Prince Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover

Ludwig Rudolf, Prince of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (21 November 1955 – 29 November 1988)

Ludwig Rudolf had trained to become a music producer in Los Angeles and London.

Marriage and death Having obtained the consent of Elizabeth II by Order in Council on 15 September 1987 pursuant to the Royal Marriages Act 1772, Ludwig Rudolf, a Lutheran, married the Roman Catholic Countess Isabella Maria von Thurn und Valsassina-Como-Vercelli (born September 8 1962 in Gmunden, Upper Austria), a former fashion model at her father's ancestral Austrian estate, Bleiburg Castle, Carinthia on 4 October 1987. She was the daughter of Count Ariprand von Thurn und Valsassina-Como-Vercelli (1925–1996), whose family, an Austrian branch of the Della Torre dynasty, ruled Milan in the 13th and 14th century, and his wife, Princess Maria Perpetua Euphemia von Auersperg (1929-2025). As authorities removed Isabella's body and investigated the scene, discovering syringes, cocaine and heroin, Ludwig Rudolf slipped away. Hours later, the prince was found in his car near his family's hunting lodge several miles away, on Lake Traun. He had the muzzle of a rifle in his mouth and was dead of a gunshot wound.

The case was closed without further investigation. Ludwig Rudolf and Isabelle were interred on 2 December 1988 at Grünau im Almtal, Austria, having been married less than 14 months. Custody of their infant son Otto Heinrich was awarded, contrary to the expressed wishes of Ludwig Rudolf, to the child's maternal grandparents. He grew up at their castle, Schloss Bleiburg, in Austria, and then studied art at Braunschweig University of Art in Brunswick (Braunschweig). He lives with his maternal grandmother in Salzburg.

Ancestry