Prince Karl of Hesse

Born on 26 March 1937 in Berlin, into an elder line of the House of Hesse, a house directly descended from the House of Brabant, Karl Adolf Andreas was the eldest son of Prince Christoph of Hesse and his wife, Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, youngest sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.{{sfn|Mateos Sainz de Medrano|2004|p=440}} At the time of his birth, his parents had close ties with the Nazi regime and the child was given Adolf among his first names in honor of Adolf Hitler.{{sfn |Petropoulos|2006|p=221}}

The outbreak of the Second World War deprived Karl of his father, who enlisted in the German army in the first months of the conflict{{sfn|Petropoulos|2006|p=119}} and who disappeared in an air accident in 1943.{{sfn|Petropoulos|2006|p=308-309}} In 1946, his mother was married again to Prince George William of Hanover, maternal grandson of Wilhelm II.{{Cite web|url=https://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00012203&tree=LEO|title=Sophia, Princess of Greece and Denmark : Genealogics|website=www.genealogics.org|accessdate=February 27, 2025}} Orphaned by his father at an early age, Karl was later adopted by one of his paternal uncles, Prince Wolfgang of Hesse, in 1952.{{sfn|Mateos Sainz de Medrano|2004|p=442}}

Related to most European dynasties, Karl participated in the major events of the gotha. In 1954, he and his family were invited to take part in the Cruise of the Kings, organized by King Paul of Greece and his wife Queen Frederica. In 1960, Karl was invited to Stockholm on the occasion of a grand ball organized in honor of the granddaughters of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.{{sfn|Mateos Sainz de Medrano|2004|p=442}}

Image:Groepsfoto, Bestanddeelnr 919-0447.jpg, Princess Irene of Greece, Queen Anne-Marie, Constantine II of Greece, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, Juan Carlos I of Spain, Queen Sofia{{CN|date=November 2024}}]]

In 1966, Karl married his distant relative, Countess Yvonne Szapáry von Muraszombath (b. 1944), the only daughter of Count Béla Szapáry (1901-1993) and his wife, Baroness Ursula von Richthofen (1907-2002).https://www.genealogics.org/relationship.php?altprimarypersonID=I00012204&savedpersonID=&secondpersonID=I00002463&maxrels=1&disallowspouses=1&generations=8&tree=LEO&primarypersonID=I00012204 Two children were born from this marriage:

• Christopher of Hesse-Kassel (1969), prince of Hesse-Kassel, single;
• Irina Verena of Hesse-Kassel (1971), princess of Hesse-Cassel, who married, in 1999, Alexander, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau (1969), the Head of the House of Schönburg-Glauchau. The couple had three children: Maria-Letitia (2001), Maximus (2003) and Valentin (2005){{Cite web|url=https://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00012206&tree=LEO|title=Irina, Prinzessin von Hessen : Genealogics|website=www.genealogics.org|accessdate=February 27, 2025}}

While he was established in Munich with his wife, Karl was known for his interest in oriental philosophies and alternative medicines.{{sfn|Mateos Sainz de Medrano|2004|p=443}}

Karl briefly discussed his mother's childhood and her ties to the Nazi regime in a documentary in 2015 about his uncle, Prince Philip: The Plot to Make a King (2015).{{cite journal| language = en| first1 = Tom | last1 = Brooks-Pollock| title = Queen Nazi salute film: Documentary will show Prince Philip's sister calling Hitler 'charming and modest'| journal =The Independent| date = 20 July 2015|pages=|issn=|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/queen-nazi-salute-film-prince-philip-s-sister-described-hitler-charming-and-modest-10401274.html| access-date =}}

Prince Karl of Hesse died in Munich, at the age of {{nobr|84 years}}, on March 23, 2022. His body is interred in Panker, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.{{Cite web|url=http://www.royaltyguide.nl/families/fam-H/hessen/hessenkassel5.htm|title=Hessen-Kassel 1900-present|website=www.royaltyguide.nl|accessdate=February 27, 2025}}

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|collapsed=yes |align=center |ref={{cite book|title=Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XVIIII. "Haus Hessen". |publisher=C.A. Starke Verlag |date= 2007 |pages=34–35 |language=de |isbn=978-3-7980-0841-0}}

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|1= 1. Prince Karl of Hesse

|2= 2. Prince Christoph of Hesse

|3= 3. Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark

|4= 4. Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse

|5= 5. Princess Margaret of Prussia

|6= 6. Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark

|7= 7. Princess Alice of Battenberg

|8= 8. Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel

|9= 9. Princess Anna of Prussia

|10= 10. Frederick III, German Emperor

|11= 11. Victoria, Princess Royal

|12= 12. George I of Greece

|13= 13. Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia

|14= 14. Prince Louis of Battenberg

|15= 15. Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine

}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite video|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA8H7GZTHZVWHSZC2USRIPXBBSY-HOLLAND-ROYAL-WEDDING-IN-THE-HAGUE-CHARLES-VON-HESSEN-MARRIES/query/Yvonne |title=Holland: Royal Wedding In The Hague -- Charles Von Hessen Marries Countess Yvonne Margit Valerie Szapary 1966|publisher=Pathé News}}
• {{cite book |lang= es|first1= Ricardo |last1=Mateos Sainz de Medrano|chapter= El príncipe Carlos de Hesse |title= La Familia de la Reina Sofía: La Dinastía griega, la Casa de Hannover y los reales primos de Europa|location= Madrid|publisher= La Esfera de los Libros|date= 2004|isbn= 978-84-9734-195-0 |pages= 440–443 }}
• {{Cite book |lang=en |first1=Jonathan |last1=Petropoulos |title=Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2006 |pages =524 |isbn=978-0-19-533927-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3w7DwAAQBAJ }}

• Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels 110 (1996), p. 275 (Richthofen).
• Nederland's Adelsboek 97 (2012), p. 40-41 (De Vos van Steenwijk).
• Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels 155 (2014), p. 37-38 (Hessen).

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{{Princes and Landgraves of Hesse}}

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Category:1937 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:House of Hesse-Kassel

Category:Princes of Hesse

Category:Landgravines of Hesse-Kassel