Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine Elisabeth Marie Alice Viktoria 1895 – 1903 was a German Hessian child princess, the only daughter of Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and his first wife, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Princess Elisabeth of Prussia. Her paternal aunt bore the same name, and both the young princess and her aunt were nicknamed Ella. Father Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and mother Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Rumor had it that Elizabeth's early death was due to a poison intended for her uncle, Emperor Nicholas II, but the court physician said that she died of malignant typhus, which was probably caused by drinking water from a contaminated stream have.
. Elisabeth's parents, nicknamed "Ernie" and "Ducky", were first cousins who married at the instigation of their shared grandmother, Queen Victoria. The marriage was unhappy from the start. Princess Victoria Melita was eighteen years old at the time of Elizabeth's birth. She loved Elisabeth, but could hardly keep up with Ernst's devotion to their daughter.
He later had a playhouse built for his daughter, which stood in his own garden. Adults were forbidden entry, "much to the annoyance of the royal nurses and teachers, who could be seen pacing impatiently outside, waiting for their cocky young charges to stop their games and appear."
Thirty years later, Ernst was still shaken by the memory of his daughter's death. “My little Elisabeth,” he wrote in his memoirs, “was the sunshine of my life.”
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