#hessian grand ducal family

[romanovsonelastdance]

Romanov relatives: Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse with his sons.

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

VERY RARE photo of Princess Irene of Prussia(née of Hesse and by Rhine)

[pokadandelion]

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

[krasivaa]

Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova of Russia, a session of photos taken in 1898.

@tiaramania do you know which tiara this one is, it kinda reminds me of Maria Feodorovna's Pearl Wave Tiara?? (:

[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!

[princesselisabethofhesse]

I recently acquired Princess Johanna of Hesse’s (1936-1939) mourning booklet.

It deeply touched me how in the mourning text, a paragraph mentioned Johanna’s half-aunt, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse (1895-1903), who had died more than 35 years before.

The paragraph above, marked in red, can be translated as follows:

“The month of November is a fateful month for the Grand Ducal family. With the death of little Princess Johanna, we simultaneously remember once again the death of the daughter of Grand Duke Ernst-Ludwig, Elisabeth, who died on 16 November 1903 in Skierniewice in Russia under mysterious circumstances, for whom the children of Darmstadt have, as is well known, erected a monument in the Herrngarten.”

I was so lucky that a vintage postcard depicting Johanna was glued on the mourning booklet!

On the back of the booklet, a photograph of the Hessian Gran Ducal Family posing with baby Johanna in 1936. I found the caption of the photograph really heart-breaking: the whole family is marked with a cross. By 1939, three years after this photo was taken, they were all dead. 💔 

source: my collection

[princessvictoriamelita]

The Funeral of The Hessian Grand Ducal Family in Darmstadt, the groom to whose wedding the family was on their way, stands at the open quarry. 2 December 1937.

[annalaurendet70]

The Hessian Ducal Royal family in 1879,in mourning after the death of their mother,Alice of United Kingdom,Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse and By Rhine.

Standing : Princess Elisabeth,Princess Victoria,Hereditary Grand Duke Ernst-Ludwig.

Sitting : Princess Irene, Grand Duke Ludwig IV, Princess Alix.

📌 Elisabeth marries into the Romanov family and becomes the Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna Romanova of Russia

📌 Alix marries into the Romanov family and becomes Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.

[adini-nikolaevna]

The Hessian grand ducal family.  The young woman standing to the right is Princess Marie of Hesse, later Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia.

[romanovsonelastdance]

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, future Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna.

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

🖤 ~ The beautiful Princess Anna of Hesse, later on as Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1862. ~ 🖤

[pokadandelion]

Princess Alice of Greece with her four daughters:

Princess Margarita, future Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Princess Theodora, future Margravine of Baden

Princess Cecilie, future Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse

Princess Sophie, future Princess of Hanover

[romanovsonelastdance]

Alexei Nikolaevich with his cousins Georg Donatus and Ludwig.

[romanovsonelastdance]

Alexei Nikolaevich with cousins Ludwig & Georg Donatus of Hesse.