Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
The Princess Beatrice was a member of the British Royal Family
. She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Juan Carlos
, King of Spain, is her great-grandson. Beatrice has the distinction of being the last of Victoria's children to die, 66 years after the first, Beatrice's sister, Princess Alice
.
Beatrice's childhood coincided with Victoria's grief following the death of her husband, Albert, Prince Consort, on 14 December 1861. As Beatrice's elder sisters married and left their royal mother, Victoria came to rely on the company of her youngest daughter, whom she called Baby for most of her childhood. Beatrice, who was brought up to stay with her mother always, soon resigned herself to her fate.
Victoria was set against her youngest daughter marrying and refused to discuss the possibility. Nevertheless, many suitors were put forward, including Louis Napoléon, Prince Imperial, the son of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France
, and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
, the widower of Beatrice's older sister Alice. She was attracted to the Prince Imperial and there was talk of a possible marriage; however, he was killed in the Anglo-Zulu War
in 1879.
Beatrice fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg
, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
and Julia von Hauke
. After a year of persuasion, Victoria agreed to the marriage, which took place at Whippingham
on the Isle of Wight
, on 23 July 1885. Victoria consented on condition that Beatrice and Henry make their home with her and that Beatrice continue her duties as the Queen's unofficial secretary.
The Prince and Princess had four children, but ten years into their marriage, on 20 January 1896, Prince Henry died of malaria
while fighting in the Anglo-Asante War. Beatrice remained at her mother's side until Victoria died on 22 January 1901. Beatrice devoted the next thirty years to editing Queen Victoria's journals as her designated literary executor. She continued to make public appearances after her mother's death and died at the age of 87, outliving all her siblings and several of her children, nieces and nephews.
Beatrice was born at Buckingham Palace
. She was the fifth daughter and youngest of the nine children of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later The Prince Consort
). The birth caused controversy when it was announced that Victoria would seek relief from the pains of delivery through the use of chloroform
administered by Doctor John Snow
. Chloroform was considered dangerous to mother and child and was frowned upon by the Church of England
and the medical authorities. Victoria was undeterred and used "that blessed chloroform" for her last pregnancy. A fortnight
later, Victoria reported in her journal, "I was amply rewarded and forgot all I had gone through when I heard dearest Albert say 'It's a fine child, and a girl!' " Albert and Victoria chose the names Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore: Mary after Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, the last surviving child of King George III of the United Kingdom; Victoria after the Queen; and Feodore after the Queen's older half-sister. She was christened in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace
on 16 June 1857. Her godparents were her maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Kent
; her eldest sister, the Princess Royal
; and the Princess Royal's fiancé, Prince Frederick of Prussia
.
From birth, Beatrice became a favoured child. The elder favourite daughter of Prince Albert, the Princess Royal, was about to take up residence in Germany with her new husband, Frederick ("Fritz") of Prussia. At the same time, the newly arrived Beatrice showed promise. Albert wrote to Augusta
, Fritz's mother, that "Baby practises her scales like a good prima donna before a performance and has a good voice!" Although Victoria was known to dislike most babies, she liked Beatrice, whom she considered attractive. This provided Beatrice with an advantage over her elder siblings. Victoria once remarked that Beatrice was "a pretty, plump and flourishing child ... with fine large blue eyes, [a] pretty little mouth and very fine skin". Her long, golden hair was the focus of paintings commissioned by Victoria, who even enjoyed giving Beatrice her bath, in marked contrast to her bathing preferences for her other children. Beatrice showed intelligence, which further endeared her to the Prince Consort, who was amused by her childhood precociousness. He wrote to Baron Stockmar that Beatrice was "the most amusing baby we have had." Despite sharing the rigorous education programme designed by Prince Albert and his close adviser, Baron Stockmar
, Beatrice had a more relaxed infancy than her siblings because of her relationship with her parents. By four years the youngest, and the acknowledged last Royal child, Beatrice was not forced to share her parents' attention the way her siblings had, and her amusing ways provided comfort to her faltering father.
In March 1861, Victoria's mother Victoria, Duchess of Kent, died at Frogmore
. The Queen broke down in grief and guilt over their estrangement at the beginning of Victoria's reign. Beatrice tried to console her mother by reminding her that the Duchess of Kent was "in heaven, but [Beatrice] hopes she will return". This comfort was significant because Victoria had isolated herself from her children except the eldest unmarried, Princess Alice, and Beatrice. Victoria again relied on Beatrice and Alice after the death of Albert, of typhoid fever, on 14 December.
The depth of the Queen's grief over the death of her husband surprised her family, courtiers, politicians and general populace. As when her mother died, she shut herself off from her family—most particularly, the Prince of Wales
, (whom she blamed for her husband's death), with the exception of Alice and Beatrice. Victoria often took Beatrice from her cot, hurried to her bed and "lay there sleepless, clasping to her child, wrapped in the nightclothes of a man who would wear them no more." After 1871, when the last of Beatrice's elder sisters married, Victoria came to rely upon her youngest daughter, who had declared from an early age: "I don't like weddings at all. I shall never be married. I shall stay with my mother." As her mother's secretary, she performed duties such as writing on the Queen's behalf and helping with political correspondence. These mundane duties mirrored those that had been performed in succession by her sisters, Alice, Helena and Louise. However, to these the Queen soon added more personal tasks. During a serious illness in 1871, the Queen dictated her journal entries to Beatrice, and in 1876 she allowed Beatrice to sort the music that she and the Prince Consort had played, unused since his death fifteen years earlier.
The devotion that Beatrice showed to her mother was acknowledged in the Queen's letters and journals, but her constant need for Beatrice grew stronger. The Queen suffered another bereavement in 1883, when her highland servant, John Brown
, died at Balmoral
. Once again, the Queen plunged into public mourning and relied on Beatrice for support. Unlike her siblings, Beatrice had not shown dislike for Brown, and the two had often been seen in each other's company; indeed, they had worked together to carry out the Queen's wishes.
. One of these was Napoleon Eugene
, the French Prince Imperial, son and heir of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France
and his wife, the Empress Eugénie
. After Prussia defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War
, Napoleon was deposed and moved his family to England in 1870. After the Emperor's death in 1873, Victoria and Empress Eugénie formed a close attachment, and the newspapers reported the imminent engagement of Beatrice to the Prince Imperial. These rumours ended with the death of the Prince Imperial in the Anglo-Zulu War
on 1 June 1879. Victoria's journal records their grief: "Dear Beatrice, crying very much as I did too, gave me the telegram ... It was dawning and little sleep did I get ... Beatrice is so distressed; everyone quite stunned."
After the death of the Prince Imperial, Beatrice's brother, Albert Edward
, the Prince of Wales
, suggested that she marry their sister Alice's widower, Louis IV
, the Grand Duke of Hesse, who had lost his wife to diphtheria
in 1878. Albert Edward argued that Beatrice could act as replacement mother for Louis's young children and spend most of her time in England looking after her mother. He further suggested that the Queen could oversee the upbringing of her Hessian
grandchildren with greater ease. However, at the time, it was forbidden by law for Beatrice to marry her sister's widower. This was countered by the Prince of Wales, who vehemently supported passage by the Houses of Parliament of the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, which would have removed the obstacle. Despite popular support for this measure and although it passed in the House of Commons
, it was rejected by the House of Lords
because of opposition from those Church of England
bishop
s who sat in the Lords. Although the Queen was disappointed that the bill had failed, she was happy to keep her daughter at her side.
Other candidates, including two of Prince Henry's brothers, Prince Alexander
("Sandro") and Prince Louis of Battenberg, were put forward to be Beatrice's husband, but they did not succeed. Although Alexander never formally pursued Beatrice, merely claiming that he "might even at one time have become engaged to the friend of my childhood, Beatrice of England", Louis was more interested. Victoria invited him to dinner but sat between him and Beatrice, who had been told by the Queen to ignore Louis to discourage his suit. Louis, not realising for several years the reasons for this silence, married Beatrice's niece, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
. Although her marriage hopes had been dealt another blow, while attending Louis's wedding at Darmstadt
, Beatrice fell in love with Prince Henry
, who returned her affections.
When Beatrice, after returning from Darmstadt, told her mother that she planned to marry, the Queen reacted with frightening silence. Although they remained side by side, the Queen did not talk to her for seven months, instead communicating by note.
Victoria's behaviour, unexpected even by her family, seemed prompted by the threatened loss of her daughter. The Queen regarded Beatrice as her "Baby"—her innocent child—and viewed the physical sex that would come with marriage as an end to innocence. Subtle persuasions by the Princess of Wales
and the Crown Princess of Prussia, who reminded her mother of the happiness that Beatrice had brought the Prince Consort, induced the Queen to resume talking to Beatrice. Victoria consented to the marriage on condition that Henry give up his German commitments and live permanently with Beatrice and the Queen.
Beatrice and Henry were married at Saint Mildred's Church at Whippingham
, near Osborne
, on 23 July 1885. Beatrice, who wore her mother's wedding veil of Honiton lace, was escorted by the Queen and Beatrice's eldest brother, the Prince of Wales. The ceremony—which was not attended by her eldest sister and brother-in-law, the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, who were detained in Germany; William Ewart Gladstone
; or Beatrice's cousin, Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck
—ended with the couple's departure for their honeymoon at Quarr Abbey House
, a few miles from Osborne. The Queen, taking leave of them, "bore up bravely till the departure and then fairly gave way", as she later admitted to the Crown Princess.
, Beatrice and her husband fulfilled their promise and returned to the Queen's side. The Queen made it clear that she could not cope on her own and that the couple could not travel without her.
Although the Queen relaxed this restriction shortly after the marriage, Beatrice and Henry travelled only to make short visits with his family. Beatrice's love for Henry, like that of the Queen's for the Prince Consort, seemed to increase the longer they were married. When Henry travelled without Beatrice, she appeared happier when he returned.
The addition of Prince Henry to the family gave new reasons for Beatrice and the Queen to look forward, and the court was brighter than it had been since the Prince Consort's death. Even so, Henry, supported by Beatrice, was determined to take part in military campaigns, and this annoyed the Queen, who opposed his participation in life-threatening warfare. Conflicts also arose when Henry attended the Ajaccio
carnival and kept "low company", and Beatrice sent a Royal Navy
officer to remove him from temptation. On one occasion, Henry slipped away to Corsica
with his brother Louis; the Queen sent a warship to bring him back. Henry was feeling continually oppressed by Victoria's constant need for his and his wife's company.
Despite being married, Beatrice fulfilled her promise to the Queen by continuing as her full-time confidante and secretary. Victoria warmed to Henry, as she often did with other handsome, strong men. However, the Queen criticised Beatrice's conduct during her first pregnancy. When Beatrice stopped coming to the Queen's dinners a week before giving birth, preferring to eat alone in her room, the Queen wrote angrily to her physician
, Dr James Reid, that, "I [urged the Princess] coming to dinner, and not simply moping in her own room, which is very bad for her. In my case I regularly came to dinner, except when I was really unwell (even when suffering a great deal) up to the very last day." Beatrice, aided by chloroform, gave birth the following week to her first son, Alexander
.
In addition to having a miscarriage
in the early months of her marriage, Beatrice gave birth to four children: Alexander
, called "Drino", was born in 1886; Ena
in 1887; Leopold
in 1889 and Maurice
in 1891. Following this, Beatrice took a polite and encouraging interest in social issues, such as conditions in the coal mines. However, this interest did not extend to changing the conditions of poverty, as it had done with her brother, the Prince of Wales.
Although court entertainments were few after the Prince Consort's death, Beatrice and the Queen enjoyed tableau vivant
photography, which was often performed at the royal residences. Henry, increasingly bored by the lack of activity at court, longed for employment, and in response, the Queen made him Governor of the Isle of Wight in 1889. However, he yearned for military adventure and pleaded with his mother-in-law to let him join the Ashanti expedition fighting in the Anglo-Asante war. Despite misgivings, the Queen consented, and Henry and Beatrice parted on 6 December 1895; they would not meet again. Henry contracted malaria
and was sent home. On 22 January 1896, Beatrice, who was waiting for her husband at Madeira
, received a telegram informing her of Henry's death two days earlier. Devastated, she left court for a month of mourning before returning to her post at her mother's side. The Queen's journal reports that Victoria "[w]ent over to Beatrice's room and sat a while with her. She is so piteous in her misery."
Despite her grief, Beatrice remained her mother's faithful companion, and as Victoria aged, she relied more heavily on Beatrice for dealing with correspondence. However, realising that Beatrice needed a place of her own, she gave her the Kensington Palace
apartments once occupied by the Queen and her mother. In response to Beatrice's interest in photography, the Queen had a darkroom
installed at Osborne House. The changes in the family, including Beatrice's preoccupation with her mother, may have affected her children, who rebelled at school. It was discovered that the children's governess
had been undermining the love and trust they had in their mother. Beatrice also wrote that Ena was "troublesome and rebellious", and that Alexander was telling "unwarrantable untruths".
Beatrice's life was overturned by the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901. She wrote to the Principal of the University of Glasgow
in March, "... you may imagine what the grief is. I, who had hardly ever been separated from my dear mother, can hardly realise what life will be like without her, who was the centre of everything." Beatrice's public appearances continued, but her position at court was diminished. She, unlike her sister Louise, was not close to her brother, now King Edward VII
, and was not included in the King's inner circle. Nevertheless, though their relationship did not break down completely, it was occasionally strained, for example when she accidentally (but noisily) dropped her service book from the royal gallery onto a table of gold plate during his coronation.
After inheriting Osborne, the King had his mother's personal photographs and belongings removed and some of them destroyed, especially material relating to John Brown
, whom he detested. Victoria had intended the house to be a private, secluded residence for her descendants, away from the pomp and ceremony of mainland life. However, the new King had no need for the house and consulted his lawyers about disposing of it, transforming the main wing into a convalescent home, opening the state apartments to the public, and constructing a Naval College on the grounds. His plans met with strong disapproval from Beatrice and Louise. Victoria had bequeathed them houses on the estate, and the privacy promised to them by their mother was threatened. When Edward discussed the fate of the house with them, Beatrice argued against allowing the house to leave the family, citing its importance to their parents. However, the King did not want the house himself, and he offered it to his heir, Beatrice's nephew George
, who declined, objecting to the high cost of maintenance. Edward subsequently extended the grounds of Beatrice's home, Osborne Cottage, to compensate her for the impending loss of her privacy. Shortly afterwards, the King declared to Arthur Balfour
, the Prime Minister
, that the main house would go to the nation as a gift. An exception was made for the private apartments, which were closed to all but the royal family members, who made it a shrine to their mother's memory.
Victoria had given Beatrice the task of editing the journals for publication, which meant removing private material as well as passages that, if published, might be hurtful to living people. Beatrice deleted so much material that the edited journals are only a third as long as the originals. The destruction of such large passages of Victoria's diaries distressed Beatrice's nephew, King George V
, and his wife Queen Mary
, who were powerless to intervene. Beatrice copied a draft from the original and then copied her draft into a set of blue notebooks. Both the originals and her first drafts were destroyed as she progressed. The task took thirty years and was finished in 1931. The surviving blue notebooks are kept in the Royal Archives
at Windsor Castle
.
The beauty of Beatrice's daughter, Ena, was known throughout Europe, and, despite her low rank, she was a desirable bride. Her chosen suitor was King Alphonso XIII of Spain. However, the marriage caused controversy in Britain, since it required Ena to convert to Catholicism
. This step was opposed by Beatrice's brother, King Edward VII
, and Spanish ultra-conservatives were against the King's marriage to a Protestant of low birth.
Nevertheless, Alphonso and Ena were married on 31 May 1906. The marriage began inauspiciously when an anarchist attempted to bomb them on their wedding day. Apparently close at first, the couple grew apart. Ena became unpopular in Spain and grew more so when it was discovered that her son, the heir to the throne, suffered from haemophilia
. Alphonso blamed Beatrice for bringing the royal disease
to the Spanish royal house and turned bitterly against Ena.
During her time as Queen of Spain, Ena returned many times to visit her mother in Britain, but always without Alphonso and usually without her children.
Meanwhile, Beatrice lived at Osborne Cottage and Carisbrooke Castle
, home of the Governor of the Isle of Wight. (Victoria had made Beatrice governor after Prince Henry died.) In time, Beatrice chose to abandon Osborne Cottage and, against the wishes of her nephew, George V, sold it in 1912. She moved into Carisbrooke Castle whilst keeping an apartment at Kensington Palace
in London. She had been much involved in collecting material for the Carisbrooke Castle museum, which she opened in 1898.
Her presence at court further decreased as she aged. Devastated by the death of her favourite son, Maurice
, during the First World War
in 1914, she began to retire from public life. In response to war with Germany, George V changed the family surname from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
to Windsor
to downplay their German origins. Subsequently, Beatrice and her family renounced their German names; Beatrice's style
reverted from HRH Princess Henry of Battenberg to her birth style, HRH The Princess Beatrice. Her surname was also anglicised to Mountbatten. Her sons gave up their courtesy style, Prince of Battenberg.
Alexander, the eldest, became Sir Alexander Mountbatten
and was later given the title Marquess of Carisbrooke
in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
. Her younger son, Leopold, became Lord Leopold Mountbatten
and was given the rank of a younger son of a marquess. He was a haemophiliac, having inherited the "royal disease" from his mother, and died during a knee operation in 1922 one month short of his 33rd birthday.
Following the war, Beatrice was one of several members of the royal family who became patrons of The Ypres League
, a society founded for veterans of the Ypres Salient
and bereaved relatives of those killed in fighting in the Salient. She was herself a bereaved mother, as her son, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, had been killed in action during the First Battle of Ypres
. Her rare public appearances after her son's death included commemorations of these events, including her laying of wreaths at the Cenotaph
in 1930 and 1935 to mark the 10th and 15th anniversaries of the founding of the League.
. She corresponded with the publisher, John Murray
, who greatly approved of the work. She made her last home at Brantridge Park
in West Sussex
, which was owned by Queen Mary's brother, Alexander Cambridge
, the first Earl of Athlone
, and his wife, Princess Alice of Albany
, who was Beatrice's niece. There, Beatrice died peacefully in her sleep on 26 October 1944, aged eighty-seven. After her funeral service in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
, her coffin was placed in the royal vault on 3 November. On 28 August 1945, her body was transferred and placed inside a joint tomb, alongside her husband, in St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham
. Beatrice's final wish, to be buried with her husband on the island most familiar to her, was fulfilled in a private service at Whippingham attended only by her son, the Marquess of Carisbrooke, and his wife.
, fascinated by theology
until her death. With her calm temperament and personal warmth, the princess won wide approval.
The demands made on Beatrice during her mother's reign were high. Despite suffering from rheumatism
, Beatrice was forced to endure her mother's love of cold weather. Beatrice's piano playing suffered as her rheumatism got gradually worse, eliminating an enjoyment in which she excelled; however, this did not change her willingness to cater to her mother's needs. Her effort did not go unnoticed by the British public. In 1886, when she agreed to open the Show of the Royal Horticultural Society of Southampton, the organisers sent her a proclamation
of thanks, expressing their "admiration of the affectionate manner in which you have comforted and assisted your widowed mother our Gracious Sovereign the Queen". As a wedding present, Sir Moses Montefiore
, a Jewish
banker and philanthropist
, presented Beatrice and Henry with a silver tea service inscribed: "Many daughters have acted virtuously, but thou excelleth them all." The Times
newspaper, shortly before Beatrice's marriage, wrote: "The devotion of your Royal Highness to our beloved Sovereign has won our warmest admiration and our deepest gratitude. May those blessings which it has hitherto been your constant aim to confer on others now be returned in full measure to yourself." The sentence was, as far as it dared, criticising the Queen's hold over her daughter.
Some of the buildings with which Beatrice would have been familiar, continue to be regularly used by the royal family: Buckingham Palace
, Windsor Castle
, Balmoral Castle
, and Kensington Palace
. Brantridge Park
, where she died, is a minor royal residence and seldom used. Osborne House
, her mother's favourite home, is accessible to the public. Her Osborne residences, Osborne and Albert Cottages, remain in private ownership after their sale in 1912. At her death, Beatrice was the only surviving child of Victoria and Albert. The future Elizabeth II, Beatrice's great-grandniece, was eighteen years of age at that time.
and differenced by a label
of three points argent
. On Beatrice's arms, the outer points bore roses gules
, and the centre a heart gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant from George V
.
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
. She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
, King of Spain, is her great-grandson. Beatrice has the distinction of being the last of Victoria's children to die, 66 years after the first, Beatrice's sister, Princess Alice
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...
.
Beatrice's childhood coincided with Victoria's grief following the death of her husband, Albert, Prince Consort, on 14 December 1861. As Beatrice's elder sisters married and left their royal mother, Victoria came to rely on the company of her youngest daughter, whom she called Baby for most of her childhood. Beatrice, who was brought up to stay with her mother always, soon resigned herself to her fate.
Victoria was set against her youngest daughter marrying and refused to discuss the possibility. Nevertheless, many suitors were put forward, including Louis Napoléon, Prince Imperial, the son of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
, and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
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...
, the widower of Beatrice's older sister Alice. She was attracted to the Prince Imperial and there was talk of a possible marriage; however, he was killed in the Anglo-Zulu War
Anglo-Zulu War
The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.Following the imperialist scheme by which Lord Carnarvon had successfully brought about federation in Canada, it was thought that a similar plan might succeed with the various African kingdoms, tribal areas and...
in 1879.
Beatrice fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg
Prince Henry of Battenberg
Colonel Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, later becoming a member of the British Royal Family, through his marriage to Princess Beatrice.-Early life:...
, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Alexander Ludwig Georg Friedrich Emil of Hesse, GCB was the third son and fourth child of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and Wilhelmina of Baden.-Questioned parentage:...
and Julia von Hauke
Julia von Hauke
Princess Julia of Battenberg was the wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, the mother of Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, and ancestress to the current generations of the British and the Spanish royal families.-Life:Julie Therese Salomea Hauke was born in Warsaw, in Congress Poland, then...
. After a year of persuasion, Victoria agreed to the marriage, which took place at Whippingham
Whippingham
Whippingham is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. It is located two kilometres south of East Cowes in the north of the Island.Whippingham is best known for its connections with Queen Victoria, especially its church, redesigned by Prince Albert. The church has a tower reminiscent of a...
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...
, on 23 July 1885. Victoria consented on condition that Beatrice and Henry make their home with her and that Beatrice continue her duties as the Queen's unofficial secretary.
The Prince and Princess had four children, but ten years into their marriage, on 20 January 1896, Prince Henry died of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
while fighting in the Anglo-Asante War. Beatrice remained at her mother's side until Victoria died on 22 January 1901. Beatrice devoted the next thirty years to editing Queen Victoria's journals as her designated literary executor. She continued to make public appearances after her mother's death and died at the age of 87, outliving all her siblings and several of her children, nieces and nephews.
Early life
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. She was the fifth daughter and youngest of the nine children of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later The Prince Consort
Prince consort
A prince consort is the husband of a queen regnant who is not himself a king in his own right.Current examples include the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and Prince Henrik of Denmark .In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal...
). The birth caused controversy when it was announced that Victoria would seek relief from the pains of delivery through the use of chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
administered by Doctor John Snow
John Snow (physician)
John Snow was an English physician and a leader in the adoption of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered to be one of the fathers of epidemiology, because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, England, in 1854.-Early life and education:Snow was born 15 March...
. Chloroform was considered dangerous to mother and child and was frowned upon by the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
and the medical authorities. Victoria was undeterred and used "that blessed chloroform" for her last pregnancy. A fortnight
Fortnight
The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
later, Victoria reported in her journal, "I was amply rewarded and forgot all I had gone through when I heard dearest Albert say 'It's a fine child, and a girl!' " Albert and Victoria chose the names Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore: Mary after Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, the last surviving child of King George III of the United Kingdom; Victoria after the Queen; and Feodore after the Queen's older half-sister. She was christened in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
on 16 June 1857. Her godparents were her maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Kent
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.-Early life:...
; her eldest sister, the Princess Royal
Victoria, Princess Royal
The Princess Victoria, Princess Royal was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert. She was created Princess Royal of the United Kingdom in 1841. She became German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to German Emperor Frederick III...
; and the Princess Royal's fiancé, Prince Frederick of Prussia
Frederick III, German Emperor
Frederick III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors. Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl known informally as Fritz, was the only son of Emperor William I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service...
.
Augusta of Saxe-Weimar
Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was the Queen of Prussia and the first German Empress as the consort of William I, German Emperor.-Early life:...
, Fritz's mother, that "Baby practises her scales like a good prima donna before a performance and has a good voice!" Although Victoria was known to dislike most babies, she liked Beatrice, whom she considered attractive. This provided Beatrice with an advantage over her elder siblings. Victoria once remarked that Beatrice was "a pretty, plump and flourishing child ... with fine large blue eyes, [a] pretty little mouth and very fine skin". Her long, golden hair was the focus of paintings commissioned by Victoria, who even enjoyed giving Beatrice her bath, in marked contrast to her bathing preferences for her other children. Beatrice showed intelligence, which further endeared her to the Prince Consort, who was amused by her childhood precociousness. He wrote to Baron Stockmar that Beatrice was "the most amusing baby we have had." Despite sharing the rigorous education programme designed by Prince Albert and his close adviser, Baron Stockmar
Christian Friedrich, Baron Stockmar
Christian Friedrich Freiherr von Stockmar was an Anglo-Belgian statesman, who was a leading player in the affairs of the United Kingdom under Queen Victoria.-Early life and education:...
, Beatrice had a more relaxed infancy than her siblings because of her relationship with her parents. By four years the youngest, and the acknowledged last Royal child, Beatrice was not forced to share her parents' attention the way her siblings had, and her amusing ways provided comfort to her faltering father.
Victoria's devoted companion
Frogmore
The Frogmore Estate or Gardens comprise of private gardens within the grounds of the Home Park, adjoining Windsor Castle, in the English county of Berkshire. The name derives from the preponderance of frogs which have always lived in this low-lying and marshy area.It is the location of Frogmore...
. The Queen broke down in grief and guilt over their estrangement at the beginning of Victoria's reign. Beatrice tried to console her mother by reminding her that the Duchess of Kent was "in heaven, but [Beatrice] hopes she will return". This comfort was significant because Victoria had isolated herself from her children except the eldest unmarried, Princess Alice, and Beatrice. Victoria again relied on Beatrice and Alice after the death of Albert, of typhoid fever, on 14 December.
The depth of the Queen's grief over the death of her husband surprised her family, courtiers, politicians and general populace. As when her mother died, she shut herself off from her family—most particularly, the Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, (whom she blamed for her husband's death), with the exception of Alice and Beatrice. Victoria often took Beatrice from her cot, hurried to her bed and "lay there sleepless, clasping to her child, wrapped in the nightclothes of a man who would wear them no more." After 1871, when the last of Beatrice's elder sisters married, Victoria came to rely upon her youngest daughter, who had declared from an early age: "I don't like weddings at all. I shall never be married. I shall stay with my mother." As her mother's secretary, she performed duties such as writing on the Queen's behalf and helping with political correspondence. These mundane duties mirrored those that had been performed in succession by her sisters, Alice, Helena and Louise. However, to these the Queen soon added more personal tasks. During a serious illness in 1871, the Queen dictated her journal entries to Beatrice, and in 1876 she allowed Beatrice to sort the music that she and the Prince Consort had played, unused since his death fifteen years earlier.
The devotion that Beatrice showed to her mother was acknowledged in the Queen's letters and journals, but her constant need for Beatrice grew stronger. The Queen suffered another bereavement in 1883, when her highland servant, John Brown
John Brown (servant)
John Brown was a Scottish personal servant and favourite of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom for many years. He was appreciated by many for his competence and companionship, and resented by others for his influence and informal manner...
, died at Balmoral
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and east of Braemar. Balmoral has been one of the residences of the British Royal Family since 1852, when it was purchased by Queen Victoria and her...
. Once again, the Queen plunged into public mourning and relied on Beatrice for support. Unlike her siblings, Beatrice had not shown dislike for Brown, and the two had often been seen in each other's company; indeed, they had worked together to carry out the Queen's wishes.
Possible suitors
Although the Queen was set against Beatrice marrying anyone in the expectation that she would always stay at home with her, a number of possible suitors were put forward before Beatrice's marriage to Prince Henry of BattenbergPrince Henry of Battenberg
Colonel Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, later becoming a member of the British Royal Family, through his marriage to Princess Beatrice.-Early life:...
. One of these was Napoleon Eugene
Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial
Napoléon, Prince Imperial, , Prince Imperial, Fils de France, was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo...
, the French Prince Imperial, son and heir of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
and his wife, the Empress Eugénie
Eugénie de Montijo
Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo , was the last Empress consort of the French from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of...
. After Prussia defeated France in 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...
, Napoleon was deposed and moved his family to England in 1870. After the Emperor's death in 1873, Victoria and Empress Eugénie formed a close attachment, and the newspapers reported the imminent engagement of Beatrice to the Prince Imperial. These rumours ended with the death of the Prince Imperial in the Anglo-Zulu War
Anglo-Zulu War
The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.Following the imperialist scheme by which Lord Carnarvon had successfully brought about federation in Canada, it was thought that a similar plan might succeed with the various African kingdoms, tribal areas and...
on 1 June 1879. Victoria's journal records their grief: "Dear Beatrice, crying very much as I did too, gave me the telegram ... It was dawning and little sleep did I get ... Beatrice is so distressed; everyone quite stunned."
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, suggested that she marry their sister Alice's widower, Louis IV
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...
, the Grand Duke of Hesse, who had lost his wife to 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...
in 1878. Albert Edward argued that Beatrice could act as replacement mother for Louis's young children and spend most of her time in England looking after her mother. He further suggested that the Queen could oversee the upbringing of her Hessian
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
grandchildren with greater ease. However, at the time, it was forbidden by law for Beatrice to marry her sister's widower. This was countered by the Prince of Wales, who vehemently supported passage by the Houses of Parliament of the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, which would have removed the obstacle. Despite popular support for this measure and although it passed in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
, it was rejected by the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
because of opposition from those Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s who sat in the Lords. Although the Queen was disappointed that the bill had failed, she was happy to keep her daughter at her side.
Other candidates, including two of Prince Henry's brothers, Prince Alexander
Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria
Alexander Joseph, Prince of Bulgaria GCB , known as Alexander of Battenberg, was the first prince of modern Bulgaria, reigning from 29 April 1879 to 7 September 1886.-Early life:...
("Sandro") and Prince Louis of Battenberg, were put forward to be Beatrice's husband, but they did not succeed. Although Alexander never formally pursued Beatrice, merely claiming that he "might even at one time have become engaged to the friend of my childhood, Beatrice of England", Louis was more interested. Victoria invited him to dinner but sat between him and Beatrice, who had been told by the Queen to ignore Louis to discourage his suit. Louis, not realising for several years the reasons for this silence, married Beatrice's niece, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his first wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom .Her mother died while her brother and sisters...
. Although her marriage hopes had been dealt another blow, while attending Louis's wedding at 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...
, Beatrice fell in love with Prince Henry
Prince Henry of Battenberg
Colonel Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, later becoming a member of the British Royal Family, through his marriage to Princess Beatrice.-Early life:...
, who returned her affections.
Engagement and wedding
Victoria's behaviour, unexpected even by her family, seemed prompted by the threatened loss of her daughter. The Queen regarded Beatrice as her "Baby"—her innocent child—and viewed the physical sex that would come with marriage as an end to innocence. Subtle persuasions by the Princess of Wales
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
and the Crown Princess of Prussia, who reminded her mother of the happiness that Beatrice had brought the Prince Consort, induced the Queen to resume talking to Beatrice. Victoria consented to the marriage on condition that Henry give up his German commitments and live permanently with Beatrice and the Queen.
Beatrice and Henry were married at Saint Mildred's Church at Whippingham
Whippingham
Whippingham is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. It is located two kilometres south of East Cowes in the north of the Island.Whippingham is best known for its connections with Queen Victoria, especially its church, redesigned by Prince Albert. The church has a tower reminiscent of a...
, near Osborne
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
, on 23 July 1885. Beatrice, who wore her mother's wedding veil of Honiton lace, was escorted by the Queen and Beatrice's eldest brother, the Prince of Wales. The ceremony—which was not attended by her eldest sister and brother-in-law, the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, who were detained in Germany; William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
; or Beatrice's cousin, Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck
Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge
Princess Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth of Cambridge was a member of the British Royal Family, a granddaughter of George III, and great-grandmother of Elizabeth II. She held the title of Duchess of Teck through marriage.Mary Adelaide is remembered as the mother of Queen Mary, the consort of...
—ended with the couple's departure for their honeymoon at Quarr Abbey House
Quarr Abbey House
The Quarr Abbey House of the early 20th century was one of several fine houses constructed along the north coast of the Isle of Wight in southern England. It was built with stone from the ruins of a Norman abbey on the site...
, a few miles from Osborne. The Queen, taking leave of them, "bore up bravely till the departure and then fairly gave way", as she later admitted to the Crown Princess.
Victoria's last years
After a short honeymoonHoneymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
, Beatrice and her husband fulfilled their promise and returned to the Queen's side. The Queen made it clear that she could not cope on her own and that the couple could not travel without her.
The addition of Prince Henry to the family gave new reasons for Beatrice and the Queen to look forward, and the court was brighter than it had been since the Prince Consort's death. Even so, Henry, supported by Beatrice, was determined to take part in military campaigns, and this annoyed the Queen, who opposed his participation in life-threatening warfare. Conflicts also arose when Henry attended the Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
carnival and kept "low company", and Beatrice sent a 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...
officer to remove him from temptation. On one occasion, Henry slipped away to Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
with his brother Louis; the Queen sent a warship to bring him back. Henry was feeling continually oppressed by Victoria's constant need for his and his wife's company.
Despite being married, Beatrice fulfilled her promise to the Queen by continuing as her full-time confidante and secretary. Victoria warmed to Henry, as she often did with other handsome, strong men. However, the Queen criticised Beatrice's conduct during her first pregnancy. When Beatrice stopped coming to the Queen's dinners a week before giving birth, preferring to eat alone in her room, the Queen wrote angrily to her physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, Dr James Reid, that, "I [urged the Princess] coming to dinner, and not simply moping in her own room, which is very bad for her. In my case I regularly came to dinner, except when I was really unwell (even when suffering a great deal) up to the very last day." Beatrice, aided by chloroform, gave birth the following week to her first son, Alexander
Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke
Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO, GJStJ was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria...
.
In addition to having a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
in the early months of her marriage, Beatrice gave birth to four children: Alexander
Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke
Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO, GJStJ was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria...
, called "Drino", was born in 1886; Ena
Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg
Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg was queen consort of King Alfonso XIII of Spain...
in 1887; Leopold
Lord Leopold Mountbatten
Lord Leopold Mountbatten, GCVO was a descendant of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria...
in 1889 and Maurice
Prince Maurice of Battenberg
Prince Maurice of Battenberg, KCVO, was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria...
in 1891. Following this, Beatrice took a polite and encouraging interest in social issues, such as conditions in the coal mines. However, this interest did not extend to changing the conditions of poverty, as it had done with her brother, the Prince of Wales.
Although court entertainments were few after the Prince Consort's death, Beatrice and the Queen enjoyed tableau vivant
Tableau vivant
Tableau vivant is French for "living picture." The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move...
photography, which was often performed at the royal residences. Henry, increasingly bored by the lack of activity at court, longed for employment, and in response, the Queen made him Governor of the Isle of Wight in 1889. However, he yearned for military adventure and pleaded with his mother-in-law to let him join the Ashanti expedition fighting in the Anglo-Asante war. Despite misgivings, the Queen consented, and Henry and Beatrice parted on 6 December 1895; they would not meet again. Henry contracted malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and was sent home. On 22 January 1896, Beatrice, who was waiting for her husband at Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
, received a telegram informing her of Henry's death two days earlier. Devastated, she left court for a month of mourning before returning to her post at her mother's side. The Queen's journal reports that Victoria "[w]ent over to Beatrice's room and sat a while with her. She is so piteous in her misery."
Despite her grief, Beatrice remained her mother's faithful companion, and as Victoria aged, she relied more heavily on Beatrice for dealing with correspondence. However, realising that Beatrice needed a place of her own, she gave her the 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...
apartments once occupied by the Queen and her mother. In response to Beatrice's interest in photography, the Queen had a darkroom
Darkroom
A darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
installed at Osborne House. The changes in the family, including Beatrice's preoccupation with her mother, may have affected her children, who rebelled at school. It was discovered that the children's governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...
had been undermining the love and trust they had in their mother. Beatrice also wrote that Ena was "troublesome and rebellious", and that Alexander was telling "unwarrantable untruths".
Later life
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
in March, "... you may imagine what the grief is. I, who had hardly ever been separated from my dear mother, can hardly realise what life will be like without her, who was the centre of everything." Beatrice's public appearances continued, but her position at court was diminished. She, unlike her sister Louise, was not close to her brother, now King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, and was not included in the King's inner circle. Nevertheless, though their relationship did not break down completely, it was occasionally strained, for example when she accidentally (but noisily) dropped her service book from the royal gallery onto a table of gold plate during his coronation.
After inheriting Osborne, the King had his mother's personal photographs and belongings removed and some of them destroyed, especially material relating to John Brown
John Brown (servant)
John Brown was a Scottish personal servant and favourite of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom for many years. He was appreciated by many for his competence and companionship, and resented by others for his influence and informal manner...
, whom he detested. Victoria had intended the house to be a private, secluded residence for her descendants, away from the pomp and ceremony of mainland life. However, the new King had no need for the house and consulted his lawyers about disposing of it, transforming the main wing into a convalescent home, opening the state apartments to the public, and constructing a Naval College on the grounds. His plans met with strong disapproval from Beatrice and Louise. Victoria had bequeathed them houses on the estate, and the privacy promised to them by their mother was threatened. When Edward discussed the fate of the house with them, Beatrice argued against allowing the house to leave the family, citing its importance to their parents. However, the King did not want the house himself, and he offered it to his heir, Beatrice's nephew George
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....
, who declined, objecting to the high cost of maintenance. Edward subsequently extended the grounds of Beatrice's home, Osborne Cottage, to compensate her for the impending loss of her privacy. Shortly afterwards, the King declared to Arthur Balfour
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
, the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, that the main house would go to the nation as a gift. An exception was made for the private apartments, which were closed to all but the royal family members, who made it a shrine to their mother's memory.
Victoria's journals
Upon Victoria's death, Beatrice began the momentous task of transcribing and editing Victoria's journals, which had been kept since 1831. The hundreds of volumes contained the Queen's personal views of the day-to-day business of her life and included personal and family matters as well as matters of state.Victoria had given Beatrice the task of editing the journals for publication, which meant removing private material as well as passages that, if published, might be hurtful to living people. Beatrice deleted so much material that the edited journals are only a third as long as the originals. The destruction of such large passages of Victoria's diaries distressed Beatrice's nephew, King George V
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....
, and his wife Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
, who were powerless to intervene. Beatrice copied a draft from the original and then copied her draft into a set of blue notebooks. Both the originals and her first drafts were destroyed as she progressed. The task took thirty years and was finished in 1931. The surviving blue notebooks are kept in the Royal Archives
Royal Archives
The Royal Archives, also known as the Queen's Archives, are a division of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is operationally under the control of the Keeper of the Royal Archives, who is customarily the Private Secretary to the Sovereign.Although Sovereigns have kept...
at Windsor Castle
Windsor 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...
.
Retirement from public life
Beatrice continued to appear in public after her mother's death. The public engagements she carried out were often related to her mother, Victoria, as the public had always associated Beatrice with the deceased monarch.Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
. This step was opposed by Beatrice's brother, King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, and Spanish ultra-conservatives were against the King's marriage to a Protestant of low birth.
Nevertheless, Alphonso and Ena were married on 31 May 1906. The marriage began inauspiciously when an anarchist attempted to bomb them on their wedding day. Apparently close at first, the couple grew apart. Ena became unpopular in Spain and grew more so when it was discovered that her son, the heir to the throne, suffered from 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...
. Alphonso blamed Beatrice for bringing the royal disease
Haemophilia in European royalty
Haemophilia figured prominently in the history of European royalty in the 19th and 20th centuries. Britain's Queen Victoria, through two of her five daughters , passed the mutation to various royal houses across the continent, including the royal families of Spain, Germany and Russia. Victoria's...
to the Spanish royal house and turned bitterly against Ena.
During her time as Queen of Spain, Ena returned many times to visit her mother in Britain, but always without Alphonso and usually without her children.
Meanwhile, Beatrice lived at Osborne Cottage and Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke, near Newport, Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial.-Early history:...
, home of the Governor of the Isle of Wight. (Victoria had made Beatrice governor after Prince Henry died.) In time, Beatrice chose to abandon Osborne Cottage and, against the wishes of her nephew, George V, sold it in 1912. She moved into Carisbrooke Castle whilst keeping an apartment 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...
in London. She had been much involved in collecting material for the Carisbrooke Castle museum, which she opened in 1898.
Her presence at court further decreased as she aged. Devastated by the death of her favourite son, Maurice
Prince Maurice of Battenberg
Prince Maurice of Battenberg, KCVO, was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria...
, during the First World 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...
in 1914, she began to retire from public life. In response to war with Germany, George V changed the family surname from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha served as the collective name of two duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, in Germany. They were located in what today are the states of Bavaria and Thuringia, respectively, and the two were in personal union between 1826 and 1918...
to Windsor
House of Windsor
The House of Windsor is the royal house of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V by royal proclamation on the 17 July 1917, when he changed the name of his family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor, due to the anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom...
to downplay their German origins. Subsequently, Beatrice and her family renounced their German names; Beatrice's style
Style (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
reverted from HRH Princess Henry of Battenberg to her birth style, HRH The Princess Beatrice. Her surname was also anglicised to Mountbatten. Her sons gave up their courtesy style, Prince of Battenberg.
Alexander, the eldest, became Sir Alexander Mountbatten
Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke
Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO, GJStJ was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria...
and was later given the title Marquess of Carisbrooke
Marquess of Carisbrooke
The title of Marquess of Carisbrooke was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1917 for Prince Alexander of Battenberg, eldest son of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom and Prince Henry of Battenberg...
in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
. Her younger son, Leopold, became Lord Leopold Mountbatten
Lord Leopold Mountbatten
Lord Leopold Mountbatten, GCVO was a descendant of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria...
and was given the rank of a younger son of a marquess. He was a haemophiliac, having inherited the "royal disease" from his mother, and died during a knee operation in 1922 one month short of his 33rd birthday.
Following the war, Beatrice was one of several members of the royal family who became patrons of The Ypres League
The Ypres League
The Ypres League was a British World War I veterans and remembrance society. It was founded on 28 September 1920 to act as a brotherhood for veterans of the battles of the Ypres Salient, to remember those who died there, and to aid pilgrims traveling to the battlefields. It later became an...
, a society founded for veterans of the Ypres Salient
Ypres Salient
The Ypres Salient is the area around Ypres in Belgium which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops...
and bereaved relatives of those killed in fighting in the Salient. She was herself a bereaved mother, as her son, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, had been killed in action during the First Battle of Ypres
First Battle of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres, also called the First Battle of Flanders , was a First World War battle fought for the strategic town of Ypres in western Belgium...
. Her rare public appearances after her son's death included commemorations of these events, including her laying of wreaths at the Cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
in 1930 and 1935 to mark the 10th and 15th anniversaries of the founding of the League.
Last years
Even in her seventies, Beatrice continued to correspond with her friends and relatives and to make rare public appearances, such as when, pushed in a wheelchair, she viewed the wreaths laid after the death of George V in 1936. She published her last work of translation in 1941. Entitled "In Napoleonic Days", it was the personal diary of Queen Victoria's maternal grandmother, Augusta, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-SaalfeldAugusta Reuss-Ebersdorf
Countess Augusta Caroline Reuss of Ebersdorf , was by marriage a duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was born in Saalburg-Ebersdorf.-Family:...
. She corresponded with the publisher, John Murray
John Murray (publisher)
John Murray is an English publisher, renowned for the authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, and Charles Darwin...
, who greatly approved of the work. She made her last home at Brantridge Park
Brantridge Park
Brantridge Park, Balcombe, West Sussex, England is one of the lesser royal residences. Standing in Brantridge Forest, it was the seat of the 1st Earl of Athlone, and his wife, Princess Alice of Albany, the last surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria...
in West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, which was owned by Queen Mary's brother, Alexander Cambridge
Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone
Major-General Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone , was a close relative of the shared British and Canadian royal family, as well as a British military commander and major-general who served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, the...
, the first Earl of Athlone
Earl of Athlone
The title of Earl of Athlone has been created three times. It was created first in the Peerage of Ireland in 1692 by King William III for the Dutch General Baron Godard van Reede, Lord of Ginkel, to honour him for his successful battles in Ireland. The title also had the subsidiary title of Baron...
, and his wife, Princess Alice of Albany
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone was a member of the British Royal Family. She was the longest-lived Princess of the Blood Royal of the British Royal Family and the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria...
, who was Beatrice's niece. There, Beatrice died peacefully in her sleep on 26 October 1944, aged eighty-seven. After her funeral service in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Windsor 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...
, her coffin was placed in the royal vault on 3 November. On 28 August 1945, her body was transferred and placed inside a joint tomb, alongside her husband, in 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...
. Beatrice's final wish, to be buried with her husband on the island most familiar to her, was fulfilled in a private service at Whippingham attended only by her son, the Marquess of Carisbrooke, and his wife.
Legacy
Beatrice was the shyest of all Victoria's children. However, because she accompanied Victoria almost wherever she went, she became among the best known. Despite her shyness, she was an able actress and dancer as well as a keen artist and photographer. She was devoted to her children and was concerned when they misbehaved at school. To those who enjoyed her friendship, she was loyal and had a sense of humour, and as a public figure she was driven by a strong sense of duty. Music, a passion that was shared by her mother and the Prince Consort, was something in which Beatrice excelled, and she played the piano to professional standards. Like her mother, she was a devout ChristianChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, fascinated by theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
until her death. With her calm temperament and personal warmth, the princess won wide approval.
The demands made on Beatrice during her mother's reign were high. Despite suffering from rheumatism
Rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
, Beatrice was forced to endure her mother's love of cold weather. Beatrice's piano playing suffered as her rheumatism got gradually worse, eliminating an enjoyment in which she excelled; however, this did not change her willingness to cater to her mother's needs. Her effort did not go unnoticed by the British public. In 1886, when she agreed to open the Show of the Royal Horticultural Society of Southampton, the organisers sent her a proclamation
Proclamation
A proclamation is an official declaration.-England and Wales:In English law, a proclamation is a formal announcement , made under the great seal, of some matter which the King in Council or Queen in Council desires to make known to his or her subjects: e.g., the declaration of war, or state of...
of thanks, expressing their "admiration of the affectionate manner in which you have comforted and assisted your widowed mother our Gracious Sovereign the Queen". As a wedding present, Sir Moses Montefiore
Moses Montefiore
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, Kt was one of the most famous British Jews of the 19th century. Montefiore was a financier, banker, philanthropist and Sheriff of London...
, a Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
banker and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, presented Beatrice and Henry with a silver tea service inscribed: "Many daughters have acted virtuously, but thou excelleth them all." The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper, shortly before Beatrice's marriage, wrote: "The devotion of your Royal Highness to our beloved Sovereign has won our warmest admiration and our deepest gratitude. May those blessings which it has hitherto been your constant aim to confer on others now be returned in full measure to yourself." The sentence was, as far as it dared, criticising the Queen's hold over her daughter.
Some of the buildings with which Beatrice would have been familiar, continue to be regularly used by the royal family: Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
, Windsor Castle
Windsor 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...
, Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and east of Braemar. Balmoral has been one of the residences of the British Royal Family since 1852, when it was purchased by Queen Victoria and her...
, and 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...
. Brantridge Park
Brantridge Park
Brantridge Park, Balcombe, West Sussex, England is one of the lesser royal residences. Standing in Brantridge Forest, it was the seat of the 1st Earl of Athlone, and his wife, Princess Alice of Albany, the last surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria...
, where she died, is a minor royal residence and seldom used. Osborne House
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
, her mother's favourite home, is accessible to the public. Her Osborne residences, Osborne and Albert Cottages, remain in private ownership after their sale in 1912. At her death, Beatrice was the only surviving child of Victoria and Albert. The future Elizabeth II, Beatrice's great-grandniece, was eighteen years of age at that time.
Titles and styles
- 14 April 1857 – 23 July 1885: Her Royal Highness The Princess Beatrice
- 23 July 1885 – 14 July 1917: Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of Battenberg
- 14 July 1917 – 26 October 1944: Her Royal Highness The Princess Beatrice
Honours
- 9 January 1874: Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (1st class)
- 1 January 1878: Order of the Crown of IndiaOrder of the Crown of IndiaThe Imperial Order of the Crown of India is an order in the British honours system.The Order was established by Queen Victoria in 1878, when she became Empress of India. The Order is open only to women; no new appointments have been made after the Partition of India in 1947...
- 24 May 1885: Royal Red CrossRoyal Red CrossThe Royal Red Cross is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing.The award was established on 27 April 1883 by Queen Victoria, with a single class of Member...
- 10 February 1904: Royal Family Order of King Edward VII (2nd class)Royal Family Order of King Edward VIIThe Royal Family Order of King Edward VII was a high honour bestowed as a mark of personal esteem on titled female members of the British Royal Family for personal service to King Edward VII...
- 3 June 1911: Royal Family Order of King George V (2nd class)Royal Family Order of King George VThe Royal Family Order of King George V was a high honour bestowed as a mark of personal esteem on titled female members of the British Royal Family for personal service to King George V.Queen Elizabeth II is the only surviving member of the Order....
- 1 January 1919: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
- 12 June 1926: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St John
- 11 May 1937: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian OrderRoyal Victorian OrderThe Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
- 886th DameKnightA knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the Spanish Royal Order of Queen Maria LuisaOrder of Queen Maria LuisaThe Royal Order of Queen María Luisa is an Order created by Charles IV of Spain by royal decree in April 21 1792 at the request of his wife Queen Maria Luisa, to have a way to reward noble women who distinguished themselves for their services and talents, so it was established as a distinction...
.
Arms
In 1858, Beatrice and the three younger of her sisters were granted use of the royal arms, with an inescutcheon of the shield of SaxonyCoat of arms of Saxony
-See also:*Royal Arms of England*Coat of arms of Portugal*Coat of arms of Belgium*Coat of arms of Bulgaria...
and differenced by a label
Label (heraldry)
In heraldry, a label is a charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung. It is usually a mark of difference, but has sometimes been borne simply as a charge in its own right....
of three points argent
Argent
In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...
. On Beatrice's arms, the outer points bore roses gules
Gules
In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
, and the centre a heart gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant from George V
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....
.
Issue
| Portrait | |Birth | Alexander Mountbatten, Marquess of Carisbrooke Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO, GJStJ was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria... | 3 November 1886 | 23 February 1960 |
Married, 1917, Lady Irene Denison (4 July 1890-16 July 1956); 1 daughter (Lady Iris Mountbatten Lady Iris Mountbatten The Lady Iris Mountbatten was born in Kensington Palace, London on 13 January 1920, the only child of Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, eldest of three sons and one daughter of The Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg... , 1920–1982). |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Victoria Eugénie, Queen of Spain |
24 October 1887 | 15 April 1969 |
Married, 1906, King Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII was King of Spain from 1886 until 1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority... (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941); 3 daughters (1 stillborn Stillbirth A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in... ), 4 sons (including Don Juan, Count of Barcelona, 1913–1993, Spanish heir-apparent 1933–1977 and father of King Juan Carlos I of Spain Juan Carlos I of Spain Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the... ). |
|
| Lord Leopold Mountbatten Lord Leopold Mountbatten Lord Leopold Mountbatten, GCVO was a descendant of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria... |
21 May 1889 |
23 April 1922 |
Suffered from haemophilia Haemophilia in European royalty Haemophilia figured prominently in the history of European royalty in the 19th and 20th centuries. Britain's Queen Victoria, through two of her five daughters , passed the mutation to various royal houses across the continent, including the royal families of Spain, Germany and Russia. Victoria's... ; died unmarried and without issue during a knee operation. |
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| |
Prince Maurice of Battenberg Prince Maurice of Battenberg Prince Maurice of Battenberg, KCVO, was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria... |
3 October 1891 | 27 October 1914 | Died of wounds from action during World War I. |