Grand Duke Of Hesse And By Rhine Ernst Ludwig

Passions

Notable

German royalty, the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Known as "Ernie" to the royal families of Europe, he was gay but coaxed into marrying his first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita (known to the royals as "Ducky"), by his grandmother, Queen Victoria on 19 April 1894. It was at their wedding that Ernie's younger sister, Alix, accepted the marriage proposal of the future Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Ernie and Ducky had one daughter, Elisabeth Marie Alice Viktoria, born on 11 March 1895. The couple split up in 1901, when Ducky abandoned the marriage to be with her lover, Grand Duke Kirill of Russia, and were eventually divorced. Little Elisabeth died of typhoid at the age of eight, at a country retreat in Skierniewice, Poland on 16 November 1903. Ernst married his second wife, Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, on 2 February 1905 and had two more children. Ernst succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Hesse by Rhine on 13 March 1892, but was forced to abdicate at the end of the first World War in 1918. He died in Langen, Germany on 9 October 1937. Link to Wikipedia biography