The Last Hessian Princess

via Wikimedia Commons

A golden-haired princess arrived at Wolfsgarten on September 20, 1936 at a peak moment of joy for her family. The Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus of Hesse-Darmstadt already had his "heir and a spare"--little Ludwig born in 1931 and Alexander born in 1933. Although his family had lost its political status at the end of the Great War in 1919, Germany was finally recovering and the Hessian family was thriving.

Georg Donatus' wife, the former Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, seemed settled after the wanderings and upheavals of her youth caused by the political turmoils in Greece and her own parents' estrangement. Cecilie's mother, the former Princess Alice of Battenberg, had not attended their wedding in February 1931 because she had been institutionalized by her mother, the former Princess Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine (who was also Georg Donatus' aunt). By the time Georg Donatus and Cecilie's third child was born, however, Princess Alice had long been recovered and was living independently. Although she was not in regular contact with Cecilie, at least they knew she was no longer believing herself to be married to Jesus. 

Georg Donatus' father, Grand Duke Ernest Louis, a beloved grandson of Queen Victoria, was aging but by no means decrepit at age 66. His mother, the former Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, was a warm and loving grandmother to the growing brood. Meanwhile, his only brother, Prince Ludwig, was newly smitten with a very special British lady called Margaret Campbell Geddes.

Cecilie and Georg Donatus named their little girl Johanna Marina Eleonore. Her second name was given in honor of her godmother, Cecilie's first cousin Princess Marina of Greece, who had married the youngest surviving son of Britain's king and become the Duchess of Kent. The family of five was nestled in the happy and stable environs of their grandparents' country home at Wolfsgarten outiside of Darmstadt. 

In the new year, Grand Duke Ernest Louis became ill with lung disease and started to decline. The family was worried but also had two new reasons to celebrate. First, Cecilie was pregnant again. Second, Ludwig and Margaret, affectionately known as Peg, were to be married in London. 

Preparations for the wedding kept everyone busy in that fall of 1937 when they celebrated Johanna's first birthday. Everyone, except the tiny princess, would fly together from Germany to England for the wedding celebrations. Ernest Louis did his best to make sure he could attend. Sadly, his body had other plans. The Grand Duke passed away on October 9, two weeks before the wedding. The couple rescheduled their wedding until November 20.

On November 16, the new Grand Duke Georg Donatus kissed his 14-month-old daughter Johanna goodbye, likely promising to bring her gift from his journey. Then, he helped his mourning mother, his pregnant wife, and his two little boys board the private plane for a multi-stage flight. However, something went wrong. During an unplanned landing the plane collided with a factory chimney and crashed. In a flash, everyone was gone. 

Devastated, Ludwig and Peg moved their wedding to the next day with the bride and the handful of guests dressed in mourning black. Then, they traveled to the site of the crash in Belgium for the gruesome task of identifying the bodies. From there, they hurried to Wolfsgarten to be with little Johanna, who was far too young to understand why her parents never returned to her. Although they had to oversee the funeral for six members of the family--Cecilie's baby boy was born in the lead-up to or in the moment of the crash--Ludwig and Peg showered Johanna with affection and attention.

The newlyweds formally adopted Johanna in early 1938 and she became their great joy. Their happiness was once again cut short the following year when little Johanna was stricken with meningitis. She died on June 14, 1939, just three months short of her third birthday. She was laid to rest at Rosenhöhe Park in Darmstadt with her brothers, parents, and grandparents.

For More About the Hessian Royal Family's Tragedies:
The Curse of November 16 on Royal Musings

Alt for Norge: The Life of Princess Astrid

Screenshot from @

detnorskekongehus

 on Instagram

An elderly lady sits in a wheelchair silhouetted in the shadows of the palace looking out on the crowds mourning her little brother. In another image, the same lonely figure sits alone beside his casket. A single stone of sadness with rivers of international mourning streaming around her. Alone. The last sibling.

And just days after that, the wheelchair sits empty. Its royal occupant no longer standing tall to give her "Alt for Norge."

Princess Astrid passed away in her sleep at the age of 94 on September 11, 2026, two days after her younger brother, King Harald V of Norway was laid to rest. 

Despite several health challenges in her later years, Princess Astrid remained an active member of the Norwegian Royal Family working almost to the end. She made her last public engagement on May 4, 2026 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dyslexia Norway just a few weeks after being hospitalized with pneumonia. Ten days later, she was hospitalized again, this time with heart failure and was given a pacemaker. This marked the unofficial end of 75 years of public service. Always full of humor and with a heart for service, Astrid once remarked, "I sit in a chair and stuff but it's my legs that fail...I can be involved with things." That spirit led her to take on as many as 20 official engagements a year well into her nineties.

Photo from the Studio of Ernest Rude from the
National Library of Norway via Wikimedia Commons

Princess Astrid Maud Ingeborg of Norway was born on February 12, 1932 as the second child of then Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway. She was named for her maternal aunt Astrid, who was soon to be Queen of Belgium (See my post about her, End of a Fairytale); her paternal grandmother Queen Maud of Norway, a former British princess; and her maternal grandmother, Princess Ingeborg of Sweden (See my post about her, A Truly Royal In-Law). As a great-grandaughter of King Edward VII, she was born 18th in line to the British throne. At the time, however, her gender barred her from any claims on the Norwegian realm of her father or the Swedish realm of her mother. Nevertheless, she became a very important princess at a very young age. The death of Queen Maud when Astrid was five, elevated Crown Princess Martha to the role of Norway's first lady. When Martha died 16 years later, Astrid took on the role at the tender age of 22 because her older sister, Princess Ragnhild (see my post about her Death of Princess Ragnhild). She would serve as first lady for her grandfather King Haakon VII and her father King Olav V, until her younger brother Crown Prince Harald married Sonja Haraldsen (read my post about her, A New Kind of Queen for Norway) in 1968.

Astrid's early years were spent in the bosom of a growing, happy family despite the looming clouds of war that were gathering across Europe. When the Nazis brought the war to Norway, the Crown Princess and the three children fled at first to Sweden and then, when their presence grew harmful for Sweden's neutrality, to the United States as guests of President Franklin Roosevelt. King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav led a government from hiding in Norway and then from exile in London, after the Germans set up a puppet regime in Norway.

Astrid and her siblings spent five years of their childhood in the United States, at first in Upstate New York and then in Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.. She was 13 by the time the war ended and they were finally able to return to Norway. She attended Nissen's Girl School and studied ceramics. Then, Astrid spent two years at Oxford University studying economics and political history, an unusual undertaking for a princess of her generation. However, the young princesses of the 1950s and 1960s were emerging as leaders -- perhaps because there were so many of them compared to the number of princes! Young royal women were being dispatched around the world to represent their nations. 

One memorable tour saw Astrid with her cousins Princess Margaretha of Sweden and Princess (later Queen) Margrether of Denmark on a joing tour across the California to promote Scandinavia Airline Service (SAS) with its new faster transatlantic flights. In addition to some glitzy dinners wearing tiaras, the wildly popular trio of princesses, went to SeaWorld and Disneyland and also visited a different kind of king--King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley on the set of his film G.I. Blues.

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The only moment of any controversy in Astrid's life came in her choice of spouse. All of King Olav's children married only with the grunting permission of their father: Ragnhild because Erling Lorentzen was a commoner and her former bodyguard and Harald because Sonja Haraldsen was also a commoner. Astrid's choice was potentially more scandalous because her desired spouse was also divorced. This meant more than just a social mismatch; it meant concerns from the Norwegian Church. Only a few years later, Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom had spurned her love Peter Townsend (see my post, An Affair to Remember) for the very same reason. Astrid quietly persisted, despite objections even from her own parish church and finally was given permission to marry Johan Martin Ferner, a businessman and Olympic medalist in sailing. As a consequence, she lost her royal status, becoming just Her Highness, and her royal income.

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Thenceforth known officially as Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner, she launched into a very happy domestic life. She and Mr. Ferner were married for 54 years until his death in 2015. The first 11 years of their marriage saw the arrival of give children: Cathrine, Benedikte, Alexander, Elisabeth and Carl Christian.

Publicly, she continued to support the monarch and to take on leadership roles for many charitable organizations. She was especially concerned with social and humanitarian issues, particularly those that related to women. Astrid also was an avid supporter of the arts and athletics. On her 70th birthday, Norway recognized her long service to the country by granting her an honorary pension.

Embodying the wartime mantra of "Alt for Norge" (All For Norway), Princess Astrid is the only member of the Norwegian Royal Family to have lived through all four reigns of the modern Norwegian monarchy, those of her grandfather Haakon VII, her father Olav V, her brother Harald V, and. for a few days, her nephew Haakon VIII. She was one of the last surviving great-grandchildren of Britain's King Edward VII--the others still living are The Duke of Gloucester, The Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent, and Princess Alexandra Lady Ogilvy.

More personally, she is survived by her five children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, none of whom bear royal titles or undertake royal duties.

Princess Astrid, at the heart of the Norwegian Royal Family,between the then
Crown Princess & Princess and the King & Queen on the 85th birthday in 2017.
Photo by Marten Brun, The Norwegian Royal Court

More About Astrid
Did Princess Astrid of Norway Die of a Broken Heart? on Tatler
Heartbreak as Norways's Princess Astrid Dies on Hello!
Norway: Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner's 90th Birthday on Dag Trygsland Hoelseth
On Call for Norway Throughout Her Life on the Norwegian Royal House
Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner on Royal Musings
Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner on Unofficial Royalty
Princess Astrid of Norway Has Died on Royal Watcher
Princess Astrid of Norway Dies Two Days After Her Brother's Funeral on Royal Central
Princess Astrid of Norway, 94, Is the Picture of Dignity on Tatler
Royal Wedding Dress: Princess Astrid of Norway on Queens of England
Working for Norway Throughout Her Life on Royal Musings