Prince Alexander of Hesse
Prince Alexander of Hesse and by the Rhine 1823 - 1888.
There are several translations and variations of the full name 'Hesse and by the Rhine'. The family generally referred to themselves in conversation and writing as simply 'Hesse'. This was the original pre-Napoleonic name.
The younger sons of the Grand Dukes of Hesse (a small German state) are generally unknown. Prince Alexander is the exception to this rule. The Grand Ducal family were very adroit at making 'good' marriages. During the 19th century they provided Russia with two empresses, and one son-in-law for Queen Victoria.
By even greater chance the descendants of the family's black sheep Prince Alexander (the third son of Grand Duke Ludwig II and his wife Wilhelmina of Baden) have been in the 20th century the consorts of three European sovereigns:
- Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg - Queen of Spain
- Princess Louise of Battenberg - Queen of Sweden
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh - Consort of Elizabeth II
Prince Alexander's descendants currently occupy the Spanish throne and will in time sit on the throne of England.
What is remarkable about this is the fact that not only was Prince Alexander's own marriage one of the scandals of the 19th century, but also that his own parentage was the subject of scandal, it was openly said that Alexander's father, and that of his sister Marie, (who became Tsarina) was actually the Baron Augustus Senarxlens, their mother's chamberlain.
Whatever the truth, Prince Alexander's accepted father, The Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse, married his daughter Marie to Tsarevich of Russia, later Alexander II. The Grand Duke's younger son Prince Alexander decided that his future too lay within Russia. He followed the martial tradition of his family, and served in the Russian Army, where he became a distinguished soldier with a glittering career ahead of him. He even had a regiment of lancers named after him and was awarded the Cross of St. George. Of course the fact that his sister was the Tsarevna (Crown Princess) of Russia was not a disadvantage to his prospects.
Alexander however decided to ruin his own prospects, he fell in love with a Lady-in-Waiting to his sister Countess Julia von Hauke. An orphaned Polish ward of the Tsar.
At this time he was popular with (his sister's father-in-law) Tsar Nicholas I, who was considering him as a husband for his niece. When the Tsar heard of the romance, he forbade the couple to marry, it was unthinkable at that time that a person belonging to any Royal House could marry a mere countess. The Almanach de Gotha expressed clear rules on the subject of who could marry who.
Alexander fled to England to contemplate his future, he felt he could not live without Julia von Hauke. He returned to Russia for her, and the couple eloped from St. Perersburg and were married in Breslau in 1851
They returned to Hesse where his older brother Grand Duke Louis III was also outraged by the lowly dynastic status of his brother's Polish wife. Alexander was allowed to retain his rank of Prince, but the Countess was given the defunct title of Countess of Battenberg. (Battenberg is a town in the north of Hesse where they first lived in seclusion) Their children were to have no claim to the Grand Ducal Throne of Hesse. The Countess' rank was later elevated to that of a 'non royal' Princess as time passed, and they eventually returned to Darmstadt itself.
Having forgone his dynastic claims, Prince Alexander and his morganatic wife lived a quiet life. Their family was raised primarily at Prince Louis of Battenberg 1854 - 1921
- Princess Marie of Battenberg 1852 - 1923
- Prince Alexander of Battenberg, 1857 - 1893
- Prince Henry of Battenberg 1858 - 1896
- Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg 1861 - 1924
Prince Alexander of Hesse died in 1888, Princess Julia of Battenberg, died at Schloss Heiligenberg, near Jugenheim in Germany in 1895 aged 70.
Their legacy lives on the royal houses of Europe
