The Hessian siblings and their spouses, Darmstadt, 8 October 1903

The Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt being visited by his four sisters and their husbands.  The five surviving Hesse siblings were the children of Grand Duke Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt and his wife, the former Princess Alice of Great Britain, hence they were the grandchildren of Queen Victoria, who was very involved in their upbringing, especially after their mother's early death.

Ernst Ludwig; Alix, the Empress Alexandra of Russia; Tsar Nicholas II; Irène, Princess Heinrich of Prussia; Prince Heinrich.

Ernest Ludwig was "between wives" in 1903. He had been unhappily married to his cousin Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha - a union the two had been pushed into by their mutual grandmother, Queen Victoria - but they had been divorced since December of 1901. Though at least bisexual, the Grand Duke would remarry in 1905 - and very happily, as it turned out - to Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich.

Ella, Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna; Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich; Victoria, Princess Louis of Battenberg; Prince Louis.