1903
Über Land und Meer. Nr. 10
Princess Elisabeth of Hesse ✞
Deep sorrow has entered the Hessian residence, the lonely palace of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, due to the sudden, far-from-home death of the lovely little Princess Elisabeth, which aroused sincere sympathy everywhere. Only a few weeks ago, the Grand Ducal House had been granted the opportunity to celebrate a joyful family festival, to which a large circle of high-ranking princely relatives had gathered in Darmstadt; No one could have imagined that so soon afterward, most of the guests of that time would stand, filled with pain, around a small coffin to lay to eternal rest the dearest thing that Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig could call his on earth.
Princess Elisabeth, the daughter of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and his wife Viktoria Melitta, née Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was born on March 11, 1895, in Darmstadt. Her childhood was soon cast under a deep shadow when rifts arose between her parents, which repeatedly led to lengthy separations between the spouses and ultimately to the divorce pronounced by the Grand Ducal Higher Regional Court on December 21, 1901. From then on, the little princess lived, as a result of an amicable agreement, alternately with her father in Darmstadt and with her mother and grandmother, Duchess Marie, in Coburg or while traveling.
She had never been seriously ill and gave the impression of a healthy, cheerful, and happy child; in Darmstadt, in particular, she was everyone's favorite. With her father, she accompanied the Tsar's family on their return journey from Darmstadt to Russia. She died suddenly of abdominal typhus in Skierniewice in Russian Poland on November 16.
source: my collection