Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse

Frederick Charles
Landgrave of Hesse
King Elect of Finland
Reign	9 October 1918 – 14 December 1918
Predecessor	Elected king
Successor	Renounced throne
Regent	Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Head of the House of Hesse
Reign	15 March 1925 – 28 May 1940
Predecessor	Alexander Frederick
Successor	Philipp
Spouse	Princess Margaret of Prussia
Issue
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Prince Maximilian Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse Prince Wolfgang Prince Christoph Prince Richard
Full name
Frederick Charles Louis Constantine
Father	Frederick William, Landgrave of Hesse
Mother	Princess Anna of Prussia
Born	1 May 1868 Gut Panker, Plön, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	28 May 1940(1940-05-28) (aged 72) Kassel, Nazi Germany
Religion	Lutheran

Frederick Charles Louis Constantine, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (1 May 1868, Gut Panker – 28 May 1940, Kassel), Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel in German, was the brother-in-law of the German Emperor William II and the elected King of Finland from 9 October to 14 December 1918.

Early life

Frederick was born at his family's manor, Gut Panker, in Plön, Holstein. He was the third son of Frederick William of Hesse, the then Landgrave of Hesse, and his wife Princess Anna of Prussia, daughter of Prince Charles of Prussia and Princess Marie Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The elder Frederick, a Danish military officer, had been one (and perhaps the foremost) of the candidates of Christian VIII of Denmark in the 1840s to succeed to the Danish throne if the latter's male line died out, but renounced his rights to the throne in 1851 in favor of his sister, Louise. The elder Frederick was of practically Danish upbringing, having lived all his life in Denmark, but in 1875, when the senior branch of Hesse-Kassel became extinct, he settled in northern Germany, where the House had substantial landholdings.

Eighteen days after his own birth, the baby Frederick's first cousin, the then Tsarevna Maria Fyodorovna of Russia, daughter of his aunt Queen Louise of Denmark, gave birth in Saint Petersburg to Nicholas II of Russia, who would become Frederick Charles' predecessor as the monarch of Finland (1894–1917).

Marriage

Prince Frederick Charles and Princess Margaret of Prussia in 1893.

On 25 January 1893, Frederick married Princess Margaret of Prussia, the youngest daughter of the late Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They had six children, including two sets of twins:

• Friedrich Wilhelm Sigismund (23 November 1893-12 September 1916), died in World War I
• Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm Georg (20 October 1894–13 October 1914), died in World War I
• Philipp (1896–1980) married to Princess Mafalda of Savoy (1902–1944, Buchenwald), had issue.
• Wolfgang Moritz (1896–1989)
• Prince Christoph Ernst August of Hesse (1901–1943) married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, had issue.
• Richard Wilhelm Leopold (1901–1969), unmarried

Upon their father's death in 1884, Frederick's eldest brother Frederick William became the head of the House of Hesse, and afterwards his next brother Alexander.

The Finnish throne

Main article: Kingdom of Finland (1918)

The crown planned for the King of Finland

Frederick Charles was elected as the King of Finland by the Parliament of Finland on 9 October 1918. However, with the end of World War I, in light of his German birth and the abdication of Emperor William II of Germany ending monarchies in Germany, the arrangement was quickly considered untenable by influential Finns of the time and by Frederick himself. Not much is known of the official stance of the victorious allies. Frederick Charles renounced the throne on 14 December 1918, without ever arriving in the country, much less taking up his position. Finland subsequently adopted a republican constitution.

Later life

Landgrave Alexander Frederick of Hesse abdicated as the head of the House of Hesse on 16 March 1925, and was succeeded by Frederick Charles, his younger brother.

At Frederick's death, his eldest surviving son, Philipp, succeeded him as head.

However, according to certain family documents and correspondence, his successor as King of Finland would have been his second surviving son Prince Wolfgang of Hesse (1896–1989), apparently because Wolfgang was with his parents in 1918 and ready to travel to Finland, where a wedding to a Finnish lady was already in preparation for the coming Crown Prince. Philipp was in the military and unable to be contacted at the time. This choice of the younger of these two twins at that time, however is no precedent that in next generations, the kingship would have been succeeded in secundogeniture, putting the eldest son always to the Hesse title (according to Dr. Vesa Vares). On the contrary, it is practically inconceivable that succession of a kingdom would depend on secondary consideration. the source Viini 2/2007 (in Finnish) indicates a view that Moritz of Hesse is the current successor, and prince Donatus is the heir.

Titles and styles

• 1 May 1868 – 14 October 1888: His Serene Highness Prince Fredrick Charles of Hesse
• 14 October 1888 – 15 March 1925: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Hesse
• 9 October 1918 – 14 December 1918: His Majesty The King of Finland and Karelia, Duke of Åland, Grand Duke of Lapland, Lord of Kaleva and the North
• 15 March 1925 – 28 May 1940: His Highness The Landgrave of Hesse

See also

• List of Finnish monarchs
• Rulers of Hesse
• Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria
• Mindaugas II of Lithuania

Ancestry

References

• Large article on Helsingin Sanomat newspaper about Friedrich Karl and his descendants, including the current "pretender" for the throne.

External links

Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse House of Hesse Born: 6 November 1896 Died: 12 July 1989
Preceded by Alexander Frederick of Hesse	Head of the House of Hesse 15 March 1925 – 28 May 1940	Succeeded by Landgraf Philipp
Preceded by Grand Duke Nicholas II of Finland	King-elect of Finland 9 October 1918 – 14 December 1918	Succeeded by Office abolished Pehr Evind Svinhufvud as Regent (New creation)
Titles in pretence
New title	— TITULAR — King of Finland 14 December 1918 - 28 May 1940 Reason for succession failure: Kingdom never established	Succeeded by Prince Wolfgang of Hesse

Persondata
Name	Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 May 1868
Place of birth	Gut Panker, Plön, Kingdom of Prussia
Date of death	28 May 1940
Place of death	Kassel, Nazi Germany