Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
Encyclopedia
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie; 5 April 1863 – 24 September 1950) was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
(1837–1892) and his first wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom
(1843–1878).
Her mother died while her brother and sisters were still young, which placed her in an early position of responsibility over her siblings. She married her father's first cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, an officer in the United Kingdom's
Royal Navy
, in a love match and lived most of her married life in various parts of Europe at her husband's naval posts and visiting her many royal relations. She was perceived by her family as liberal in outlook, straightforward, practical and bright.
During World War I
, two of her sisters who had married into the Russian royal family were murdered by communist
revolutionaries, and she and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the British-sounding surname of Mountbatten
, which was simply a translation into English of the German "Battenberg".
She was the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
, who is the consort of Queen Elizabeth II
.
in the presence of her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
. She was christened in the Lutheran faith in the arms of the Queen on 27 April. Her early life was spent at Bessungen, Germany
, but when she was three years old the family went to live in the Neues Palais, Darmstadt
, where she shared a room with her younger sister, Ella
, until adulthood. She was privately educated to a high standard, and was, throughout her life, an avid reader.
During the Prussia
n invasion of Hesse in June 1866
, she was sent to England, along with her sister Ella, to live with her grandmother until hostilities were ended by the absorption of Hesse-Kassel
and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt
into Prussia. During the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870, military hospitals were set up in the palace grounds, and she helped in the soup kitchens with her mother. She remembered the intense cold of the winter, and being burned on the arm by hot soup. In 1872, Victoria's eighteen-month-old brother, 'Frittie'
was diagnosed with haemophilia
. The diagnosis came as a shock to the royal families of Europe; it had been twenty years since Queen Victoria had given birth to her haemophiliac son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
, and it was the first indication that the bleeding disorder in the royal family was hereditary. The following year, 'Frittie' fell from a window onto stone steps and died. It was the first of many tragedies to beset the Hesse family.
In 1878, Victoria contracted diphtheria
. Ella was swiftly moved out of their room; she was the only member of the family to escape the disease. For days her mother nursed Victoria and the other members of the family; Victoria's sister, Marie
, died. Just as the family seemed to have recovered, Victoria's mother fell ill. She died on 14 December, the anniversary of Prince Albert's death. As the eldest child, Victoria partly assumed the role of mother to the younger children and of companion to her father. She later wrote, "My mother's death was an irreparable loss ... My childhood ended with her death, for I became the eldest and most responsible."
and a member of a morganatic branch
of the Hessian Royal Family. Prince Louis had adopted British nationality and was serving as an officer in the Royal Navy
. In the winter of 1882, they met again at Darmstadt, and were engaged the following summer.
After a brief postponement because of the death of the Duke of Albany
, Victoria married Prince Louis on 30 April 1884 at Darmstadt. Her father did not approve of the match; in his view Prince Louis had little money and would deprive him of his daughter's company, as the couple would naturally live abroad in Britain. However, Victoria was of an independent mind and took little notice of her father's displeasure. Remarkably, Victoria's father secretly married the same evening his untitled mistress, Alexandrine de Kolemine, the former wife of the Russian chargé d'affaires in Darmstadt. His marriage to a divorced commoner shocked the assembled royalty of Europe and through diplomatic and family pressure Victoria's father was forced to seek an annulment of his own marriage.
Over the next few years, Victoria had four children:
They lived in a succession of houses at Chichester, Sussex, Walton-on-Thames
, and Schloss Heiligenberg, Jugenheim. When Prince Louis was serving with the Mediterranean fleet, she spent some winters in Malta
. In 1887, she contracted typhoid but, after being nursed through her illness by her husband, was sufficiently recovered by June to attend Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
celebrations in London. She was interested in science and drew a detailed geological map of Malta and also participated in archaeological digs both there and in Germany. In leather-bound volumes she kept meticulous records of books she had read, which reveal a wide range of interests, including socialist philosophy.
She personally taught her own children and exposed them to new ideas and inventions. She gave lessons to her younger son, Louis, until he was ten years of age. He said of her in 1968 that she was "a walking encyclopedia. All through her life she stored up knowledge on all sorts of subjects, and she had the great gift of being able to make it all interesting when she taught it to me. She was completely methodical; we had time-tables for each subject, and I had to do preparation, and so forth. She taught me to enjoy working hard, and to be thorough. She was outspoken and open-minded to a degree quite unusual in members of the Royal Family. And she was also entirely free from prejudice about politics or colour and things of that kind."
In 1906, she flew in a Zeppelin
airship
, and even more daringly later flew in a biplane
even though it was "not made to carry passengers, and we perched securely attached on a little stool holding on to the flyer's back." Up until 1914, Victoria regularly visited her relatives abroad in both Germany and Russia, including her two sisters who had married into the Russian royal family: Ella, who had married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
, and Alix, who had married the Tsar, Nicholas II of Russia
. Victoria was one of Alix's relatives who tried to persuade her away from the influence of Rasputin. On the outbreak of war
between Germany and Britain in 1914, Victoria and her daughter, Louise, were in Russia at Yekaterinburg
. By train and steamer, they travelled to St Petersburg and from there through Tornio
to Stockholm
. They sailed from Bergen
, Norway
, on "the last ship" back to Britain.
Prince Louis was forced to resign from the navy at the start of the war when his German origins became an embarrassment, and the couple retired for the war years to Kent House on the Isle of Wight
, which Victoria had been given by her aunt Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
. Victoria blamed her husband's forced resignation on the Government "who few greatly respect or trust". She distrusted the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill
, because she thought him unreliable—he had once borrowed a book and failed to return it. Continued public hostility to Germany led King George V of the United Kingdom
to renounce his German titles, and at the same time on 14 July 1917 Prince Louis and Victoria renounced theirs, assuming an anglicised version of Battenberg—Mountbatten—as their surname. Four months later Louis was re-ennobled by the King as Marquess of Milford Haven
. During the war, Victoria's two sisters, Alix, Tsarina of Russia and Ella, Grand Duchess Sergei of Russia
, were murdered in the Russian revolution
, and her brother, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
, was deposed. On her last visit to Russia in 1914, Victoria had driven past the very house in Yekaterinburg where her sister, Alix, would be murdered. Alix's body was never recovered during Victoria's lifetime, but eventually, in January 1921, after a long and convoluted journey, the body of her sister, Ella, was interred in Jerusalem in Victoria's presence.
Later that year, Victoria's husband died in London. After meeting her at the Naval and Military Club in Piccadilly
, he complained of feeling unwell and Victoria persuaded him to rest in a room they had booked in the club annexe. She called a doctor, who prescribed some medication and Victoria went out to fill the prescription at a nearby pharmacist's. When she came back, Louis was dead. On her widowhood, three years after the end of the war, Victoria moved into a grace-and-favour residence at Kensington Palace
and, in the words of her biographer, "became a central matriarchal figure in the lives of Europe's surviving royalty". In 1930, her eldest daughter, Alice, suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed as schizophrenic. In the following decade Victoria was largely responsible for her grandson Philip
's education and upbringing during his parents' separation and his mother's institutionalisation. Prince Philip recalled, "I liked my grandmother very much and she was always helpful. She was very good with children ... she took the practical approach to them. She treated them in the right way – the right combination of the rational and the emotional."
In 1937, Victoria's brother, Ernest Louis, died and soon afterwards her widowed sister-in-law, nephew, granddaughter and two of her great-grandchildren all died in an air crash
at Ostend
. Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, had married Victoria's nephew (Ernest Louis's son), George Donatus of Hesse
. They and their two young sons, Louis
and Alexander
, were all killed. Cecilie was pregnant at the time and the stillborn child was found among the wreckage. Cecilie's youngest child, Johanna
, who was not on the plane, was adopted by her uncle Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine
but the little girl only survived her parents and older brothers by eighteen months, dying in 1939 of meningitis
.
Further tragedy soon followed when Victoria's son, George, died of bone cancer the following year. Her granddaughter, Lady Pamela Hicks
, remembered her grandmother's tears. In World War II
Victoria was bombed out of Kensington Palace, and spent some time at Windsor Castle with King George VI
. Her surviving son, Louis, and two of her grandsons served in the Royal Navy, while her German relations fought with the opposing forces. She spent most of her time reading and worrying about her children; her daughter, Alice, remained in occupied Greece and was unable to communicate with her mother for 4 years at the height of the war. After the Allied victory, her son, Louis, was offered the post of Viceroy of India, but she was deeply opposed to his accepting, knowing that the position would be dangerous and difficult. He accepted anyway.
She fell ill with bronchitis (she had smoked since the age of sixteen) at her son Louis's home at Broadlands
, Hampshire
in the summer of 1950. Saying "it is better to die at home", Victoria moved back to Kensington Palace, where she died. She was buried four days later in the grounds of St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham
on the Isle of Wight
.
, Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden
, Victoria wrote an unpublished memoir, held in the Mountbatten archive at the University of Southampton
, which remains an interesting source for royal historians. A selection of Queen Victoria's letters to Victoria have been published with a commentary by Richard Hough
and an introduction by Victoria's granddaughter, Patricia Mountbatten
.
Victoria's son remembered her fondly: "My mother was very quick on the uptake, very talkative, very aggressive and argumentative. With her marvellous brain she sharpened people's wits". Her granddaughter thought her "formidable, but never intimidating ... a supremely honest woman, full of commonsense and modesty." Victoria wrote her own typically forthright epitaph at the end of her life in letters to and conversation with her son: "What will live in history is the good work done by the individual & that has nothing to do with rank or title ... I never thought I would be known only as your mother. You're so well known now and no one knows about me, and I don't want them to."
Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis IV , was the fourth Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning from 13 June 1877 until his death...
(1837–1892) and his first wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom
Princess Alice of the United Kingdom
The Princess Alice was a member of the British royal family, the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.Alice's education was devised by Albert's close friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar...
(1843–1878).
Her mother died while her brother and sisters were still young, which placed her in an early position of responsibility over her siblings. She married her father's first cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, an officer in the United Kingdom's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, in a love match and lived most of her married life in various parts of Europe at her husband's naval posts and visiting her many royal relations. She was perceived by her family as liberal in outlook, straightforward, practical and bright.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, two of her sisters who had married into the Russian royal family were murdered by communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
revolutionaries, and she and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the British-sounding surname of Mountbatten
Mountbatten
Mountbatten is the family name originally adopted by a branch of the Battenberg family due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I...
, which was simply a translation into English of the German "Battenberg".
She was the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, who is the consort of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
.
Early life
Victoria was born on Easter Sunday at Windsor CastleWindsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
in the presence of her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. She was christened in the Lutheran faith in the arms of the Queen on 27 April. Her early life was spent at Bessungen, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but when she was three years old the family went to live in the Neues Palais, Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, where she shared a room with her younger sister, Ella
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia canonized as St. Elizabeth Romanova was a German princess of the House of Hesse, and the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, fifth son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and the Rhine...
, until adulthood. She was privately educated to a high standard, and was, throughout her life, an avid reader.
During the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n invasion of Hesse in June 1866
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
, she was sent to England, along with her sister Ella, to live with her grandmother until hostilities were ended by the absorption of Hesse-Kassel
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
into Prussia. During the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870, military hospitals were set up in the palace grounds, and she helped in the soup kitchens with her mother. She remembered the intense cold of the winter, and being burned on the arm by hot soup. In 1872, Victoria's eighteen-month-old brother, 'Frittie'
Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the haemophiliac second son of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, thus he is a grandson of Queen Victoria...
was diagnosed with haemophilia
Haemophilia
Haemophilia is a group of hereditary genetic disorders that impair the body's ability to control blood clotting or coagulation, which is used to stop bleeding when a blood vessel is broken. Haemophilia A is the most common form of the disorder, present in about 1 in 5,000–10,000 male births...
. The diagnosis came as a shock to the royal families of Europe; it had been twenty years since Queen Victoria had given birth to her haemophiliac son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
The Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany was the eighth child and fourth son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold was later created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow...
, and it was the first indication that the bleeding disorder in the royal family was hereditary. The following year, 'Frittie' fell from a window onto stone steps and died. It was the first of many tragedies to beset the Hesse family.
In 1878, Victoria contracted diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
. Ella was swiftly moved out of their room; she was the only member of the family to escape the disease. For days her mother nursed Victoria and the other members of the family; Victoria's sister, Marie
Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the youngest daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse. Her mother was the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
, died. Just as the family seemed to have recovered, Victoria's mother fell ill. She died on 14 December, the anniversary of Prince Albert's death. As the eldest child, Victoria partly assumed the role of mother to the younger children and of companion to her father. She later wrote, "My mother's death was an irreparable loss ... My childhood ended with her death, for I became the eldest and most responsible."
Marriage and family
At family gatherings, Victoria had often met Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was her first cousin once removedCousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
and a member of a morganatic branch
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
of the Hessian Royal Family. Prince Louis had adopted British nationality and was serving as an officer in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. In the winter of 1882, they met again at Darmstadt, and were engaged the following summer.
After a brief postponement because of the death of the Duke of Albany
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
The Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany was the eighth child and fourth son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold was later created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow...
, Victoria married Prince Louis on 30 April 1884 at Darmstadt. Her father did not approve of the match; in his view Prince Louis had little money and would deprive him of his daughter's company, as the couple would naturally live abroad in Britain. However, Victoria was of an independent mind and took little notice of her father's displeasure. Remarkably, Victoria's father secretly married the same evening his untitled mistress, Alexandrine de Kolemine, the former wife of the Russian chargé d'affaires in Darmstadt. His marriage to a divorced commoner shocked the assembled royalty of Europe and through diplomatic and family pressure Victoria's father was forced to seek an annulment of his own marriage.
Over the next few years, Victoria had four children:
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alice Princess Alice of Battenberg Princess Alice of Battenberg, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Elizabeth II.... |
25 February 1885 | 5 December 1969 | Married 1903 Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark.He began military training at an early age, and was... ; had issue. Mother of the Duke of Edinburgh. |
| Louise Louise Mountbatten Louise Alexandra Marie Irene Mountbatten became Queen consort of Sweden in 1950 and served as such until her death in 1965... |
13 July 1889 | 2 March 1965 | Married 1923 King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden Gustaf VI Adolf - Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf - was King of Sweden from October 29, 1950 until his death. His official title was King of Sweden, of the Goths and of the Wends. He was the eldest son of King Gustaf V and his wife Victoria of Baden... (his second marriage); one stillborn daughter. |
| George George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven Captain George Louis Victor Henry Serge Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven , styled Earl of Medina between 1917 and 1921, was born the son of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine at Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany... |
6 November 1892 | 8 April 1938 | Married 1916 Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven Nadejda Mikhailovna Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven was the second daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and his morganatic wife Sophie, Countess von Merenberg. She was a younger sister of Countess Anastasia de Torby.Her paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Michael... ; had issue. |
| Louis Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh... |
25 June 1900 | 27 August 1979 | Married 1922 Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma,, GBE, DCVO, CI, DStJ was an English heiress, socialite, relief-worker, wife of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and last Vicereine of India.- Lineage and wealth :Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma... ; had issue. |
They lived in a succession of houses at Chichester, Sussex, Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
, and Schloss Heiligenberg, Jugenheim. When Prince Louis was serving with the Mediterranean fleet, she spent some winters in Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. In 1887, she contracted typhoid but, after being nursed through her illness by her husband, was sufficiently recovered by June to attend Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee
A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary.- In Thailand :King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.- In the Commonwealth Realms :...
celebrations in London. She was interested in science and drew a detailed geological map of Malta and also participated in archaeological digs both there and in Germany. In leather-bound volumes she kept meticulous records of books she had read, which reveal a wide range of interests, including socialist philosophy.
She personally taught her own children and exposed them to new ideas and inventions. She gave lessons to her younger son, Louis, until he was ten years of age. He said of her in 1968 that she was "a walking encyclopedia. All through her life she stored up knowledge on all sorts of subjects, and she had the great gift of being able to make it all interesting when she taught it to me. She was completely methodical; we had time-tables for each subject, and I had to do preparation, and so forth. She taught me to enjoy working hard, and to be thorough. She was outspoken and open-minded to a degree quite unusual in members of the Royal Family. And she was also entirely free from prejudice about politics or colour and things of that kind."
In 1906, she flew in a Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
, and even more daringly later flew in a biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
even though it was "not made to carry passengers, and we perched securely attached on a little stool holding on to the flyer's back." Up until 1914, Victoria regularly visited her relatives abroad in both Germany and Russia, including her two sisters who had married into the Russian royal family: Ella, who had married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia...
, and Alix, who had married the Tsar, Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
. Victoria was one of Alix's relatives who tried to persuade her away from the influence of Rasputin. On the outbreak of war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
between Germany and Britain in 1914, Victoria and her daughter, Louise, were in Russia at Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...
. By train and steamer, they travelled to St Petersburg and from there through Tornio
Tornio
Tornio is a town and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , with a total population of . It borders to the Swedish municipality of Haparanda...
to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. They sailed from Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, on "the last ship" back to Britain.
Later life
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, which Victoria had been given by her aunt Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
. Victoria blamed her husband's forced resignation on the Government "who few greatly respect or trust". She distrusted the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, because she thought him unreliable—he had once borrowed a book and failed to return it. Continued public hostility to Germany led King George V of the United Kingdom
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
to renounce his German titles, and at the same time on 14 July 1917 Prince Louis and Victoria renounced theirs, assuming an anglicised version of Battenberg—Mountbatten—as their surname. Four months later Louis was re-ennobled by the King as Marquess of Milford Haven
Marquess of Milford Haven
Marquess of Milford Haven is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for Prince Louis of Battenberg, the former First Sea Lord, and a relation to the British Royal family, who amidst the anti-German sentiments of the First World War abandoned the use of his German...
. During the war, Victoria's two sisters, Alix, Tsarina of Russia and Ella, Grand Duchess Sergei of Russia
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia canonized as St. Elizabeth Romanova was a German princess of the House of Hesse, and the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, fifth son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and the Rhine...
, were murdered in the Russian revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, and her brother, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
Ernest Louis Charles Albert William , was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1892 until 1918...
, was deposed. On her last visit to Russia in 1914, Victoria had driven past the very house in Yekaterinburg where her sister, Alix, would be murdered. Alix's body was never recovered during Victoria's lifetime, but eventually, in January 1921, after a long and convoluted journey, the body of her sister, Ella, was interred in Jerusalem in Victoria's presence.
Later that year, Victoria's husband died in London. After meeting her at the Naval and Military Club in Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
, he complained of feeling unwell and Victoria persuaded him to rest in a room they had booked in the club annexe. She called a doctor, who prescribed some medication and Victoria went out to fill the prescription at a nearby pharmacist's. When she came back, Louis was dead. On her widowhood, three years after the end of the war, Victoria moved into a grace-and-favour residence at Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
and, in the words of her biographer, "became a central matriarchal figure in the lives of Europe's surviving royalty". In 1930, her eldest daughter, Alice, suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed as schizophrenic. In the following decade Victoria was largely responsible for her grandson Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
's education and upbringing during his parents' separation and his mother's institutionalisation. Prince Philip recalled, "I liked my grandmother very much and she was always helpful. She was very good with children ... she took the practical approach to them. She treated them in the right way – the right combination of the rational and the emotional."
In 1937, Victoria's brother, Ernest Louis, died and soon afterwards her widowed sister-in-law, nephew, granddaughter and two of her great-grandchildren all died in an air crash
Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash
Sabena OO-AUB was a Junkers Ju 52 airliner owned by Belgian airline Sabena, operating as a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Cologne, Germany, to London, United Kingdom, which crashed near Ostend, Belgium on . The flight was scheduled to stop at Brussels, but bad weather forced the pilot...
at Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
. Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, had married Victoria's nephew (Ernest Louis's son), George Donatus of Hesse
Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse
Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse was the first child of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich....
. They and their two young sons, Louis
Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the eldest son of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, an older sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.He was killed at age six in an airplane crash in 1937...
and Alexander
Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine (1933-1937)
Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the second son of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, an elder sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.He was killed at age four in an airplane crash in 1937...
, were all killed. Cecilie was pregnant at the time and the stillborn child was found among the wreckage. Cecilie's youngest child, Johanna
Princess Johanna of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Johanna of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the third child and only daughter of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark...
, who was not on the plane, was adopted by her uncle Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine
Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine was the youngest son of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse by his second wife Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich....
but the little girl only survived her parents and older brothers by eighteen months, dying in 1939 of meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
.
Further tragedy soon followed when Victoria's son, George, died of bone cancer the following year. Her granddaughter, Lady Pamela Hicks
Lady Pamela Hicks
Lady Pamela Carmen Louise Hicks, née Mountbatten is a British aristocrat. She is the younger daughter of the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma by his wife, the former Edwina Ashley. Through her father, Lady Hicks is a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.- Family background :Hicks was...
, remembered her grandmother's tears. In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Victoria was bombed out of Kensington Palace, and spent some time at Windsor Castle with King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. Her surviving son, Louis, and two of her grandsons served in the Royal Navy, while her German relations fought with the opposing forces. She spent most of her time reading and worrying about her children; her daughter, Alice, remained in occupied Greece and was unable to communicate with her mother for 4 years at the height of the war. After the Allied victory, her son, Louis, was offered the post of Viceroy of India, but she was deeply opposed to his accepting, knowing that the position would be dangerous and difficult. He accepted anyway.
She fell ill with bronchitis (she had smoked since the age of sixteen) at her son Louis's home at Broadlands
Broadlands
Broadlands is an English country house, located near the town of Romsey in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom.-History:The original manor and area known as Broadlands has belonged to Romsey Abbey since before the time of the 11-century English Norman Conquest.After the Dissolution of the...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
in the summer of 1950. Saying "it is better to die at home", Victoria moved back to Kensington Palace, where she died. She was buried four days later in the grounds of St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham
St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham
St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham is a parish church in the Church of England located in Whippingham, Isle of Wight.-History:The chancel of the church was built in 1854 and 1855 by the architect Albert Jenkins Humbert although Prince Albert is thought to have had a guiding hand.The remainder of the...
on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
.
Legacy
With the help of her lady-in-waitingLady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
, Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden
Sophie Buxhoeveden
Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, also known as Sophia Karlovna Buxhoeveden , was a lady in waiting to Tsarina Alexandra of Russia. She was the author of three memoirs about the imperial family and about her own escape from Russia...
, Victoria wrote an unpublished memoir, held in the Mountbatten archive at the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
, which remains an interesting source for royal historians. A selection of Queen Victoria's letters to Victoria have been published with a commentary by Richard Hough
Richard Hough
Richard Alexander Hough was a British author and historian specializing in maritime history.-Personal life:Hough married the author Charlotte Woodyadd, who he had met when they were pupils at Frensham Heights School, and they had five children including the author Deborah Moggach.-Literary...
and an introduction by Victoria's granddaughter, Patricia Mountbatten
Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma
Patricia Edwina Victoria Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, is a British peeress and former lady-in-waiting to her third cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. She was the elder daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and his wife, the heiress Edwina Ashley, a patrilineal...
.
Victoria's son remembered her fondly: "My mother was very quick on the uptake, very talkative, very aggressive and argumentative. With her marvellous brain she sharpened people's wits". Her granddaughter thought her "formidable, but never intimidating ... a supremely honest woman, full of commonsense and modesty." Victoria wrote her own typically forthright epitaph at the end of her life in letters to and conversation with her son: "What will live in history is the good work done by the individual & that has nothing to do with rank or title ... I never thought I would be known only as your mother. You're so well known now and no one knows about me, and I don't want them to."
Titles and styles
- Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (1863–1884)
- Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Louis of Battenberg (1884–1917)
- Lady Mountbatten (14 July – 7 November 1917)
- The Most HonourableThe Most HonourableThe prefix The Most Honourable is a title of quality attached to the names of marquesses in the United Kingdom. Dukes are The Most Noble or His Grace and peers under the rank of marquess are The Right Honourable. Scottish Feudal Barons and Lairds are The Much Honoured.Certain corporate entities...
The Marchioness of Milford Haven (1917–1921) - The Most Honourable The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (1921–1950)
Ancestry
Further reading
- Massie, Robert K.Robert K. MassieRobert Kinloch Massie III is an American historian, author, Pulitzer Prize recipient. He has devoted much of his career to studying the House of Romanov, Russia's royal family from 1613-1917.-Biography:...
(1995). The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Ballantine Books. - Sherman, Theresa (pseud. of Ilana D. Miller) (2008). The Royal Mob. Maryland: PublishAmerica. A fictional memoir. Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine tells the story of her life and the life of her sisters and cousins.
- Miller, Ilana D. (2011). The Four Graces: Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters. East Richmond: Kensington Books. A "sisters" biography of the four surviving daughters of Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, told from the point of view of Princess Victoria.