Princess Alice of the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
The Princess Alice was a member of the British royal family
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...

, 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
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:...

. Like her other siblings, Alice spent her early childhood in the company of her parents and siblings, travelling between the British royal residences. In 1861, when Prince Albert became ill with typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...

, Alice nursed him through his final illness; he died on 14 December. Following his death, Queen Victoria entered a period of intense mourning; and Alice spent the next six months acting as her mother's unofficial secretary. On 1 July 1862, while the court was still at the height of mourning, Alice married the minor German Prince Louis 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...

, heir to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...

. The ceremony—conducted privately and with unrelieved gloom at 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....

—was described by the Queen as "more of a funeral than a wedding". The Princess' life in 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...

 was unhappy as a result of impoverishment, family tragedy, and worsening relations with her husband and mother.

Alice was a prolific patron of women's causes, especially nursing, and was a follower of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...

. When Hesse became involved in the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...

, Darmstadt filled with the injured; and the heavily pregnant Alice devoted much of her time to the management of field hospitals. One of her organisations, the Princess Alice Women's Guild, became a national one, taking over much of the day-to-day running of the military hospitals. Furthermore, she befriended and promoted the theologian
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...

 David Friedrich Strauss
David Strauss
David Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied...

, who provided an intellectual basis for her faith instead of the traditional sentimentality of Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 religion. In 1877, Alice became Grand Duchess upon the accession of her husband; and her increased duties put a further strain on her health. The following year, she travelled to England for the last time, holidaying in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

 at the Queen's expense. In the latter months of 1878, 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...

 infected the Hessian court; and Alice nursed her family for over a month before falling ill herself. She died on the 17th anniversary of her father's death, 14 December 1878, at the New Palace in Darmstadt.

Princess Alice was mother of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (the wife of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

) and the maternal great-grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....

, consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

Birth

Alice was born on 25 April 1843 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...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. She was the second daughter and third child of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

, and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She was named Alice to honour Victoria's first 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...

, Lord Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, PC, FRS was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary and Prime Minister . He is best known for his intense and successful mentoring of Queen Victoria, at ages 18-21, in the ways of politics...

, who was a passionate admirer of the Queen and had once commented that the name "Alice" was his favourite female name. Maud, the Anglo-Saxon name for Matilda, was chosen in honour of one of Alice's godparents, Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester
Princess Sophia of Gloucester
Princess Sophia of Gloucester was a member of the British Royal Family, a great granddaughter of George II and niece of George III.-Early life:...

, a niece of King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

. Mary was chosen because Alice was born on the same day as her great-aunt, Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester. Alice 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...

 by William Howley
William Howley
William Howley was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848.-Early Life, education, and interests:...

, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

, on 3 June 1843. Her sex was greeted with a mixture of feeling from the public, and even the Privy Council sent a message to Albert expressing its "congratulation and condolence" on the birth of a second daughter. The godparents selected by the Queen were Ernest I, King of Hanover, for whom Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
The Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge , was the tenth child and seventh son of George III and Queen Charlotte. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 1801 until his death. He also served as Viceroy of Hanover on behalf of his brothers George IV and William IV...

 stood proxy; Feodora, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Princess Feodora of Leiningen
Princess Feodora of Leiningen was the only daughter of Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld . Feodora and her older brother Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen were maternal half-siblings of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom...

, for whom Princess Victoria, 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:...

 stood proxy; Ernest II, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. for whom Georg, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Georg, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg ruled the state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1816 until his death.-Early life:...

 stood proxy; and Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester
Princess Sophia of Gloucester
Princess Sophia of Gloucester was a member of the British Royal Family, a great granddaughter of George II and niece of George III.-Early life:...

.

Childhood

Alice's birth prompted her parents to find a larger family home. Buckingham Palace was not equipped with the private apartments that Victoria's growing family needed, including suitable nurseries. Therefore, in 1844, Victoria and Albert purchased 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....

 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...

 as a family holiday home. Alice's education was devised by her father and his close friend, 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:...

. At Osborne, Alice and her siblings were taught practical skills such as housekeeping, cooking, gardening and carpentry. Victoria and Albert favoured a monarchy based on family values; and Alice and her siblings, who wore middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

 clothing on a daily basis, slept in sparsely furnished bedrooms with little heating. Alice was fascinated with the world outside the Royal Household
Royal Household
A Royal Household in ancient and medieval monarchies formed the basis for the general government of the country as well as providing for the needs of the sovereign and his relations....

; and, 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...

, where she seemed happiest, she visited the tenants living and working on the estate. On one occasion, she escaped from her 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...

 at the chapel 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...

 and sat in a public pew, so she could better understand people who were not strict adherents to royal protocol. In 1854, during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

, the eleven-year old Alice toured London hospitals for wounded soldiers with her mother and her eldest sister. She was the most emotionally sensitive of her siblings and was sympathetic to other people's burdens, possessing a sharp tongue and an easily triggered temper.

In her childhood, Alice formed a close relationship with her brother, 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...

, and her eldest sister, Victoria
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...

, the Princess Royal
Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a style customarily awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter. The style is held for life, so a princess cannot be given the style during the lifetime of another Princess Royal...

. Alice shared a close companionship with her sister, and was upset when she married 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...

 in 1858. After that, she was closest to the Prince of Wales, with whom she held a tight and intimate bond.

Family caregiver

Alice's compassion with other people's suffering established her role as the family caregiver in 1861. Her grandmother Victoria, 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:...

, Queen Victoria's mother, died at Frogmore
Frogmore House
Frogmore House is a 17th-century country house standing at the centre of the Frogmore Estate, amongst beautiful gardens, about a half a mile south of Windsor Castle in the Home Park at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is a Grade I listed building.-Early tenants:The original house on...

 on 16 March 1861. Alice had spent much of her time at her grandmother's side, often played the piano for her in Frogmore's drawing room
Drawing room
A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained. The name is derived from the sixteenth-century terms "withdrawing room" and "withdrawing chamber", which remained in use through the seventeenth century, and made its first written appearance in 1642...

, and nursed her through the final illness. Following her mother's death, the Queen broke down with grief and relied heavily on Alice, to whom Albert had given the instruction: "Go and comfort Mama." The Queen wrote to her uncle, King Leopold of Belgium
Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

, that "dear good Alice was full of intense tenderness, affection and distress for me".

Only a few months later, on 14 December 1861, Albert died 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...

. During his final illness, Alice remained at his bedside. Alice sent for the Prince of Wales by telegram, without the knowledge of the Queen, who refused to notify him because she blamed him for Albert's death. The Queen was distraught by her husband's death, and the court entered a period of intense mourning. Alice became her mother's unofficial secretary, and for the next six months, the physical representation of the monarch. Through her passed the Queen's official papers to and from her government ministers, while the Queen secluded herself from all public life. Alice was aided in this task by her younger sister Princess Louise
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...

. Although Princess Helena
Princess Helena of the United Kingdom
Princess Helena was a member of the British Royal Family, the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert....

, Louise's elder sister, would normally have been selected to assist, her inability to go long without crying was held against her.

Suitors

Alice's matrimonial plans were begun in 1860 by her mother. Queen Victoria had expressed her wish that her children should marry for love, but this did not mean that her choice of suitors was extended to anybody outside the royal houses of Europe. Raising a British subject to royalty, however high their rank, was politically objectionable, and also wasted any opportunity for a useful foreign alliance. The Queen instructed her daughter Victoria, 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...

, recently married to the future German Emperor Frederick III
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...

, to produce a list of eligible princes in Europe. Her search produced only two suitable candidates: William, Prince of Orange; and Prince Albert of Prussia, cousin to Victoria's husband Frederick. The Prince of Orange was soon discounted, as it was revealed that he was smitten with a Catholic archduchess and showed no interest in Alice despite strong pressure from his pro-British
Anglophilia
An Anglophile is a person who is fond of English culture or, more broadly, British culture. Its antonym is Anglophobe.-Definition:The word comes from Latin Anglus "English" via French, and is ultimately derived from Old English Englisc "English" + Ancient Greek φίλος - philos, "friend"...

 mother, Queen Sophie of the Netherlands. Nevertheless, he journeyed to 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...

 so that Queen Victoria could look him over in person, but he proved unpalatable to Alice. Prince Albrecht, too, was spurned; Alice's brother-in-law, Princess Victoria's husband 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...

, remarked that his cousin would not do for "one who deserves the very best". Queen Victoria was strongly anti-Catholic, and discounted her cousin Peter V of Portugal purely because of his religion.

Both of the leading candidates now discounted, Princess Victoria suggested Prince Louis 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...

, a minor German royal, the nephew of Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse
Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis III was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1848 until his death. He was succeeded by his nephew, Louis IV....

. Princess Victoria had gone to the court of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...

 to inspect Louis's sister, Princess Anna
Princess Anna of Hesse and by Rhine (1843-1865)
Princess Anna of Hesse and by Rhine was the consort and second wife of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.-Early life:Princess Anna of Hesse and by Rhine, third child and only daughter of Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine, and his wife, Princess Elisabeth of Prussia, was born...

, as a potential bride for her brother, Albert Edward, 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...

. Although not favourably impressed with Princess Anna, she was impressed with Louis and his brother Prince Henry. Both were invited to 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...

 in 1860, ostensibly so they could watch the Ascot Races in the company of the royal family; but in reality, the visit was a chance for the Queen to inspect her potential son-in-law. The Queen admired both Louis and Henry, but noted how well Louis and Alice got along together. When the Hessian family departed, Louis requested Alice's photograph, and Alice made it clear that she was attracted to him.

Engagement and wedding

Alice was engaged to Prince Louis 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...

 on 30 April 1861, following the Queen's consent. The Queen persuaded 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...

, Lord Palmerston
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...

, to vote Alice a dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

 of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

30,000. Although the amount was considered generous at the time, Prince Albert remarked that "she will not be able to do great things with it" in the little realm of Hesse
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...

, compared to the riches that her sister Victoria would inherit as future Queen of Prussia
Queen of Prussia
The Queen of Prussia was the queen consort of the ruler of the Kingdom of Prussia, from its establishment in 1701 to its abolition in 1918. As all rulers of Prussia had to be male, there was never a Queen regnant of Prussia. Until 1806, the Queen of Prussia was also Electress of Brandenburg; after...

 and German Empress. Furthermore, the couple's future home in 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...

, the Grand Ducal seat, was uncertain. Although Queen Victoria expected that a new palace would be built, the people of Darmstadt did not want to meet that expense, and the resulting controversy caused resentment there. This meant that Alice was unpopular in Darmstadt before she even arrived.
Between the engagement and the wedding, Alice's father Prince Albert died on 14 December 1861. Despite the Queen's grief, she ordered that the wedding should continue as planned. On 1 July 1862, Alice and Louis were married privately in the dining room of 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....

, which was converted into a temporary chapel. The Queen was ushered in by her four sons, acting as a living screen blocking her from view, and took her place in an armchair near the altar. Alice was given away by her uncle, Albert's brother Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and was flanked by four bridesmaids: her younger sisters, Princesses Helena
Princess Helena of the United Kingdom
Princess Helena was a member of the British Royal Family, the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert....

, Louise
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...

 and Beatrice
Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
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...

, as well as Louis's sister Princess Anna. For the ceremony, Alice wore a white dress with a veil of Honiton lace
Honiton
Honiton is a town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. The town's name is pronounced in two ways, and , each pronunciation having its adherents...

, but was required to wear black mourning clothes before and after the ceremony. The Queen, sitting in an armchair, struggled to hold back her tears, and was shielded from view by 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...

 and Prince Alfred
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the third Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and reigned from 1893 to 1900. He was also a member of the British Royal Family, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha...

, her second son, who cried throughout the service. The weather at Osborne was dreary, with winds blowing up from the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

. The Queen wrote to her eldest daughter, Victoria, that the ceremony was "more of a funeral than a wedding", and remarked to Alfred, Lord Tennyson that it was "the saddest day I can remember". The ceremony—described by Gerard Noel as "the saddest royal wedding in modern times"—was over by 4 pm, and the couple set off for their honeymoon at St Claire in Ryde
Ryde
Ryde is a British seaside town, civil parish and the most populous town and urban area on the Isle of Wight, with a population of approximately 30,000. It is situated on the north-east coast. The town grew in size as a seaside resort following the joining of the villages of Upper Ryde and Lower...

, a house lent to them by the Vernon Harcourt family. Alice's entourage consisted of Lady Churchill
Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill
Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill, VA , born Lady Jane Conyngham, daughter of the Earl of Mount Charles , married, on 19 May 1849, the Francis Spencer, 2nd Baron Churchill, at Bifrons House, Kent.From 1854 to her death, Lady Churchill was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria...

, General Seymour
Sir Francis Seymour, 1st Baronet
General Sir Francis Seymour, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British Army officer and courtier....

 and Herr Westerweller (a Hessian courtier).

Alice was careful not to displease the Queen after her marriage. When the Queen visited the couple at St Claire, Alice tried not to appear "too happy". Despite this, Alice's displays of romantic bliss made the Queen jealous of her daughter's happiness.

Settling in Darmstadt

Alice and Louis arrived at Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...

 on 12 July 1862 and were greeted by cheering crowds gathered in spite of pouring rain. After being introduced to town officials, they took a train to Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

, where they breakfasted, before taking a steamer along the Rhine to Gustavsburg. From there, they took a train to Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...

, where they were greeted with great enthusiasm. Alice wrote back to her mother that "I believe the people never gave so hearty a welcome", while her sister Helena wrote that "nothing could have been more enthusiastic than her entry into Darmstadt was″. Alice did not adapt immediately to her new surroundings. She was homesick, and could not believe that while she was so far away from England, her father was not still alive and comforting her mother. The Queen confided to her journal: "Already nearly a fortnight since our dear Alice has left and strange to say – much as she has been to me – and dear and precious as a comfort and an assistance, I hardly miss her at all, or felt her going – so utterly alone am I – by that one dreadful loss – that one thought, that everything passed by unheeded!"

The question of Alice's residence became an issue after her arrival, with the Grand Duke unwilling to fund a residence befitting a daughter of Queen Victoria with the low Hessian funds. The pair were given a house in Darmstadt's "Old Quarter", which overlooked the street. The carts rumbling past could easily be heard through the house's thin walls. However, it seemed to suit Alice well, and she spent as much time in Hesse as possible to familiarise herself with her new surroundings. In 1863, she travelled to England for the marriage of her brother, the Prince of Wales, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...

, and delivered her first child, Victoria Alberta Elizabeth Matilda Marie
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...

, on 5 April in the presence of Queen Victoria. The Darmstadt court chaplain was called over to England especially for the christening.

After returning to Darmstadt in May, Alice and Louis were given a new residence, Kranichstein, north-east of Darmstadt. Alice gave birth to her second daughter Elizabeth, nicknamed "Ella", on 1 November 1864. Alice's decision to breastfeed
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...

 her newborn daughter upset her mother, who was against breastfeeding. Furthermore, the realisation by the Queen that Alice had found true happiness and would therefore be visiting England less began the difficult relations between mother and daughter that would continue until Alice's death.

Austro-Prussian War

In 1866, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 called for Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 to hand over the joint Habsburg-Hohenzollern administration to the Augustenborg family. Berlin refused, and Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

 sent troops into Austrian-administered Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....

. This provoked war between the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 and Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

, with Hesse siding with the Austrians, technically making Alice and her sister Victoria
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...

 enemies.

Alice, heavily pregnant with her third child
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine was the third child and third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert...

, saw Louis depart to command the Hessian cavalry against the Prussians, and sent her children to stay with Queen Victoria in England. Despite her pregnancy, she performed the royal duties expected of her sex and station, making bandages for troops and preparing hospitals. On 11 July, she gave birth, and when Prussian troops were on the verge of entering Darmstadt, she begged the Grand Duke to surrender on Prussia's terms. This provoked fury from the fiercely anti-Prussian Prince Alexander
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:...

, but Alice realised that the conquered German states would likely form a union which she, like her sister Victoria, supported.

Alice and Louis communicated extensively during the war, with Alice urging Louis not to take too many risks, and Louis urging her not to worry. Panic ensued in Darmstadt, with the youth corps fleeing their posts, leaving only the palace sentries to defend the city. One general's hysterical behaviour angered Alice after he rushed into a hospital shouting "The Prussians are coming, every man for himself" at 1 am. Eventually an armistice between Prussia and Hesse was concluded, and Louis wrote that they were now "safe". He was reunited with Alice after the two met unexpectedly in the street, and they visited the wounded together. The Prussians entered Darmstadt, and Alice devoted much of her time to the sick and wounded. She was a friend of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...

, who was able to collect and send money from England, and Alice used Nightingale's advice as to cleanliness and ventilation in hospitals.

Despite being relieved that war was over, Alice was shocked by the behaviour of Prussian troops in Hesse; Berlin took the grand duchy's railways and telegraph systems, and assessed Hesse for three million florins in indemnity. Alice wrote to her mother, who in turn wrote to Victoria, who responded that there was nothing she could do to relieve the "painful and distressing position darling Alice was in" as it was "one of the unavoidable results of this dreadful war". Influence came from the Emperor of Russia
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...

, who urged the Prussian King to allow the Grand Duke to keep his throne. The fact that Alice's sister was also the Prussian Crown Princess is likely to have influenced Prussia's generosity. However, Alice was angered by an untactful visit by Princess Victoria to the conquered region of Homburg
Hesse-Homburg
Hesse-Homburg was formed into a separate landgraviate in 1622 by the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt to be ruled by his son, although it did not become independent of Hesse-Darmstadt until 1668....

, originally part of Hesse, shortly after it became Prussian territory.

David Strauss

Alice developed a friendship with the theologian
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...

 David Friedrich Strauss
David Strauss
David Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied...

. He was a controversial figure at the time; in 1835, he published The Life of Jesus, which argued that the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 could not be literally interpreted as God's word, a view akin to heresy in orthodox circles. Alice's view was similar to Strauss', and she believed that contemporary Victorian society was presenting God in a way that would be "unrecognisable to early Christians". Strauss also offered Alice an intellectual companionship that her husband was not equipped to provide, and he was regularly invited to the New Palace to read to Alice privately. The friendship flourished; Strauss was introduced to Alice's sister Victoria and her brother-in-law Frederick
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...

, and he was invited by them to Berlin. In 1870, Strauss wanted to dedicate his new work Lectures on Voltaire to Alice, but he was too afraid to ask her; she spared him the need by asking him to dedicate them to her. However, Alice's relationship with Strauss angered Empress Augusta
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:...

, who labelled Alice a "complete atheist" after hearing about his promotion.

1871: Family and political relations

January 1871 saw the formation
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...

 of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

, but Alice's feelings were torn. She was proud that Germany had become united, but was distressed to part with her husband, who was now fighting for the Prussians. They were separated for nearly the whole year, only seeing each other during short breaks, and Alice lamented that "the past year has been so unhappy". Late in 1871, Alice travelled to Balmoral to see her mother, but she was recovering from two serious illnesses, and Alice was given the feeling that her mother did not want her there. Alice and Louis therefore went to stay with the Prince and Princess of Wales at Sandringham
Sandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...

, where Louis was able to shoot. Shortly before the couple were due to depart Sandringham, however, the Prince of Wales became seriously ill with typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...

. The Prince's condition was critical, but after a tense period, he recovered.

After the Prince's recovery, the Queen was anxious that the credit for his recovery should be focused on the Princess of Wales, rather than Alice. The Queen was still mindful that Alice had opposed her choice of husband for Princess Helena
Princess Helena of the United Kingdom
Princess Helena was a member of the British Royal Family, the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert....

, and relations between mother and daughter continued to sour until Alice's death. The Queen was disenchanted with Alice's choice to breastfeed her children, as well as her interest in gynecological matters and the human body. When Alice's sister Louise
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...

 was married on 21 March 1871, the Queen wrote to Louise: "I would rather you had not met her [Alice] so soon, for I know her curiosity and what is worse and what I hardly like to say of my own daughter–and I know her indelicacy and coarseness...When she came over in '69 and saw Lenchen
Princess Helena of the United Kingdom
Princess Helena was a member of the British Royal Family, the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert....

 again and asked her such things, that Christian was shocked..." The Queen was also annoyed by Alice's begging letters, pleading poverty, and her habit of trying to cheer the Queen up whenever she visited. The Queen, content in her sorrow, did not want to be cheered up. Alice's dislike of her mother's funerary seclusion worsened their relationship.

Later life

Tragedy befell Alice on 29 May 1873, when her youngest and favourite son, Friedrich
Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the haemophiliac second son of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, thus he is a grandson of Queen Victoria...

, called "Frittie", died after falling 20 feet from a window. The child 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...

, and although he regained consciousness, the internal bleeding could not be stopped. Alice never recovered from Frittie's death, writing to her mother two months later: "I am glad you have a little coloured picture of my darling. I feel lower and sadder than ever and miss him so much, so continually." However, the Queen's attention was more focused on her son Prince Alfred's engagement to the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. The Tsar had refused to present his daughter for pre-marriage inspection in England, and instead invited the Queen to meet the family in Germany. Alice supported this suggestion, and on the same day she wrote the Queen about how much she missed Frittie, the Queen wrote Alice in scathing terms: "You have entirely taken the Russian side, and I do not think, dear child, that you should tell me...what I ought to do."
After Frittie's death, Alice attached herself more closely to her only surviving son, Ernest, and her newborn daughter Marie. In 1875 she resumed her public duties, including fund-raising, medical and social work, which had always held her interest. She maintained active correspondence with the social reformer Octavia Hill
Octavia Hill
Octavia Hill was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing...

. However, in these years, relations with her husband deteriorated. In late 1876, she travelled to England for treatment due to an internal complaint caused by a backward curvature of the womb, and remained 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...

 while she recovered. From Balmoral, she wrote to her husband criticising the childishness of his letters: "[i]f my children wrote me such childish letters – only short accounts – of where and what they had eaten or where they had been etc., and no opinions, observations and remarks, I should be surprised – and how much more so when you write like that!" On 3 October 1876, she wrote another despairing letter to Louis:
The following day, Alice wrote a much shorter letter to Louis in which she looked forward to their meeting, and hoped that "my letter did not distress you – but it is better to be quite honest about all one's feelings".

Grand Duchess

Despite marital problems, Alice remained a strong supporter of her husband, highly critical when his abilities or talents were not fully recognised. On 20 March 1877, Louis' father Prince Karl
Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine was the second son of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and Wilhelmine of Baden.-Marriage:...

 died, making Louis and Alice heir and heiress. On 13 June the same year, Louis III
Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis III was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1848 until his death. He was succeeded by his nephew, Louis IV....

 died, and Louis and Alice became the Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse. However, her continued unpopularity in Darmstadt, coupled with her mother not wanting her in England, caused strain, and she and her children spent July and August in Houlgate
Houlgate
Houlgate is a small tourist resort in northwestern France along the English Channel with a beach and a casino. It is a commune in the Drochon Valley, in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region.-Pre-19th century:...

, Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

, where Louis often visited them. She was hurt by her reputation in Darmstadt, and she became increasingly bitter towards it; Louis wrote in August 1877 expressing the hope that "bitterness of the salt water will drive away the bitterness that you still feel against Darmstadt. Please my darling, don't speak so harshly of it when I come to join you – it would quite spoil my happiness at seeing you again."

Alice took Louis's letter to heart, responding: "I shall certainly say nothing to you about Darmstadt when you come...I have no intention of saying anything unpleasant, least of all to you. You shake off anything unpleasant like a poodle shaking off the water when it comes to the sea – natures like yours are the happiest in themselves, but they are not made to help, comfort and advise others, nor to share with others the heat of life's noon-day or the cool of the evening, with insight, understanding and sympathy." In response, Louis sent a letter that "made [Alice] cry", and after this letter, Alice's letters to Louis were more encouraging, assuring him of his ability to make decisions by himself.

Alice and Louis's return to Darmstadt as Grand Duke and Duchess was met with celebration that Alice did not expect. However, she found her duties overwhelming, writing to her mother that she "dreaded everything". Alice used her new role to reform the social conditions of Darmstadt, but found the responsibility of being Landesmutter (mother of her people) strenuous. In another letter to her mother, she wrote that her duties were "more than she could stand in the long run". She was distressed by a rumour that she was once unkind to Louis's aunt, the dowager Grand Duchess Mathilde
Princess Mathilde of Bavaria
Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria was the second child and eldest daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.-Marriage:...

, and she was hurt by an unkind letter from Queen Victoria. Alice complained to Louis that the letter "made me cry with anger...I wish I were dead and it probably will not be too long before I give Mama that pleasure." However, no mention is made of what provoked this angry outburst.

Christmas 1877 provided respite for Alice, as all the family gathered together again, and she doted on her youngest daughter Marie. She was too exhausted to attend the wedding of her niece, Princess Charlotte of Prussia
Princess Charlotte of Prussia
Princess Charlotte of Prussia , Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen was the second child born to Prince Friedrich of Prussia and Princess Victoria...

, in Berlin, in January 1878. Instead, she involved herself in the arts and sciences and distanced herself from society protocols. However, she continued to feel the burden of her duties. In the Autumn of 1878, Queen Victoria paid for the Grand Ducal family to holiday in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

, where they stayed in a house on the Grand Parade. Alice performed various royal duties on this trip and visited her mother at 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....

 before returning to the New Palace at Darmstadt in late 1878.

Final illness

In November 1878, the Grand Ducal household fell ill with 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...

. Alice's eldest daughter Victoria
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...

 was the first to fall ill, complaining of a stiff neck in the evening of 5 November. Diphtheria was diagnosed the following morning, and soon the disease spread to Alice's children Alix, Marie
Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the youngest daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse. Her mother was the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

, Irene
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine was the third child and third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert...

 and Ernest
Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
Ernest Louis Charles Albert William , was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1892 until 1918...

. Her husband Louis became infected shortly thereafter. Elizabeth was the only child to not fall ill, having been sent away by Alice to the palace of the Princess Charles
Princess Elizabeth of Prussia
Princess Elizabeth of Prussia was the second daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg, granddaughter of Frederick William II of Prussia...

, her mother-in-law.

Marie became seriously ill on 15 November, and Alice was called to her bedside. However, she was too late; Marie choked to death by the time Alice arrived. She was distraught, writing to Queen Victoria that the "pain is beyond words". For several weeks, Alice kept the news of Marie's death secret from her children, but she finally told Ernest in early December. His reaction was even worse than she had anticipated, and at first, he refused to believe it. As he sat up crying, Alice broke her rule about physical contact with the ill and gave him a kiss. At first, however, Alice did not fall ill. She met her sister Victoria as the latter was passing through Darmstadt on the way to England, and wrote to her mother with "a hint of resumed cheerfulness" on the same day. However, by Saturday, 14 December, the anniversary of her father's death, she became seriously ill with the diphtheria caught from her son. Her last words were "dear Papa", and she fell unconscious at 2:30 am. Just after 8:30 am, she died. Alice was buried on 18 December 1878 at the Grand Ducal mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...

 at Rosenhöhe outside Darmstadt, with the Union Jack draped over her coffin. A special monument of Alice and her daughter Marie was erected there by Joseph Boehm
Joseph Boehm
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, RA was a medallist and sculptor, best known for the Jubilee head of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner.-Biography:...

.

She was the first child of Queen Victoria to die; her mother outlived her by more than 20 years, outliving two more of her children - Leopold and Alfred - in the process.

Legacy

Alice's death had an emotional effect both in Britain and Hesse. 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...

wrote: "The humblest of people felt that they had the kinship of nature with a Princess who was the model of family virtue as a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother...Her abundant sympathies sought for objects of help in the great unknown waste of human distress". The Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...

wrote that the "lesson of the late Princess's life is as noble as it is obvious. Moral worth is far more important than high position". The death was also heavily felt by the royal family, especially by Alice's brother and sister-in-law, the Prince
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 Princess
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...

 of Wales. The Princess of Wales, upon meeting the Queen after Alice's death, exclaimed "I wish I had died instead of her". The Prince, meanwhile, wrote to the Earl of Granville
Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville
Granville George Leveson Gower, 2nd Earl Granville KG, PC FRS , styled Lord Leveson until 1846, was a British Liberal statesman...

 that Alice "was my favourite sister. So good, so kind, so clever! We had gone through so much together..."

Queen Victoria, shocked by grief, wrote to her daughter Princess Victoria: "My precious child, who stood by me and upheld me seventeen years ago on the same day taken, and by such an awful and fearful disease...She had darling Papa's nature, and much of his self-sacrificing character and fearless and entire devotion to duty!" The animosity that Victoria had towards Alice was no longer present. Princess Victoria expressed her grief to her mother in a 39-page letter, and deeply mourned Alice, the sister to whom she was closest. However, both she and her husband were forbidden from attending the funeral by the Emperor of Germany
William I, German Emperor
William I, also known as Wilhelm I , of the House of Hohenzollern was the King of Prussia and the first German Emperor .Under the leadership of William and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the...

, who was worried about their safety.

Alice's descendants went on to play significant roles in world history. Her fourth daughter, Alix, married Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

 of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

; Alix passed her mother's gene for haemophilia on to her son, the crown prince Tsarevich Alexei. Alix, her husband, and her children were shot and killed by the Bolsheviks
Shooting of the Romanov family
The shooting of the Romanov family, of the Russian Imperial House of Romanov, and those who chose to accompany them into exile, Dr. Eugene Botkin, Anna Demidova, Alexei Trupp, and Ivan Kharitonov, took place in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918 on the orders of Vladimir Lenin, Yakov Sverdlov, and the...

 after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Similarly, Alice's second daughter, Elizabeth, who married Grand Duke Sergei
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia...

 of Russia, was murdered in 1918. Alice's grandson, Louis Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

, was the last Viceroy of India, and her great-grandson, Prince Philip of Greece, married Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

.

The Alice Hospital, which she founded in Darmstadt, treated the city's sick and wounded. The organisation continued to flourish long after Alice's death, and in 1953, her grandson Louis gave a lecture on the hospital. He spoke highly of Alice, for whom "the point of departure always remained a human being who was ill and needed help, and his needs in war and peace. At his side stood the person willing to give help, wishing to ameliorate his needs and for this purpose could make use of an organisation which was becoming more and more streamlined." Among Alice's other establishments were the Alice Society for Women's Training and Industry, for the purpose of educating women, and the Princess Alice Women's Guild, where nurses were trained. These organisations were especially active and important during the Austro-Prussian war, but the time Alice dedicated to them annoyed her husband, who saw them as consuming his wife's time at his expense.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

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

Honours

  • 1 January 1878: Companion of the Order of the Crown of India
    Order of the Crown of India
    The 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...


Arms

In 1858, Alice and the three younger of her 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 bore an ermine spot each, and the centre bore a rose gules.

Children

Name Birth Death Notes
Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Matilda Mary
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...

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.
Elisabeth Alexandra Louise Alice
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia canonized as St. Elizabeth Romanova was a German princess of the House of Hesse, and the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, fifth son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and the Rhine...

1 November 1864 18 July 1918 † Took the name Yelisaveta Fyodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

, m. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia...

 (11 May 1857 – 17 February 1905), son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

 and had no issue. Had been courted by her first cousin, William II, German Emperor
William II, German Emperor
Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...

, but rejected him.
Irene Louise Mary Anne
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine was the third child and third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert...

11 July 1866 11 November 1953 Married her first cousin Prince Henry of Prussia, (14 August 1862 – 20 April 1929), son of Frederick III, German Emperor
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...

 and had issue. Irene passed haemophilia on to two of her three sons: Prince Waldemar of Prussia
Prince Waldemar of Prussia (1889-1945)
Prince Waldemar of Prussia was the eldest son of Prince Heinrich of Prussia and his wife, Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine.-Biography:-Marriage:...

 and Prince Henry of Prussia.
Ernest Louis Charles Albert William 25 November 1868 9 October 1937 Succeeded as Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, 13 March 1892; abdicated 9 November 1918; married his first cousin HRH Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (25 November 1876 – 2 March 1936) and had issue, divorced in 1903; married HH Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (17 September 1871 – 16 November 1937) and had issue.
Frederick William Augustus Victor Leopold Louis
Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine
Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the haemophiliac second son of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, thus he is a grandson of Queen Victoria...

7 October 1870 29 May 1873 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...

 and died from internal bleeding after a fall from a window at the age of two and a half.
Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice 6 June 1872 17 July 1918 † Took the name Alexandra Fyodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

, m. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

 (18 May 1868 – 17 July 1918 †), and had issue. Their only son, Tsarevich Alexei, suffered from haemophilia.
Marie Victoria Feodore Leopoldine
Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine , , was the youngest daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse. Her mother was the second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...

24 May 1874 16 November 1878 Died from 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...

.
killed in the events that followed the Bolshevik Revolution

Ancestors



External links


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