Author Topic: The Hesse-Cassel family  (Read 209808 times)

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Thomas_Hesse

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #75 on: November 04, 2008, 09:10:34 AM »

Prince Rainer of Hesse is an extremely friendly and natural man - a man of finest manners. I met him just recently on occasion of a recital in memory of Ludwig Prince of Hesse and the Rhine.
He is working for the family foundation of the House of Hesse and is a professional historian. He has written a book on his great-grandmother Victoria Empress Friedrich, one about a more ancient ancestor and some of the articles in the catalog on the exhibition: "Hesse - a Princely German Collection" are by him as well. In it he also talks about the Nazi relations of his family.

Eric_Lowe

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #76 on: November 06, 2008, 02:23:23 PM »
But itn't it his brother Prinz Moritz the head of the Hesse Family ?

Thomas_Hesse

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #77 on: November 06, 2008, 04:10:19 PM »
Landgraf Moritz, the head of the family, is Prince Rainer's cousin - their fathers were brothers. Rainer's mother was Sophia "Tiny" of Greece the Duke of Edinburgh's youngest sister.

Eric_Lowe

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #78 on: November 07, 2008, 01:48:17 PM »
Indeed...although he has half siblings since "Tiny" married Georg of Hannover.

royaltybuff

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #79 on: November 10, 2008, 07:31:08 PM »
Landgraf Moritz, the head of the family, is Prince Rainer's cousin - their fathers were brothers. Rainer's mother was Sophia "Tiny" of Greece the Duke of Edinburgh's youngest sister.

Didn't Sophie help care for Moritz and his siblings after his mother, Princess Mafalda, died in Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II? Does anyone know what kind of relationship Sophie had with those children later in life. I have seen photos on this forum of Sophie and her second husband, George of Hanover, with Prince Moritz and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Eric_Lowe

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #80 on: November 11, 2008, 11:59:08 AM »
Yes...Sophie did assist in helping the children to cope with their loss, however she had her arms full with her own children and her remarriage to Georg of Hannover. Peg  & Lu Hesse were more of a hands on parent for Moritz and his siblings. It was this close link that resulted in Peg naming Moritz her heir.

Thomas_Hesse

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #81 on: November 11, 2008, 03:13:40 PM »

This is not quite correct. Actually Princess Sophia palyed an important role in the children's life - tho during the wartime they all lived at Wolfsgarten.
The Landgraf and his siblings spend much time in Italy (Prince Heinrich "Dendy" had his main residence there in later years...)

One may not forget that they still had their father, Landgraf Phillip who died in 1980. They lived with him at Fasanerie as well as in Kronberg.
The Darmstadt line of the Hessian House adopted him in order to keep the family heritage together and to re-unite the lines which had been splitted in the 16th century.
The most wonderful symbol for that fusion has been the large exhibition "Hesse - a princely German collection" in the Portland Museum of Art.

Eric_Lowe

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #82 on: November 11, 2008, 03:49:55 PM »
That is what I said. Sophie with Peg & Lu took charge of the motherless children. However after her remarriage, she was taken out of the equation. Both Peg & Lu took an interest in the children and their imput should not be downplayed.

Actually, the Mountbattens were closer in blood to the House of Hesse And By Rhine than the Hesse-Kassel Line. VMH was the eldest surviving sister of Grand Duke Ernst and aunt of both Don & Lu. So in terms of bloodlines, the House of Milford Haven had a better claim I think.

royaltybuff

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #83 on: November 11, 2008, 05:23:21 PM »

This is not quite correct. Actually Princess Sophia palyed an important role in the children's life - tho during the wartime they all lived at Wolfsgarten.
The Landgraf and his siblings spend much time in Italy (Prince Heinrich "Dendy" had his main residence there in later years...)


This is what I thought, too. Hugo Vickers dealt briefly with Sophie caring for her children, as well as Mafalda's children during World War II in his book "Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece."

Eric_Lowe

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #84 on: November 11, 2008, 06:09:32 PM »
Yes I agree with that. It was also in Prinz Richard's book...

Nate1865

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #85 on: November 14, 2008, 05:34:07 PM »
At the risk of sounding ignorant, wasn't Christoph a Nazi? Also wasn't one or two of his brothers Nazi too? Mossy had about 6 kids right? Two sets of twins as well?

Thomas_Hesse

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #86 on: November 15, 2008, 11:49:39 AM »

Both brothers as well as their father were members of the NS Party - in order to restore the glory of their Dynasty. Their father, the husband of Princess Margarethe "Mossy", is said to have seen his high position as a Governor within the NS system as a kind of "reparation" for the loss of the throne/title of the family during the German War in 1866

Gretchen

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #87 on: November 15, 2008, 12:04:35 PM »
Did Sophie - like her sister Cecilie - also join the NSDAP-party?

Nate1865

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #88 on: November 15, 2008, 01:42:23 PM »

Both brothers as well as their father were members of the NS Party - in order to restore the glory of their Dynasty. Their father, the husband of Princess Margarethe "Mossy", is said to have seen his high position as a Governor within the NS system as a kind of "reparation" for the loss of the throne/title of the family during the German War in 1866

I see. However, did they know and/or support the horrors behind the Nazi Party? 

Thomas_Hesse

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Re: The Hesse-Cassel family
« Reply #89 on: November 15, 2008, 01:46:53 PM »

Well, after 1945 you'd find barely a person who had known anything :) Of course all changed their mind afterwards... most of them genuinely I guess. Landgraf Phillip as well as his consort Mafalda had been in concentration camps. Mafalda died there... They definitely had no good opinion of Hitler and the NS Regime several years before the War ended