Up for auction "Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld" Prince
Christian Hand Signed 3X5 Card. . This item is certified authentic by JG Autographs and comes
with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-7225
Prince Christian of Hesse (Christian Ludwig Friedrich Adolf Alexis Wilhelm Ferdinand; 16 June 1889 – 19 October 1971) was a member of the House of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld and a German naval officer until he resigned his commission during World War I in protest at Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. As a member of the House of Hesse, he was styled His Highness Prince Christian of Hesse. In order to distinguish between the various branches of the house, the designation -Philippsthal-Barchfeld was sometimes added to the end of the princely title. Prince Christian, the youngest of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse's ten children, was born at Louisenlund Castle in Güby, Schleswig-Holstein. He was the only child from his father's fourth marriage with Princess Auguste of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, the eldest daughter of Duke Friedrich.[1] Prince Christian was closely related to the British, Danish, Greek and Russian royal families through his mother, who was a first cousin of Queen Alexandra, King Frederik VIII, King George I and Empress Maria Feodorovna. His half-sister Princess Bertha was married to Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe. In 1905, Prince Christian's elder half brother Prince Chlodwig inherited the family's wealth and assets when he succeeded their uncle Landgrave Alexis as head of the House of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld due to the children of their father's first morganatic marriage, the Princes and Princesses von Ardeck, being excluded from the succession. As a younger son Prince Christian was not particularly wealthy, having to live off the money his family granted him. Prince Christian joined the Imperial German Navy on 20 March 1905. In the summer of 1912 he was a Lieutenant Commander on the SMS Stettin when the ship made an official visit to the United States as part of a squadron commanded by Admiral Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz. During the First World War the prince wrote an open letter to Emperor Wilhelm II criticising Germany's campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare, before resigning his