child and third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

Her maternal grandparents were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Her paternal grandparents were Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Elisabeth of Prussia.

She was the wife of Prince Henry of Prussia, a younger brother of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and her first cousin.

[princessvictoriamelita]

Princess Julia of Battenberg, 1860s.

Matriarch of the Battenberg Family.

[venicepearl]

Princess Augusta Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (14 April 1765 – 30 March 1796) was Duchess consort of Zweibrücken by marriage to Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken and the mother of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

[ykzzr]

Margaret, Princess of Hesse and by Rhine with little Princess Johanna of Hesse and by Rhine 1939.