Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
Encyclopedia
Prince Alexander Ludwig Georg Friedrich Emil of Hesse, GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(15 July 1823 – 15 December 1888) was the third son and fourth child of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis II was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1830 until 5 March 1848 . He was the son of Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse....
and Wilhelmina of Baden
Wilhelmine of Baden
Wilhelmine of Baden was Grand Duchess consort of Hesse and the Rhine.She was the youngest daughter of Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Amalia of Hesse-Darmstadt...
.
Questioned parentage
Though Alexander is best known for the scandal caused by his marriage, his parentage also was the subject of scandal, as it was openly rumoured that his and his sister MarieMaria Alexandrovna
Maria Alexandrovna may refer to:* Maria Alexandrovna , princess of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and Empress consort of Tsar Alexander II of Russia...
's father was actually August Ludwig, Freiherr von Senarclens de Grancy
August von Senarclens de Grancy
August Ludwig Freiherr von Senarclens de Grancy was born Auguste Louis de Senarclens de Grancy at the Château d'Etoy in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, the ancestral home of the de Loriol Family, the firstborn son of three sons and four daughters of Cesar August Freiherr von Senarclens de Grancy,...
, their mother's chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....
. His mother, although consort of the grand duchy, lived apart from her husband, who eventually divorced her but did not repudiate paternity of any of the four children born during the marriage. Thus, when the future emperor Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
, as tsarevich
Tsesarevich
Tsesarevich was the title of the heir apparent or presumptive in the Russian Empire. It either preceded or replaced the given name and patronymic.-Usage:...
, chose the sixteen year-old Marie as consort, his parents consented to the match
Royal intermarriage
Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for reasons of state...
. Because of her youth, Alexander escorted his sister to Russia for her wedding, remaining at the Russian court and joining the inner circle of his brother-in-law the tsarevich after Marie's entourage returned to Hesse.
Alexander's marriage
This promising career was cut short by a scandal, as Alexander fell in love with Countess Julia Hauke, lady-in-waiting to his sister, (known, since her conversion to OrthodoxyEastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, as the Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna, ranking only after her mother-in-law the Empress of Russia). The countess was an orphaned German-Polish ward
Ward (law)
In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...
of the tsar, and daughter of the tsar's former minister of war. At that time, Tsar Nicholas I
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
was considering Alexander as a possible husband for his niece and, when he heard of Alexander's romance, he forbade the couple to marry.
Alexander left for England to contemplate his future, but then returned to Russia and eloped with Julia from St. Petersburg, being stricken by the tsar's orders from the roll of the Russian imperial army for insubordination. The two were married in Breslau in 1851.
Alexander's older brother Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis III was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1848 until his death. He was succeeded by his nephew, Louis IV....
allowed him to re-patriate
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
to Hesse with his bride, although he did not recognize their marriage as dynastic. He granted her the new, hereditary title of Countess von Battenberg (Battenberg
Battenberg, Hesse
Battenberg is a small town in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. The town is noted for giving its name to the Battenberg family, a morganatic branch of the ruling House of Hesse-Darmstadt, and through it, the name Mountbatten used by members of the British royal family, a literal...
was a small town and ruined castle in the north of the grand duchy which, according to the memoirs of their eldest child Marie, the family visited once during her youth, although it never became their residence).
Alexander's wife would deliver his first child barely six months after their elopement. Nonetheless, Julia Hauke was a countess in her own right, as well as a former ward of the tsar whose husband retained, despite exile from Russia, the sympathetic support of the tsarevich and tsarevna. Grand Duke Louis III therefore chose to distinguish her from several non-royal wives of other Hessian princes by conferring upon her, along with the Battenberg countship, the style
Style (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
of Erlaucht (Illustrious Highness
Illustrious Highness
His/Her Illustrious Highness is the English-language form for a style used by various members of the European aristocracy....
), usually reserved in Germany for counts of mediatized
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
(i.e., dynastic) rank.
Career
As a cadetCadet (genealogy)
In genealogy, a cadet is a younger son, as opposed to the firstborn heir. Compare puisne.- Etymology :The word is recorded in English since 1634, originally for a young son, identical to the French, which is itself derived from the gascon Occitan capdet "captain, chief", in turn from the Late...
of the Hessian grand ducal dynasty Prince Alexander had followed the martial tradition of his family by offering his sword to the military service of a Great Power while still a teenager, having accompanied his sister to St. Petersburg. He became a respected commander in the Russian army, with the prospect of a distinguished career. He had a regiment of lancer
Lancer
A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as and subsequently by Greek, Persian, Gallic, Han-Chinese, nomadic and Roman horsemen...
s named after him and was awarded the Order of St. George
Order of St. George
The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George (also known as Order of St. George the Triumphant, Russian: Военный орден Св...
4th class. His elopement, in sending him abroad AWOL, terminated his military career and made him, initially, a fugitive from Russia.
But once his elder brother recognized his wife, he was able to obtain an appointment in the Austrian army, where he resumed his military career, although remaining sufficiently in disgrace never to be billet
Billet
A billet is a term for living quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. Historically, it referred to a private dwelling that was required to accept the soldier....
ed in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Each of his children would be born in a different city, depending upon where in the Austro-Hungarian empire Prince Alexander was stationed.
After serving Austria with distinction in several battles, he was given a major command in Hesse's small army in its war, as an ally of Austria, with Prussia in 1866. By this time his wife and children had taken up their home at Alexander's small castle at Seeheim-Jugenheim
Seeheim-Jugenheim
Seeheim-Jugenheim is a municipality in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of approximately 17,000.Seeheim-Jugenheim consists of seven villages:*Balkhausen *Jugenheim...
in Hesse, to which he retired after Prussia defeated Austria and Hesse. Although the grandduchy of Hesse-Kassel
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
, ruled by another branch of Alexander's family, was annexed
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
by Prussia for adhering to the losing side, the fact that Hesse-Darmstadt's grand duke was the brother-in-law of the Russian tsar saved its independence, although not without loss of territory. Henceforth, Alexander and his family alternated between their castle in the grandducal capital of Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, and their country home a few hours away by carriage.
Alexander was often in attendance at his elder brother's court. But a shift occurred when his sister, now Empress of Russia, began to pay annual visits to her brother in the 1870s along with her husband, children, and a large entourage. Louis III, while benefitting from his kinship to the tsar, preferred to defer entertaining him to Alexander and Marie at Heiligenberg. These annual visits had the twofold effect of enhancing the international prestige of the grandduchy while socially rehabilitating Alexander's morganatic household. Marie of Battenberg's memoirs document the cordiality between Alexander and his eldest brother, while also recording the growing importance of her own family's household as diplomats who wished to pay court to the Russian emperor would await his annual visit to the Hessian countryside to do so discreetly in the more intimate setting of Alexander's home.
Children
Although Prince Alexander retained his own dynastic rights and appanageAppanage
An apanage or appanage or is the grant of an estate, titles, offices, or other things of value to the younger male children of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture...
, his morganatic wife lived a quiet life. Their family lived primarily at Heiligenberg Castle
Seeheim-Jugenheim
Seeheim-Jugenheim is a municipality in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of approximately 17,000.Seeheim-Jugenheim consists of seven villages:*Balkhausen *Jugenheim...
, in southern Hesse. In 1858 Grand Duke Louis III raised his sister-in-law from "Countess" to "Princess" (Prinzessin) von Battenberg, her children sharing in the princely title, and accorded them the style of Serene Highness
Serene Highness
His/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
(Durchlaucht).
Alexander of Hesse and Julia of Battenberg had five children. The children were:
- Princess Marie of BattenbergPrincess Marie of BattenbergPrincess Marie Caroline of Battenberg was a Princess of Battenberg and, by marriage, The Princess of Erbach-Schönberg. She worked as a writer and translator.-Early life:...
1852 - 1923 - Prince Louis of Battenberg 1854 - 1921
- Prince Alexander of BattenbergAlexander, Prince of BulgariaAlexander Joseph, Prince of Bulgaria GCB , known as Alexander of Battenberg, was the first prince of modern Bulgaria, reigning from 29 April 1879 to 7 September 1886.-Early life:...
, 1857–1893 - Prince Henry of BattenbergPrince Henry of BattenbergColonel Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, later becoming a member of the British Royal Family, through his marriage to Princess Beatrice.-Early life:...
1858 - 1896 - Prince Francis Joseph of BattenbergPrince Francis Joseph of BattenbergPrince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, also known as Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg, , was the youngest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Countess Julia von Hauke.-Biography:...
1861 - 1924
Prince Alexander of Hesse died of cancer in 1888; Princess Julia of Battenberg, having converted to Roman Catholicism, died at Schloss Heiligenberg in 1895 at the age of 70. They lived to see four of their five children, who had no rights of succession to the Hessian throne, mount a throne or marry dynastically
Royal intermarriage
Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for reasons of state...
, and to become welcome in-laws to Queen Victoria, whose correspondence reflected a consistent respect and fondness for the Battenberg family.
Descendants
Prince Alexander's children formed marital ties with several reigning families.- Prince Louis married Princess VictoriaPrincess Victoria of Hesse and by RhinePrincess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his first wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom .Her mother died while her brother and sisters...
(daughter of Queen Victoria's second daughter, AlicePrincess Alice of the United KingdomThe Princess Alice was a member of the British royal family, the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.Alice's education was devised by Albert's close friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar...
). Their children included:- Princess LouiseLouise MountbattenLouise Alexandra Marie Irene Mountbatten became Queen consort of Sweden in 1950 and served as such until her death in 1965...
, became Queen of SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
through her marriage to Gustaf VI Adolf of SwedenGustaf VI Adolf of SwedenGustaf VI Adolf - Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf - was King of Sweden from October 29, 1950 until his death. His official title was King of Sweden, of the Goths and of the Wends. He was the eldest son of King Gustaf V and his wife Victoria of Baden...
. - Princess AlicePrincess Alice of BattenbergPrincess Alice of Battenberg, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Elizabeth II....
, married Prince Andrew of Greece and DenmarkPrince Andrew of Greece and DenmarkPrince Andrew of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark.He began military training at an early age, and was...
, with whom her children include Prince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, the husband of Elizabeth II.
- Princess Louise
- Prince Henry married Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, BeatricePrincess Beatrice of the United KingdomThe Princess Beatrice was a member of the British Royal Family. She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Juan Carlos, King of Spain, is her great-grandson...
. Their only daughter:- Princess Ena, became queen of SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
upon her marriage to King Alfonso XIII of SpainAlfonso XIII of SpainAlfonso XIII was King of Spain from 1886 until 1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority...
. Their grandson Juan Carlos IJuan Carlos I of SpainJuan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
is the present king of Spain.
- Princess Ena, became queen of Spain
- Prince Alexander became the first reignReignA reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation or of a people . In most hereditary monarchies and some elective monarchies A reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office...
ing Prince of modern BulgariaBulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. He obtained the posthumous consent of Frederick III, German EmperorFrederick III, German EmperorFrederick III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors. Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl known informally as Fritz, was the only son of Emperor William I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service...
to marry his daughter, Princess Viktoria of PrussiaPrincess Viktoria of PrussiaPrincess Viktoria of Prussia was the second daughter of Frederick III, German Emperor and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal, a daughter of Queen Victoria...
, whose mother and grandmother, Queen Victoria, also supported the marriage as a love match. But even before Alexander was deposedDeposition (politics)Deposition by political means concerns the removal of a politician or monarch. It may be done by coup, impeachment, invasion or forced abdication...
from his throne, the marriage was opposed by Prince BismarckOtto von BismarckOtto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
for political reasons and by his fiancee's brother, Wilhelm II, as a matter of dynastic pride, prompting Queen Victoria to withdraw her support as a concession to diplomacy, and Alexander to lose interest in favor of a morganatic marriageMorganatic marriageIn the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
to Johanna LoisingerJohanna LoisingerJohanna Maria Louise Loisinger , was an Austrian actress, pianist, and soprano opera singer, She was born on 18 April 1865 in Preßburg, Austria , the daughter of John Loisinger and Maria Meier....
.