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.

In the Finnish election document the Prince is called Fredrik Kaarle, but according to
conventional wisdom his name as king would have been Väinö I of Finland. Although the
correctness of this name is disputed, it is repeated in many places, for instance at the
 Finnish Parliament's official website.

On November 11, 1918, the armistice between the warring factions of World War I, was signed,
and only two days earlier William II had abdicated and Germany was declared a republic.  
Germany's defeat in the war and the stated fact that none of the Allies of World War I would ever
accept a German-born prince as the king of Finland, led Frederick to renounce the throne on
December 14, 1918, without having ever set foot on his "kingdom." He had hesitated previously
due to the circumstances of his election, where approximately 40 percent of the members of
the Parliament had boycotted the election.

H.M. King Väinö I of Finland

H.M. Queen Consort Margarethe of Finland

His election as king of Finland resulted from the temporary ascendancy of pro-monarchist
groups in the Finnish parliament. With the defeat of Germany in World War I, the monarchy
was abandoned, and Finland was declared a republic. During his brief reign, Frederick never
actually set foot in his kingdom. Also known as Väinö I, he was succeeded as head of state
by Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finland's first president. Frederick retired to castle Friedrichshof,
near Frankfurt, where he lived out the rest of his life as a private citizen. His German name
was Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin, Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel.

Frederick was born in Panker Castle on the Baltic Sea. He was the third son
of the then Prince Frederick of Hesse, and his wife Princess Anna of Prussia.
The elder Frederick, a Danish military officer, had been one (and perhaps
the foremost) of the candidates of Christian VIII of Denmark to succeed to
the Danish throne in the 1840s if the latter's male line died out, but the
Prince renounced his rights in 1851 in favor of his sister, Louise of Hesse.  
The elder Frederick was of Danish upbringing, having lived all his life in
Denmark; but in 1875, when the senior branch of Hesse-Kassel became extinct,
he settled in Northern Germany, where the House had substantial landholdings.

Eighteen days after his own birth, his first cousin, Nicholas II of Russia
was born to the Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna, daughter of his aunt  
Queen Louise of Denmark, in Saint Petersburg.

Frederick married Princess Margaret of Prussia, the youngest daughter of the
late German Emperor Frederick III and Princess Royal Victoria, who was the
eldest daughter of Victoria of the United Kingdom on January 25, 1893. they
had six children, including two sets of twins:

* Friedrich Wilhelm Sigismund........................................(1893-1916)
* Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm Georg........................... (1894-1914)
* Prince Philipp.....................(1896-1980) married Princess Mafalda
of Savoy (1902-1944, Buchenwald), they had four children
* Prince Wolfgang Moritz.................................................(1896-1989)
* Prince Prince Christoph Ernst August of Hesse (1901-1943) married
Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, they had five children
* Richard Wilhelm Leopold................................................(1901-1969)

The Genealogy of The Royal House

FRIEDRICH KARL Ludwig Konstantin, CHARLES I OF FINLAND
Elected King of Finland, from October 9th to December 14th, 1918,
and Landgrave of Hesse, head of the Electoral House of Hesse from
15 Mar 1925 (Schloß Panker, Holstein 1 May 1868-Kassel 28 May
1940); m.Berlin 25 Jan 1893 Margarethe Pss of Prussia (Neues
Palais, nr Potsdam 22 Apr 1872- Schönberg bei Kronberg,
Taunus 22 Jan 1954). see: Landgraviate of Hesse

Friedrich Wilhelm Sigismund Viktor (Frankfurt 23
Nov 1893-k.a.Kara Orman, Romania 12/13 Sep 1916)

Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Eduard (Schloß
Rumpenheim 20 Oct 1894- k.a.St.Jean-Chapelle 13 Oct 1914)

PHILIPP, de jure King of Finland, Landgrave of Hesse, became
head of all the House of Hesse 30 May 1968 (Schloß Rumpenheim
6 Nov 1896-Rome 25 Oct 1980); m.Racconigi 23 Sep 1925 Mafalda
Pss of Savoy (Rome 19 Nov 1902-d.in Buchenwald concentration
camp 28 Aug 1944)

Mafalda Margarethe, b.Kiel 6 Jul 1965; m.1st Kronberg 6 Jul 1989
(div) Enrico dei Conti Marone Cinzano (b.Turin 5 Apr 1963); m.2d
Lütjenburg 19 Dec 1991 (div 1999) Carlo Galdo (b.Naples 26 Mar 1954);
m.3d Rome 14 Jul 2000 (rel) Palazzo Grotta Pallotta 28 Sep 2000
Ferdinando dei Conti Brachetti-Peretti (b.Rome 13 Jan 1960)

Tatiana Marie Galdo,
b.20 Jan 1992

Polissena Galdo,
b.30 Sep 1993

 Cosmo Maria Tebaldo Maurizio Enrico
Brachetti-Peretti, b.Rome 11 Jan 2000

4h) Briano Maria Tebaldo Brachetti
-Peretti, b.Rome 16 Apr 2002

    

Philipp Robin, b.Kiel 17 Sep 1970; m.Hamburg 5 May 2006
(rel) Panker 10 Jun 2006 Laetitia Bechtolf (b.Wedel 5 May 1978)

Heinrich Wilhelm Konstantin Victor Franz (Rome 30
Oct 1927-Langen, Hessen [or, Frankfurt] 18 Nov 1999)

Otto Adolf (Rome 3 Jun 1937-Hannover 3 Jan 1998); m.1st
(morganatically) (civ) Munich 5 Apr 1965 (rel) Trostberg, Upper
Bavaria 6 Apr 1965 (div 1969) Angela von Doering (Goslar 12
Aug 1940-Hannover 11 Apr 1991); m.2d (morganatically) Latrup
-Matrum 28 Dec 1988 (div 1994) Elisabeth Bönker
(b.Rumburg, Czechoslovakia 31 Jan 1944)

Elisabeth Margarethe Elena Johanna Maria Jolanda Polyxene,
b.Rome 8 Oct 1940; m.Frankfurt (civ) 26 Feb 1962 (rel)
28 Feb 1962 Friedrich Carl Gf von Oppersdorff
(Oberglogau 30 Jan 1925-Gravenbruch 11 Jan 1985)

Wolfgang Moritz (Schloß Rumpenheim 6 Nov 1896-Kronberg,
Taunus 12 Jul 1989); m.1st Salem 17 Sep 1924 Marie Alexandra Pss
of Baden (Salem 1 Aug 1902-k.in air raid at Frankfurt 29 Jan 1944);
m.2d Frankfurt 7 Sep 1948 Ottilie Moeller
(Frankfurt 24 Jun 1903-Kronberg 4 Nov 1991)

Richard Wilhelm Leopold (Frankfurt
14 May 1901-Frankfurt 11 Feb 1969)

Christoph Ernst August (Frankfurt 14 May 1901-k.a.in
the Apennines 7 Oct 1943); m.Kronberg 15 Dec 1930
Sophie Pss of Greece and Denmark (Corfu 26 Jun
1914- Neuhaus bei Schliersee 24 Nov 2001)

Christina Margarethe, b.Kronberg 10 Jan 1933; m.1st Kronberg 2
Aug 1956 (div 1962) Andreas Pr of Yugoslavia (Veldes, Krain 28 Jun
1929-Irvine, California 7 May 1990); m.2d London 3 Dec 1962 (div
1986) Robert van Eyck (The Hague 3 May 1916-Ashford 19 Dec 1991)

1g) Helene Sophie van Eyck, b.London 25 Oct 1963; m.Hastings 24
Jan 1986 Roderick Alan Harman (b.Chang-chou, China 18 Jul 1942)

Alexandra Sophia Harman,
b.St.Leonard's-on-Sea 26 Jul 1986

Pascale Olivia Harman, b.St.
Leonard's-on-Sea 19 Mar 1989

Mark Nicholas van Eyck, b.Oxford 16 Feb 1966; m.London
13 Jun 1992 Joanne Marea Green (b.Timaru NZ 11 Oct 1961)

Dorothea Charlotte Karin, b.Schloß Panker 24 Jul
1934; m.(civ) Schliersee, Upper Bavaria 31 Mar 1959
(rel) Munich 1 Apr 1959 Friedrich Pr zu Windisch-Grätz
(Heiligenberg, Baden 7 Jul 1917-Gersau 29 May 2002)

Karl Adolf Andreas, b.Berlin 26 Mar 1937; m.The
Hague (civ) 26 Mar 1966 (rel) 18 Apr 1966 Yvonne Gfn
Szapáry von Muraszombath, Széchysziget
u.Szapár (b.Budapest 4 Apr 1944)

Christoph, b.Munich 18 Jun 1969

Irina Verena, b.Munich 1 Apr 1971; m.(civ) Berlin
30 Apr 1999 (rel) Heusenstamm 29 May 1999
Alexander Gf von Schönburg-Glauchau
(b.Mogadishu, Somalia 15 Aug 1969)

Rainer Christoph Friedrich,
b.Kronberg 18 Nov 1939

 Clarissa Alice, b.Kronberg 6 Feb 1944; m.
Paris 20 Jul 1971 (div 1976) Claude Jean Derrien
(b.Boulogne-sur-Seine 12 Mar 1948)