She was born on April 25, 1843 (died on December 14, 1878, she was 35 years old) in London, England as Alice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. [62] She moved into the Castle while keeping an apartment at Kensington Palace in London. "[16] As her mother's secretary, she performed duties such as writing on the Queen's behalf and helping with political correspondence. "[6] Although Queen Victoria was known to dislike most babies, she liked Beatrice, whom she considered attractive. In 1975, Princess Alice was the first woman to be appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. At the same time, the newly arrived Beatrice showed promise.

(1977). 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.

[22] She was Patron of the Girls' Day School Trust and Queen Margaret College. After a year of persuasion, the Queen, whose consent was required pursuant to the Royal Marriages Act, finally agreed to the marriage, which took place at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight on 23 July 1885. Princess Beatrice, who was Governor of the Isle of Wight from 1896 until her death in 1944, was also President of the Frank James Memorial Hospital at East Cowes, from 1903 until her death. [34] Henry was feeling oppressed by the Queen's constant need for his and his wife's company. Beatrice showed intelligence, which further endeared her to the Prince Consort, who was amused by her childhood precociousness.[5]. [1] 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).

141 years ago. [85] At her death, Beatrice was the only surviving child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He wrote to Baron Stockmar that Beatrice was "the most amusing baby we have had." (13 years younger) , Princess

[84] Her Osborne residences, Osborne and Albert Cottages, remain in private ownership after their sale in 1912. Devastated by the death of her favourite son, Maurice, during the First World War in 1914, she began to retire from public life. Like her other siblings Alice spent her early childhood in the company of her parents and siblings travelling between the British royal residences.

"[25], After the death of the Prince Imperial, the Prince of Wales suggested that Beatrice marry their sister Alice's widower, Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. [3] After school in West Malvern, she spent a year in Paris "before returning home to be presented at Court in 1920". 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 to continue] coming to dinner, and not simply moping in her own room, which is very bad for her. [3][4], In 1935, Alice returned to the United Kingdom when she learned that her father's health had been deteriorating. Queen Victoria consented to the marriage on condition that Henry give up his German commitments and live permanently with Beatrice and the Queen. [24] She officially retired from public duties at the age of 98. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the Queen's second daughter. [62] 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. Beatrice was born at Buckingham Palace. [11] Queen Victoria again relied on Beatrice and Alice after the death of Albert, of typhoid fever, on 14 December. [13], On her way to the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, Alice wore "an ermine blanket stole" due to the cold weather.

[48] The Queen appointed Beatrice to the governorship of the Isle of Wight, vacated by Prince Henry's death. Princess Alice of the United Kingdom had 8 siblings. (2 years older) , Edward 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. [3], Alice spent much of her childhood travelling "between splendid houses":[4] Boughton House in Northamptonshire, Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, and Bowhill in the Scottish Borders. [6] In August 1935, Lady Alice became engaged to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.

Huberty, M., Giraud, A., Magdelaine, F. & B. [19][20] The Queen suffered another bereavement in 1883, when her highland servant, John Brown, died at Balmoral. [16] A memorial service was held at St Clement Danes on 2 February 2005, which was attended by her son and his family and representatives of organisations Princess Alice was involved in;[31] the service was co-ordinated by the Royal Air Force in respect of Princess Alice's role as Commandant-in-Chief WRAF.

[18] However, to these the Queen soon added more personal tasks. Queen Victoria warmed to Henry, as she often did with other handsome, strong men. [26] 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 the Lords Spiritual. [30] Louis, not realising for several years the reasons for this silence, married Beatrice's niece, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. [17] These mundane duties mirrored those that had been performed in succession by her sisters, Alice, Helena and Louise.

[11], The Duchess's bridesmaids were her sister, the Lady Angela Montagu-Douglas-Scott; her nieces Clare Phipps, Lady Elizabeth Montagu-Douglas-Scott, and Anne Hawkins; her husband's nieces Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret of York; her cousin Moyra Montagu-Douglas-Scott; and her husband's cousin Lady Mary Cambridge. As a widow she requested permission from her niece, the Queen, to use the title and style HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester instead of adopting HRH The Dowager Duchess of Gloucester.

HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, Memories of Ninety Years, London: Collins & Brown Ltd., 1991, p. 138. Princess Entitled "In Napoleonic Days", it was the personal diary of Queen Victoria's maternal grandmother, Augusta, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. [10] In Kenya, where she stayed for over a year, from about 1929–1931, she stayed in the area typical of the so-called Happy Valley set and encountered many of the personalities of said clique, including Evelyn Waugh. 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".

[8] By four years of age, 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. [59] Nonetheless, the couple wed on 31 May 1906. [14], CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (. (4 years younger) , Prince

[33], 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. [7] Alice enjoyed skiing, horse-riding and hunting and was also an accomplished watercolourist.

Queen 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. 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. [42] The Queen's journal reports that Queen Victoria "[w]ent over to Beatrice's room and sat a while with her. [61], During her time as Queen of Spain, Ena returned many times to visit her mother in Britain, but always without Alfonso and usually without her children. There, Beatrice died in her sleep on 26 October 1944, aged eighty-seven (the day before the 30th anniversary of her son, Prince Maurice's death).

On 28 August 1945, her body was transferred and placed inside a joint tomb, alongside her husband, in St Mildred's Church, Whippingham. To those who enjoyed her friendship, she was loyal and had a sense of humour,[74] and as a public figure she was driven by a strong sense of duty. [21] Once again, the Queen plunged into public mourning and relied on Beatrice for support. [45] Despite suffering a miscarriage in the early months of her marriage,[46] Beatrice gave birth to four children: Alexander, called "Drino", was born in 1886; Ena in 1887; Leopold in 1889 and Maurice in 1891.

Her mother was British Monarch Who Reigned 1837–1901 Her mother died at the age of 81 (Princess was 57 years old).

read more. She was thus an aunt by marriage to Elizabeth II. She died at Brantridge Park, the home of her niece, Princess Alice, and her husband, the Earl of Athlone, at the time serving as Governor General of Canada. Princess Alice of the United Kingdom zodiac sign was taurus. [75] She was Patron of the Isle of Wight Branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1920 until her death. Henry contracted malaria and was sent home. Alice's education was devised by Albert's close friend and adviser Baron Stockmar. 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. His plans met with strong disapproval from Beatrice and Louise.

Her godparents were the Duchess of Kent (maternal grandmother); the Princess Royal (eldest sister); and the Prince Frederick of Prussia (her future brother-in-law).

Her sons gave up their style, Prince of Battenberg. [40], 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. 44, 53; (acting) 174–175; (musician) 232–233; (photographer) 121–122. Her gown was designed by Norman Hartnell, who later designed the wedding dress of Princess Elizabeth, the future queen. [25] On the death of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at age 101 in March 2002, Princess Alice became the oldest living member of the British Royal Family. May those blessings which it has hitherto been your constant aim to confer on others now be returned in full measure to yourself. [12] They were married in a private ceremony, in the Private Chapel, Buckingham Palace, on 6 November of that year. Beatrice remained at her mother's side until Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901. Queen 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".

She is so piteous in her misery.

This provided Beatrice with an advantage over her elder siblings. [4] Soon after her marriage, when the couple moved to York House, they were warned that the drawing-room floor would not stand the weight of more than twenty people "so we made a party list" recalled the Duchess many years later "of the twenty-one people whom we disliked most". [34] Alice herself later admitted that following her son's death "I was completely stunned and have never quite been the same since. Darmstadt [23] In 1981, she first published her memoirs under the title The Memoirs of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester.