page_title: Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1895–1903)
section_title: Childhood
hierarchical_section_title: Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1895–1903) / Childhood
caption_attribution_description: English: This photo of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse with his daughter Princess Elisabeth of Hesse is probably from 1901 or 1902. The child died in November 1903 at age eight. Weiland is an old german word which means 'it was, formerly', so the postcard is surely published after the death of the princess in 1903. I uploaded the photograph from a posting at Alexander Palace.org
context_page_description: Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine was a German Hessian and Rhenish child princess, the only daughter of Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and his first wife, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, who was born Princess Elisabeth of Prussia. Her paternal aunt had the same name and was also nicknamed Ella. Elisabeth's early death was rumored to be a result of poison meant for her uncle, Tsar Nicholas II, but the court physician said she died of virulent typhoid, probably caused by her taking a drink of water from a contaminated stream.
context_section_description: Margaretta Eagar, a governess for the daughters of Tsar Nicholas II, described Elisabeth as "a sweet and pretty child, with wide grey-blue eyes and a profusion of dark hair. She was much like her mother, not only in face, but also in manner." The four-year-old Elisabeth wanted a baby sister and tried to persuade her aunt and uncle to let her parents adopt one of her paternal first cousins, Tatiana or Maria. Her parents had only one other child together, a stillborn son, in 1900.
  
  She was a favorite with her great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who called the little girl "my precious". Queen Victoria refused to permit the unhappily married Victoria and Ernst to divorce for the sake of Elisabeth. It was Elisabeth whom Queen Victoria asked to see first and to receive eightieth birthday greetings from in 1899. When the child heard Queen Victoria's pony cart approaching on the road below Windsor Castle, the four-year-old Elisabeth ran out on the balcony, waving and calling, "Granny Gran, I'm here!" Elisabeth's playfulness made the queen laugh out loud. 
   Elisabeth's grandmother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the Duchess of Edinburgh, brought five-year-old Elisabeth to see Queen Victoria on her death bed on 22 January 1901. After the queen died, the child was taken in to see her body and told that her great-grandmother had gone to be with the angels. "But I don't see the wings," Elisabeth whispered. Elisabeth sat next to her second cousin Prince Edward of York (called David by family and friends, later to become King Edward VIII) during Queen Victoria's funeral. "Sweet little David behaved so well during the service," wrote his aunt Maud, "and was supported by the little Hesse girl who took him under her protection and held him most of the time round his neck. They looked such a delightful little couple."
  In his memoirs, written more than thirty years after her death, her father wrote of Elisabeth's "deep sensitivity" and "very large heart." He wrote that "I never knew a child who had so much influence on adults. Her inner personality was very strong, and she had a natural quality that protected her from being spoiled." In October 1901, after the death of Queen Victoria, Elisabeth's parents finally divorced. Her mother had rekindled a previous romance with another cousin, her future husband, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia. Her father, according to letters written by her mother, had been caught cavorting with domestic servants. Her parents' divorce meant that Elisabeth divided her year between Darmstadt and her mother's new home in Coburg. Elisabeth was at first mistrustful of her mother and resented the divorce, although Victoria did her best to mend her relationship with her daughter during her visit with Elisabeth in the spring of 1902. She was only partially successful, though Victoria enjoyed turning her daughter into an outstanding horsewoman.
  In his memoirs, Ernst said he had difficulty persuading Elisabeth to visit her mother. Before one visit, he found the child "whimpering under a sofa, full of despair." He assured Elisabeth that her mother loved her too. "Mama says she loves me, but you do love me," Elisabeth replied. Margaret Eagar thought the child's eyes were the saddest she had ever seen. "Looking at her I used to wonder what those wide grey-blue eyes saw, to bring such a look of sadness to the childish face," she wrote. Eagar wondered if Elisabeth had a premonition of her own death because she often told her cousin Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia that "I shall never see this again." However, despite Elisabeth's sad eyes, she was generally a sweet, happy child who was a peacemaker when her cousins had a dispute.
caption: Princess Elisabeth's death deeply devastated her father, who viewed her as "the sunshine of his life."
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