Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
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| Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine | ||
|---|---|---|
| Marchioness of Milford Haven | ||
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| Full name | Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie | |
| Born | 5 April 1863 | |
| Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire | ||
| Died | 24 September 1950 | |
| Kensington Palace, London | ||
| Buried | Whippingham, Isle of Wight | |
| Consort to | Prince Louis of Battenberg | |
| Issue | Alice, Louise, George, Louis | |
| Royal House | House of Hesse | |
| Father | Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse | |
| Mother | Alice of the United Kingdom | |
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie) (5 April 1863 - 24 September 1950), was the eldest daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837-1892) and his first wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1843-1878).
She is the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who is the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.
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[edit] Early life
Victoria was born at Windsor Castle. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her early life was spent at Bessungen, Germany but when she was three years old the family went to live in the Neues Palais, Darmstadt, where she shared a room with her younger sister, Ella. She was educated to a high standard, and was, throughout her life, an avid reader.
In 1878 her sister, Marie and mother both died of diphtheria, and, as the eldest child, Victoria partly assumed the role of mother to the younger children and of companion to her father.[1]
[edit] Marriage and family
On 30 April 1884 at Darmstadt, she married her first cousin HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg, later Louis Mountbatten and 1st Marquess of Milford Haven. Their children were:
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Alice of Battenberg | 1885 | 1969 | Married Prince Andrew of Greece; had issue. Mother of the Duke of Edinburgh. |
| Princess Louise of Battenberg | 1889 | 1965 | Married to King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (making this his second marriage); one stillborn daughter. |
| Prince George of Battenberg | 1892 | 1938 | Married 1916, to Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby; had issue. |
| Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma | 1900 | 1979 | Married 1922, to Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley; had issue. |
Her husband was a serving officer in the Royal Navy and they lived in a succession of houses at Chichester, Sussex, Walton-on-Thames, and Schloss Heiligenberg, Jugenheim. When Louis was serving with the Mediterranean fleet, she spent some winters in Malta.[1]
[edit] Later life
Louis was forced to resign from the navy at the start of World War I when his German origins became an embarrassment, and the couple retired to Kent House on the Isle of Wight for the war-years. Continued public hostility to Germany led the King (George V of the United Kingdom) to renounce his German titles, and at the same time Louis and Victoria renounced theirs, assuming an anglicised version of Battenberg – Mountbatten – as their surname on 14 July 1917[2]. Three days later Louis was re-enobled by the King as Marquess of Milford Haven. After the October Revolution her two sisters, Alix, Tsarina of Russia and Ella, Grand Duchess Serge of Russia, were murdered.
On Louis's death three years after the end of the war Victoria moved into a grace-and-favour residence at Kensington Palace. In the 1930s she was largely responsible for her grandson Philip’s education and upbringing during his parents' separation and his mother's institutionalisation.
In World War II Victoria was bombed out of Kensington Palace, and spent some time at Windsor Castle with George VI.
She died at Kensington Palace and was buried four days later in the grounds of St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.[1]
[edit] Titles from birth to death
- Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (1863-1884)
- Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Louis of Battenberg (1884-1917)
- Lady Mountbatten (14-17 July 1917)
- The Most Honourable The Marchioness of Milford Haven (1917-1921)
- The Most Honourable The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (1921-1950)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Hugo Vickers, Mountbatten, Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie, marchioness of Milford Haven (1863–1950) In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)
- ^ Marlene A. Eilers, Queen Victoria's Descendants (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987) p.187
[edit] Further reading
- Richard Alexander Hough, Louis and Victoria: The First Mountbattens (London: Hutchinson, 1974).
- Robert K. Massie, The Romanovs: The Final Chapter (New York: Ballantine Books, 1995.
- Hugo Vickers, Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece (New York: St. Martin's, 2000).
- Philip Ziegler, Mountbatten (New York: Knopf, 1984)
