Donatus, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (legally Heinrich Donatus Philipp Umberto Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen; born 17 October 1966) is a German businessman and the head of the House of Brabant and the House of Hesse.
Donatus's father became the head of the Hesse-Cassel line on the death of his own father, Landgrave Philipp in 1980.[2] Having also been the adopted son and heir of his distant cousin, Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine,[3] the latter's death in 1968 as the last male of the Hesse-Darmstadt branch left Moritz head of the entire House of Hesse, to which Donatus succeeded.
Donatus also manages Prinz von Hessen, a winery specializing in production of varietal vintages on his 45 hectare vineyard.[4]
Marriage and issue
Donatus married Countess Floria Franziska Marie-Luisa Erika von Faber-Castell (born 14 October 1974, Düsseldorf) in a civil ceremony in Wiesbaden on 25 April 2003. The bride is a communications professional and a niece of Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell, chairman of the board of the famous Faber-Castell pen-and-pencil company headquartered near Nuremberg and scion of the eponymous family, which is a morganatic branch of the Castell-Rüdenhausen princely family.[4] Prince Donatus and Floria Franziska are 6th cousins, as both descended from Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and his first wife Princess Mary of Great Britain.[citation needed]
Although, as a descendant of Queen Victoria, he is only a distant relative of today's British royals who are more closely related to some other princes of Hesse, descendants of Prince Philip's sister Sophie, there is a close connection to the British royal family through Donatus' adoptive grandparents, Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine, and his wife Margaret Campbell Geddes, who were relatives and close friends of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, as Philip's sister Cecilie had been married to Louis' elder brother Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse.[9][10] The late Queen, Prince Philip and Charles (then Prince of Wales) have visited Wolfsgarten on several occasions.[11][12][13]
Founded in 1928, the Foundation of the House of Hesse is the successor institution of a family trust that had been established in 1830, confiscated by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866, and re-established after partial restitution in 1878. The foundation manages the family fortunes including forests, agricultural estates, castles, hotels and an art collection.[14] The latter is mainly shown at Fasanerie Palace in Eichenzell, Hesse, a former summer palace of the Prince Abbots of Fulda that had been taken over by the Landgraves of Hesse after the secularization and mediatisation of the Prince-bishopric of Fulda in 1803. Schlosshotel Kronberg and (until 2020[15]) Grandhotel Hessischer Hof in Frankfurt are hotels operated by the foundation, the Weingut Prinz von Hessen a winery in Johannisberg which was purchased in 1957, while Schloß Wolfsgarten south of Frankfurt am Main and Panker estate in Schleswig-Holstein are used as private seats of the family. Other castles have been sold, such as Schloss Philippsruhe in Hanau (in 1950), Schloss Rumpenheim in Offenbach am Main (in 1965) and Tarasp Castle in Switzerland (in 2016). The Landgrave and his family live in Wolfsgarten and Panker.[citation needed]
↑ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels; Furstlich Hauser Band XVI. Limburg-an-der-Lahn, Germany: C. A. Starke. 2001. pp.24–25, 33. ISBN3-7980-0824-8.
↑ Urbach, Karina (2008). Royal Kinship. Anglo-German Family Networks 1815-1918. Walter de Gruyter. p.148. ISBN9783598441233. Retrieved 5 December 2022. The first two branches united in 1997 of the result of the last prince and princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, who were childless, adopting the current head of the house of Hesse-Cassel, Landgrave Moritz. This took place in 1960, and the death of Margaret ("Peg") von Hessen-Darmstadt in 1997 (Ludwig died in 1968) left Landgrave Moritz as the head of both houses.
This article is about the history of Hesse. Hesse is a state in Germany.
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918.
Ernest Louis was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning from 1892 until 1918.
Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark was by birth a Greek and Danish princess who became titular Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine through her marriage to Prince Georg Donatus, pretender to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. She was also the third-eldest sister to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt was Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1768 to 1790.
Philipp, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse was head of the Electoral House of Hesse from 1940 to 1980.
Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse was the son of Prince Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, and the head of the House of Brabant and the German House of Hesse.
Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse was the first child of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich. He was a nephew of Empress Alexandra and Emperor Nicholas II of Russia.
Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine was the youngest son of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse by his second wife, Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich. He was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria.
Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark was by birth a Greek and Danish princess, as well as Princess of Hesse-Kassel and Princess of Hanover through her successive marriages to Prince Christoph of Hesse and Prince George William of Hanover. An elder sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, she was, for a time, linked to the Nazi regime.
Bernhard Prinz und Markgraf von Baden, styled Margrave of Baden and Duke of Zähringen, is the head of the House of Baden since 29 December 2022 following the death of his father, Maximilian. He is a first cousin once removed of King Charles III of the United Kingdom.
The House Order of the Golden Lion was an order of the German Landgraviate and Electorate of Hesse-Kassel and later, the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. It was first instituted in 1770 by Landgrave Frederick II, in honour of and under the patronage of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, an ancestor of the House of Hesse, and was intended to award auspicious merit.
Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich was Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine as the second wife of Grand Duke Ernest Louis. She was nicknamed "Onor" by her family. She was regent of Hesse in the absence of her spouse during World War I.
Anna of Prussia was a Prussian princess as the granddaughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia. She was the second wife of Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel.
Schloss Wolfsgarten is a former hunting seat of the ruling family of Hesse-Darmstadt, located in the German state of Hessen, approximately 15 kilometers south of Frankfurt am Main. The hunting lodge was established between 1722 and 1724 by Landgrave Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt. Ernst Ludwig's purpose in establishing Wolfsgarten was to pursue his passion for hunting with dogs which he introduced into Hesse in 1709. The original building corresponded to the usual pattern for hunting seats of that era with a rectangular yard around which was grouped housing for gentlemen, the stables for the horses, and kennels for the dogs. After Ernst Ludwig's successors abandoned hunting with dogs in 1768, Wolfsgarten was abandoned until the 1830s when the grand ducal family began to restore and expand the property. From 1879, Wolfsgarten became a favorite country retreat for Grand Dukes Ludwig IV and his son Ernst Ludwig.
Frederick V Louis William Christian, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg was from 1751 to his death landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
Countess Juliane of Nassau-Siegen, German: Juliana Gräfin von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Gräfin zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Frau zu Beilstein, was a countess from the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau, and through marriage landgravine of Hesse-Kassel.
Philip August Frederick was Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg from 19 January 1839 until his death. He was a field marshal in the imperial Austrian army.
The House of Faber-Castell, originating from Stein near Nuremberg, Germany, is the name of an entrepreneurial noble family, morganatic branch of the House of Castell-Rüdenhausen, which founded the Faber-Castell AG in 1761 and the Nürnberger Versicherung in 1884. A.W. Faber, the original name of the company, is the oldest company brand in the USA.
Margaret, Princess of Hesse and by Rhine was the wife of Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine, the last prince of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt. Born in Ireland, she became a noted art patron in her adopted homeland of Germany.
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