Battenberg family

The Battenberg family was formally a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, rulers of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Germany. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg with the style Illustrious Highness (H. Ill.H.) in 1851, at her morganatic marriage to Grand Duke Louis' brother Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, and elevated her title to Princess of Battenberg with the style Serene Highness (HSH) in 1858. The name Battenberg was last used by her youngest son, Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, who died childless in 1924. Most members of the family, residing in the United Kingdom, had renounced their German titles in 1917, due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I, and changed their name to Mountbatten, an anglicised version of Battenberg. The name Battenberg refers to the town of Battenberg in Hesse.

Battenberg
Battenberg arms
Arms of the Bulgarian branch of the family (which formerly ruled Bulgaria)
Parent houseHesse-Darmstadt branch of the House of Hesse
Place of originGrand Duchy of Hesse
MembersPrincess Julia of Battenberg, Princess Marie of Battenberg, Prince Louis of Battenberg
Connected membersPrincess Alice of Battenberg, Princess Louise of Battenberg, Prince George of Battenberg
Cadet branchesMountbatten family

Creation

Prince Alexander (1823–1888) was the third son of Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse and by Rhine and of Wilhelmina of Baden, yet it was openly rumoured his biological father was actually Baron Augustus de Senarclens, his mother's chamberlain. His spouse, Julia von Hauke (1825–1895), was a mere Countess – the orphaned daughter of Count Johann Moritz von Haucke, a Polish nobleman of German ancestry who had been a General in the Russian army and then Deputy Minister of War of Congress Poland – and therefore of insufficient rank for her children to qualify for the succession to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. For this reason, her brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III created the title of Countess of Battenberg (German: Gräfin von Battenberg) for her and for the couple's descendants (a previous family of counts of Battenberg had become extinct in the 14th century). In 1858, the title, which referred to the town of Battenberg, Hesse, was elevated to princely status. There was never a corresponding Principality of Battenberg; the title was a non-sovereign one in the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Hesse.

The children of this union bore the title of Prince (German: Prinz) or Princess (German: Prinzessin) and the style Serene Highness (German: Durchlaucht). Battenberg thus became the name of a morganatic cadet branch of the Grand Ducal family of Hesse, without right of succession.

Members

Relations to royal families

One of the original couple's sons, Prince Alexander of Battenberg, was made Sovereign Prince of Bulgaria; he was later forced to abdicate.

Another son, Prince Henry of Battenberg, married Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria; their daughter, Victoria Eugenia Julia Ena, became queen consort of Spain. Her uncle Edward VII elevated her style to Royal Highness, so that she would have the necessary status to marry into the Spanish royal house.

Alexander and Julia's eldest son, Prince Louis of Battenberg, became the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy. Due to anti-German feelings prevalent in Britain during World War I, he anglicised his name to Mountbatten, as did his children and nephews, the sons of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice. They renounced all German titles and were granted peerages by their cousin, George V: Prince Louis became the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while Prince Alexander, Prince Henry's eldest son, became the 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke.

Prince Louis's second daughter Princess Louise of Battenberg become Queen Consort of Sweden as she married Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden in 1923 and his younger son Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma served as the last Viceroy of India. Prince Louis's elder daughter, Princess Alice of Battenberg, married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark; their son, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (now Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh), married the heir presumptive of the British throne, later Elizabeth II, after having renounced his Greek titles and taken his maternal grandfather's and uncle's surname, Mountbatten. The name Battenberg, in its anglicised form, is now a part of the personal surname, Mountbatten-Windsor, of some members of the British Royal Family. Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg married Princess Anna of Montenegro, sister of Queen Elena of Italy and a maternal aunt of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia.

Coats of arms

Besides those depicted above;

  • Coat of Arms of Prince Louis, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
  • Coat of Arms of Prince Henry of Battenberg
  • Coat of Arms of Princes Alexander, Leopold and Maurice of Battenberg (Before 1917)
  • Coat of Arms of Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Before 1906)
  • Coat of Arms of Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (After 1906)
  • Coat of Arms of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg as Queen Consort of Spain

Family tree

Genealogical Table of the Battenberg, Mountbatten and Mountbatten-Windsor Family


Battenberg/
Mountbatten		House of Hesse-DarmstadtHouse of Windsor(UK)House of Romanov(Russia)Greek Royal FamilySwedish Royal FamilySpanish Royal Family
Louis II
(1777–1848)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine,1830

Queen Victoria

Albert, Prince Consort

 Prince Charles of Hesse and by the Rhine
(1809–1877)		 Louis III
(1806–1877)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine,1848		 Prince Alexander of Hesse and by the Rhine
(1823–1888)		Julia v. Hauke [lower-alpha 1]
(1825–1895)
Countess, later Princess of Battenberg

Marie
(1824–1880)
Empress Maria Alexandrovna		 Emperor Alexander II of Russia
(1818–1881)
Edward VII

Princess Alice
(1843–1878)
 Louis IV
(1837–1892)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine,1877		Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
(1857–1944)

Prince Henry of Battenberg
(1858–1896)

 Prince Alexander of Battenberg
(1857–1893)
Prince of Bulgaria
(1879–1886)
Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg
(1861–1924)		 Emperor Alexander III of Russia
(1845–1894)		 King George I of Greece,1863
(1845–1913)
George V

Ernest Louis
(1868–1937)
Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine,1892 – abd 1918		Alix
(1872–1918)
Empress Alexandra of Russia		 Emperor Nicholas II of Russia
(1868–1918)		Victoria
(1863–1950)		Prince Louis of Battenberg[lower-alpha 2]


(1854–1921)
from 1917 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven		Alexander
(1886–1960)

from 1917 Alexander Mountbatten, Marquess of Carisbrooke		Leopold
(1889–1922)
from 1917 Lord Leopold Mountbatten		Prince Maurice of Battenberg
(1891–1914)		Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
(1887–1969)



Queen of Spain,1906 –1931		 King Alfonso XIII of Spain
(1886–1941)
dep 1931		 King Constantine I of Greece,1913-17 & 1920-22
(1868–1923)
George VI

Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse
(1906–1937)		Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine
(1908–1968)		Princess Alice of Battenberg
(1885–1969)
Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark
(1882–1944)
 Louise Mountbatten
(1889–1965)
Queen of Sweden
 King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
(1882–1973)
King, 1950
George
(1892–1938)

2nd Marquess of Milford Haven		Lord Louis Mountbatten[lower-alpha 3]
(1900–1979)

1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma		Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona
(1913–1993)		 King Paul of Greece,1947
(1901– 1964)
Elizabeth II

Philip[lower-alpha 4]
(1921–)
Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten
(1906–1947)		David Mountbatten
(1919–1970)
3rd Marquess of Milford Haven		Lady Pamela Hicks
(1929		Patricia Knatchbull
(1924–2017)
2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma
m. John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne		 King Juan Carlos I of Spain
(1938–)
King of Spain,1975-2014		 King Sophia
(1938)		 King Constantine II of Greece,1964–73 & 1920-22
(1940)
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
(1948–)

Anne, Princess Royal
(1950–)

Prince Andrew, Duke of York
(1960–)

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
(1964–)

 King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
(1946–)
King, 1973		George Mountbatten
(1961–)
4th Marquess of Milford Haven		Lord Ivar Mountbatten
(1963–)		Norton Knatchbull
(1947–)
3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma
6 others Felipe VI
(1968–)
King of Spain,2014		Crown Prince Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece
(1967)

Notes
  1. This coat of arms is reported in the "Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe", by Jiri Louda and Michael Maclagan, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. Publishers, New York, 1981, p216, table 109. While these arms are virtually the same as the city of Mainz, it is a common heraldic law that identical arms are allowed when the bearers are of different nations, but within a nation they are not (see for England, Warbelton v Gorges and Scrope v Grosvenor). However, Wikipedia reports a different set of arms for the family at the article on Hauke-Bosak (. However, these arms are for the family in Russia, and the reference given is an expired page in the Polish Wikipedia. There is no reference for the family seen in the Rietstap Armorial General.
  2. Admiral of the Fleet, RN
    GCB, GCVO, KCMG, PC
    First Sea Lord, RN (1912–14)
  3. Admiral of the Fleet, RN
    KG GCB OM GCSI GCIE GCVO DSO PC FRS
    Chief of Combined Operations, Chiefs of Staff Committee (UK) and Combined Chiefs of Staff (US & UK) (1941–1943)
    Supreme Allied Commander,  South East Asia Command(1943–1946)
    Viceroy and Governor-General of India(1947)
    Governor-General of India(1947-48)
    Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, RN (1952–1954)
    Fourth Sea Lord, RN (1950–1952)
    First Sea Lord, RN (1955-59)
    Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom) (1959–1965)
  4. Prince Philip was born a member of the Danish and Greek Royal House of Glucksborg and was known as Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
    On his marriage he became a naturalized British subject, disclaimed his Greek and Danish titles, and adopted his mother's maiden name of Mountbatten as his surname. As documented in the Mountbatten family and Mountbatten-Windsor articles, the dynastic name of the British Royal Family remains Windsor. However, the personal surname of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's descendants is Mountbatten-Windsor (e.g. Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor).
    Philip was created Duke of Edinburgh on his marriage. In 1957, Queen Elizabeth created him a British Prince.


Battenberg family
House of Battenberg
Cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt
Preceded by
House of Shishman		 Ruling House of Bulgaria
1879–1886		 Succeeded by
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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