Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse
| Donatus | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince and Landgrave of Hesse | |||||
| Born | 17 October 1966 | ||||
| Spouse | Countess Floria Franziska Marie-Luisa Erika von Faber-Castell | ||||
| Issue | Princess Paulina Moritz, Hereditary Prince of Hesse Prince August |
||||
|
|||||
| House | Hesse | ||||
| Father | Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse | ||||
| Mother | Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg | ||||
 |
|
HRH The Landgrave
HH Princess Elisabeth Extended family
|
Donatus, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (Heinrich Donatus Philipp Umberto; born 17 October 1966) is the eldest son and successor of German aristocrat Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, and his former wife, Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. A great-grandson of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, he is named in part after Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse. He is also a great-great-great grandson of Queen Victoria, through his paternal grandfather Philipp's mother Margaret, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Donatus, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse's father was a 3rd cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
Profession
A trained economist, Donatus directs a foundation established to curate and showcase the cultural heritage and history of the House of Hesse,[1] a dynasty which ruled the Electorate of Hesse-Cassel until 1866, the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine until 1918, and whose male-line descendants include the Protestant leader Philip the Magnanimous, the Swedish king Frederick I, Russia's last tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, the exiled Spanish queen Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, and Britain's last viceroy of India, the assassinated Louis, Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Donatus also manages Prinz von Hessen, a winery specializing in production of varietal vintages on his 45 hectare vineyard.[1]
Prince Donatus' father became the head of the Hesse-Cassel line on the death of his own father, Landgrave Philip in 1980.[2] Having also been the adopted son and heir of his distant cousin, Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine, the latter's death in 1968 as the last male of the Hesse-Darmstadt branch left Moritz head of the entire House of Hesse, to which Donatus is the successor.
Marriage and issue
Donatus married Countess Floria Franziska Marie-Luisa Erika von Faber-Castell (born 14 October 1974 Düsseldorf) in a civil ceremony in Wiesbaden on 25 April 2003. The bride is a communications professional and a niece of Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell, chairman of the board of the famous Faber-Castell pen-and-pencil company headquartered near Nuremberg.[1]
The couple's religious wedding ceremony took place on 17 May 2003, attended by royalty and aristocrats.[3] Held at the Johanneskirche and followed by a grand ball in the Green Salon, state room of the former Friedrichshof palace in Kronberg (now a luxury hotel and golf course) where Donatus's ancestress, the German Empress Frederick, lived in widowhood, more than 300 guests were present.[1] Among them was Caroline, Princess of Hanover, the (then) heiress presumptive of Monaco;[1] Princess Benedikte of Denmark, aunt of the bridesgroom and sister of Queens Margrethe II and Anne-Marie of Greece; and Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis.
Landgrave Donatus and his wife have a daughter and two sons, Princess Paulina and Hereditary Prince Moritz (twins, born 26 March 2007, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) and Prince August (born 24 August 2012, Frankfurt am Main, Germany).[4]
Ancestry
| Family of Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References and notes
|
Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse
Born: 17 October 1967 |
||
| Lines of succession | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Line of succession to the British throne descended from Victoria, Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Victoria |
Succeeded by Moritz, Hereditary Prince of Hesse |
| Regnal titles | ||
| Preceded by | Head of the House of Hesse 23 May 2013 – |
Succeeded by Moritz, Hereditary Prince of Hesse |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — King of Finnland and Karelia 23 May 2013 – Reason for succession failure: Kingdom abolished in 1918 |
Succeeded by Moritz, Hereditary Prince of Hesse |
| — TITULAR — Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine 23 May 2013 – Reason for succession failure: Grand Duchy abolished in 1918 |
||
| — TITULAR — Elector of Hesse 23 May 2013 – Reason for succession failure: Electorate annexed by Prussia in 1866 |
||
