Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine

Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine is remembered today as Queen Victoria’s son-in-law and husband to the ill-fated Princess Alice of the United Kingdom. Likewise, he was the father of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, who were both murdered by the Bolsheviks following the Russian Revolution.

Ludwig was born born on September 12, 1837 at the Prinz-Karl-Palais in Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. He was the oldest son and child of Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine ( April 23, 1809 – March 20m 1877) and Princess Elisabeth of Prussia (June 18, 1815 –March 21, 1885), granddaughter of King Frederick William II of Prussia. Prince Charles’ elder brother, Louis III (1806-1877), then the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, was childless, making him and his son, Prince Ludwig, respectively first and second-in-line to the grand ducal throne.

A young Prince Louis of Hesse. Photograph by H.J. Whitlock. Image from Wellcome Library. 

The Prince of Wales and Prince Louis of Hesse, February 11, 1862. Image from Royal Collection via Wikimedia Commons.

Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, c. July 1862. Image from Royal Collection via Wikimedia Commons

Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia and Prince Louis of Hesse, c1863. Prince Louis maintained close ties with his brother-in-law and cousin. From Wikimedia Commons.

Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse standing in the clothes they wore at Princess Alice's brother the Prince of Wales's wedding in March 1863. Image from Royal Collection via Wikimedia Commons.

The Grand Ducal Family of Hesse at Heiligenberg Castle, 1864. First row, from left to right: Countess Julie Hauke, Princess of Battenberg; Princess Elisabeth; Tsarina Marie Alexandrovna; Princess Alice. Second row from left to right: Prince Charles; Prince Wilhelm; Prince Ludwig; Prince Gustav Vasa; Prince Alexander. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

On July 1, 1862,  Prince Ludwig was married to Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the second daughter and third child of Queen Victoria. Their wedding ceremony was shrouded by grief since barely six month before, the bride’s father, Prince Albert, had passed away, plunging Queen Victoria into deep mourning. On their wedding day, the queen granted her new son-in-law the style of Royal Highness in the United Kingdom. The couple had seven children, five of which lived through adulthood: Princess Victoria (April 5, 1863-September 24, 1950), who married Prince Louis of Battenberg, later Marquess of Milford Haven and is best remembered as Prince Philip’s grandmother; Elizabeth ( November 1, 1864 - July 18, 1918), who took the name Elizabeth Feodorovna upon her marriage to Grand Duke Serge of Russia and was murdered by the Bolsheviks; Irene, (July 11, 1866- November 11, 1953), who married Prince Henry of Prussia; Ernest (November 25, 1868- October 9, 1937), who succeeded and reigned as the last Grand Duke of Hesse (1892-1918); and Alix (June 6, 1872 - July 17, 1918), who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna on her marriage to Czar Nicholas II of Russia, and was murdered together with her husband and children by the Bolsheviks.

Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse with their two eldest children, Victoria and Elizabeth, c1860s. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, by now with their three children, Victoria, Elizabeth and Irene, c1860s. Image from Scottish National Gallery via Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse with his son and heir, Ernst Ludwig, in Balmoral, Scotland), c1879. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The Grand Duke of Hesse and his children with Queen Victoria in February 1879, a few weeks after the death of Princess Alice. (l-r): Princess Victoria, Hereditary Grand Duke Ernest Louis, Grand Duke Louis IV, Queen Victoria, seated, hands on her lap, Princess Irene, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Alix. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse with his eldest daughter, Victoria, son-in-law, Prince Louis of Battenberg, and granddaughter, Princess Alice of Battenberg, in Osborne in 1885. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Duke Ludwig IV (far right) with his children, from left to right: Princess Alix of Hesse; Ernst Ludwig, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse; Victoria, Princess Louis of Battenberg; and Princess Irene. The group are dressed for the wedding of Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg. Photograph taken at Osborne. Image from the Royal Collection via Wikimedia Commons. 

Princess Alice suffered and died from diphtheria on December 14, 1878, on the anniversary of Prince Albert’s death. In 1884 (on the eve of the wedding of his eldest daughter, Princess Victoria), Grand Duke Ludwig morganatically married  Countess Alexandrine Hutten-Czapska. Queen Victoria was shocked upon learning of his son-in-law's  action. Facing objections from the family, he and his new wife separated within a week and the marriage was annulled within three months. The countess received a hefty compensation and the title Countess von Romrod on May 31, 1884.  Following his second marriage, Queen Victoria has largely excluded him from the affairs of the British Royal Family, although he did attend the wedding of Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg, as well as Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.  He died on March March 13, 1892, following a heart attack in the New Palace in Darmstadt. His funeral was attended by many members of the British Royal Family, including Victoria, the Dowager Empress Frederick of Germany, the Dowager Duchess of Albany, and the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augusterburg and the Duke and Duchess of Argyll.  He was buried at the grand ducal mausoleum at Rosenhöhe.