Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzog Ludwig III von Hessen und bei Rhein; 9 June 1806, Darmstadt – 13 June 1877,

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) was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1848 until his death in 1877.

Biography

He was the son of Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse and his consort, Princess Wilhelmine of Baden. He succeeded as Grand Duke in 1848 upon the

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

of his father during the March Revolution in the German states. During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Louis sent word more than once to

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 ...

, mother-in-law of his nephew and successor

Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

, appealing to her to reason on his behalf with the

King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

, "in the same sense I had already written before, but it would be utterly useless." He was succeeded by his nephew, Louis IV, on 13 June 1877, as his brother Charles (Louis' father) had already died three months previously, in March.

Marriages

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, on 26 December 1833, he married

Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria (german: Mathilde Karoline Friederike Wilhelmine Charlotte von Bayern) (Augsburg, August 30, 1813 – Darmstadt, May 25, 1862) was the second child and eldest daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese o ...

, eldest daughter of

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. The marriage produced no children. Princess Mathilde Caroline died in 1862, and in 1868 the Grand Duke remarried,

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 ...

, to Magdalene Appel who was created Baroness of Hochstädten.

Honours and awards

Ancestry

References

External links

Royal Genealogies Part 46

World Roots
1806 births 1877 deaths Nobility from Darmstadt Hereditary Grand Dukes of Hesse Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Extra Knights Companion of the Garter Burials at the Mausoleum for the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, Rosenhöhe (Darmstadt) {{Germany-royal-stub