Although the third son Landgrave Chlodwig became heir to the headship of the House of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld upon the death of his uncle in 1905 due to his elder half brothers Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and Prince Carl Wilhelm von Ardeck's exclusion from the succession on account of their parents morganatic marriage.

[1] In the early 1930s three of Landgrave Chlodwig's children (Wilhelm, Alexander Friedrich and Viktoria Cäcilie) joined the Nazi party.

His third son Prince Alexander Friedrich, who suffered from epilepsy, was sterilised by the Nazis on 27 September 1938, he died a year later.

[2] The landgrave's eldest son Prince Wilhelm, an SS-Hauptsturmführer,[3] was killed in action during World War II.

Landgrave Chlodwig died aged 78 in Bad Hersfeld, he was survived by his wife and daughters, his three sons having predeceased him.