Prince Friedrich Wilhelm August Victor Leopold Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine (7 October 1870 – 29 May 1873) was the
haemophilia
Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...
c second son of
Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
English: Frederick William Louis Charles
, house = Hesse-Darmstadt
, father = Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine
, mother = Princess Elisabeth of Prussia
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Prinz-Carl-Palais, Darmstadt, Gra ...
, and
Princess Alice of the United Kingdom
Princess Alice (Alice Maud Mary; 25 April 1843 – 14 December 1878) was Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine from 13 June 1877 until her death in 1878 as the wife of Grand Duke Louis IV. She was the third child and second daughter of Queen ...
, one of the daughters 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 her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
. He was also a maternal great-uncle of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
, through his eldest sister
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (Victoria Alberta Elizabeth Mathilde Marie; 5 April 1863 – 24 September 1950), later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rh ...
.
Life
Friedrich, called "Frittie" in the family, was a cheerful and lively child despite his illness. "Leopold" was added as one of his names in honor of his mother's hemophiliac brother,
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, who was Friedrich's godfather.
Death
His haemophilia was first diagnosed in February 1873, a few months before his death, when he cut his ear and bled for three days. Bandages could not stanch the flow of blood.
[Mager (1998), p. 45] In late May 1873, Friedrich and his older brother
Ernst
Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst"
* Anton Ernst (1975-) ...
were playing together in their mother's bedroom. Ernst ran to another room, which was set at right angles to Alice's bedroom and peered through the window at his younger brother. Alice ran to get Ernst away from the window. When she was out of the room, Friedrich climbed onto a chair next to an open window in his mother's bedroom to get a closer look at his brother. The chair tipped over and Friedrich tumbled through the window, falling twenty feet to the
balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
below. Friedrich survived the fall and might have lived had he not been a haemophiliac. He died hours later of a
brain hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
.
[Mager (1998), p. 45]
Aftermath
Following Friedrich's death, his distraught mother often prayed at his grave and marked anniversaries of small events in his life. His brother Ernst told his mother he wanted all of the family to die together, not alone "like Frittie." Two of Friedrich's sisters,
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United Stat ...
and
Alix
''Alix'', or ''The Adventures of Alix'', is a Franco-Belgian comics series drawn in the ligne claire style by Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young Gallo-Roman man named Alix in the late Roman Republic. Although the series is re ...
, also had haemophiliac sons.
[Mager (1998), p. 46]
Ancestry
Notes
References
*Mager, Hugo (1998). ''Elizabeth: Grand Duchess of Russia''. Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedrich Of Hesse And By Rhine, Prince
1870 births
1873 deaths
German children
Haemophilia in European royalty
House of Hesse
Deaths from blood disease
Burials at the Mausoleum for the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, Rosenhöhe (Darmstadt)
Royalty and nobility who died as children