Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine

Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine (Ludwig Ernst Andreas Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen; 25 October 1931 – 16 November 1937) was the eldest son of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, an older sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He was the first great-great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.

Prince Ludwig
Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine
Born(1931-10-25)25 October 1931
Darmstadt, Hesse, Weimar Republic
Died16 November 1937(1937-11-16) (aged 6)
Ostend, Kingdom of Belgium
Burial
Rosenhöhe, Darmstadt, Germany
HouseHesse-Darmstadt
FatherGeorg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse
MotherPrincess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark
Grand Ducal Family of
Hesse and by Rhine
Ernest Louis
Children
Princess Elisabeth
Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus
Prince Louis
Grandchildren
Prince Ludwig
Prince Alexander
Princess Johanna

He was killed at age six in an airplane crash in 1937. He, his parents, younger brother Alexander, and grandmother Grand Duchess Eleonore were flying to London to attend the wedding of his uncle Prince Ludwig to Margaret Geddes. The plane crashed into a factory chimney near Ostend, Belgium.

"Family curse"

Some have considered the Hessian family victims of a family curse because of the number of premature deaths in the family. Following the airplane crash, Ludwig's orphaned sister Johanna was adopted by her uncle Ludwig and his new wife Margaret, but died at age two and a half in June 1939 of meningitis. Ludwig was a great-nephew of Tsarina Alexandra and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, both of whom were killed with family members during the Russian Revolution of 1917. His paternal great-grandmother Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and a great aunt, Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, both died of diphtheria. An aunt, Princess Elisabeth, died of virulent typhoid at age eight, though she was rumored to have eaten from a poisoned dish meant for Nicholas II of Russia.[1]

Ancestry

Notes
  1. Duff (1967)
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References
  • Duff, David (1967). Hessian Tapestry. London, Frederick Muller.
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