How tragedy decimated a royal family
The family of the Grand Dukes of Hesse and By Rhine produced notable historical figures. However, their lives were marred with tragedy, particularly through their connection with the House of Romanov.
Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse)
Marie of Hesse was born in 1824 as the youngest child of Louis II Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his wife, Wilhelmine of Baden. However, at the time of her birth her parents had been estranged since 1809. Marie and her older brother, Alexander, were certainly the products of their mother’s affair; however, the Grand Duke did not contest his paternity and at least on paper, he was Marie’s father.
Marie was a pretty girl and captured the attention of Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, who was searching for a wife. Despite concerns regarding Marie’s legitimacy, the Tsar ultimately accepted the marriage. Marie and Alexander initially had a happy marriage, producing. However, Marie suffered from consumption and she experienced blows from the deaths of her elder children. By the time of their silver wedding anniversary, she had grown apart from her husband. In 1865, the Tsar fell deeply in love with a young eighteen year old girl named Catherine Dolgorukova. Marie initially was not concerned, as her husband had passing affairs before.
However, this romance was different. The Tsar told Catherine that she was his secret wife. Their relationship produced three children, who the Tsar celebrated as fully Russian, in comparison to his children with Marie who he claimed were half Hessian. He also moved his second family into the palace. It was said the dying Tsarina could hear her husband’s illegitimate children playing upstairs, although this is disputed by historians. The Tsar’s disrespect of Marie infuriated her children, Ultimately Marie accepted that her husband loved his mistress, and asked to meet her and her children. She blessed the children on her deathbed and gave her blessing to her husband to marry Catherine after her death.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (Ella of Hesse)
Ella was the second oldest daughter of Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and By Rhine and his wife, Alice of the United Kingdom. In 1878, dypyheria plagued her family, killing her younger sister, Marie. Alice, who was nursing her ailing daughter, also died. The Grand Duke was distraught at his wife’s death, leaving the children effectively orphaned. Ella’s grandmother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, took a special interest in her motherless grandchildren, and ensured that they were brought up well.
Ella was a beautiful girl, and was desired by her cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. However, Ella ultimately selected as her husband Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, the younger brother of the Tsar. The pair were related as Sergei’s mother, Maria Alexandrovna, was Ella’s great aunt. Queen Victoria was distraught by this match, as she viewed the Russian court with suspicion, however Grand Duke Louis permitted the marriage. Sergei was an austere and conservative man, who may have been homosexual. The couple did not have children, but adopted the children of Sergei’s brother after their mother died.
In 1905, Sergei was assassinated by a revolutionary. Her husband’s death inspired Ella to leave behind her royal life. She sold her jewelry and used the money to open up a Convent, becoming a nun. Ella and her fellow nuns worked with the poor and orphans. Ella also sucessfully campaigned for the pardon of her husband’s killer, a shocking act that demonstrated her ability to forgive. However, this kind act was contrasted by Ella’s support for the murder of Rasputin. Ella had tried to warn her sister to abandon the mystic, but was rebuffed. Ella’s adopted son, Dmitri Pavlovich, murdered Rasputin, an act that Ella supported for the good of the monarchy.
In 1918, Vladimir Lenin ordered Ella’s arrest. She was imprisoned along with five Romanov family members and a loyal nun from her convent. The Bolsheviks beat the prisoners and threw them down a mine shaft. They rained down hand grenades on them, but most of the prisoners survived. One of the killers heard the prisoners singing hymns, so they threw down brush and lit it on fire. When the remains of the prisoners were discovered some months later, it appeared most of them survived the fire and succumbed to their injuries and starvation.
Tsarina Alexandra Feodorona (Alix of Hesse)
Perhaps the most famous member of the House of Hesse, Alix was the younger sister of Ella. Ella encouraged a romance between her sister and her husband’s nephew, the Tsesarevich Nicholas of Russia. However Queen Victoria, again opposed the Russian match, even more so as Nicholas was the heir to the throne. Victoria feared for her beloved granddaughter’s safety in a country beset by uprisings and assassinations. The House of Romanov was targeted by their subjects and the Tsesarevich’s grandfather had been violently assassinated by a bomb, threatening the stability of the crown. Alix tried to obey her grandmother yet after rejecting Nicholas’ proposal multiple times, Alix finally relented.
Nicholas and Alix had a happy marriage and produced four healthy daughters: Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia. The court was relieved when the longed for heir to the throne, Alexi, was finally born, but it soon became apparent the boy suffered from hemophilia, the disease which plagued his mother’s family. Alix’s own brother had died as an infant when he fell out a window and bled profusely due to his hemophilia. Alix was desperate to ensure her son’s health, turning to a mystic named Rasputin who was able to improve the boy’s spirits and brought him back from the brink of many close calls. The family’s close relationship with Rasputin, along with the country’s problems from World War I, led to growing resentment against the royal family.
Ultimately, Nicholas, Alix and their family were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks. After a period of confinement, the family were brutally murdered, bringing an end to Romanov rule in Russia.
The Children of Ernest Louis
Ernest Louis was the only brother of Ella and Alix who survived childhood, and thus, became the Grand Duke of Hesse. He was encouraged by his grandmother, Queen Victoria, to marry his first cousin, the enchanting Victoria Melita of Edinburgh. Although Ernest and Victoria made a pretty pair, they were never happy in their marriage. They managed to have one daughter, Elisabeth, who was the delight of her father. Yet, resentment in the marriage grew and Victoria alleged Ernest was homosexual. She eventually fled Hesse, leaving her daughter behind. Queen Victoria refused to let her grandchildren divorce, but after her death, the pair were finally permitted to separate.
Elisabeth preferred Ernest to her mother, and he was an exceptionally doting father. He built her a special playhouse that he forbid his servants from entering, and spoiled his daughter rotten. Elisabeth was a delightful child who Queen Victoria found enchanting. However, the sunshine of his life, as Ernest Louis called her, would be suddenly taken from him. Elisabeth was visiting her cousins, the Russian Grand Duchesses, when she became violently ill. She begged for her nurse to bring the Grand Duchess Anastasia to see her, who cried out confused what was happening to her cousin. The poor girl cried she was dying and her body gave up. The Russian court was afraid that the girl had accidently consumed poison meant for the Tsar. However, her death was ultimately attibuted to typhus.
Ernest Louis, divorced and now without children, remarried to a minor princess, Eleonore of Solms Hohensolms Lich. The pair were apparently happy in their marriage and had two sons: Georg Donatus and Louis. In 1937, Ernest Louis died and was buried next to his beloved Elisabeth.
Georg Donatus now became the Grand Duke of Hesse. He married his first cousin once removed, Cecile of Greece, who was the granddaughter of his father’s older sister. Cecile was also the sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Georg Donatus and Cecile had three children and Cecile was pregnant when they flew to London for his brother, Louis’ wedding, just a few weeks after the death of Ernest Louis. Georg Donatus left his youngest child, Johanna, behind, but brought along his wife, his mother and his two sons. While on board, Cecile went into labor and the pilot attempted to land the plane; however, poor weather caused the plane to crash, killing everyone on board. Johanna was orphaned but was taken in by Louis and his new wife. Unfortunately, the girl died of meningitis two years later. Louis and his wife did not have children, and the headship of the House of Hesse passed to a distant cousin.
