Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine (Ludwig Ernst Andreas), (25 October 1931 – 16 November 1937), was the eldest son of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse

Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse

Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse was the first child of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich....

 and Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, an older sister 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....

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He was killed at age six in an airplane crash

Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash

Sabena OO-AUB was a Junkers Ju 52 airliner owned by Belgian airline Sabena, operating as a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Cologne, Germany, to London, United Kingdom, which crashed near Ostend, Belgium on . The flight was scheduled to stop at Brussels, but bad weather forced the pilot...

 in 1937. He, his parents, younger brother Alexander

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

Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine , , 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...

, and grandmother Grand Duchess Eleonore were flying to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to attend the wedding of his uncle Prince Ludwig

Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine

Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine was the youngest son of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse by his second wife Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich....

 to Margaret Geddes. The plane crashed into a factory chimney near Ostend

Ostend

Ostend  is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

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"Family curse"

Some have considered the Hessian family victims of a family curse

Curse

A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...

 because of the number of premature deaths in the family. Following the airplane crash, Ludwig's orphaned sister Johanna

Princess Johanna of Hesse and by Rhine

Princess Johanna of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the third child and only daughter of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark...

 was adopted by her uncle Ludwig and his new wife Margaret, but died at age two and a half in June 1939 of meningitis. Ludwig was a great-nephew of Tsarina Alexandra

Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse

Alix of Hesse and by Rhine later Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova , was Empress consort of Russia as spouse of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire...

 and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia canonized as St. Elizabeth Romanova was a German princess of the House of Hesse, and the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, fifth son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and the Rhine...

, both of whom were killed with family members during the Russian Revolution of 1917

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...

. His paternal great-grandmother Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

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...

 and a great aunt, Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine

Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine

Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the youngest daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse. Her mother was the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

, both 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...

. An aunt, Princess Elisabeth, died of virulent typhoid at age eight, though she was rumored to have eaten from a poisoned dish meant for 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...

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Ancestry