Queen Victoria's Half Sister: Princess Feodora of Leiningen

 

Queen Victoria's half sister: Princess Feodora of Leiningen. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Princess Feodora of Leiningen

Feodora was born Princess Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhemina of Leiningen on the 7th of December 1807 in Amorbach, then in Leiningen and now in Bavaria, Germany. She was the only daughter of Emich Karl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, and his second wife, Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Her brother Karl was three years older than her. Karl and Feodora had a deceased half-sibling from their father's first marriage. Friedrich had died aged seven in 1800.

Her maternal grandmother, Countess Augusta of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, described her as "a little clown" and observed that Feodora showed "grace in every movement of her body."

The 50-year-old Emich Karl died in 1814, and he was succeeded by 10-year-old Karl as 3rd Prince of Leiningen.

Karl and Feodora's best-known relation was their half-sister from Victoire's second marriage in 1818 to Edward, Duke of Kent. This child, born at Kensington Palace on the 24th May 1819, was christened Alexandrina Victoria but is remembered in history as Queen Victoria, ruler for over sixty-three years.

Life at Kengsington Palace, London

The Duke of Kent loved and treated Karl and Feodora as if they were his own children. Tragically, their stepfather died on 23rd January 1820, just six days before his father, King George III, passed away.

Victoire, Duchess of Kent decided that as Victoria was in the line of succession to the British throne, the family would remain in England. They lived a fairly meagre existence by royal standards and had few friends. Victoria and Feodora were close all their lives.

Victoria was guarded and seldom left alone because of suspicions that there could be foul play to prevent her from taking the throne. This meant a "dismal" upbringing for them.

The princesses were taught at home by their governess, Baroness Lehzen, known as Daisy. Victoria looked upon Daisy as a mother figure and she confided in her. Feodora wrote in her journal that her carriage rides with Victoria and Daisy were the only times that she felt happy.

As Victoire grew ever more dependent on the Machiavellian household comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who saw Victoria as his passport to grandeur and glory, Feodora felt stifled and hoped to marry young to escape the oppressive atmosphere.

Feodora's Escape to Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Feodora took her opportunity to marry. On 18th February 1828, she and Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, were married at Kensington Palace after just two meetings. Victoria was a bridesmaid.

As half-sister to a queen in waiting, Feodora could have married a higher profile royal, but she was happy to marry a kind man thirteen years her senior, who she also found handsome and escape Kensington Palace. The couple's first home was the Schloss Langenburg, hundreds of miles from Conroy and the easily manipulated Duchess of Kent.

Feodora didn't see Victoria for the next six years. Victoria remained under strict supervision at Kensington Palace until her 1837 accession. Conroy tried to become the power behind Victoria's throne, but his dreams swiftly faded.

The Hohenlohe-Langenburg's in Stuttgart

Karl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen married Countess Maria von Klebelsberg on 13th February 1829. The couple had two sons, Ernst Leopold and Eduard Friedrich in 1830 and 1833, respectively.

Feodora and Ernst had six children been 1829 and 1837: Carl Ludwig, Elise, Hermann, Viktor, Adelheid and Feodora.

Elise passed away in 1850, aged nineteen. Adelheid went on to be the mother of "Dona" Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia, instigator of World War One and Queen Victoria's eldest grandson.

Feodora and Ernst raised their family in the city of Stuttgart, where he was involved in numerous political schemes, and together, they pursued philanthropic initiatives. The couple were in demand in society, and so Feodora was rarely left alone or bored. Notably, Feodora founded the Children's Rescue Centre in 1830 and the Poor Preservation Institute for Children and the Sick in 1853.

Victoria and Feodora wrote epistles to one another, and regular visits were paid between homes and palaces. Victoria covered Feodora's expenses on each visit she made to England.

Karl, Prince of Leiningen, died relatively young in 1856 after a series of strokes. Victoria and Feodora were inconsolable that they'd lost their "dearly loved only brother."

Victoria Sees Feodora for the Last Time

Feodora became a widow on 12th April 1860.

She and Victoria lost their mother in early 1861, and Feodora was present for Victoire's funeral. By the close of the year, Feodora was back in England, comforting Victoria after the loss of her beloved Prince Albert.

Victoria tried to persuade Feodora to live in Britain so that the two widows could grieve together. Feodora valued her freedom, and she wanted to be close to her children, so she declined and relocated to Baden-Baden in Germany. With financial support from Victoria, she purchased Villa Frisenberg.

Victoria paid her last visit to the villa and an ailing, and mourning, Feodora in spring 1872 after Feodora's youngest child (Feodora) died from scarlet fever.

Feodora died on 23rd September 1872, probably from cancer. She was buried in the main cemetery in Baden-Baden. Queen Victoria was devastated to lose her "last near relative on an equality with me ... the last link with my youth."

Four years later, Victoria returned to the villa and renamed it Villa Hohenlohe in memory of her much-missed half-sister.

Sources:

• Queen Victoria's half-sister – Feodora of Leiningen | History of Royal Women

• Queen Victoria's Half-Sister: Who Was Princess Feodora? | History Hit

• Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg | Unofficial Royalty

5 Historic and Weird U.K. Laws That Still Exist Today

5 Historic and Weird U.K. Laws That Still Exist Today. 

Image: Pixabay. Copyright Free.

U.K. laws introduced by monarchs and governments throughout history don't always stand the test of time. Below, discover 5 historic and weird pieces of U.K. legislation that are still enforceable today because they've never been repealed, even if they make little or no sense in the 21st century. 

1. The Library Offences Act was introduced in 1898 and it made it illegal to gamble in public libraries. The authorities were concerned that readers and students using libraries weren't getting the peace and quiet that they needed when other activities were taking place. The solution was to outlaw gambling and swearing. 

2. To avoid delays and disturbances it became the law in London in 1839 that rugs, carpets and doormats should not be beaten or shaken in the street after 8 a.m. Hanging washing across the street between the rows of houses was also forbidden, and it remains so.

3. Travel back to 1313 and King Edward II's reign to discover the oldest law on this list. Edward II passed a law that made it illegal for politicians (and guests) to wear full suits of armour or to carry weapons in parliament. While the armour law made sense in medieval times, over seven hundred years later there's not much call for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and co. to pop on some armour in the houses of parliament, and yet the law still stands.

4. According to the 1872 Licensing Act it is against the law in the U.K. to be drunk in a pub (public.house), yes, the place where people would likely go to get drunk. This law was extended so that bar staff could refuse to serve an inebriated person and drunkenness became illegal in any public space. Whilst the law exists today, there probably aren't enough police officers to round up all the offenders staggering home from the pub or club on a Saturday night.  

5. The Metropolitan Streets Act 1867 forbade people to walk their cows along a road/street in London between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. unless the Police Commissioner had given you permission to do so.  Presumably, enterprising farmers waited until nightfall to move herds around the capital and to markets! Another piece of legislation means that people can't be drunk when in charge of animals so taking cattle for a nocturnal stroll or riding a dray horse home from ye olde pub whilst inebriated are against the law, in case you were thinking about it.

Incidentally, people are legally required to give way to stampeding cattle. Common sense, surely. Who'd stand there and argue about right of way as a herd of cattle stormed towards them? 

So, if you're in the U.K. remember not to wear a suit of armour in parliament or drunkenly beat a rug, accompanied by a cow during daylight hours or you really will be in trouble. You have been warned!

Sources

 https://oxbridgehomelearning.uk/blog/you-wont-believe-these-weird-uk-laws/?srsltid=AfmBOorE3x1yFiLnHXROgYu-H1tdWvp1XYSQyHHa20HoHMjqCkgdn3VJ

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/obscure-medieval-laws/

https://emlaw.co.uk/weird-uk-laws/

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/35-36/94/section/12#commentary-c568201

When Did The Byzantine Empire Collapse?

The Roman Empire, Eastern/Byzantine in pink, and Western in green in 395 A.D. 

Image: Wikipedia./AKIKA3D CC4.0.

The Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire

The name Byzantine Empire was only attributed to the Eastern Roman Empire after it collapsed. It was founded in May 330 A.D. when the Roman Empire's Constantine the Great proclaimed that the important port city on the Bosporus, known to the ancient Greeks as Byzantian, was the "new Rome". He called it Constantinople in his honour. Today, Constantinople is Istanbul in Turkey. 

The Christian Eastern Orthodox faith prevailed there and it retained a strong Greek influence. Constantinople was perceived as impenetrable to invaders; several enemies tried and failed over time to breach the legendary inner and outer city walls, named the Theodosian Walls, that had a moat between them. 

The empire expanded and contracted as military victories, losses and politics played out across the empire and through the centuries. The eastern empire survived its western counterpart by almost one thousand years; the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 A.D.  The eastern empire ceased to exist on the 29th May 1453 despite Constantine XI Palaiologos's refusal to surrender Constantinople to the Muslim Sultan Mehmed II and the Ottoman Turks.

The Eastern Roman Empire, now called the Latin Empire, in 1204. 

Image: Wikipedia. LatinEmpire CC3.0.

What Went Wrong?

By the Middle Ages the laws, regulations, prejudices and internal arguments of the once united and notably diverse empire proved insurmountable obstacles.

Parts of the empire were claimed by military rivals and civil wars eroded the sense of wealth and power. The empire fell under the Pope's rule after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Byzantine rule was restored in 1261 but the empire was smaller than in its early stages and prone to internal tensions. The Byzantines lost control of the lucrative trade routes. Additionally, the Black Death killed half of Constantinople's population between 1346-9. 

The Fall of the Byzantine Empire

As to surrendering the city to you, it is not for me to decide or for anyone else of its citizens; for all of us have reached the mutual decision to die of our own free will, without any regard for our lives.  

Constantine XI Palaiologos.

 

The fall of the Byzantine Empire occurred during the rule of Constantine XI Palaiologos when the Ottoman Empire's Sultan Mehmed II laid siege to Constantinople. Outnumbered by the enemy, initial attempts by the defenders to halt the Ottoman progress over sea failed. The Great Chain of the Golden Horn, literally a metal chain that blocked the entrance to the city, wasn't enough of a deterrent. Sultan Mehmed, his army and mercenaries hauled his ships overland and attacked the Theodosian Walls.

 

After fifty-five days of unrelenting bombardment but no definite victory, on the 29th May 1453 Constantine XI was seen fighting with his soldiers to the death, literally. 
The slaughtered emperor's head was presented to the jubilant sultan; it was then nailed to a column.

The Eastern Roman Empire ceased to exist except for in a few small and easily conquerable pockets. The residents of Constantinople that resisted the new regime were reportedly slain or enslaved; women, including nuns, were raped. The city's riches were plundered. The sacred Eastern Orthodox Christian church, the Hagia Sophia, was turned into a mosque.

A Solar Eclipse Foretold The Fall Of The Empire?

Some Byzantines' believed that a partial solar eclipse on the 22nd May 1453 was an omen of the fall of Constantinople.

Legend has it that two Christian priests disappeared into the Theodosian Walls during the final days of the empire and that they will reappear when/if Christian ownership of Constantinople/Istanbul occurs. 

A dense fog settled over the city in the days that followed Sultan Mehmet's victory and a strange light was seen in the dome of the Hagia Sophia. Both were interpreted as signs that the Holy Spirit was leaving the city to its ungodly fate. 

A volcanic eruption and the resulting sulphur clouds offered a more scientific explanation for the fog but almost 600 years later the light anomaly remains a mystery.

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire

https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/byzantium-ca-330-1453

https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/Byzantine_Empire/

The No Fuss Princess: Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood

Princess Mary, later the Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood; only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary and sister to Kings Edward VIII and George VI. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain. 

 

Jubilee Year Princess

Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, known to history as Princess Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood, was born on the 25th April 1897 at York House on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. She was the third child and only daughter of King George V (1865-1936) and his wife, Mary (1867-1953), called Georgie and May by the royal family.

It was Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee year, hence the tribute to her in the baby’s name, but Mary was in honour of her maternal grandmother Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Duchess of Teck, who was beloved by the public and had recently survived a health scare. Sadly, the duchess passed away on the 26th of October 1897 after emergency surgery.

George V was prone to shout at his sons as if they were his navy crews, but with Mary, George was more lenient and softer-toned. Although she was made to march up and down and behave impeccably as David, Bertie, Henry, George and Johnnie were, she was also her father’s favourite child and she rarely displeased him. She felt less pressure from him, and their relationship was close.

A 20th Century Princess-Nurse

Princess Mary was intelligent, shy, compassionate and dutiful. She may have found public speaking difficult, but she was a trailblazer. Very little criticism of her occurred during her sixty-eight years.

Mary had the drive to realise her wish of sending a gift box to British soldiers in France and to sailors at Christmas 1914, the first festive season of World War One. At first, she wanted to fund the project entirely, until it was pointed out to her that it would cost far more than her allowance to complete the task. Fundraising led to the Princess Mary Christmas Gift Boxes still being issued to soldiers in 1920.

She became a qualified nurse. In 1918, she had to plead with her father for the privilege of doing a “day job” but she had no intention of learning how to help people without making it official and herself of great use to her patients. During her training at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, she was not spared from the unpleasant tasks. She didn’t want to be treated differently. Her parents were proud of her determined efforts and caring nature. She specialised in pediatrics and was forever interested in nursing developments and people's welfare.

An Invested Royal Patron

Whether she was at her stables or races, helping on a stall at a charity fair or talking to diplomats and royalty at a palace, she was a very down-to-earth and pragmatic lady. She hated fuss around her. Mary had been brought up to recognise that she was not to be served but was to serve the people.

She was a fully invested patron of numerous organisations and felt that she should be much more than a name on a letterhead. She wanted to be a valuable contributor and advocate of whatever cause or institution she worked for. From the British Girl Guide Association to the Auxillary Territorial Service, she travelled around Britain motivating members and championing their endeavours.

When people were needed to donate blood in 1941, the number of volunteers was low so Mary literally rolled up her sleeve and donated blood in front of the cameras so that her confidence in the process would spur people into action. It did—blood donations soared.

Chancellor of Leeds University

She advocated female higher education and equality at a time when the mindset was still largely that women should be content to remain at home and pop out children. She was the first female chancellor of any university in the UK when appointed the chancellor of Leeds University in 1951. She was at the forefront of the initiative to award royal women honorary university degrees.

She often carried out five or more visits a day and she took pains to follow up on stories and incidents that she learned of. After frenetic and demanding tours she would often fall into a period of illness. It has been suggested that she suffered a nervous breakdown caused by the level of work and the stress on her system in the 1930s.

Henry "Harry" Lascelles

She married “Harry,” Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles (1882-1947), the heir to the earldom and property of Harewood in Yorkshire on the 28th February 1922. The service took place at Westminster Abbey and one of her bridesmaids was Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who, the following year, married Mary’s brother Bertie (George VI.) Mary was the first royal to leave her wedding bouquet at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

Although over the decades rumours have persisted that she was forced by her parents into an unhappy marriage, indications from letters and eyewitnesses reveal a love match, a meeting of minds and interests and of a strong husband and wife team.

The North of England’s population adopted her as their own. Royal visits to the north were rare so to have a princess living and working “up north” was significant. Moreover, the people of Yorkshire guarded Mary’s privacy and sent journalists away without any royal gossip. Queen Mary visited her more than George V at her first home in the county, Goldsborough Hall, and later at Harewood House when the couple had become the 6th Earl and Countess of Harewood. George V did not care for Harewood House, it was too large for his tastes. Mary and Harry used Chesterfield House as their London home for the first years of their marriage.

They had two sons, George (1923-2011), who became the 7th Earl of Harewood, and Gerald (1924-1998.)

Mary And The Abdication Crisis 

With the 1931 death of Edward VII’s daughter Louise, Duchess of Fife, the Princess Royal title, a mark of distinction, was awarded to Mary as the eldest daughter of a monarch.

Her way of dealing with the 1936 abdication crisis and subsequent events was effectively to separate the person from the issue. David was her beloved brother, but his actions were anathema to her. Devoted and sympathetic to George VI (Bertie), she did not mention Wallis Simpson in letters to her brother David (Edward VIII) for many years after his marriage to her. She did not meet Wallis until 1962 when she was on an overseas tour.

After Harry’s death in 1947, she was devastated. For five years or so she functioned but without the fervour of previous years. She never totally recovered from the loss. However, her widowhood led to extensive travels on behalf of Elizabeth II in the 1960s.

An Unexpected Farewell

On the 28th March 1965 she was walking on the Harewood estate with her son George, 7th Earl of Harewood and two grandchildren when she fell ill. The children were sent to the house to get help. Waiting, she sat on a bench next to her son, where she died from a heart attack. Her passing was so serene that he did not realise that she was gone.

That appears to have been Mary’s way. Get on with the task quietly and effectively. No fuss.

Sources

• Basford, Elisabeth. Princess Mary: The First Modern Princess. Cheltenham, London, 2021

• Princess Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood | Unofficial Royalty

• HRH Princess Mary - Harewood House

• The History Press | Ten Things You May Not Know About Princess Mary

5 Fascinating Facts About Tudor King Henry VIII

King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger. (1540). 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

 

King Henry VIII was an intelligent, artistic and athletic man when he became king in 1509. He changed into a corpulent bearded tyrant famous for having six wives, a host of mistresses and a consuming paranoia that led a number of notable Tudors to their excruciating executions.

It’s well known that King Henry VIII went through wives like hankies. The ladies weren't all strangers to each other. Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard were their predecessors' ladies-in-waiting. You might argue that they were easy prey for Henry.

Henry's second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, were nieces of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, a key member of the Tudor court. Henry's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, was an acquaintance of Mary Tudor, later Queen Mary I, and Mary’s mother, Catherine of Aragon, had been a friend of Catherine Parr's mother, Maud.

Bessie Blount, the mother of Henry's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, served in Catherine of Aragon's household. Henry Fitzroy married Mary Boleyn, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk’s daughter.

Henry raised career-men like Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More to important roles and he ruthlessly destroyed them when they didn’t fulfil his wishes.

Life with Henry was like navigating an emotional minefield.

Below are 5 lesser known facts about the best known Tudor king:

1. Henry VIII Bathed Infrequently

The Tudors believed that bathing opened the skin's pores and permitted airborne diseases into the body. Henry followed the medical advice and only took his luxurious sunken steam baths sparingly. Instead, he washed with cold water in the morning, the evening, before and after dining. Henry always kept a piece of real fur next to his skin so that disease carrying fleas would be tempted towards that and not his skin.

Despite the lack of bathing, Henry's court was obsessed with smelling "sweet" so liberal amounts of fragrances, including rose oil, were used to ensure that the royal nose met with no unpleasant aromas. 

Rose oil was apt; the emblem of the family was the Tudor rose, an amalgamation of the white and red roses of the formerly warring houses of York and Lancaster. The oil would have done little to cover the stench of the human waste that lay in the cellars awaiting collection.

Undergarments were changed frequently, and outer garments were well laundered, even if the body wearing them was not as fortunate.

2. Henry's Courtiers Wore Padding To Help Him

For most of his life, Henry VIII was slim, athletic, and deemed as handsome as his grandfather Edward IV. He was unusually tall for the time at six-foot-two. After his 1536 jousting accident that restricted his movements, Henry found a way to fill his days. He ate a lot. His waist expanded to approximately 89 centimetres. His irascibility increased with his appetite. His courtiers wore padding so that their girths were as expansive as his to help him feel better about himself.

Henry understood the need to appear invincible and unattainably rich, so he spent a great amount on clothing, jewels and artwork that enhanced his image. He had an eye for the aesthetic, and portrait painter Hans Holbein the Younger designed unique pieces of jewellery for him. The king "out-blinged" everyone.

3. Henry VIII Had His Own Pewter Thrones

Henry VIII had a private toilet in each of his palaces. No one was permitted to use them except for him. The facilities were guarded by soldiers. His stool chambers contained shelves of books and they had paintings on the walls to keep him amused. 

The toilets were pewter with a velvet cushion seat stuffed with swans feathers and these were studded with gilt nails. Only the Groom of the Stool was admitted into this intimate space. His team of privy chamber attendants was urged never to talk about his visits.

Whilst on a royal progress around the country, it was expected that his hosts would provide a similarly luxurious close stool for his sole use. Even if that bankrupted them.

4. Henry Didn’t Compose Greensleeves But He Loved The Arts

We forget that Henry was a well-educated and creative man. He impressed the philosopher Erasmus as a child, and early in his reign, he wrote Defence of the Seven Sacraments in response to Martin Luther's theological text. He was a committed Catholic until he decided that marrying Anne Boleyn and having a male heir was more important than pleasing the pope.

Henry VIII's musical skills were admired. He could sight-read music, and there was a long-held mistaken belief that he wrote "Greensleeves." It actually dated from the Elizabethan era. He composed numerous songs, hymns and music and he was an accomplished poet.

His palaces housed over 2,000 tapestries, splendid pieces of art, symbolism and displays of wealth. 1519 records revealed that Henry had received a unique present: an elephant to add to the Royal Menagerie.

5. No One Wanted To Tell Henry VIII He Was Dying

You can’t blame them. It was treason to talk about the king’s death so none of his physicians were brave enough to break the bad news to him and risk an execution. Eventually, his groom of the stool, intimate servant (yes, toilet tasks), Sir Anthony Denny informed him. Ailing Henry agreed to see Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Henry’s last words were, “I will take a little sleep.” He went into a coma before Cranmer arrived in his bedchamber and the archbishop sat with him as he passed away in the early hours of the 28^th January 1547. 

Henry had planned a magnificent tomb for himself. He never used it; the partly constructed tomb was destroyed in 1646. He still lies with his third wife Jane Seymour at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

He remains one of the best known, if not infamous, monarchs in British history.

Sources:

https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/life-at-the-tudor-court/#gs.hay27r

https://www.history.com/news/royal-palace-life-hygiene-henry-viii

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/historians-recreate-henry-viii-s-velvet-world-of-lavatorial-luxury-1590363.html

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/greensleeves-did-henry-viii-write-song/

https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/denny-anthony-1501-49

Princess Beatrice: Queen Victoria's Youngest Daughter

 

Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's youngest child. 

Image: Public Domain.

"Baby": Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom

On the 14th of April, 1857, Britain's Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha welcomed their ninth and last child. Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore was known within the family as "Baby."

Her christening on the 6th of June 1857 was held in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. Her godparents were her eldest sister, Victoria, Princess Royal, her maternal grandmother, Victoire, Duchess of Kent, and King Friedrich of Prussia.

The inclusion of Mary as one of her Christian names was a tribute to George III's last surviving child, Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, who died on the 30th of April, 1857. (She has the distinction of being the only child of George III to be photographed). Feodore was in honour of Queen Victoria's half-sister Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen, by marriage a princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Prince Albert Dies When Beatrice Is 4 Years Old

Beatrice's eldest sibling Vicky was born on 21st November 1840, so there was a gap of almost seventeen years between the queen and prince consort's first and last children.

Vicky married Prince Friedrich of Prussia (Fritz) in the chapel at St. James' Palace, London, on 25th January 1858. She relocated to Berlin shortly afterwards. Their first two children, Wilhelm (the future Kaiser Wilhelm II) and Charlotte, were born before Beatrice reached her third birthday.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert treated "Baby" differently than her siblings. She was their last child, and she was indulged and complimented more than her four brothers and four sisters, which occasionally caused resentment. Prince Albert claimed that she was "the most amusing baby we ever had."

On 14th December 1861, Beatrice lost her father. Her mother was hysterical, plunged into an all-consuming grief that saw her friend and mistress of the robes, Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland compelled to pull Victoria away from Albert's corpse in his bed.

That same night Victoria carried her four-year-old daughter from the nursery to her bed, and she wrapped her in the bedclothes that bore Albert's scent so that she could pretend that he was still with them.

Prince Henry of Battenburg: The Queen's Not Amused

That first night was an indication of Baby's destiny: She was to be a permanent comfort and companion to the queen in her perpetual mourning. Beatrice's vivacity decreased as her new role shaped her life.

Beatrice was educated according to the lesson plan that Prince Albert created for her and her siblings. She was taught English, French and German; she was noted for her tidy handwriting and good spelling and grammar.

Her four sisters' Vicky, Alice, Helena and Louise married and escaped to their own homes but not from their mother's vice-like grip. She wrote them countless scolding letters. Fifteen-year-old Beatrice became Queen Victoria's personal secretary. She even wrote her mother's dictated words into her journals so that the queen didn't have to complete the inky task herself.

There was one difference between her sisters and Beatrice: There was no younger sister for Beatrice to pass the secretarial duties to.

Queen Victoria was apoplectic when Beatrice asked for permission to marry Prince Henry of Battenberg—"Liko" to his family and close friends. Beatrice and Henry met at her niece Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine and Prince Louis of Battenberg's wedding in 1884, and they fell in love. (Princess Victoria was the daughter of Princess Alice, Beatrice's second eldest sister. Louis was Henry's brother).

Queen Victoria Versus Princess Beatrice

The queen refused to talk to Beatrice for over six months in 1884, at a loss as to why Beatrice wanted to desert her. As Beatrice's siblings entreated the queen to permit the marriage,  Victoria, feeling betrayed used curt notes to communicate with Beatrice. In November 1884, Victoria realised that "Baby" was not going to submit.

She allowed the marriage on the condition that Beatrice and Henry lived with her. This was agreed, but it was forever an irritation to Henry, who, after their 23rd July 1885 wedding on the Isle of Wight, learned quickly that Victoria still expected utter devotion and compliance from her daughter. He was of secondary importance.

Rumours circulated about Henry's suspiciously close relationship with Beatrice's sister Louise, Duchess of Argyll. Apparently, Louise once sharply told Beatrice that Henry much preferred her to his wife. There was understandable friction at the palace.

Three People in the Royal Marriage

The marriage was happy except for those unsubstantiated rumours and Queen Victoria's reliance on Princess Henry of Battenberg, as she was now formally known and Beatrice's tendency to scurry to her mother every time she called.

Despite the queen's bestowal of numerous honours and roles on Henry, including Governor of Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight and a position on the Privy Council, he yearned to resume his military career. The queen vetoed this.

The couple had four children:

• Prince Alexander of Battenberg. From 1917 1st (and last) Marquess of Carisbrooke. (1886-1960).

• Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, later Queen Eugenie of Spain. (1887-1969).

• Prince Leopold of Battenberg, from 1917 Lord Leopold Mountbatten. (1889-1922).

• Prince Maurice of Battenberg, killed at Ypres during World War One. (1891-1914).

Malaria Claims Henry in 1896

Henry longed for a break from Queen Victoria's domination, so when the opportunity presented itself he eagerly set out to fight in the Anglo-Ashanti War in Africa. (This time, Queen Victoria allowed him to join the fight for reasons best known to herself).

Within days of his arrival in Africa at Christmas 1895, he fell ill. Malaria killed him on 20th January 1896 when he was being transported back to England. He was thirty-seven years old. When Beatrice received the news, she said, "the life is gone out of me."

Henry was buried in St. Mildred's Church on the Isle of Wight, the same church where he and Beatrice were married.

Beatrice, stoically and dutifully, continued to be her mother's secretary as she raised her children. Queen Victoria increasingly relied on Beatrice, and she rewarded her daughter with the Kensington Palace apartments that she had been raised in. She also made Beatrice the Governor of Carisbrooke Castle and the Governor and Captain-General of the Isle of Wight. Beatrice held these roles until her death.

Queen Victoria's Journals

When Queen Victoria passed away on 22nd January 1901, her son and successor, Edward VII, asked Beatrice to edit their mother's journals. The queen had requested that anything that could cause offence should be removed before the journals were released to the public. All content which was deemed too passionate, too indiscreet or embarrassing for Beatrice and the king's tastes was suppressed.

The journals took Beatrice thirty years to edit. What we have to peruse today is as much as two-thirds less than the original volumes that Victoria wrote between 1831-1901.

As arthritis and age took their inevitable toll on her, Beatrice embarked on another editing project. In Napoleonic Times related Augusta of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Beatrice's paternal great-grandmother's reflections on the Napoleonic Wars.

Beatrice Laid to Rest at St. George's and St. Mildred's

Beatrice's sons fought in World War One. Alexander and Leopold returned home, but twenty-three-year-old Maurice was killed in action at Ypres on 27th October 1914.

Alexander married and had one daughter, although it was widely believed that he was homosexual. Victoria Eugenie married Alfonso XIII of Spain. She carried the hemophilia gene, and their eldest son Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, was afflicted with the condition. Her brother Leopold was a hemophiliac and he died during emergency surgery in 1922.

Eighty-seven-year-old Beatrice died on 26th October 1944 at Bantridge Park, the Earl and Countess of Athlone's property in Sussex. On 3rd November, she was initially laid to rest in St. George's Chapel, Windsor and when the Second World War drew to a close, her remains were transported to St. Mildred's Church on the Isle of Wight so that she could rest beside "Liko" the man she'd fought so hard to marry.

Sources:

• Princess Beatrice - Queen Victoria's companion - History of Royal Women

• Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, Princess Henry of Battenberg | Unofficial Royalty

• https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/carisbrooke-castle/history/princess-beatrice/