Photograph of Ernest Louis of Hesse aged approximately three years old and seated in a three-quarter length portrait. He faces three-quarters to the right and wears a kilt with sporran and a tartan blanket over his left shoulder.

Ernest Louis was the eldest son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. On 9th April, 1894, he married Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe Coburrg and Gotha in Coburg. Following an unhappy marriage and subsequent divorce, Ernest Louis re-married on the 2nd February 1905, to Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms with whom he had two children.