Prince Richard of Hesse

Prince Richard of Hesse (Richard Wilhelm Leopold; 14 May 1901 – 11 February 1969) was a German prince and politician. He was Obergruppenführer in the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK) and President of the German Road Safety Association.

Early life Prince Richard and his twin brother Christoph were born on 14 May 1901 in Frankfurt am Main, in Prussian Hesse as the fifth son Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse and his wife Princess Margaret of Prussia. His great-grandmother was Queen Victoria, his mother was the youngest sister of Emperor Wilhelm II.

Richard, affectionately nicknamed "Ri" by his family, grew up in a loving and close-knit family. He received a cosmopolitan education, given by governesses and tutors of different nationalities. In addition to German, he learned English, which the family used extensively in their private life.

Career and later life The First World War and the fall of the imperial regime Too young to be mobilized when the First World War broke out, Richard and Prince Christoph of Hesse-Kassel spent most of the conflict in Kronberg, where they were educated at the . Unlike his twin brother, who did not take the exam, Richard obtained the in 1920. Passionate about transport engineering and automotive engineering, he also joined the .

From a sentimental point of view, Richard fell in love with Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, met around 1927. However, she fell in love with Richard's twin brother Prince Christoph of Hesse-Kassel, and it is the latter that she married, in 1930.

Adherence to Nazism Like his three brothers, Richard was enthusiastic about Nazism. In 1932, the prince thus joined simultaneously the SA and the NSDAP. During the summer of 1933, he also actively participated in the organization of events linked to the Nazi party and in particular to the 5th Nuremberg rallies.

Subsequently, Richard became a general in the (NSKK), a special unit of the SA corps, and obtained leadership of the in 1935. There he rubbed shoulders with his cousin, King Michael I of Romania.

Prince Richard died in 1969.

Ancestry