Battenberg family

The Battenberg family is a non-dynastic cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, which ruled the Grand Duchy of Hesse until 1918. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg in 1851, with the style of Illustrious Highness (H.Ill.H.), at the time of her morganatic marriage to Grand Duke Louis's brother Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine. The name of the title refers to the town of Battenberg in Hesse. In 1858, the countess' title was elevated to Princess of Battenberg, with the style of Serene Highness (H.S.H.).

Battenberg
Parent houseHesse-Darmstadt branch
of the House of Hesse
Place of originGrand Duchy of Hesse
MembersPrincess Julia of Battenberg, Princess Marie of Battenberg, Prince Louis of Battenberg
Connected membersPrincess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Princess Louise of Battenberg, Prince George of Battenberg
Connected familiesHouse of Windsor
Cadet branchesMountbatten family

The Battenberg name was last used by Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, youngest son of the Princess of Battenberg, who died childless in 1924. In 1917, most members of the family had been residing in the British Empire and had renounced their Hessian titles, due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British during the First World War. At that point, they changed the family name to Mountbatten, an anglicised version of Battenberg. However, Juan, Count of Barcelona, a son of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen of Spain, bore the surname of Borbón y Battenberg until his death in 1993.

Origins

Prince Alexander (1823–1888) was the third son of Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse and by Rhine and of Wilhelmina of Baden, yet it was openly rumoured that his biological father was actually Baron Augustus de Senarclens, his mother's chamberlain.[1] Prince Alexander's spouse, Julia von Hauke (1825–1895), was a mere countess, the orphaned daughter of Count von Hauke, a Polish nobleman of German ancestry who had served as a general in the Imperial Russian Army and then as Deputy Minister of War of Congress Poland.

Count von Hauke's rank was too low for his daughter's children with Prince Alexander to qualify for the succession to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. For this reason, her new brother-in-law Louis III of Hesse created the title of Countess of Battenberg (German: Gräfin von Battenberg) for her and for the couple's descendants.

In 1858, the title, which referred to the town of Battenberg in Hesse, was elevated to princely status. There was never a corresponding principality of Battenberg; the title was a non-sovereign one in the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. A previous family of counts of Battenberg had become extinct in the 14th century.[2]

After 1858, the children of this union bore the title of Prince (German: Prinz) or Princess (German: Prinzessin), with the style of Serene Highness (German: Durchlaucht).[3] Battenberg thus became the name of a morganatic cadet branch of the Grand Ducal family of Hesse, without the right of succession.[4]

Members

Connections to royal families

One of the original couple's sons, Prince Alexander of Battenberg, was made Sovereign Prince of Bulgaria in 1879. However, he was forced to abdicate in 1886.

Another son, Prince Henry of Battenberg, married Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria. Their daughter, Victoria Eugenia Julia Ena, became queen consort of Spain. Her uncle Edward VII elevated her style to Royal Highness, so that she would have the necessary status to marry into the Spanish royal family.

Alexander and Julia's eldest son, Prince Louis of Battenberg, became the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy. Due to anti-German feelings prevalent in Britain during the First World War, he anglicised his name to Mountbatten, as did his children and nephews, the sons of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice.

One of the couple's four sons and one of their grandsons renounced their Hessian titles and were granted peerages by their cousin, George V – Prince Louis became the first Marquess of Milford Haven, while Prince Alexander, Prince Henry's eldest son, was created Marquess of Carisbrooke.

Prince Louis's second daughter, Princess Louise of Battenberg, married the future Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden in 1923 and became Queen Consort of Sweden in 1950. His younger son, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, became the last Viceroy of India. Prince Louis's elder daughter, Princess Alice of Battenberg, married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark; their son, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (later styled as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh), married the heir presumptive to the British throne, later Elizabeth II, after having renounced his Greek titles and taken his maternal grandfather's and uncle's surname of Mountbatten. The name Battenberg, in its anglicised form, is now a part of the personal surname (Mountbatten-Windsor) of some members of the British royal family.

In 1897, Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg married Princess Anna of Montenegro,[5] a sister of Queen Elena of Italy and a maternal aunt of Alexander I of Yugoslavia.

Coats of arms

In addition to the arms shown above:

Family tree

Genealogical Table of the Battenberg, Mountbatten and Mountbatten-Windsor Family


Battenberg/
Mountbatten		House of Hesse-DarmstadtBritish Royal FamilyHouse of Romanov
(Russia)		Greek Royal FamilySwedish Royal FamilySpanish Royal Family

Louis II
(1777–1848)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine
1830—1848


Victoria
Albert, Prince Consort

 Prince Charles of Hesse and by the Rhine
(1809–1877)
Louis III
(1806–1877)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine
1848—1877
 Prince Alexander of Hesse and by the Rhine
(1823–1888)		Julia v. Hauke
[lower-alpha 1]
(1825–1895)
Countess, later Princess of Battenberg

Marie
(1824–1880)
Empress Maria Alexandrovna
Alexander II
(1818–1881)
Emperor of
All Russia
1855—1881

Edward VII
Alice
(1843–1878)
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by the Rhine

Louis IV
(1837–1892)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine
1877—1892
Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
(1857–1944)

Prince Henry of Battenberg
(1858–1896)


Prince Alexander of Battenberg
(1857–1893)
Prince of Bulgaria
(1879–1886)
Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg
(1861–1924)
Alexander III
(1845–1894)
Emperor of All Russia
1881—1894

George I
(1845–1913)
King of Greece
1863—1913

George V

Ernest Louis
(1868–1937)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine
1892—1918
Alix
(1872–1918)
Empress of Russia

Nicholas II
(1868–1918)
Emperor of All Russia
1894—1917
Victoria
(1863–1950)
Prince Louis of Battenberg[lower-alpha 2]
(1854–1921)

from 1917 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
Alexander
(1886–1960)

from 1917 Alexander Mountbatten, Marquess of Carisbrooke		Leopold
(1889–1922)
from 1917 Lord Leopold Mountbatten		Prince Maurice of Battenberg
(1891–1914)		Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
(1887–1969)



Queen of Spain,1906 –1931
Alfonso XIII
(1886–1941)
King of Spain
1886—1931

Constantine I
(1868–1923)
King of Greece
1913-17 &
1920-22

George VI
Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse
(1906–1937)		Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine
(1908–1968)		Princess Alice of Battenberg
(1885–1969)
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
(1882–1944)
Louise Mountbatten
(1889–1965)
Queen of Sweden

Gustaf VI Adolf
(1882–1973)
King of Sweden
1950—1973

George
(1892–1938)

2nd Marquess of Milford Haven
Lord Louis Mountbatten[lower-alpha 3]
(1900–1979)

1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma		Infante Juan
Count of Barcelona
(1913–1993)

Paul
(1901–1964)
King of Greece
1947—1964

Elizabeth II
(1926–2022)

Philip[lower-alpha 4]
(1921–2021)
Duke of Edinburgh
Prince
Gustaf Adolf
Duke of
Västerbotten
(1906—1947)

David Mountbatten
(1919–1970)
3rd Marquess of Milford Haven		Lady Pamela Hicks
(1929–)
Patricia Knatchbull
(1924–2017)
2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma
m. John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne
Juan Carlos I
(1938—)
King of Spain
1975—2014
Sophia
(1938—)
Queen of Spain
1975—2014

Constantine II
(1940—2023)
King of Greece
1964–73

Charles III
(1948–)


Anne, Princess Royal
(1950–)

Prince Andrew, Duke of York
(1960–)

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
(1964–)

Carl XVI Gustaf
(1946–)
King of Sweden
1973—

George Mountbatten
(1961–)
4th Marquess of Milford Haven		Lord Ivar Mountbatten
(1963–)
Norton Knatchbull
(1947–)
3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma
6 others
Felipe VI
(1968–)
King of Spain
2014—
Pavlos
Crown Prince
(1967—)

Notes
  1. This coat of arms is reported in the "Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe", by Jiri Louda and Michael Maclagan, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1981, p216, table 109. While these arms are virtually the same as the city of Mainz, it is a common heraldic law that identical arms are allowed when the bearers are of different nations, but within a nation they are not (see for England, Warbelton v Gorges and Scrope v Grosvenor). However, Wikipedia reports a different set of arms for the family at the article on Hauke-Bosak (. However, these arms are for the family in Russia, and the reference given is an expired page in the Polish Wikipedia. There is no reference for the family seen in the Rietstap Armorial General.
  2. Admiral of the Fleet, RN
    GCB, GCVO, KCMG, PC
    First Sea Lord, RN (1912–1914)
  3. Admiral of the Fleet, RN
    KG GCB OM GCSI GCIE GCVO DSO PC FRS
    Chief of Combined Operations, Chiefs of Staff Committee (UK) and Combined Chiefs of Staff (US & UK) (1941–1943)
    Supreme Allied Commander,  South East Asia Command(1943–1946)
    Viceroy and Governor-General of India(1947)
    Governor-General of India(1947–1948)
    Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, RN (1952–1954)
    Fourth Sea Lord, RN (1950–1952)
    First Sea Lord, RN (1955–1959)
    Chief of the Defence Staff (1959–1965)
  4. Prince Philip was born a member of the Danish and Greek Royal House of Glucksborg and was known as Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
    On his marriage he became a naturalized British subject, disclaimed his Greek and Danish titles, and adopted his mother's maiden name of Mountbatten as his surname. As documented in the Mountbatten family and Mountbatten-Windsor articles, the dynastic name of the British Royal Family remains Windsor. However, the personal surname of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's male-line descendants who do not carry royal titles is Mountbatten-Windsor (e.g. James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex and Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor).
    Philip was created Duke of Edinburgh on his marriage. In 1957, Queen Elizabeth created him a British Prince.

References
  1. Hugo Vickers, Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece (2000), p. 8
  2. Norman Davies, Europe: A History (1997), p. 809
  3. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Royal Families of the World, Vol. 1 (1977), p. 213
  4. Hugo Young, Political Lives (2001), p. 531
  5. The Annual Register (1898), p. 27
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