In the historic tracks of our friend Otto Prinz von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld
The House of Hessen is a European dynasty. The origins of the House of Hessen begin in 1264 with the marriage of Sophie of Thuringia with Henry II, Duke of Brabant. At the beginning of the 20th century, both the German Kaiser and the Russian Czar, plus Victoria Queen of England were all related to the Hesse (as well as later the Battenbergs/Mountbattens). Since 2013, the head of the house has been Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse. He descends from the Hesse-Kassel branch of the family, which has been the genealogically senior male line since the house’s major partition in 1567.
The Grand Tour was the 17th- and 18th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe undertaken by young European men of sufficient means and rank. The custom served as an educational rite of passage. The primary value of the Grand Tour lay in its exposure to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent.
ROUTE
MILESTONES
North Cemetery Munich
Prinz von Hessen Roundtable & Cigar Club, Munich
Schloss Wolfsgarten, Langen (The official seat of the family)
Weingut Prinz von Hessen, Geisenheim
Germania, Niederwalddenkmal, Rüdesheim (“Die Wacht am Rhein”)
Schlosshotel Kronberg, Kronberg im Taunus (Also the office of the “Hessische Hausstiftung“)
Villa Rothschild, Königstein im Taunus (Hotel next door)
Grandhotel Hessischer Hof, Frankfurt am Main (Currently closed, had a legendary cigar bar)
EZB Europäische Zentralbank, Frankfurt am Main (Two shards in the flesh)
Wilhelmsbad, Schloss mit Grabpyramide, Hanau (With the money of the world’s then richest man Landgraf Wilhelm I. of Hessen, a half-Brit whose family name was synonymous for renting out “Hessian” soldiers for Britain against Americans, the subsequent richest person in the world Mayer Amschel Rothschild financed the Bavarian Illuminati and their takeover of World Freemasonry at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad in 1782. Certainly a decisive moment in history. Two years later, Wilhelm’s first-born son Friedrich was buried in a dedicated grave pyramid, under strange circumstances, at the age of 12.)
Schloss Fasanerie, Eichenzell (“Fürstliches Gartenfest”)
Gedenkstätte Deutsche Teilung – Point Alpha, Rasdorf / Geisa
Schloss Philippsthal, an der Werra
Werra Brücke der Einheit (Via Regia), Philippsthal / Vacha
Schloss Wilhelmsburg, Barchfeld (defunct)
Schloss Augustenau, Herleshausen (Family crypta of the Princes of Hessen-Philippsthal)
Wartburg in Eisenach (Geographic centerpoint of Germany with important history from Burschenschaft to Luther)
Grenzübergang Wartha / Herleshausen (Symbol of German East-West division 1949-91)
Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel (First started by Landgraf Friedrich II. von Hessen in 1767, then finished in great splendour and occult masonic architecture by Landgraf Wilhelm I. von Hessen in 1798.)
Rothwesten (Deutsche Mark Konklave in 1948), between Kassel and Warburg, which led to the division of Germany (despite the Russian offer for re-unification), and where the Warburg banking family still gathers from all around the world, every year, to celebrate their victories against Germans in WW1 and WW2.
Hotel & Restaurant Ole Liese, Gut Panker (Hideaway Hotel and Michelin-Star Restaurant)
Gestüt Panker (Worldfamous Trakehner Stud)
Internat Schloss Plön (Boarding School of Otto Prinz von Hessen)
Marine-Ehrenmal in Laboe, U-Boot U995 und Möltenort
BOOK
Die Hessens: Geschichte einer europäischen Familie, von Rainer Prinz von Hessen
VIDEO
ARD Mediathek: Philip von Battenberg – So hessisch sind die Royals
Der verstorbene Prinz Philip und Hessen: Das ist eine lebenslange, also fast hundertjährige Geschichte. Er war der Sohn der Alice von Battenberg, aus der inzwischen berühmten Nebenlinie des Hauses Hessen.
DIASHOW
The purpose of the trip was the promotion of Prinz von Hessen Cigars to Hessen properties.
–
Dr. Kolja Spori 