Battenberg family
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- "Battenberg" redirects here. For other uses, see Battenberg (disambiguation).
Battenberg was the title created for the wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse, Countess Julia von Hauke. Prince Alexander (1823 - 1888) was the third son Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse and by Rhine and of Wilhelmina of Baden.
Julia von Hauke was a mere countess -- the orphaned daughter of John Maurice von Hauke who had been a Russian general and then Deputy Minister of War of Congress Poland -- and therefore of insufficient rank for her children to qualify for the succession to the throne of Hesse. Since her marriage to Alexander was morganatic, Julia was given the title Countess of Battenberg (Gräfin von Battenberg) by her brother-in-law, Grand Duke Louis III in 1851 and was elevated to Princess of Battenberg (Fürstin von Battenberg) in 1858.
The children of this union bore the title of Prince (Prinz) or Princess (Prinzessin) and the style Serene Highness (Durchlaucht). Battenberg thus became the name of a morganatic cadet branch of the Grand Ducal family of Hesse, without right of succession.
The couple had five children:-
- Prince Louis of Battenberg 1854 - 1921
- Princess Marie of Battenberg 1852 - 1923
- Prince Alexander of Battenberg, 1857 - 1893
- Prince Henry of Battenberg 1858 - 1896
- Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg 1861 - 1924
One son of this marriage, Prince Henry of Battenberg, married The Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria; their daughter, Victoria Eugenia Julia, became queen consort of Spain. Her uncle Edward VII elevated her style to Royal Highness, so that she would have the "necessary" status to marry into the Spanish royal house.
Another son, Alexander, was made Sovereign Prince of Bulgaria; he was later kidnapped and forced to abdicate.
Alexander and Julia's eldest son, Prince Louis I, became a British subject, and during World War I, due to anti-German feelings prevalent at the time, anglicised his name to Mountbatten (a literal translation of the German Battenberg), as did his cousins, the sons of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice. They renounced all German titles and were granted peerages by their cousin, King George V: Prince Louis I became the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while Prince Alexander, Prince Henry's eldest son, became the 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke.
The best known of Prince Louis' immediate descendants were his youngest son Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and his grandson Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (husband of Queen Elizabeth II) and son of Prince Louis I's daughter Princess Alice.
The marquessate of Milford Haven passed to Prince Louis I's eldest son, Earl Mountbatten's and Alice's eldest brother, George, (1892-1938).
Prince Louis II's earldom was inherited by his daughter, Lady Patricia Mountbatten, thereafter Countess Mountbatten of Burma and Baroness Romsey (born in 1924).
