Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse (1843-1878) with her children in 1877: (l to r) Ella, Alix, Victoria, Ernst Ludwig and Irene, with the youngest, May sitting on Alice's lap. Alice's family succumbed to diptheria in November 1878. The youngest child, May, died on 16th November 1878 and Alice, who had spent weeks nursing her children before coming down with diptheria herself. She died on 14th December at the age of just 35 on the 17th anniversary of her father, Prince Albert's death.