by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2017

Since the 1500s, the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt was the traditional burial site of the Hesse-Darmstadt landgraves and their families. Several crypts were built below the church, including two which were specifically for the Hesse-Darmstadt family. The first Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, Ludwig I, his wife, and several of his children were buried there.

The Rosenhöhe is a large park in Darmstadt, created by Grand Duchess Wilhelmine (wife of Ludwig II), who designed and landscaped the area. The park includes several pavilions and a small residence that was used by the Grand Duchess. In 1894, Prince Wilhelm – brother of Grand Duke Ludwig IV – built the Palais Rosenhöhe (link in German) in the southern part of the park. The palace passed to Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig after Wilhelm’s death in 1900 and later served as the German Embassy. It was converted to apartments after World War I and was destroyed in an air raid in 1944. Today, hedges mark the outline of the palace.

There are two mausoleums in the Rosenhöhe, the Altes Mausoleum, built in 1826, and the Neue Mausoleum, built in 1905-1910. Near the mausoleums is a small family cemetery, the burial site of the last Grand Duke and his family.

The Altes (old) Mausoleum was built in 1826 following the death of Princess Elisabeth, the five-year-old daughter of Ludwig II and Wilhelmine. It was later expanded in 1869-1870, with an additional wing built on each side of the original building. Grand Duchess Alice and her husband, Ludwig IV, were initially buried in the northern wing until being moved to the Neue Mausoleum in 1910.
Wikipedia: Altes Mausoleum (link in German)

The Neue (New) Mausoleum is the tomb of Grand Duke Ludwig IV and his wife, Alice of the United Kingdom. It was built between 1905-1910 by their son, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. In addition to Ludwig IV and Alice, two of their younger children – Friedrich and Marie – are also entombed there.
Wikipedia: Neue Mausoleum (link in German)

Grand Dukes of Hesse and by Rhine

• Ludwig I – reigned August 14, 1806 – April 6, 1830
• Ludwig II – reigned April 6, 1830 – March 5, 1848
• Ludwig III – reigned March 5, 1848 – June 13, 1877
• Ludwig IV – reigned June 13, 1877 – March 13, 1892
• Ernst Ludwig – reigned March 13, 1892 – November 9, 1918

Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine Index

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Ludwig I
Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
(reigned April 14, 1806 – April 6, 1830)

Unofficial Royalty: Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
Ludwig I was born on June 14, 1753. In 1777, he married his first cousin, Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt, and had eight children. He became Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (as Ludwig X) on April 6, 1790, and the first Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine on August 14, 1806. He died in Darmstadt on April 6, 1830, and was buried in the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt. In 1910, his tomb was moved to the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

Unofficial Royalty: Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
Luise was born in Darmstadt on February 15, 1761. In 1777, she married the future Grand Duke Ludwig I, and had eight children. She died in Auerbach on October 24, 1829, and was buried in the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt. In 1910, her tomb was moved to the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

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Children of Grand Duke Ludwig I and Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt

Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (below)

Princess Luise
January 16, 1779 – April 18, 1811
Princess Luise married Ludwig of Anhalt-Köthen in 1800 and had two sons. She is buried in the St. Jacob’s Church in Köthen.

Prince Georg
August 31, 1780 – April 17, 1856
Prince Georg married, morganatically, to Caroline Török de Szendrö in 1804, and had one daughter. He is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Prince Friedrich
May 14, 1788 – March 16, 1867
Prince Friedrich devoted his life to his military career, serving at different times in the Austrian, French, Russian and Portuguese military. In 1808, he converted to Catholicism and lost his rights of succession. He never married. Friedrich died in Paris and is buried in the Catholic Ludwigskirche in Darmstadt.

stillborn twin daughters
May 11, 1789
They were buried first in the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt. In 1910, they were moved to the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Prince Emil
September 3, 1790 – April 30, 1856
Prince Emil served in the Hessian forces for much of his life. He died in Baden-Baden in 1856 and was buried in the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt. In 1910, his tomb was moved to the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Prince Gustav
December 18, 1791 – January 30, 1806
Prince Gustav died at just fifteen years old. He was buried in the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt.

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Ludwig II
Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
(reigned April 6, 1830 – March 5, 1848)

Unofficial Royalty: Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
Ludwig II was born in Darmstadt on December 26, 1777. In June 1804, he married Wilhelmine of Baden and had seven children. He reigned as Grand Duke from 1830 until abdicating on March 5, 1848. He died just months later, on June 16, 1848, in Darmstadt. Grand Duke Ludwig II is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Wilhelmine of Baden
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

Unofficial Royalty: Wilhelmine of Baden, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
Wilhelmine of Baden was born in Karlsruhe on September 21, 1788. In 1804, she married Ludwig II of Hesse and by Rhine and had seven children. She died on January 27, 1836, and is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

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Children of Grand Duke Ludwig I and Wilhelmine of Baden

Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (below)

stillborn son
August 18, 1807
He is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Prince Karl
April 23, 1809 – March 20, 1877
Wikipedia: Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Karl married Princess Elisabeth of Prussia in 1836 and they had four children, including the future Grand Duke Ludwig IV. Karl died in Darmstadt and is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Princess Elisabeth
May 20, 1821 – May 27, 1826
Princess Elisabeth died just after her fifth birthday. She is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

stillborn daughter
June 7, 1822
She is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Prince Alexander
July 15, 1823 – December 15, 1888
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Alexander is the founder of the Battenberg (and later Mountbatten) branch of the Hessian family. Having accompanied his younger sister to Russia for her marriage, Alexander soon fell in love with one of her ladies-in-waiting, Countess Julia Hauke. Despite being forbidden by the Tsar, Alexander and Julia married in 1851. As the marriage was morganatic, Alexander’s brother, Ludwig III, gave her the title Countess of Battenberg (later elevated to Princess). They had five children – Marie, Princess of Erbach-Schönberg (1852); Ludwig, Marquess of Milford Haven (1854); Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria (1857); Heinrich (1858); and Franz Joseph (1861). Alexander died at Schloss Heiligenberg and was initially buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe. In April 1894, his remains were moved to a new mausoleum built for him in the grounds of Schloss Heiligenberg. In 1902 the mausoleum was converted to a memorial chapel, and the remains of Prince Alexander and his wife, Julia, were moved to a grave just outside of the building.

Princess Marie
August 8, 1824 – June 3, 1880
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
At just sixteen years old, Princess Marie married the future Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, taking the name Maria Alexandrovna. She and Alexander had eight children, including Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia. Empress Maria Alexandrovna died at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

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Ludwig III
Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
(reigned March 5, 1848 – June 13, 1877)

Unofficial Royalty: Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
Ludwig III was born in Darmstadt on June 9, 1806. He married Princess Mathilde Karoline of Bavaria in 1833 but had no children. He became Grand Duke upon his father’s abdication in March 1848 and reigned until his death in Seeheim, Hesse, on June 13, 1877. He is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

Mathilde Karoline of Bavaria
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

Unofficial Royalty: Mathilde Karoline of Bavaria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
Mathilde Karoline was born in Augsburg on August 30, 1813, the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. She married Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine in 1833, but had no children. She died in Darmstadt on May 25, 1862. As she had remained Catholic after her marriage, Mathilde Karoline is buried in the Catholic Ludwigskirche in Darmstadt.

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Ludwig IV
Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
(reigned June 13, 1877 – March 13, 1892)

Unofficial Royalty: Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
Ludwig IV was born at the Prince Karl Palace in Darmstadt on September 12, 1837. In 1862, he married Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the second daughter of Queen Victoria. They had seven children – Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven (1863); Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna of Russia (1864); Princess Irene of Prussia (1866); Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1868); Prince Friedrich (1870); Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (1872); and Princess Marie (1874). In 1877, he became Grand Duke upon the death of his uncle, Ludwig III. In 1884, he married morganatically to Countess Alexandrina Hutten-Czapska, causing a great scandal. The marriage was quickly ended and annulled within three months. Grand Duke Ludwig IV died at the New Palace in Darmstadt on March 13, 1892, and was initially buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe. In 1910, his tomb was moved to the Neue Mausoleum.

Alice of the United Kingdom
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

Unofficial Royalty: Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Alice was born April 25, 1843, at Buckingham Palace in London, the second daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She married the future Ludwig IV on July 1, 1862, at Osborne House, and had seven children. In the fall of 1878, most of the family fell ill with diphtheria, taking the life of her youngest daughter, Marie. Alice soon contracted the illness herself and died on December 14, 1878, the anniversary of her father’s death seventeen years earlier. She was buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe until 1910 when her tomb was moved to the Neue Mausoleum.

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Children of Grand Duke Ludwig IV and Alice of the United Kingdom

Princess Victoria
April 5, 1863 – September 24, 1950
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, Marchioness of Milford Haven
Princess Victoria was the eldest daughter of Ludwig IV and Alice and often served as the first lady of Hesse after her mother’s death. In April 1884, she married Prince Ludwig of Battenberg, her father’s first cousin, and had four children – Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece (1885); Louise, Queen of Sweden (1889); George, Marquess of Milford Haven (1892); and Louis, Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900). In 1917, Victoria and Ludwig renounced their German titles and were created Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven. Victoria died at her home at Kensington Palace in London on September 24, 1950, having seen her grandson Philip marry the future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom three years earlier. She is buried alongside her husband in the graveyard at St. Mildred’s Church in Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.

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Princess Elisabeth
November 1, 1864 – July 18, 1918
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia
Princess Elisabeth, known as ‘Ella’, married Grand Duke Serge Alexandrovich of Russia in June 1884, and took the name Elizabeth Feodorovna. They had no children. Several years after her husband’s murder in 1905, Ella sold all of her possessions and used the money to open a convent – the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary – and served as abbess. For the rest of her life, Ella worked to help the poor and needy, establishing hospitals and orphanages. During the Russian Revolution, Ella was arrested along with several other members of the Imperial Family. Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna was killed on July 18, 1918, when she and the others were beaten and thrown down a mineshaft. Her remains were found several months later, and she was eventually interred at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

Princess Irene
July 11, 1866 – November 11, 1953
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, Princess Heinrich of Prussia
Princess Irene married her first cousin, Prince Heinrich of Prussia in May 1888 at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. They had three sons – Waldemar (1889); Sigismund (1896); and Heinrich (1900). She died at her home, Schloss Hemmelmark, on November 15, 1953, having survived all of her siblings. She is buried in the family mausoleum in the grounds of Hemmelmark.

Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (below)

Prince Friedrich
October 7, 1870 – May 29, 1873
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Friedrich, known as ‘Frittie’, was diagnosed with hemophilia in early 1873. Just three months later, on May 29, 1873, he fell from an open window while playing, and fell 20 feet to the ground. He died within hours due to a brain hemorrhage. Frittie was buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe until 1910 when he was moved to the Neue Mausoleum along with his parents.

Princess Alix
June 6, 1872 – July 17, 1918
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia
Princess Alix married Emperor Nicholas II of Russia on November 26, 1894, in a lavish ceremony held in St. Petersburg. She had five children – Olga (1895); Tatiana (1897); Maria (1899); Anastasia (1901); and Alexei (1904). Alexandra and her family were shot and killed on the night of July 17, 1918, at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Their bodies were initially thrown down a mineshaft before being retrieved, burned with acid and buried. The remains of Alexandra, Nicholas, and three of their daughters were found and identified through DNA in the 1990s, and were interred in the St. Catherine Chapel in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 17, 1998, eighty years to the day of their murders.

Princess Marie
May 24, 1874 – November 16, 1878
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Marie died of diphtheria shortly a few months after her fourth birthday. She was buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe until 1910 when she was moved to the Neue Mausoleum along with her parents.

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Ernst Ludwig
Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
(reigned March 13, 1892 – November 9, 1918)

Unofficial Royalty: Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
Ernst Ludwig was born at the New Palace in Darmstadt on December 25, 1868. He married Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, his first cousin, in 1894 and had two children – Elisabeth (1895) and a stillborn son (1900). They divorced in December 1901. He married again in 1905 to Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich and had two sons – Georg Donatus (1906); and Ludwig (1908). His reign ended on November 9, 1918, when he was forced to abdicate following the fall of the German Empire. He died at Schloss Wolfsgarten on October 9, 1937, and is buried in the family cemetery near the mausoleums in the Rosenhöhe.

Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

Unofficial Royalty: Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Princess Victoria Melita was the first wife of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. She was born at the San Anton Palace in Malta on November 25, 1876, to Prince Alfred of the United Kingdom, Duke of Edinburgh, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. She married Ernst Ludwig, her first cousin, on April 19, 1894 at Schloss Ehrenburg in Coburg. They had two children – Elisabeth (1895) and a stillborn son (1900). Following the death of their mutual grandmother, Queen Victoria, they divorced on December 21, 1901. She later married Grand Duke Kyrill Vladimirovich of Russia, another first cousin, and had three children. Victoria Melita died on March 2, 1936 in Amorbach, Germany. She was buried in the Ducal Mausoleum at the Glockenburg Cemetery in Coburg until 1995, when her remains were moved to the Grand Ducal Burial Vault at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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Children of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Princess Elisabeth
March 11, 1895 – November 16, 1903
Wikipedia: Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Elisabeth died of typhoid while visiting her Russian relatives at their hunting lodge in Skierniewice (now Poland). She is buried in the family cemetery near the mausoleums in the Rosenhöhe.

stillborn son
May 25, 1900
He is buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe.

 

Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

Unofficial Royalty: Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
Eleonore – known as Onor – was born in Lich on September 17, 1871. In 1905, she married Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, as his second wife, and had two sons – Georg Donatus (1906); and Ludwig (1908). She was killed in a plane crash in Belgium on November 16, 1937, which also took the lives of her elder son, his wife and their sons. She is buried alongside her husband in the family cemetery near the mausoleums in the Rosenhöhe.

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Children of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich

Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
November 8, 1906 – November 16, 1937
Unofficial Royalty: Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
Georg Donatus was born in Darmstadt on November 8, 1906. On February 2, 1931, he married Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, his first cousin once removed, and had three children – Prince Ludwig (1931); Prince Alexander (1933); and Princess Johanna (1936). He was killed on November 16, 1937 in a plane crash which also took the lives of his mother, his wife, his two sons and his unborn child. He is buried in the family cemetery near the mausoleums in the Rosenhöhe.

Prince Ludwig
November 20, 1908 – May 20, 1968
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Ludwig was born in Darmstadt on November 20, 1908. He married Margaret Geddes on November 17, 1937, the day after a plane crash had taken the lives of his mother, brother, sister-in-law and two nephews. He and Margaret had no children but adopted his niece, Johanna, who had not been on the plane with the rest of her family. Sadly, she died of meningitis less than two years later. Prince Ludwig died in Frankfurt, Germany on May 20, 1968. He is buried in the family cemetery near the mausoleums in the Rosenhöhe.

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