Prince Louis of Hesse (1837-1892)

Georg Koberwein (1820-1876)

12 December 1873

Coloured Chalk

53.3 x 44.4 cm

Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 403994. Reproduced by kind permission.

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Prince Louis of Hesse was the husband of Queen Victoria's second daughter, Princess Alice. On their marriage, he was given the title of Royal Highness in the United Kingdom, too, and the couple often visited the Queen there. On 16 August 1873, for example (the year when this portrait was taken), Alice writes to her mother, "Louis joins with me in saying that we shall gratefully accept your wish that we should come to Windsor" (qtd. in Alice, Grand Duchess, p. 269). [Commentary continues below.]