The life of Prince Friedrich of Hesse and By Rhine

Born at New Palace, Darmstadt, on 7th October 1870, Prince Friedrich of Hesse was the fourth child and second son of Princess Alice and Prince Louis of Hesse.

Christened with the names Friedrich Wilhem August Victor Leopold Ludwig, the prince appeared to be a normal healthy baby. However, in February 1873 he suffered a cut to his ear, which days to stop bleeding. Following this episode, the young boy was diagnosed with deadly haemophilia, which he had inherited from his mother.

As the only boys in the family, Frittie, as he was known in the family, had a close friendship with his older brother, Prince Ernst Louis. On 29th May 1873, the two were playing a game when Ernst ran into an another room, which sat at a right angle from their mothers. As he got closer to the window, Alice ran out the room to move him away. Wanting to see his brother in the other room, Friedrich climbed onto a chair next to an open window. The chair tipped up, causing him to fall out of the window onto a balustrade twenty feet below. According to Queen Victoria’s journal, the prince had no wounds but remained unconscious. She went on to describe that she was ‘dreadfully shocked & alarmed’ (1). While he survived the initial fall, his haemophilia caused a brain haemorrhage, which killed him just a few hours later. He was aged just two. Queen Victoria was naturally distraught by the news, writing:

‘Too, too dreadful, my poor darling Alice! This was such a pretty sweet boy on whom poor dear Alice doted. Wrote at once to poor dear Alice, who is never out of my thoughts.’ (2)

Aged just five years old, Ernst Louis was inconsolable. He later told his nurse that “when I die, you must die too, and all the others. Why can’t we all die together? I don’t want to die alone, like Frittie”. He later told his mother about a dream he had where he had died and “gone up to Heaven, and there I asked God to let me have Frittie again and he came to me and took my hand”.

Ernst wasn’t the only person distraught by his loss. The whole family was devastated, particularly Princess Alice, who never truly recovered. She often visited his grave in the family Mausoleum, where she would pray and find peace, particularly on small anniversaries.

©️Queen.Victoria.Roses 2024

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Citations

1 & 2. RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) 29 May 1873 (PRINCESS BEATRICE’S COPIES) retrieved 27 May 2024

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