Kurfürstentum Hessen
Charles succeeded his father as the Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal in 1849, after his older brother Ferdinand had died in 1839. Charles served as a Major General à la suite in the army of the Electorate of Hesse. After the War of 1866, Prussia annexed, among others, the Electorate of Hesse and Hesse-Philippsthal.