Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
| Ernest Louis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine | |
| Reign | 13 March 1892 – 9 November 1918 |
| Predecessor | Louis IV |
| Born |
25 November 1868 , Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse |
| Died | 9 October 1937 (aged 68) Schloss Wolfsgarten, Langen, Hesse, Germany |
| Spouse |
Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (m. 1894–1901; divorced) Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (m. 1905–1937; his death) |
| Issue |
Princess Elisabeth Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine |
| House | Hesse-Darmstadt |
| Father | Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine |
| Mother | Princess Alice of the United Kingdom |
Ernest Louis Charles Albert William (German: Ernst Ludwig Karl Albrecht Wilhelm; 25 November 1868 – 9 October 1937) was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1892 until 1918. His nickname was "Ernie".
Ernest Louis was the elder son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was an older brother of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (née Alix of Hesse), wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Ernest Louis's early life was shrouded with death. When he was five, his brother Prince Friedrich died. The two boys had been playing a game when the younger boy, who suffered from haemophilia, fell through a window onto the balcony twenty feet below. Ernest Louis was inconsolable. "When I die, you must die too, and all the others. Why can't we all die together? I don't want to die alone, like Frittie," he told his nurse. To his mother he said, "I dreamt that I was dead and was gone up to Heaven, and there I asked God to let me have Frittie again and he came to me and took my hand."
In 1878, an epidemic of diphtheria swept through Darmstadt. All the children (except Princess Elisabeth who was sent to stay with their paternal grandmother Princess Elizabeth of Prussia) and their father fell ill. Princess Alice cared for her sick husband and children, but on 16 November, the youngest of them, Princess Marie, died. Alice kept the news from her family for several weeks, until Ernest Louis, who was devoted to little Marie, asked for his sister. When his mother revealed Marie's death, Ernest Louis was overcome with grief. In comforting her grieving son, Alice kissed him, and within a week, she fell ill and soon died, on December 14th, the anniversary of her own father's death.
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