Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse (1906-1937) was the first child of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and Eleonore of Solms-Braunfels. Ernest Louis Grand Duke of Hesse in 1905 Ernest Louis Charles Albert William (de: Ernst Ludwig Karl Albert Wilhelm), (25 November 1868-9 October 1937) was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1892 until his abdication in 1918. ...

Marriage and Children

On 2 February 1931 at Darmstadt Georg married Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They had three children: February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hessen in Germany. ... Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (January 20, 1882 - December 3, 1944), of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the son of George I (1845-1913), King of the Hellenes, and of Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinova (1851-1926) of Russia. ... Princess Alice of Battenberg Princess Alice of Battenberg, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark (25 February 1885 - 5 December 1969) was a great-granddaughter of the British Queen Victoria who married into the royal house of Greece. ... Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from January 1, 1877, until her death in 1901. ... Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in full Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel), later The Prince Consort, (26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ...

• His Grand Ducal Highness Prince Ludwig Ernst Andreas (born 25 October 1931)
• His Grand Ducal Highness Prince Alexander Georg Karl Heinrich (born 14 April 1933)
• Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Johanna Marina Eleonore (born 20 September 1936)
• They also had a child that was stillborn in an air crash (see below).

On May 1, 1937 Cecilie and her husband both joined the Nazi Party. ^[1] October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 67 days remaining. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (105th in leap years). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... National-Socialist German Workers Party (German: ), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ...

Death

In October 1937, Georg Donatus' father, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse died. A few weeks after the funeral, Ernst Ludwig's younger son, Prince Ludwig was due to be married to Margaret Geddes. On 16 November 1937, Georg Donatus, Cecilie, their two young sons, Georg's mother Grand Duchess Eleonore, the children's nurse, a family friend, a pilot and two crewmen, left Darmstadt for the United Kingdom, where Prince Ludwig was due to be married. The aeroplane hit a factory chimney near Ostend and crashed into flames, killing all those on board. Cecilie was heavily pregnant with her fourth child at the time of the crash, and the remains of the stillborn child were found in the wreckage, indicating that Cecilie had gone into premature labour. The only survivor of the family was Johanna; she was not on the plane at the time. Johanna was adopted by Prince Ludwig and Princess Margaret, however, she died in 1939 from meningitis. Ernst Ludwig Karl Albrecht Wilhelm Großherzog von Hessen und bei Rhine or Ernest Louis of Hesse (25 November 1868-9 October 1937) was Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1892 until his abdication in 1918. ... Ostend (Dutch: Oostende, French: Ostende) is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of West Flanders. ... A pregnant woman Pregnancy is the process by which a mammalian female carries a live offspring from conception until it develops to the point where the offspring is capable of living outside the womb. ... Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes (meninges) covering the brain and the spinal cord. ...

Titles

• His Royal Highness The Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine

Georg Donatus never acceded to the grand ducal throne as it had been abolished at the end of the First World War. Titles became surnames after that point and it was rare for the head of a royal, grand ducal or ducal family to change his title upon accession as head of a house.