Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse

Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (Großherzog Ludwig III von Hessen und bei Rhein; 9 June 1806, Darmstadt – 13 June 1877, Seeheim) was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1848 until his death in 1877.

Biography
He was the son of Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse and his consort, Princess Wilhelmine of Baden. He succeeded as Grand Duke in 1848 upon the abdication of his father during the March Revolution in the German states.

During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Louis sent word more than once to Queen Victoria, mother-in-law of his nephew and successor Louis, appealing to her to reason on his behalf with the King of Prussia, "in the same sense I had already written before, but it would be utterly useless."

He was succeeded by his nephew, Louis IV, on 13 June 1877, as his brother Charles (Louis' father) had already died three months previously, in March.

Marriages
In Munich, on 26 December 1833, he married Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria, eldest daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria. The marriage produced no children. Princess Mathilde Caroline died in 1862, and in 1868 the Grand Duke remarried, morganatically, to Magdalene Appel who was created Baroness of Hochstädten.

Honours and awards
• Baden:

• * Grand Cross of the House Order of Fidelity, 1806

• * Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion, 1833

•  Electorate of Hesse: Grand Cross of the Order of the Golden Lion, 19 February 1827

•  Kingdom of Prussia:

• * Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, 3 May 1830

• * Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, 25 April 1871

•  Austrian Empire: Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, 1830

•  Kingdom of Bavaria: Knight of the Order of Saint Hubert, 1833

•  Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Falcon, 3 October 1840

•  Oldenburg: Grand Cross of the House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis, with Golden Crown, 11 October 1840

•  Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown, 1841

•  Kingdom of Saxony: Knight of the Order of the Rue Crown, 1845

•  Kingdom of Hanover:

• * Knight of the Order of St. George, 1851

• * Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order, 1851

•  Duchy of Modena and Reggio: Grand Cross of the Order of the Eagle of Este, 1856

•  Nassau: Knight of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, December 1858

•  undefined: Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 6 April 1863

• 🇲🇨 Monaco: Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles, 23 April 1865

•  undefined: Stranger Knight of the Order of the Garter, 17 June 1865