Soon after, however, he was eliminated from the Wehrmacht along with other members of formerly ruling houses, because of “political unreliability” according to the Prinzenerlass, although he had joined the Nazi Party as a precaution to protect his position and property.

[8] After the end of World War II, the couple got involved in the reconstruction of Darmstadt, in art, museums and charitable institutions such as the Alice Hospital, the Eleonora Home and the German Red Cross on whose board Margaret was a member for two decades from 1958.

[9] His sister-in-law Cecilie of Hesse, Princess of Greece and Denmark who had died in the plane crash was a sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

He translated texts for his friend Benjamin Britten (1913–76) and had the English composer come to Wolfsgarten, where parts of his opera Death in Venice, published in 1973, were written.

[14][15] With the death of Prince Louis in Frankfurt in 1968, he was succeeded by Moritz's father, Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1980) as head of the house.