  alexander joseph gcb (5 april 1857 â 23 october 1893), known as alexander of battenberg, was the first prince (knyaz) of modern bulgaria from 29 april 1879 to 7 september 1886. ==early life== alexander was the second son of prince alexander of hesse and by rhine by the latter's morganatic marriage with countess julia von hauke. the countess and her descendants gained the title of princess of battenberg (derived from an old residence of the grand dukes of hesse) and the style durchlaucht ("serene highness") in 1858. prince alexander was a nephew of russia's tsar alexander ii, who had married a sister of prince alexander of hesse; his mother, a daughter of count moritz von hauke, had been lady-in-waiting to the tsaritsa. alexander was known to his family, and many later biographers, as "sandro".ridley, "the heir apparent", (new york, 2013) ==prince of bulgaria== in his boyhood and early youth alexander frequently visited saint petersburg, and he accompanied his uncle, the tsar, who was much attached to him, during the bulgarian campaign of 1877. when, under the treaty of berlin (1878), bulgaria became an autonomous principality under the suzerainty of the ottoman empire, the tsar recommended his nephew to the bulgarians as a candidate for the newly created throne, and the grand national assembly unanimously elected prince alexander as prince of bulgaria (29 april 1879). at that time he held a commission as a lieutenan
1857_births 1893_deaths 19th-century_Bulgarian_monarchs Governors-General Governors-General_of_Eastern_Rumelia House_of_Battenberg Monarchs_who_abdicated People_from_Verona People_of_the_Serbo-Bulgarian_War Recipients_of_the_Order_of_Bravery Recipients_of_the_Order_of_St._George_of_the_Fourth_Degree Recipients_of_the_Order_of_St_Alexander