Biography
Overview (4)
| Born | in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, German Confederation [now Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany] |
| Died | in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany (illness) |
| Birth Name | Ernst Ludwig Karl Albrecht Wilhelm Hesse-Darmstadt Großherzog von Hessen und bei Rhein |
| Nickname | Ernie |
Mini Bio (1)
Ernest Louis was born on November 25, 1868 in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, German Confederation [now Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany]. He was previously married to Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich and Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia. He died on October 9, 1937 in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany.
Family (4)
Trivia (16)
Throughout his life, Ernest Louis was a patron of the arts, founding the Darmstadt Artists' Colony, and was himself an author of poems, plays, essays, and piano compositions.
Ernest Louis commissioned the New Mausoleum in 1903. It was consecrated on 3 November 1910, in the presence of the Grand Duke and his immediate family, that is to say, his wife Eleonore, Tsar Nicholas II and his two sisters, the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna (Ella), Victoria Princess Louis of Battenberg and her daughter, Louise, and Princess Heinrich of Prussia accompanied by her husband. The remains of Grand Duke Ludwig IV, Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine along with their children 'Frittie' and 'May' were re-interred in the New Mausoleum.
Ernest and Victoria Melita had two children: Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, and a son, stillborn on 25 May 1900.
In October 1937, Ernest Louis died after a long illness at Schloß Wolfsgarten, near Darmstadt. He received what amounted to a state funeral on 16 November 1937 and was buried next to his daughter, Elisabeth, in a new open air burial ground next to the New Mausoleum he had built in the Rosenhöhe park in Darmstadt.
On 19 April 1894, at Schloss Ehrenburg, Ernest Louis married his maternal first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ("Ducky"), the daughter of his mother's brother, Prince Alfred. The match was actively encouraged by their mutual grandmother, Queen Victoria, who attended the wedding. At the wedding, Ernest's youngest surviving sister, Alix, met and became engaged to marry Tsarevich Nicholas of Russia, and the excitement of that imminent match threw the nuptial celebrations into the shade.
In addition to his marriage, Ernest Louis maintained a close friendship with the bisexual Karl August Lingner, the inventor of Odol, one of the first liquid mouth-washes. When Lingner died of tongue cancer, he bequeathed Tarasp Castle in Switzerland to Ernest Louis. However, the Hesse family never lived in it, and it was sold in 2016.
Ernest Louis remarried in Darmstadt, on 2 February 1905, to Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (17 September 1871 - 16 November 1937). This marriage proved harmonious and happy. The couple had two sons: Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1906-1937) and Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine (1908-1968).
In 1892, Ernest Louis succeeded his father as grand duke.
Cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Prince Henry of Prussia, Queen Victoria Eugenia, Princess Alice, Prince Albert Victor, Queen Marie of Romania, and King George V.
Brother of Tsarina Alexandra.
Brother-in-law of Tsar Nicholas II.
Uncle of Grand Duchess Olga (b. 1895), Grand Duchess Tatiana (b. 1897), Grand Duchess Maria (b. 1899), Grand Duchess Anastasia (b. 1901) and Tsarevitch Aleksey Nikolaeyvitch Romanov (b. 1904).
During World War I, Ernest Louis served as an officer at Kaiser Wilhelm's headquarters. In February, 1917, the February Revolution in Russia forced his brother-in-law, Tsar Nicholas II, to abdicate. Sixteen months later, in July 1918, his two sisters in Russia, Elizabeth, the widow of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and Alexandra, the wife of Nicholas II, were murdered by the Bolsheviks, Alexandra dying alongside her husband and children. At the end of the war, he lost his throne during the revolution of 1918, after refusing to abdicate.
Brother of Victoria Mountbatten, Princess Irene of Prussia, Elizabeth Feodorovna, Tsarina Alexandra, and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.
Personal Quotes (1)
My little Elisabeth was the sunshine of my life. Although she was only a child, she had a particularly deep sensitivity and a very large heart... I never saw a child who had so much influence on adults. Although they idolized her, she always remained the same, because her inner personality was very strong. She had a natural quality that protected her from being spoiled.
