Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse

Infobox Greek Royalty
name = Prince Georg Donatus
title = Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse
styles = "HRH" The Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse
date of birth = birth date|1906|11|8
place of birth = Darmstadt, Germany
date of death = death date and age|1937|11|16|1906|11|8 [http://worldroots.com/brigitte/famous/v/victoriadescendants3.htm Worldroots.com ] ]
place of death = Ostend, Belgium
full name = _de. Georg Donatus Wilhelm Nikolaus Eduard Heinrich Karl
_en. George Donatus William Nicholas Edward Henry Charles
father = Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
mother = Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich
spouse = Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark
issue = Prince Ludwig
Prince Alexander
Princess Johanna
Stillborn son

Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse ("Georg Donatus Wilhelm Nikolaus Eduard Heinrich Karl", 8 November, 1906- 16 November, 1937) was the first child of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich.

Marriage and Children

On 2 February 1931 at Darmstadt Georg married Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They had four children:

On May 1 1937 Georg and Cecilie both joined the Nazi Party. [Jonathan Petropoulos, "Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 382.]

Death

In October 1937, Georg Donatus' father, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse died. A few weeks after the funeral, Ernst Ludwig's younger son, Prince Louis was due to be married to Margaret Geddes. On 16 November 1937, Georg Donatus, Cecilie, their two young sons, Georg's mother Grand Duchess Eleonore, the children's nurse, a family friend, a pilot and two crewmen, left Darmstadt for the United Kingdom, where Prince Ludwig was due to be married. The aeroplane hit a factory chimney near Ostend and crashed into flames, killing all those on board. Cecilie was heavily pregnant with her fourth child at the time of the crash, and the remains of the fetus were found in the wreckage, indicating that Cecilie had gone into labour. The only survivor of the family was Johanna; she was not on the plane at the time. Johanna was adopted by Prince Louis and Princess Margaret, however, she died in 1939 from meningitis.

He, his wife and children and mother were all buried at Rosenhohe, Darmstadt.

Titles

* "His Royal Highness" The Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine

Georg Donatus never acceded to the grand ducal throne as it had been abolished at the end of the First World War. Titles became surnames after that point and it was rare for the head of a royal, grand ducal or ducal family to change his title upon accession as head of a house.

ee also

*Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash

References