Prince Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse

Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse (legally Moritz Friedrich Karl Emanuel Humbert Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen; 6 August 1926 – 23 May 2013) was the son of Prince Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, and the head of the House of Hesse, also known as the House of Brabant.

Life Princess Mafalda with her two sons, Moritz and Heinrich in the 1930s.

Landgrave Moritz was born at Racconigi Castle, in Italy. During the Second World War, Moritz's mother, Princess Mafalda of Savoy, was arrested by the Nazis for alleged subversive activities and died in the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944 after a U.S. bombing raid on the camp. Moritz and his siblings (Heinrich, Otto and Elisabeth) were given sanctuary in the Vatican under the care of their uncle Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine and aunt Margaret Campbell Geddes who adopted them.

After the War they were reunited with their father in Germany. Together with his younger brothers, he took part in the ship tour organized by Queen Frederica and her husband King Paul of Greece in 1954, which became known as the “Cruise of the Kings” and was attended by over 100 royals from all over Europe.

Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine, the last head of the Hesse-Darmstadt line, died in 1968, at which time Moritz's father succeeded him as head of the entire house. Moritz became the head of the House of Hesse after the death of his father Philip on 25 October 1980.

Moritz was a world-famous art collector. He presided over the Foundation of the House of Hesse which is the proprietor of the Kronberg Palace Hotel and several manor estates and palaces. He lived at Schloß Wolfsgarten south of Frankfurt am Main and Panker estate in Schleswig-Holstein

He died aged 86 of a lung disease in a hospital in Frankfurt, Germany.

Marriage and children Moritz married Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, daughter of Prince Gustav Albrecht. Their marriage took place in the summer of 1964 in Giessen and ended in divorce in 1974. They had four children. Mafalda Margarethe (born 6 July 1965). Married 1st Enrico dei Conti Marone Cinzano (born 5 April 1963, Turin) on 8 July 1989 (div. 1990) with no issue. Married 2nd Carlo Galdo (born 26 March 1954, Naples) on 19 December 1991 (div. 1999) and had two daughters. Married 3rd Ferdinando dei Conti Brachetti Peretti (born 13 January 1960, Rome) on 28 September 2000 (div. 2014) and had two sons. Heinrich Donatus Philipp Umberto (born 17 October 1966). Married Countess Floria Franziska von Faber-Castell (born 14 October 1974, Düsseldorf, Germany) on 25 April 2003 (civil ceremony) and on 17 May 2003 (religious ceremony) and has a daughter and two sons. Elena Elisabeth Madeleine (born 8 November 1967) has a daughter by Massimo Caiazzo (born 1976). Philipp Robin (born 17 September 1970). Married Laetitia Bechtolf (born 5 May 1978, Wedel, Pinneberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) on 5 May 2006 (civil ceremony) and on 10 June 2006 (religious ceremony) and has three daughters and a son.

Ancestry