Born at Schloss Philippsruhe bei Hanau (Philippsruhe Palace near Hanau).
The last Elector and Prince of Hessen-Kassel from the House of Hessen. His family life, like that of his father before him, was complicated, and his marriage was considered a political, if not a personal, disaster. He fell in love with a married commoner with two children, paid her husband to divorce her, then married her himself. She was Catholic, and considered a bigamist. She converted to the Reformed Church and had another ceremony performed in 1831. Because most European courts refused to accord her status, and because her husband entertained the idea of divorcing her in order to marry again in accord with protocol and provide himself a legal heir, she lived under considerable stress.
The last Elector and Prince of Hessen-Kassel from the House of Hessen. His family life, like that of his father before him, was complicated, and his marriage was considered a political, if not a personal, disaster. He fell in love with a married commoner with two children, paid her husband to divorce her, then married her himself. She was Catholic, and considered a bigamist. She converted to the Reformed Church and had another ceremony performed in 1831. Because most European courts refused to accord her status, and because her husband entertained the idea of divorcing her in order to marry again in accord with protocol and provide himself a legal heir, she lived under considerable stress.
Born at Schloss Philippsruhe bei Hanau (Philippsruhe Palace near Hanau).
The last Elector and Prince of Hessen-Kassel from the House of Hessen. His family life, like that of his father before him, was complicated, and his marriage was considered a political, if not a personal, disaster. He fell in love with a married commoner with two children, paid her husband to divorce her, then married her himself. She was Catholic, and considered a bigamist. She converted to the Reformed Church and had another ceremony performed in 1831. Because most European courts refused to accord her status, and because her husband entertained the idea of divorcing her in order to marry again in accord with protocol and provide himself a legal heir, she lived under considerable stress.
The last Elector and Prince of Hessen-Kassel from the House of Hessen. His family life, like that of his father before him, was complicated, and his marriage was considered a political, if not a personal, disaster. He fell in love with a married commoner with two children, paid her husband to divorce her, then married her himself. She was Catholic, and considered a bigamist. She converted to the Reformed Church and had another ceremony performed in 1831. Because most European courts refused to accord her status, and because her husband entertained the idea of divorcing her in order to marry again in accord with protocol and provide himself a legal heir, she lived under considerable stress.
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Auguste Marie Gertrude von Hanau und Horowitz zu Ysenburg und Büdingen in Wächtersbach
1829–1887
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Alexandrine Friederike Wilhelmine von Hanau und Horowitz zu Hohenlohe-Oehringen
1831–1871
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Friedrich Wilhelm von Hanau
1832–1889
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Wilhelm von Hanau
1836–1902
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Prinz Philipp Friedrich Wilhelm von Hanau und Horowitz
1844–1914
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