Alexander Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse (german: Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht Georg Landgraf von Hessen, 25 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a German prince of the
House of Hesse
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. Burke's Royal Families of the World, ...
.
Biography
He was the son of
Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel and
Princess Anna of Prussia
Princess Maria Anna Friederike of Prussia (; 17 May 1836 – 12 June 1918), usually called Anna, was a Prussian princess as the granddaughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia. She was the second wife of Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kas ...
. From 1888 to 1925 he was Head of the electoral line of the House of Hesse, but abdicated his position to his brother
Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse
Frederick Charles Louis Constantine, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (german: Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel; fi, Fredrik Kaarle; 1 May 1868 – 28 May 1940), was the brother-in-law of the German Empe ...
. He was born with a visual impairment, and this disability, in addition to his morganatic marriage, played a part in his decision to abdicate.
On 25 March 1925, he married
morganatically
Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spou ...
Baroness Gisela
Stockhorner von Starheim (b. 17 January 1884, d. 22 June 1965), daughter of Otto, Baron
Stockhorner von Starheim and Baroness Emilie Susanne ''Hildegard''
von Wolzogen -Neuhaus.
[Princess Gisela was (through her maternal grandmother) the great-great-granddaughter of London-based ]Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
financier François Jacques Houssemayne Du Boulay. She was Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
of Grand Duchess Hilda of Baden.[Gisela Anna Caroline Amalia Ida Pauline Freiin Stockhorner von Starein (genealogy)]
#108918, ''thepeerage.com'', 9 October 2009.
Honours
He received the following orders and decorations:[''Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen'' (1894), Genealog]
p. 5
/ref>
Ancestors
References
, -
1863 births
1945 deaths
German princes
House of Hesse-Kassel
Blind royalty and nobility
German people with disabilities
Recipients of the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog
Annulled Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
{{Germany-duke-stub
