Moritz von Hanau-Hořovice

Moritz at the age of five

Moritz Philipp Heinrich von Hanau (* May 4, 1834 , Wilhelmshöhe Castle ; † March 24, 1889 in Hořovice Castle ) was the second son of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I of Hesse-Kassel (* 1802; † 1875) and his morganatic wife Gertrude , later Princess of Hanau zu Hořovice (* 1803, † 1882).

Life

Moritz 'older brother, Friedrich Wilhelm von Hanau , was excluded from the Fideikommiss Hanau-Hořowitz by his father after his "mismarriage" with the actress Auguste Birnbaum , which the elector had set up for the benefit of his children, as they were not due to their father's improper marriage could succeed in the electoral dignity and in the entails of the House of Hesse . Moritz thus became the first beneficiary of the Hanau-Hořowitz entails and first prince of Hanau after the death of his father.

Moritz 'father initially used it for diplomatic missions in Berlin and St. Petersburg . He was his father's favorite son and was viewed as a competitor by the presumptive successor to the electoral dignity, Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim , because the elector was assumed to want to help his descendant, who was not befitting of his rank, to succeed to the throne - a project that was certainly hopeless in the context of the time, as recognition of such a step by foreign countries was not to be expected.

Moritz initially had an affair with the former Kassel singer Louise Liebhardt (1828–1899) in Vienna , where he served in the military . He returned from Vienna heavily in debt. Subsequently, his affection was again for an unsuitable woman, Anna von Loßberg (born August 14, 1829 in Kassel , † October 27, 1876 in Hořovice Castle ). Because of the pressure of the family, he did not marry her first, but it broke with the Father: After the fall of the electorate in 1866 in the German-Austrian war by the annexation by Prussia he did not go with his father into exile but joined the previously opposing Prussian army. However, he resigned as a lieutenant colonel in 1868 .

After the death of his father on January 6, 1875, Moritz took over the inheritance in the Fideikommiss Hanau-Hořowitz and married his long-time lover, Anna von Loßberg, on April 15, 1875. She died on October 27, 1876. The couple had none Children. After his death he was succeeded as Prince of Hanau by his younger brother Wilhelm (* 1836; † 1902).

literature

• Ludwig Hassenpflug : Memories from the time of the second ministry 1850–1855. Edited by Ewald Grothe (= Political and Parliamentary History of the State of Hesse , 34). Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7708-1317-9 .
• Michel Huberty: L'Allemagne dynastique. Les 15 familles qui ont fait l'empire . Vol. 1: Hesse - Reuss - Saxe. Le Perreux-sur-Marne 1976, ISBN 2-901138-01-2 .
• Philipp Losch : The Princess of Hanau and her children . In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 13 (1939), p. 35.

Web links

• The three princes of Hanau (by August von der Embde, 1839), in the inventory catalog of 19th century paintings. Museum landscape Hessen Kassel.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hassenpflug, p. 362.
2. ↑ Hassenpflug, p. 164 f.
3. ↑ The elector is rumored to have remarked that he did not want to be “related to the whole of Kassel” : Losch, p. 35.