, spouse =

Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel Princess ''Elizabeth'' Charlotte Alexandra Mary Louise of Hesse-Kassel (german: Elisabeth Charlotte Alexandra Marie Luise von Hessen-Kassel; 13 June 1861 – 7 June 1955), was a Princess of Hesse-Kassel by birth and, by her marriage to Leopold, H ...

, issue = Antoinette, Princess Frederick of Schaumburg-Lippe , house =

House of Ascania The House of Ascania (german: Askanier) was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss ...

, father =

Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt , image = Friedrich I Anhalt.jpg , caption = Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt , succession = Duke of Anhalt , reign = 22 May 1871 – 24 January 1904 , coronation = , predecessor = Leopold IV , successor ...

, mother =

Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg (17 April 1838 – 13 October 1908) was a princess of Saxe-Altenburg by birth and Duchess of Anhalt by marriage. Biography Antoinette was the second child of Prince Eduard of Saxe-Altenburg (1804-1852) from ...

, birth_date = , birth_place =

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

, death_date = , death_place =

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, place of burial = } Leopold of Anhalt (18 July 1855 – 2 February 1886), was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

of the

. From 1871 until his death he was heir to the

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once exis ...

Early life

Prince Leopold was born on 18 July 1855 in

as the first child of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen and his wife

. He was named after his grandfather Duke Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen. In 1863 his grandfather, Duke Leopold, became Duke of the united

Duchy of Anhalt The Duchy of Anhalt (german: Herzogtum Anhalt) was a historical German duchy. The duchy was located between the Harz Mountains in the west and the river Elbe and beyond to the Fläming Heath in the east. The territory was once ruled by the House ...

following the death of the last Duke of

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision from the Principality of ...

. On 22 May 1871, Duke Leopold died and Prince Leopold's father succeeded to the

. Leopold himself now became hereditary prince.

Marriage and issue

In the

autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

of 1883, Hereditary Prince Leopold proposed to

Princess Viktoria of Prussia Princess Friederike Amalia Wilhelmine Viktoria of Prussia (12 April 1866 – 13 November 1929) was the second daughter of Frederick III, German Emperor and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. Born a member of th ...

, daughter of Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and

Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom Princess Victoria (Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary; 6 July 1868 – 3 December 1935) was the fourth child and second daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and the younger sister of King George V. Early life and education Victoria A ...

. But his proposal was refused. In April 1884

Friedrich von Holstein Friedrich August Karl Ferdinand Julius von Holstein (24 April 1837 – 8 May 1909) Brockhaus Geschichte Second Edition was a civil servant of the German Empire and served as the head of the political department of the German Foreign Office for more ...

recorded that:Kevin R. Brady To Marry for Marrying’s Sake
/ref> In the end of December 1883 Hereditary Prince Leopold was engaged to

, the eldest daughter of

Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel Frederick William George Adolphus, Landgrave of Hesse (german: Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Adolf von Hessen-Kassel; 25 November 1820 – 14 October 1884) was the only son of Wilhelm I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel-Rumpenheim and Princess Louise Charlotte ...

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 ...

. When hearing of this engagement,

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 ...

, whose daughter apparently had not informed her mother of the rejected proposal, wrote: Leopold and Elisabeth were married on 26 May 1884 at

Schloss Philippsruhe ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogna ...

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

. They had one daughter: #

Antoinette Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius''). People with the name include: Nobles * Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of Ch ...

(

Schloss Georgium ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cognate ...

, 3 March 1885 – Dessau, 3 April 1963), married on 26 May 1909 to

Prince Frederick of Schaumburg-Lippe , house = Lippe , father = Prince William of Schaumburg-Lippe , mother = Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau , birth_date = , birth_place = Ratibořice Castle, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary , death_date = , death_place = Kud ...

Death

Less than one year after the birth of his daughter, Leopold died unexpectedly in

on 2 February 1886. As he had no sons, he was succeeded as Hereditary prince by his younger brother

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

who would eventually become Duke Frederick II of Anhalt. Princess Elisabeth never remarried and survived her husband by almost 70 years. She died in Dessau on 7 June 1955.

Honours

: Grand Cross of the House

Order of Albert the Bear The House Order of Albert the Bear (German: ''Hausorden Albrechts des Bären'' or ''Der Herzoglich Anhaltische Hausorden Albrechts des Bären'') was founded in 1836 as a joint House Order by three dukes of Anhalt from separate branches of the fam ...

, ''1873'' *

Ernestine duchies The Ernestine duchies (), also known as the Saxon duchies (, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose numb ...

: Grand Cross of the

Saxe-Ernestine House Order The Saxe-Ernestine House Order (german: link=yes, Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden)Hausorden
Herz ...

, ''1875'' *

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...

: Cross of Honour of the

Princely House Order of Hohenzollern The House Order of Hohenzollern (german: Hausorden von Hohenzollern or ') was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various ...

, 1st Class''Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt'' (1883) "Genealogie des Herzoglicher Hauses Anhalt" p
3
/ref> *

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

: Grand Cross of the

House Order of the Wendish Crown The House Order of the Wendish Crown (german: Hausorden der Wendischen Krone) was an Order of the House of Mecklenburg, jointly instituted on 12 May 1864 by Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of ...

, with Crown in Ore, ''17 April 1877''

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold Of Anhalt-Dessau, Hereditary Prince 1855 births 1886 deaths People from Dessau-Roßlau Princes of Anhalt German people of French descent Heirs apparent who never acceded Royal reburials