Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt

Early life

Prince Leopold was born on 18 July 1855 in Dessau as the first child of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen and his wife Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. He was named after his grandfather Duke Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen.

In 1863 his grandfather, Duke Leopold, became Duke of the united Duchy of Anhalt following the death of the last Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg.

On 22 May 1871, Duke Leopold died and Prince Leopold's father succeeded to the Duchy of Anhalt. Leopold himself now became hereditary prince.

Marriage and issue

In the autumn of 1883, Hereditary Prince Leopold proposed to Princess Viktoria of Prussia, daughter of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia and Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom. But his proposal was refused. In April 1884 Friedrich von Holstein recorded that:

Princess Viktoria – or her mother – turned down the hereditary Prince of Anhalt last autumn.

In the end of December 1883 Hereditary Prince Leopold was engaged to Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel, the eldest daughter of Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Anna of Prussia. When hearing of this engagement, Queen Victoria, whose daughter apparently had not informed her mother of the rejected proposal, wrote:

but I regret that you have not got him en réserve for Vicky if her fond hopes cannot be realised.

Leopold and Elisabeth were married on 26 May 1884 at Schloss Philippsruhe in Hanau. They had one daughter:

1. Antoinette (Schloss Georgium, 3 March 1885 – Dessau, 3 April 1963), married on 26 May 1909 to Prince Frederick of Schaumburg-Lippe.

Death

Less than one year after the birth of his daughter, Leopold died unexpectedly in Cannes on 2 February 1886. As he had no sons, he was succeeded as Hereditary prince by his younger brother Frederick who would eventually become Duke Frederick II of Anhalt.

Princess Elisabeth never remarried and survived her husband by almost 70 years. She died in Dessau on 7 January 1955.