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Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark
Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Καικιλία, romanized: Kaikilía; 22 June 1911 – 16 November 1937) was by birth a Greek and Danish princess who became titular Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine through her marriage to Prince Georg Donatus, pretender to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. She was also the third-eldest sister to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (later Duke of Edinburgh).
The third of five children of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Cecilie had a happy childhood. In her early years, however, she witnessed the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), followed by the First World War (1914–1918) and the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). For the young princess and her relatives, these conflicts had dramatic consequences and led to their exile in Switzerland (between 1917 and 1920), and then in France (from 1922 to 1936). During their exile, Cecilie and her family depended on the generosity of their foreign relatives, in particular Marie Bonaparte (who offered them accommodation in Saint-Cloud) and Lady Louis Mountbatten (who supported them financially).
The year 1929 was a turning point in Cecilie's life. She formed a relationship with her maternal cousin, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse. Around the same time, her mother was struck by a mental health crisis which led to her confinement in a Swiss psychiatric hospital until 1933. After marrying Georg Donatus in 1931, Cecilie moved to Darmstadt. There she gave birth to their three children, Ludwig (1931–1937), Alexander (1933–1937) and Johanna (1936–1939), before becoming pregnant with her fourth child in 1937. Initially distant from the Nazi movement, she joined the Nazi Party at the same time as her husband in May 1937.
Soon after, the princess and her family embarked on a trip to the United Kingdom, where they were to attend the wedding of her brother-in-law Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine, to Margaret Campbell Geddes. However, the aircraft in which they were travelling crashed in flames near Ostend, instantly killing all the passengers. Repatriated to Darmstadt, their remains were buried in the Grand Ducal new mausoleum of Rosenhöhe Park on 23 November 1937.
The third daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Cecilie was born at Tatoi Palace, near Athens, on 22 June 1911. Baptised on 10 July, her godparents were King George V of the United Kingdom, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna of Russia.
Cecilie spent a happy childhood within a united household that was already made up of two daughters, Margarita (1905–1981) and Theodora (1906–1969), and was further expanded with the arrival of Sophie (1914–2001). The favorite child of her father, she grew up in Athens, Tatoi and Corfu, where her father inherited Mon Repos after King George I's assassination in 1913. Coming from a cosmopolitan dynasty, Cecilie and her sisters communicated in English with their mother, but they also used French, German, and Greek with their relatives and their governesses. The girls also traveled abroad with their family at a very young age. In 1911 and 1913, Cecilie thus went to the United Kingdom and Germany, where she was introduced to her mother's relatives.
Cecilie's early years were marked by the instability that the Kingdom of Greece experienced at the start of the twentieth century. Between 1912 and 1913, Greece engaged in the Balkan Wars, during which Prince Andrew served under Crown Prince Constantine while Princess Alice worked as a nurse for wounded soldiers. They were, however, especially affected by the First World War, which created division between different branches of their family as Greece set aside its neutrality due to the Triple Entente. Cecilie and her sisters were in the royal palace of Athens when it was bombarded by the French Navy during the battle in the capital on 1 December 1916.
In June 1917, King Constantine I was finally deposed and driven out of Greece by the Allies, who replaced him on the throne by his second son, the young Alexander. Fifteen days later, Cecilie's family was in turn forced into exile in order to remove the possibility of the new monarch being influenced by those close to him. Forced to reside in German-speaking Switzerland, the small group first stayed in a hotel in St. Moritz, before settling in Lucerne, where they lived with uncertainty about their future.
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Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark
Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Καικιλία, romanized: Kaikilía; 22 June 1911 – 16 November 1937) was by birth a Greek and Danish princess who became titular Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine through her marriage to Prince Georg Donatus, pretender to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. She was also the third-eldest sister to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (later Duke of Edinburgh).
The third of five children of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Cecilie had a happy childhood. In her early years, however, she witnessed the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), followed by the First World War (1914–1918) and the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). For the young princess and her relatives, these conflicts had dramatic consequences and led to their exile in Switzerland (between 1917 and 1920), and then in France (from 1922 to 1936). During their exile, Cecilie and her family depended on the generosity of their foreign relatives, in particular Marie Bonaparte (who offered them accommodation in Saint-Cloud) and Lady Louis Mountbatten (who supported them financially).
The year 1929 was a turning point in Cecilie's life. She formed a relationship with her maternal cousin, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse. Around the same time, her mother was struck by a mental health crisis which led to her confinement in a Swiss psychiatric hospital until 1933. After marrying Georg Donatus in 1931, Cecilie moved to Darmstadt. There she gave birth to their three children, Ludwig (1931–1937), Alexander (1933–1937) and Johanna (1936–1939), before becoming pregnant with her fourth child in 1937. Initially distant from the Nazi movement, she joined the Nazi Party at the same time as her husband in May 1937.
Soon after, the princess and her family embarked on a trip to the United Kingdom, where they were to attend the wedding of her brother-in-law Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine, to Margaret Campbell Geddes. However, the aircraft in which they were travelling crashed in flames near Ostend, instantly killing all the passengers. Repatriated to Darmstadt, their remains were buried in the Grand Ducal new mausoleum of Rosenhöhe Park on 23 November 1937.
The third daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Cecilie was born at Tatoi Palace, near Athens, on 22 June 1911. Baptised on 10 July, her godparents were King George V of the United Kingdom, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna of Russia.
Cecilie spent a happy childhood within a united household that was already made up of two daughters, Margarita (1905–1981) and Theodora (1906–1969), and was further expanded with the arrival of Sophie (1914–2001). The favorite child of her father, she grew up in Athens, Tatoi and Corfu, where her father inherited Mon Repos after King George I's assassination in 1913. Coming from a cosmopolitan dynasty, Cecilie and her sisters communicated in English with their mother, but they also used French, German, and Greek with their relatives and their governesses. The girls also traveled abroad with their family at a very young age. In 1911 and 1913, Cecilie thus went to the United Kingdom and Germany, where she was introduced to her mother's relatives.
Cecilie's early years were marked by the instability that the Kingdom of Greece experienced at the start of the twentieth century. Between 1912 and 1913, Greece engaged in the Balkan Wars, during which Prince Andrew served under Crown Prince Constantine while Princess Alice worked as a nurse for wounded soldiers. They were, however, especially affected by the First World War, which created division between different branches of their family as Greece set aside its neutrality due to the Triple Entente. Cecilie and her sisters were in the royal palace of Athens when it was bombarded by the French Navy during the battle in the capital on 1 December 1916.
In June 1917, King Constantine I was finally deposed and driven out of Greece by the Allies, who replaced him on the throne by his second son, the young Alexander. Fifteen days later, Cecilie's family was in turn forced into exile in order to remove the possibility of the new monarch being influenced by those close to him. Forced to reside in German-speaking Switzerland, the small group first stayed in a hotel in St. Moritz, before settling in Lucerne, where they lived with uncertainty about their future.