Louis | |||||
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Prince of Hesse and by Rhine | |||||
Born |
Darmstadt, German Empire |
20 November 1908||||
Died | 20 May 1968 Frankfurt, West Germany |
(aged 59)||||
Spouse | Margaret Campbell Geddes | ||||
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House | Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
Father | Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse | ||||
Mother | Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich |
Full name | |
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German: Ludwig Hermann Alexander Chlodwig English: Louis Herman Alexander Clovis |
Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine (Ludwig Hermann Alexander Chlodwig, 20 November 1908 – 30 May 1968) was the youngest son of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse by his second wife, Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich.
He succeeded his brother Georg Donatus as the titular Grand Duke of Hesse after his death. He married the Hon. Margaret Geddes (1913–1997) daughter of Auckland Campbell Geddes, 1st Baron Geddes in 1937, on the day after the Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash. They had no issue, although after the death of his older brother, he adopted his niece, Johanna (b. 1936) but the little girl died in 1939.
In 1964 he stood as godfather to Prince Edward. In 1960 Prince Louis adopted his distant cousin Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse. With the death of Prince Louis in Frankfurt 1968 he was succeeded by Moritz's father Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1980) as head of the house. Moritz (d. 2013) in turn was succeeded by his son Donatus (b. 1966).
He introduced the British composer Benjamin Britten (1913–76) to the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843). Britten dedicated his 1958 song cycle Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente to the Prince.