Royal Holiday at Schloss Wolfsgarten

Prince Louis and Princess Margaret of Hesse and by Rhine hosted dispossessed and exiled Royal Relatives for a Holiday at Schloss Wolfsgarten near Langen in Hesse in July 1946, 80 years ago, when they were photographed by LIFE magazine following the end of the Second World War.

Among the Royals pictured were Princess Alexandra of Hanover, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, alongside her nephew, newlywed Prince George William of Hanover (son of her brother Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia), Princess Sophie of Greece (daughter of her first cousin Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg and sister of the Duke of Edinburg) and her niece Princess Cecilie of Prussia (daughter of her sister-in-law Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany). Prince Louis (the brother-in-law of Princess Sophie’s late sister, Princess Cecilie) and Princess Margaret hosted their relatives at Schloss Wolfsgarten following the tribulations of the Second World War.

Princess Sophie has been widowed in 1943, when her husband, Prince Christoph of Hesse had died in a plane crash, remarrying to Prince George William of Hanover in 1946. With her were her three youngest children: Prince Karl, Prince Rainier and Princess Clarissa of Hesse, as well as her nephew Prince Otto and her niece Princess Elizabeth of Hesse , youngest children of her brother-in-law Prince Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Mafalda of Savoy. The couple had four children and remained happily married until the middle of WWII, when both of them were arrested. Princess Mafalda died in a concentration camp in 1944, while her husband was released in 1947. During those years, Princess Sophie, Prince Louis, and Princess Margaret looked after their children together.

Princess Alexandra’s husband, The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin had died in 1945 under arrest by the RAF. In 1946, the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Royal Family had been dispossessed of their properties in East Germany and the Hesse Royal Family’s main seat, Schloss Friedrichshof, was occupied by the American Army while the Hesse Royal Jewels had been stolen by American Soldiers. Blankenburg Castle, the main seat of the Prince George William ’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of Brunswick, had also been taken over by the Red Army a few months previously.

Prince Louis, as a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, was first cousin of Princess Alice of Greece, and second cousin of Landgrave Phillipp and Prince Christoph of Hesse-Kassel, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Princess Victoria Louise, Duchess of Brunswick. His eldest brother, Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus of Hesse and by Rhine, married Princess Sophie’s sister, Princess Cecilie of Greece in 1931. The couple had four children and became the titular Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine after the death of his father in 1937. The following month, the couple, their two elder sons, and the Dowager Grand Duchess Eleonore were travelling to London to attend the wedding of Prince Louis with Margaret “Peggy” Geddes, when Princess Cecilie went into labour and the flight crashed in Belgium while attempting to land, killing all those on board. The couple’s only daughter, Princess Johanna, was adopted by her uncle and aunt, the new Prince and Princess of Hesse and by Rhine, until she passed away from meningitis in 1939. Prince Louis and Princess Margaret remained close to Princess Sophie and her family for the rest of their lives. In 1960, they adopted Prince Moritz of Hesse, first son of Prince Philipp and Princess Mafalda, as their Heir.

During her time at the Schloss Wolfsgarten, Princess Cecilie of Prussia met her future husband Clyde Harris. The American art expert was sent by the US Army to recover art stolen by the Nazis or hidden by the Hesse Princely Family, belonging to the Princess’ relatives. The couple married in 1949 at Burg Hohenzollern.