Louis IV (Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Karl) (12 September 1837 – 13 March 1892), was the fourth Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine

Rulers of Hesse

This is a list of rulers of Hesse during the history of Hesse on west-central Germany. These rulers belonged to a dynasty collectively known as the House of Hesse and the House of Brabant, originally the Reginar...

, reigning from 13 June 1877 until his death. Through his own and his children's marriages he was connected to the British Royal Family, to the Imperial House of Russia and other Royal Houses of Europe.

Early life

Louis was born at Darmstadt

Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 as the son of Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine

Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine

Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine was the second son of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and Wilhelmine of Baden.-Marriage:...

 (23 April 1809 – 20 March 1877) and Princess Elizabeth of Prussia

Princess Elizabeth of Prussia

Princess Elizabeth of Prussia was the second daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg, granddaughter of Frederick William II of Prussia...

 (18 June 1815 – 21 March 1885), granddaughter of
King Frederick William II of Prussia

Frederick William II of Prussia

Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...

.

Marriage

On 1 July 1862, Louis married Princess Alice

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

The Princess Alice was a member of the British royal family, the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.Alice's education was devised by Albert's close friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar...

, the third child of Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

 of Great Britain at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

. On the day of the wedding, the Queen issued Letters Patent granting her new son-in-law the style of Royal Highness. This style was only in effect in Great Britain, not the German confederation where Prince Ludwig was only a Grand Ducal Highness. The Queen subsequently created him a Knight of the Garter

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

.

Military career

During the Austro-Prussian War

Austro-Prussian War

The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...

 of 1866, Louis commanded the Hessian cavalry in support of the Austrian side. In the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

, Louis led the Hessian contingent of the armies of the North German Confederation

North German Confederation

The North German Confederation 1866–71, was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany. It was formed by a constitution accepted by the member states in 1867 and controlled military and foreign policy. It included the new Reichstag, a parliament elected by universal manhood...

.

Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine

On 13 June 1877, he succeeded his uncle as Grand Duke of Hesse, taking the name Ludwig IV.

Second marriage

Following the death of Princess Alice in 1878, Ludwig IV contracted a morganatic marriage

Morganatic marriage

In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...

 on 30 April 1884 in Darmstadt with Alexandrina Hutten-Czapska (3 September 1854 – 8 May 1941), the former wife of Aleksander ...vich Kolemin, the Russian chargé d'affaires in Darmstadt. His second wife received the title Countess von Romrod. The marriage, which caused great concern within his family, was annulled within a year.

Death

Grand Duke Ludwig IV died on 13 March 1892 and was succeeded by his son, Ernest Louis. His remains are buried at Rosenhöhe, the mausoleum for the Grand Ducal House of Hesse outside of Darmstadt.

Titles

• 12 September 1837 - 1 July 1862: His Grand Ducal Highness Prince Ludwig of Hesse
• 1 July 1862 - 13 June 1877: His Royal Highness Prince Ludwig of Hesse
• 13 June 1877 - 13 March 1892: His Royal Highness The Grand Duke of Hesse

Ancestry

Issue by Princess Alice

Image	Name	Birth	Death	Notes
	Princess Victoria	5 April 1863	24 September 1950	married Prince Louis of Battenberg, later Marquess of Milford-Haven; had issue. She was the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch.... , who is the consort of Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,... .
	Princess Elisabeth	1 November 1864	17 July 1918	Took the name Yelisaveta Fyodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million... ; married Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia...  (son of Alexander II of Russia Alexander II of Russia Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881... ); no issue
	Princess Irene	11 July 1866	11 November 1953	married Prince Heinrich (son of Friedrich III of Germany); had issue
	Prince Ernst Ludwig	25 November 1868	9 October 1937	Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (13 March 1892 – 9 November 1918); married (1) HRH Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; divorced (2) HH Princess Eleonore zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich , was the second wife of Ernst-Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and the mother of his two sons.-Family:... ; had issue
	Prince Friedrich Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the haemophiliac second son of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, thus he is a grandson of Queen Victoria...	7 October 1870	29 May 1873	Suffered from haemophilia Haemophilia Haemophilia is a group of hereditary genetic disorders that impair the body's ability to control blood clotting or coagulation, which is used to stop bleeding when a blood vessel is broken. Haemophilia A is the most common form of the disorder, present in about 1 in 5,000–10,000 male births...  and died from internal bleeding after a fall from a window
	Princess Alix	6 June 1872	17 July 1918	Took the name Alexandra Feodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million... ; married Tsar Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until... ; had issue
	Princess Marie	24 May 1874	16 November 1878	Died of diphtheria Diphtheria Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...

Issue by Alexandrina Hutten-Czapska, Countess von Romrod

No issue. Marriage annulled.