| Frederick William III | |
|---|---|
.png) Photograph byW. & D. Downey,c. 1884 | |
| Head of the House of Hesse-Kassel | |
| Tenure | 14 October 1884 – 14 October 1888 |
| Predecessor | Frederick William II |
| Successor | Alexander Friedrich |
| Born | (1854-10-15)15 October 1854 Copenhagen |
| Died | 14 October 1888(1888-10-14) (aged 33) at sea betweenBatavia andSingapore |
| House | House of Hesse |
| Father | Frederick William of Hesse |
| Mother | Princess Anna of Prussia |
Frederick William (III), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (German:Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl, 15 October 1854 – 14 October 1888) was (titular)Elector of Hesse-Kassel.
He was the eldest son ofFrederick William George Adolph of Hesse-Kassel-Rumpenheim and his second wifePrincess Anna of Prussia. His father's first wife wasAlexandra Nikolaevna of Russia, daughter of EmperorNicholas I of Russia but she died in childbirth delivering a son who also died. From his parents marriage, his siblings were PrincessElisabeth (who marriedLeopold, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt),[1] PrinceAlexander Frederick (who married Baroness Gisela Stockhorner von Starheim), PrinceFrederick Charles of Hesse (who marriedPrincess Margaret of Prussia), Princess Marie-Polyxene (who died young), and Princess Sybille (who married Friedrich Alexander Henry Robert Carl Albert, Baronvon Vincke).[2]
His father was the only son ofWilhelm I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel-Rumpenheim andPrincess Louise Charlotte of Denmark. His maternal grandparents werePrince Charles of Prussia andPrincess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.[2]
Like his father he was raised inDenmark.[2]
His father died in 1884,[2] and he inherited the title of Landgrave which provided an allowance of £25,000 a year from the German government in addition to his extensive estates inHolstein andHesse Castle.[3]
Frederick William III died on 14 October 1888 during a trip aboard the steamshipVolga fromBatavia toSingapore.[4] He was traveling with Barons von Hugo,von Trott andvon der Schulenburg.[5] According to his obituary he died:
"under circumstances that leave no room for doubt whatever as to the death of his Royal Highness. His Royal Highness, who had been a long time traveling in the tropics, had in the course of his wanderings reachedJava. The only possible conclusion which could be come to was that, overcome by some sudden mental disturbance, to which his previous illness may have made him susceptible, his Royal Highness had, quite unconscious of what he was doing, gone through the port of his cabin, and had dropped into the sea. He could not merely have fallen through, as the window was so narrow that a person could only pass through by dint of some exertion. The idea of premeditated suicide is entirely without foundation."[4]
As was not married and had no children, he was succeeded by his brother,Alexander Frederick, who was an accomplished musician despite being nearly blind.[3][6] Upon his brother and heir'smorganatic marriage in 1925, he abdicated in favor of their younger brother, PrinceFrederick Charles of Hesse, who had been elected King ofFinland in 1918 but renounced the throne two months later. Prince Frederick marriedPrincess Margaret of Prussia, youngest sister ofKaiser Wilhelm II and a granddaughter ofQueen Victoria of Great Britain.[7]
He received the following awards:[8]
Grand Duchy of Hesse:[9]
Kingdom of Prussia:
Duchy of Anhalt:Grand Cross of Albert the Bear
Denmark:Knight of the Elephant,2 October 1871[11]
Kingdom of Greece:Grand Cross of the Redeemer
Mecklenburg:Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore
Nassau Ducal Family:Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau
Oldenburg:Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown,24 September 1877[12]
Ottoman Empire:Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class
Russian Empire:Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky
Württemberg:Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown,1875[13]| Titles in pretence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — Elector of Hesse 1884–1888 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| People | |
