The adoption of a new constitution had been delayed by the Civil War, and the legitimacy of the royal election was based upon the Constitution of Sweden of 1772, adopted under King Gustav III, when Finland had been a part of Sweden. The same constitutional document had also served as the basis for the rule of the Russian Tsars, as grand dukes of Finland, during the nineteenth century when the weakening Sweden lost Finland to the Russian Empire.

The reaction of the Bolshevik regime in Russia was thus crucial. Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France and the other Scandinavian countries were initially reluctant to recognize the newly independent Finland, waiting for the Russian reaction. When Lenin's government recognized Finland's independence, Germany, in addition to France and the other Scandinavian countries quickly followed suit.

  

Eighteen days after his own birth, the baby Frederick's first cousin, the then Tsarevna Maria Fyodorovna of Russia, daughter of his aunt Queen Louise of Denmark, gave birth in Saint Petersburg to Nicholas II of Russia, who would become Frederick Charles' predecessor as the monarch of Finland (1894-1917).

Marriage

On 25 January 1893, Frederick married Princess Margaret of Prussia, the youngest daughter of the late Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They had six children, including two sets of twins:

• Friedrich Wilhelm Sigismund (23 November 1893-12 September 1916), died in World War I
• Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm Georg (20 October 1894-13 October 1914), died in World War I
• Philipp (1896-1980) married to Princess Mafalda of Savoy (1902-1944, Buchenwald), had issue.
• Wolfgang Moritz (1896-1989)
• Prince Christoph Ernst August of Hesse (1901-1943) married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, had issue.
• Richard Wilhelm Leopold (1901-1969), unmarried

Upon their father's death in 1884, Frederick's eldest brother Frederick William became the head of the House of Hesse, and afterwards his next brother Alexander.  

The Finnish throne

Frederick Charles was elected as the King of Finland by the Parliament of Finland on 9 October 1918. However, with the end of World War I, in light of his German birth and the abdication of Emperor William II of Germany ending monarchies in Germany, the arrangement was quickly considered untenable by influential Finns of the time and by Frederick himself. Not much is known of the official stance of the victorious allies. Frederick Charles renounced the throne on 14 December 1918, without ever arriving in the country, much less taking up his position. Finland subsequently adopted a republican constitution.

Later life

Landgrave Alexander Frederick of Hesse abdicated as the head of the House of Hesse on 16 March 1925, and was succeeded by Frederick Charles, his younger brother. At Frederick's death, his eldest surviving son, Philipp, succeeded him as head. However, according to certain family documents and correspondence, his successor as King of Finland would have been his second surviving son Prince Wolfgang of Hesse (1896-1989), apparently because Wolfgang was with his parents in 1918 and ready to travel to Finland, where a wedding to a Finnish lady was already in preparation for the coming Crown Prince. Philipp was in the military and unable to be contacted at the time. This choice of the younger of these two twins at that time, however is no precedent that in next generations, the kingship would have been succeeded in secundogeniture, putting the eldest son always to the Hesse title (according to Dr. Vesa Vares). On the contrary, it is practically inconceivable that succession of a kingdom would depend on secondary consideration. the source Viini 2/2007 (in Finnish) indicates a view that Moritz of Hesse is the current successor, and prince Donatus is the heir.

Titles and Styles of Frederick

• 1 May 1868 - 15 March 1925: His Highness Prince Fredrick Charles of Hesse
• 9 October 1918 - 14 December 1918: His Majesty The King of Finland
• 15 March 1925 - 28 May 1940: His Royal Highness The Landgrave of Hesse

 

Originally the western part of the Landgraviate of Thuringia, in the mid 13th century it was inherited by the younger son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant, and became a distinct political entity. From the late 16th century it was generally divided into several branches, the most important of which were those of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt. In the early 19th century the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to Elector of Hesse (1803), while the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became the Grand Duke of Hesse (1806), later Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Electoral Hesse (Hesse-Kassel) was annexed by Prussia in 1866, while Grand Ducal Hesse (Hesse-Darmstadt) as lasted until the end of the German monarchies in 1918.

Rulers of Hesse

Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, died in 1567. Hesse was divided between his four sons, four new lines which arose: Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Rheinfels. The line of Hesse-Darmstadt was also part of the morganatic line of the Battenberg family when Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhinemarried to Countess Julia Hauke. The Battenbergs who later settled in England changed that name to Mountbatten after World War I.

• House of Brabant
  • Hesse (1264-1567)
    • Hesse-Darmstadt (1567-1918), became Grand Duchy of Hesse in 1806
      • Hesse-Butzbach (1609-1642)
      • Hesse-Braubach (1609-1651)
      • Hesse-Homburg (1622-1866)
      • Hesse-Itter (1661-1676)
      • Battenberg (1858, morganatic line. Mountbatten since 1917)
    • Hesse-Kassel (1567-1866), became Electorate of Hesse in 1803
      • Hesse-Rotenburg (1627-1834)
      • Hesse-Wanfried (1627-1755)
      • Hesse-Rheinfels (1627-1754)
      • Hesse-Philippsthal (1685-1866)
        • Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1721-1866)
    • Hesse-Marburg (1567, divided in 1604 between Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel)
    • Hesse-Rheinfels (1567, divided in 1583 between Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Marburg)

Hesse-Kassel and its junior lines were annexed by Prussia in 1866; Hesse-Darmstadt became the People's State of Hesse when the monarchy was abolished in 1918. Hesse-Philippsthal died out in the male line in 1925; Hesse-Darmstadt in 1968. Descendants of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld are alive to this day.

 

 

The members of this family bear the titles Prince or Princess of Finland, together with the formal appellation of His or Her Royal Highness.

 

 

Christoph, b.Munich 18 Jun 1969