Ernst, Prince of Leiningen (; 9 November 1830 – 5 April 1904) was a German nobleman who served with distinction in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

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 January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

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 between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, where he participated in the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

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 originatin ...

campaigns. He served as

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on board ''

HMS Duke of Wellington Two Royal Navy ships have carried the name ''Duke of Wellington'' * , a 131-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy * , a steamer renamed ''Duke of Wellington'' during the Second World War for service as a Landing Ship, Infantry See al ...

'' and ''

HMS Cossack Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Cossack'', after the Cossack people of Eastern Europe, whilst another was begun but was cancelled while building: * was a 22-gun sixth-rate post-ship, begun under the name ''Pandour'' in 1805 ...

'' 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 or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 1860 and given command of 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. Nore, The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of t ...

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 Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

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, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Hesse and by Rhine The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () 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 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). It assumed the name ...

and

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

, 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 German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

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 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 in Stoc ...

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

Emich, Prince of Leiningen Emich, Prince of Leiningen (; 18 January 1866 – 18 July 1939) was the son of Ernst, Prince of Leiningen. He was the fifth Prince of Leiningen from 1904 to 1918, and afterwards titular Prince of Leiningen from 1918 until his death. Early ...

(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 around Langenburg in what is now northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Starting in medieval times and continuing until 1806, this smal ...

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 Children of prime ministers {{UK-navy-bio-stub