Princess Alice of the United Kingdom
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The Princess Alice (Alice Maud Mary; 25 April 1843 – 14 December 1878) was a member of the British Royal Family, the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria. As the consort of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse she was The Grand Duchess of Hesse.
Princess Alice was the great-grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.
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[edit] Early life
The Princess Alice was born on 25 April 1843 at Buckingham Palace, London. Her father was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her mother was the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, the only child of King George III's fourth son, Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent. As the daughter of the sovereign, Alice was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Alice from birth. She was baptised in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace on 2 June 1843 by The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley, and her godparents were her maternal great-uncle The King of Hanover; her paternal uncle The Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; her first cousin twice-removed, Princess Sophia of Gloucester; and her mother's half-sister The Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.
Alice was educated with her elder sister, The Princess Royal. She was especially attached to her elder brother, The Prince of Wales. After the marriage of the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia, Queen Victoria came to rely on Alice's support as the eldest daughter at home. The eighteen year-old Alice nursed Prince Albert during his final illness in December 1861.
[edit] Marriage
On 1 July 1862, Princess Alice married Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine (12 September 1837-13 March 1892), the son of Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine and the nephew of Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (9 June 1806-13 June 1877), at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. On the day of the wedding, Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent granting her new son-in-law the style Royal Highness. This style was in effect in Great Britain, not Hesse.
Alice and Louis took up residence at Darmstadt, Hesse. The couple had seven children. It was later learned that Alice carried and passed on the haemophilia gene she inherited from Queen Victoria to several of her own children.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Victoria | 5 April 1863 | 24 September 1950 | Married Prince Louis of Battenberg, later Marquess of Milford Haven (24 May 1854-11 September 1921), and had issue. |
| Princess Elisabeth | 1 November 1864 | 18 July 1918 | Took the name Yelisaveta Fyodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church, m. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (11 May 1857-17 February 1905), son of Alexander II of Russia and had no issue. Had been courted by her cousin, William II, German Emperor, but rejected him. |
| Princess Irene | 11 July 1866 | 11 November 1953 | Married her cousin Prince Heinrich of Prussia, (14 August 1862-20 April 1929), son of Frederick III, German Emperor and had issue. Irene passed haemophilia on to two of her three sons: Prince Waldemar of Prussia and Prince Henry of Prussia. |
| Prince Ernest Louis | 25 November 1868 | 9 October 1937 | Became Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, 13 March 1892; abdicated 9 November 1918; married HRH Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (25 November 1876-2 March 1936), divorced; married HH Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (17 September 1871-16 November 1937), and had issue. |
| Prince Friedrich | 7 October 1870 | 29 May 1873 | Suffered from haemophilia and died from internal bleeding after a fall from a window at the age of two and a half. |
| Princess Alix | 6 June 1872 | 17 July 1918 | Took the name Alexandra Feodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church, m. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (18 May 1868-17 July 1918), and had issue. Their only son, Tsarevich Alexei, suffered from haemophilia. |
| Princess Marie | 24 May 1874 | 16 November 1878 | Died of diphtheria. |
[edit] Later life
Princess Alice's concern about the poor nursing conditions for wounded soldiers during the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, led her to found the Alice-Frauenverein, or Women's Union, to train nurses and auxiliary workers. On 13 June 1877, Prince Louis succeeded his uncle as the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice became the Grand Duchess. However, in November 1878, the Grand Duke and all but one of the children, Princess Elisabeth, fell ill with diphtheria. Elizabeth was sent to live with relatives. Princess Marie died of the disease. Alice had, despite warnings from the physicians, hugged and kissed her one surviving son when she told him of Marie's death.
Exhausted by nursing all of them, Alice succumbed to the disease and died at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt on 14 December, the anniversary of her father's death. Alice is buried at Rosenhöhe, the mausoleum for the Grand Ducal House of Hesse outside Darmstadt. Prior to her death she spent a few weeks in Eastbourne, East Sussex recuperating. In 1882 the Princess Alice Memorial Hospital was set up in the town in her honour.[1]
[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms
[edit] Titles and styles
- 25 April 1843 – 1 July 1862: Her Royal Highness The Princess Alice
- 1 July 1862 – 13 June 1877: Her Royal Highness Princess Louis of Hesse and by Rhine
- 13 June 1877 – 14 December 1878: Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
[edit] Arms
In 1858, Alice and her three younger sisters were granted use of the royal arms, with an inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony, and differenced by a label argent of three points. On Alice's arms, the outer points were ermine, and the centre bore a rose gules. [2]
[edit] Ancestors
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[edit] See also
Haemophilia in European royalty
[edit] References
- ^ The Illustrated London News, No.2254 — Vol. LXXXI, Saturday, July 15, 1882, p.66 (found at [1])
- ^ Heraldica – British Royalty Cadency
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