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15-569: Today the castle is a five-star hotel which belongs, together with the accompanying park, to the House of Hesse . The Empress, a daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , spent most of her time at the castle until her death in 1901 when the castle, with its entire contents, art collection and the Empress's correspondence, were inherited by

30-641: A distinct political entity. From the late 16th century, it was generally divided into several branches, the most important of which were those of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt . In the early 19th century, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to Elector of Hesse (1803), while the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became the Grand Duke of Hesse (1806), later the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. The Electorate of Hesse (Hesse-Kassel)

45-638: A dynasty collectively known as the House of Hesse and the House of Brabant , originally the Reginar . Hesse was ruled as a landgraviate , electorate and later as a grand duchy until 1918. The title of all of the following monarchs was "landgrave" ( German : Landgraf ) unless otherwise noted. In the early Middle Ages the Hessengau territory (named after the Germanic Chatti tribes) formed

60-460: Is a European dynasty , directly descended from the House of Brabant . They ruled the region of Hesse , one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. The origins of the House of Hesse begin with the marriage in 1241 of Sophie of Thuringia (daughter of Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia , and Elizabeth of Hungary ) with Henry II, Duke of Brabant , from

75-738: The British royal family , made a successful secret trip to Schloss Friedrichshof towards the end of the war to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis. What is certain is that George VI sent the Royal Librarian , Owen Morshead , accompanied by Blunt, then working part-time in the Royal Library as well as for British intelligence, to Friedrichshof in March 1945 to secure papers relating to

90-1044: The German Empress Victoria , the eldest child of Queen Victoria. The papers rescued by Morshead and Blunt, and those returned by the American authorities from Chicago, were deposited in the Royal Archives . The building suffered from a fire in 1967. The hotel was used as a filming location for the 2021 film Spencer , where its interiors doubled for Sandringham House . 50°11′20″N 8°30′36″E  /  50.18889°N 8.51000°E  / 50.18889; 8.51000 House of Hesse ( Lower Hesse line , Upper Hesse line , Kassel , Rotenburg , Wanfried , Rheinfels , Philippsthal , Philippsthal-Barchfeld , Marburg , Rheinfels , Darmstadt , Butzbach Homburg , Braubach , Itter ) Elector of Hesse Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine King of Sweden King of Finland The House of Hesse

105-601: The House of Reginar . Sophie was the heiress of Hesse, which she passed on to her son, Henry , upon her retention of the territory following her partial victory in the War of the Thuringian Succession , in which she was one of the belligerents. Originally the western part of the Landgraviate of Thuringia , in the mid 13th century, it was inherited by the younger son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant , and became

120-489: The Empress's youngest daughter, Princess Margaret of Prussia , Landgravine of Hesse. After World War II, Friedrichshof was used as an officer's club by the military authorities during the American occupation. Princess Margaret's son Wolfgang, fearing for the family jewels, had buried them in a zinc-lined box in the subcellar of the castle. On 5 November 1945, the manager of the club, Captain Kathleen Nash, discovered

135-469: The behest of George V , who substituted British peerages for their former German princely title. Those descended from the marriage of Alexander of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria , contracted with a commoner after the loss of his throne, were granted the title Count von Hartenau . Hesse-Kassel and its junior lines were annexed by Prussia in 1866. Hesse-Darmstadt became the People's State of Hesse when

150-403: The jewels and together with her future husband, Colonel Jack Durant, and Major David Watson, stole the treasure and took the jewels out of Germany. Many of the pieces were broken up and the gems sold separately, ruining the priceless heirlooms of the House of Hesse. In early 1946, Princess Margaret discovered the theft when the family wanted to use the jewels for the wedding of Princess Sophia who

165-472: The monarchy was abolished in 1918. Hesse-Philippsthal died out in the male line in 1925, and Hesse-Darmstadt in 1968. The male-line heirs of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld continue to exist to the present day. List of rulers of Hesse#Grand Dukes of Hesse(-Darmstadt) and by Rhine, 1806–1918 This is a list of monarchs of Hesse ( German : Hessen ) during the history of Hesse on west-central Germany . These monarchs belonged to

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180-453: The northern parts of the German stem duchy of Franconia along with the adjacent Lahngau . Upon the extinction of the ducal Conradines , these Rhenish Franconian counties were gradually acquired by Landgrave Louis I of Thuringia and his successors. After the War of the Thuringian Succession upon the death of Landgrave Henry Raspe in 1247, his niece Duchess Sophia of Brabant secured

195-662: Was annexed by Prussia in 1866, while the Grand Duchy of Hesse (Hesse-Darmstadt) remained a sovereign realm until the end of the German monarchies in 1918. Since 23 May 2013, the head of the house has been Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse . He descends from the Hesse-Kassel branch of the family, which has been the genealogically senior male line since the house's major partition in 1567. He is married to Countess Floria-Franziska of Faber-Castell. They have three children together. Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse , died in 1567. Hesse

210-720: Was preparing to remarry. Princess Sophia and Landgravine Margaret denounced it to the Frankfurt authorities; the culprits were imprisoned in August 1951. Major Watson was sentenced to three years, but paroled early. Captain Nash was sentenced to five years and Colonel Durant was sentenced to fifteen years. Only 10 percent of what had been stolen was recovered and returned to the Hesse family. Author Charles Higham claimed that Anthony Blunt , an MI5 agent and Soviet spy, acting on orders from

225-623: Was then divided between his four sons, thus four main branches arose: Hesse-Kassel , Hesse-Marburg , Hesse-Rheinfels and Hesse-Darmstadt . The Battenberg family are morganatic descendants in the male-line of the House of Hesse, issuing from the marriage of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine with Countess Julia Hauke who, along with her children and agnatic descendants, were made princes and princesses of Battenberg and Serene Highnesses . The Battenbergs who later settled in England changed that name to Mountbatten after World War I at

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