Ernst, Prince of Leiningen (german: Ernst Leopold Victor Carl August Joseph Emich, Furst zu Leiningen; 9 November 1830 – 5 April 1904) was a

German nobleman The German nobility (german: deutscher Adel) and royalty were status groups of the medieval society in Central Europe, which enjoyed certain privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs in the German-speaking area, until the begi ...

who served with distinction in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Biography

He was the elder son of Carl, Prince of Leiningen and Countess Marie von Klebelsberg. His father was the maternal half-brother of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

of the United Kingdom. Ernst Leopold joined the

in 1849,William Loney RN
/ref> seeing action in the Second Burma War and later, the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, where he participated in the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

campaigns. He served as

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on board the '' HMS Duke of Wellington'' and '' HMS Cossack'' in 1855, after which he was promoted to

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1860 and given command of the HMS ''Magicienne'', and then HMY ''Victoria and Albert''. He further served as

Commander-in-Chief, The Nore The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Th ...

in 1885–87, was promoted to full Admiral in 1887 and retired from the Navy in 1895. Upon his father's death on 13 November 1856, Ernst Leopold acceded to the title of Prince of Leiningen. He also inherited the memberships of the

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

s of the

parliaments In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. T ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Hesse and by Rhine The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

and

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

, his family having owned estates and lands in those states. In 1863, he was nominated as a candidate for the throne of Greece by the British government under Henry Temple, Viscount Palmerston, but declined it; the throne was eventually accepted by Prince William of Denmark, who reigned as King George I until 1913. Ernst Leopold died in Amorsbach in 1904, and was succeeded as Prince by his son Emich.

Marriage and issue

On 11 September 1858 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

he married Princess Marie of Baden (1834–1899), second daughter and seventh child of

Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden Leopold (29 August 1790 – 24 April 1852) succeeded in 1830 as the Grand Duke of Baden, reigning until his death in 1852. Although a younger child, Leopold was the first son of Margrave Karl Friederich of Baden by his second, morganatic wife, ...

and

Sophie of Sweden Princess Sophie of Sweden (Sofia Vilhelmina Katarina Maria Lovisa Charlotta Anna; 21 May 1801 – 6 July 1865) was, by marriage, Grand Duchess of Baden as the wife of sovereign Grand Duke of Baden, Leopold. Biography Early life Sophie was born ...

. They had two children: *Princess Alberta of Leiningen (23 July 1863 – 30 August 1901). *

Emich, Prince of Leiningen , house = Leiningen , father = Ernst, Prince of Leiningen , mother = Princess Marie of Baden , birth_date = , birth_place =Osborne House, Isle of Wight, England , death_date = , death_place =Mudau, Free People's State of Württe ...

(18 January 1866 – 18 July 1939) he married Princess Feodore of

Hohenlohe-Langenburg Hohenlohe-Langenburg () was a German county and later principality in the Holy Roman Empire. It was located in the current northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, around Langenburg. Since the medieval times this small state was ruled by the Hous ...

on 12 July 1894. They had five children.

Honours and awards

Ancestry

References

, - 1830 births 1904 deaths Leiningen family Princes of Leiningen Members of the First Chamber of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Baden Members of the First Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse Members of the Bavarian Reichsrat Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War People from Amorbach Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 1st class {{UK-navy-bio-stub