Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine

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Prince Friedrich
Prince Friedrich, ca. 1872.
Born(1870-10-07)7 October 1870
New Palace, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire
Died29 May 1873(1873-05-29) (aged 2)
New Palace, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire
Names
Friedrich Wilhelm August Victor Leopold Ludwig
HouseHesse-Darmstadt
FatherLouis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
MotherPrincess Alice of the United Kingdom
ReligionLutheran

Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine (Friedrich Wilhelm August Victor Leopold Ludwig; 7 October 1870 – 29 May 1873) was the second son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, and was the grandson of Queen Victoria. He was the maternal granduncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, through his eldest sister, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine.

Life[edit]

Friedrich, called "Frittie" by his family, was a cheerful and lively child.

"Leopold" was added as one of his names in honour of his maternal uncle, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Prince Leopold, who was Friedrich's godfather, had the blood disorder haemophilia.

In February 1873, while toddling around, he was diagnosed with haemophilia when he fell and cut his ear and it bled for three days. Bandages could not stanch the flow of blood.[1]

Death[edit]

On 29 May 1873, Friedrich and his older brother, Ernst, were playing together in their mother's bedroom. Ernst ran to another room, which was set at right angles to Alice's bedroom and peered through the window at his younger brother. Alice ran to get Ernst away from the window. When she was out of the room, Friedrich climbed onto a chair next to an open window in his mother's bedroom to get a closer look at his brother. The chair tipped over and Friedrich tumbled through the window, falling 20 feet (6.1 m) to the balustrade below. He survived the fall and might have lived had he not had haemophilia. He died hours later of a brain hemorrhage.[1]

Aftermath[edit]

Following Friedrich's death, his distraught mother often prayed at his grave and marked anniversaries of small events in his life. His brother, Ernst, told his mother that he wanted all of the family to die together, not alone "like Frittie". Two of Friedrich's sisters, Irene and Alix, also had sons with haemophilia.[2]

Ancestry[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Mager (1998), p. 45
  2. ^ Mager (1998), p. 46

References[edit]

  • Mager, Hugo (1998). Elizabeth: Grand Duchess of Russia. Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-7867-0678-3