Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine (1933–1937)

Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine (Alexander Georg Karl Heinrich), (14 April 1933 – 16 November 1937), was the second son of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, an elder sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

He was killed at age four in an airplane crash in 1937. He, his parents, older brother Ludwig, and grandmother Grand Duchess Eleonore were flying to London to attend the wedding of his uncle Prince Ludwig to Margaret Geddes. The plane crashed into a factory chimney near Ostend, Belgium.

"Family curse"

Some have considered the Hessian family victims of a family curse due to the number of premature deaths in the family. His orphaned younger sister Johanna, who had been left behind in Darmstadt, was adopted by her uncle Ludwig and his new wife Margaret Geddes, but died of meningitis in June 1939. Alexander was a great-nephew of Tsarina Alexandra and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, both of whom where killed with family members during the Russian Revolution of 1917. His maternal great grandmother Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and a great aunt, Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, both died of diphtheria. An aunt, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, died at age eight of virulent typhoid, though she was rumored to have eaten from a poisoned dish meant for Nicholas II of Russia. He was also a nephew of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.^[1]

Ancestry

Notes

References

• Duff, David (1967). Hessian Tapestry. London, Frederick Muller.