Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine

Alexander Ludwig Georg Friedrich Emil was born 15 July 1823, third son of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Wilhelmine of Baden. His sister became Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna when she married Tsar Alexander II of Russia, tying him to the Romanov court. He married Countess Julia von Hauke, who had served as lady-in-waiting to that same sister — a union considered morganatic because she lacked royal blood. Their children took the name Battenberg, later anglicized to Mountbatten, and the line spread through European aristocracy. He died 15 December 1888, having founded a family that would outlast…