August 9, 1902: Coronation of Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India

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Alexandra of Denmark, and Emperor of India, Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Temple, coronation, Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, Koh-i-Noor Diamond, perityphlitis, Westminster Abbey

Edward VII (Albert Edward; November 9, 1841 – May 6, 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from January 22, 1901 until his death in 1910.

The eldest son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and nicknamed “Bertie”, Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years.

During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.

When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions. He chose to reign under the name of Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward—the name his mother had intended for him to use—declaring that he did not wish to “undervalue the name of Albert” and diminish the status of his father with whom the “name should stand alone”.

The numeral VII was occasionally omitted in Scotland, even by the national church, in deference to protests that the previous Edwards were English kings who had “been excluded from Scotland by battle”. J. B. Priestley recalled, “I was only a child when he succeeded Victoria in 1901, but I can testify to his extraordinary popularity. He was in fact the most popular king England had known since the earlier 1660s.”

Preparations

The 1838 coronation of Queen Victoria, Edward VII’s mother and predecessor, had been an unrehearsed and somewhat lacklustre event in the Abbey, though the newly extended street procession and celebrations around the country had been a great popular success.

The success of Victoria’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees had created the expectation that Edward’s coronation would be an expression of the nation’s status as a great imperial power. In December 1901, an Executive Coronation Committee was formed, whose leading member, Viscount Esher, worked closely with the King to set the agenda for the event.

Esher had been responsible for organising the Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and was one of the driving forces behind the renewed enthusiasm for royal ceremonial. The position of Director of Music was given to Sir Frederick Bridge, the organist and choirmaster at Westminster Abbey; the first Abbey organist since Henry Purcell to be given that role. Bridge had successfully transformed the quality of music at the Abbey and had directed the music at the Golden Jubilee, for which he had been made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order.

Illness and postponement

By the time of his accession, the 59-year-old Edward was overweight and fond of large meals and cigars. He launched himself into his new role, but his first busy months on the throne were bedevilled by a succession of illnesses and injuries. On June 23, three days before the date set for the coronation, Edward and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark, returned from Windsor Castle to Buckingham Palace in preparation.

Foreign journalists noted that he appeared “worn and pale” and was leaning heavily on his cane. That evening, the King and Queen hosted a formal dinner for seventy British and overseas royal guests.

On the following day at noon, a telegram marked “OFFICIAL” was dispatched around the Empire, with the news that the coronation was postponed and that the King was undergoing an operation. Shortly afterwards, a bulletin was released from Edward’s medical team, stating that “The King is suffering from perityphlitis.

The condition on Saturday was so satisfactory that it was hoped that with care His Majesty would be able to go through the Coronation ceremonies. On Monday evening a recrudescence became manifest, rendering a surgical operation necessary today”. It was undersigned by, among others, Lord Lister and Sir Frederick Treves, who actually carried out the operation on a table in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace, to drain his abdominal cyst.

On June 26 itself, a “solemn service of intercession” was held at St Paul’s Cathedral, which was attended by many of the British and foreign dignitaries who were in London for the coronation. Although workmen immediately received instructions to begin dismantling the wooden stands that had been erected along the route of the procession, Edward was insistent that regional celebrations and a planned “Coronation Dinner for the Poor of London” should go ahead.

Organized by Sir Thomas Lipton, 500,000 dinners were served to Londoners on July 5 at 800 locations around the capital. The King personally contributed £30,000 towards the cost and there were donations by commercial companies and wealthy individuals. The confectionery maker Rowntree’s provided each diner with a tin of chocolate and a rather better one for the 60,000 people who had acted as stewards, on the grounds that they would “be of greater influence socially than the poor”.

Many people had intended to watch the coronation procession, and rooms along the planned route had been rented out at high rates for the expected day of the coronation. The postponement of the coronation led to many demands for refunds on the rental contracts, resulting in the “Coronation cases”, which set an important precedent in the doctrine of frustration of purpose in the English common law of contract.

The service

he contents of the service itself had been carefully selected to ensure that its spiritual character was maintained, while keeping the ceremony as brief as possible. The draft was mainly the work of Randall Davidson, the Bishop of Winchester.

The service was conducted by the elderly and infirm Archbishop of Canterbury, Frederick Temple, who died before the end of the year. He steadfastly refused to delegate any part of his duties and had to be supported throughout by two other bishops. Because of his failing eyesight, the text of the service had to be printed in gigantic type onto rolls of paper called “prompt scrolls”; they are preserved in the Lambeth Palace Library.

Archbishop Temple provided most of the upsets in an otherwise splendid ceremony; he was unable to rise after kneeling to pay homage and had to be helped up by the King himself and several bishops, he placed the crown back-to-front on the King’s head, and when a colleague enquired after his well-being, he was told to “go away!” in a loud voice that was plainly heard by the congregation.

The King also deviated from the order of service; when the Prince of Wales touched the Crown and kissed his father’s left cheek in the traditional gesture of homage, the King rose to his feet and threw his arms around his son’s neck in an unusual display of affection. Another disruption came from the King’s sister, Princess Beatrice, who noisily, albeit accidentally, dropped her service book from the royal gallery onto a gold-plate table.

Because he was still convalescing, Edward had been crowned with the Imperial State Crown instead of the heavier St Edward’s Crown. Alexandra was crowned immediately after her husband by William Dalrymple Maclagan, Archbishop of York, with a new crown containing the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

January 17, 1991: Death of King Olav V of Norway

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Alexander of Denmark, Alexandra of Denmark, Carl of Denmark, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Frederik VIII of Denmark, Kingdom of Norway, Maud of Wales, Märtha of Sweden, Olav Magnusson, Olav V of Norway, Royal numbering

Olav V (July 2, 1903 – January 17, 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.

Olav V was born Prince Alexander Edward Christian Frederik of Denmark in Appleton House on the Royal Sandringham Estate, Flitcham, United Kingdom. His parents were Prince Carl of Denmark, second son of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (later King Frederik VIII), and Princess Maud of Wales, youngest daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexandra of Denmark. Edward VII was the eldest son of Britain’s Queen Victoria.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Alexandra of Denmark were siblings making Olav’s parents first cousins.

When Olav’s father was elected King of Norway, he took the name Haakon VII, and on the day he was inaugurated, he gave his son the Norwegian name Olav after King Olaf II Haakonsson of Norway who reigned from 1015 to 1028. Olaf II died July 30, 1030.

Olav was the first heir to the Norwegian throne to be brought up in Norway since Olav IV in the fourteenth century, and his parents made sure he was given as much of a Norwegian upbringing as possible.

In preparation for his future role, he attended both civilian and military schools.

In 1929, he married his first cousin Princess Märtha of Sweden. During World War II his leadership was much appreciated and he was appointed Norwegian Chief of Defence in 1944. At his death in 1991, he was the last surviving grandchild of Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexandra of Denmark.

On March 21, 1929 in Oslo, he married his first cousin Princess Märtha of Sweden, the second child of Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland, and his wife Princess Ingeborg of Denmark. Her father was the younger brother of King Gustav V of Sweden, making her a first cousin twice removed of the present King of Sweden, and her mother was the younger sister of King Christian X of Denmark and of King Haakon VII of Norway. with whom he had two daughters, Ragnhild and Astrid and one son, Harald (future King Harald V of Norway)

As exiles during World War II, Crown Princess Märtha and the royal children lived in Washington, D.C., where she struck up a close friendship with Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Following a lengthy period of ill-health, Märtha died of cancer at The National Hospital in Oslo in 5 April 1954.[citation needed] At the time of her death, her elder daughter Ragnhild was expecting her first child. Her death came little more than three years before her husband ascended the throne as king. Her death was a tremendous loss for the future king Olav and the children as well as for Norway.

King Haakon VII was injured in an accident in 1955; his son Olav served as regent until his death. Haakon died at the Royal Palace in Oslo on September 21, 1957. He was 85 years old. After his death, Olav succeeded him as Olav V.

Olav reigned as a “People’s King,” and became extremely popular. He liked to drive his own cars, and would drive in the public lanes, even though as a monarch he was allowed to drive in bus lanes. When driving was restricted during the 1973 energy crisis, King Olav – who could have driven legally – wanted to lead by example; while preparing for a skiing trip, he dressed up in his skiing outfit and boarded the Holmenkollbanen suburban railway carrying his skis on his shoulder. When later asked how he dared to go out in public without bodyguards, he replied that “he had 4 million bodyguards” – the population of Norway was at the time 4 million.

Although the constitution nominally vested Olav with executive power, he was not responsible for exercising it. One source states that his “duties were largely ceremonial”. His acts were not valid without the countersignature of a minister–usually the Prime Minister–who then became politically responsible for the act in question.

As King, Olav V, he had the right to appoint the government, but in practice it was not possible for him to keep a government in office against the will of the Storting. Thus, in practice, his role was mostly representative in nature. Nonetheless, like his father before him, he commanded great moral authority as a symbol of the nation’s unity.

Owing to his considerate, down-to-earth style, King Olav was immensely popular, resulting in the nickname Folkekongen (“The People’s King”). In a 2005 poll by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, Olav was voted “Norwegian of the Century”.

During the summer of 1990, the King suffered from health problems, but recovered somewhat during Christmas the same year. At the age of 87, on 17 January 1991, while residing in the Royal Lodge Kongsseteren in Oslo, he became ill and died in the evening of a myocardial infarction.

An interview given by King Harald V and hints in a biography by Jo Benkow, who was the President of the Storting at that time, mention the possibility that King Olav suffered great trauma upon learning of the outbreak of the first Gulf War, which began the day of his death. Olav’s son Harald V succeeded him as King.

The Ordinal Number of King Olav V

Most early kings of Norway are known more by their sobriquet than their ordinals. During the history of Norway the problem with numbering the kings is that there were times when brothers ruled jointly or there were rival kings. All in all the numbering has been consistent with all the names except for the name Olav.

The one in question is Olav Magnusson who was King of Norway from 1103 to 1115 and was the son of King Magnus III Barefoot and Sigrid, daughter of Sakse of Vik.

Olav Magnusson was a co-king together with his half-brothers Sigurd Jorsalfar and Øystein Magnusson after his father Magnus III died in 1103. He was king of Norway for twelve years, but did not, like his brothers, leave a lasting impression.

Olav Magnusson died at the age of 17 and and never ruled his share of the kingdom on his own while his brothers acted as his regent on his behalf. Historians at first judged him as to be insignificant and when numbering the kings of Norway they left Olav Magnusson out from the official numbering.

Olav Magnusson should have been counted as Olav IV of Norway but that ordinal was assigned to King Olaf Haakonsson (1380-1387).

In the middle ages Norway and Denmark, along with Sweden formed the Union of Kalmar in 1397 uniting all three Scandinavian states under one Monarch. Sweden broke away from this union in 1523 and the union between Norway and Denmark lasted until 1814.

However in 1814 Norway was not able to gain its independence and fell under the control of Sweden. It wasn’t until 1905 when Norway became an independent state.

Norway chose a monarchical form of government and elected the second son of King Christian IX of Denmark, Prince Carl of Denmark as their king. Prince Carl chose the Norwegian name of Haakon and became King Haakon VII and he ruled until 1957.

His son, Olav V of Norway 1957-1991, reigned using the ordinal “V” but would have been Olav VI, had the co-king Olaf Magnusson been numbered and not ignored by historians.

January 14, 1892: Death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale

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1.The Prince of Wales (eldest son of The Queen), Alexandra of Denmark, Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, India, Influenza Pandemic, Prince Albert Victor, Princess Hélène of Orléans, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (January 8, 1864 – January 14, 1892) was the eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. From the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the British throne, but never became king because he died before his father and grandmother.

Albert Victor was born two months prematurely on January 8, 1864 at Frogmore House, Windsor, Berkshire. He was the first child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife Alexandra of Denmark, daughter of was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (King Christian IX of Denmark) and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

Following his grandmother Queen Victoria’s wishes, he was named Albert Victor, after herself and her late husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As a grandchild of the reigning British monarch in the male line and a son of the Prince of Wales, he was formally styled His Royal Highness Prince Albert Victor of Wales from birth.

From October 1889 till May 1890 Prince Albert Victor toutred India. On his return from India, Albert Victor was created Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone on May 24, 1890, Queen Victoria’s 71st birthday.

Prospective brides

Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine

Several women were lined up as possible brides for Albert Victor. The first, in 1889, was his cousin Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, but she did not return his affections and refused his offer of engagement. She would later marry Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, another of Albert Victor’s cousins, in 1894.

Princess Hélène of Orléans

The second, in 1890, was a love match with Princess Hélène of Orléans, the third of eight children born to Prince Philippe VII , Count of Paris, and Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain, daughter of Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Antoine was the youngest son of Louis-Philippe I, the last King of France, and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Infanta Luisa was the daughter of Ferdinand VII of Spain and her grandfather’s fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. All four of her grandparents and seven of her eight great-grandparents were members of the French Royal House of Bourbon.

Engagement photo of the Duke of Clarence and Princess Mary of Teck

At first, Queen Victoria opposed any engagement because Hélène was Roman Catholic. Victoria wrote to her grandson suggesting another of her grandchildren, Princess Margaret of Prussia, as a suitable alternative, but nothing came of her suggestion, and once Albert Victor and Hélène confided their love to her, the Queen relented and supported the proposed marriage. Hélène offered to convert to the Church of England, and Albert Victor offered to renounce his succession rights to marry her.

To the couple’s disappointment, her father refused to countenance the marriage and was adamant she could not convert. Hélène travelled personally to intercede with Pope Leo XIII, but he confirmed her father’s verdict, and the courtship ended. On June 25, 1895, at the Church of St. Raphael in Kingston upon Thames, Hélène married Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, 2nd Duke of Aosta (1869–1931).

In late 1891, the Prince was implicated as having been involved with a former Gaiety Theatre chorus girl, Lydia Miller (stage name Lydia Manton), who committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid. In 1891, Albert Victor wrote to Lady Sybil St Clair Erskine that he was in love once again, though he does not say with whom, but by this time another potential bride, Princess Mary of Teck, was under consideration. Mary was the daughter of Queen Victoria’s first cousin Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Queen Victoria was very supportive, considering Mary ideal—charming, sensible and pretty. On 3 December 1891 Albert Victor, to Mary’s “great surprise”, proposed to her at Luton Hoo, the country residence of the Danish ambassador to Britain. The wedding was set for February 27, 1892.

as plans for both his marriage to Mary and his appointment as Viceroy of Ireland were under discussion, Albert Victor fell ill with influenza in the pandemic of 1889–92. He developed pneumonia and died at Sandringham House in Norfolk on January 14, 1892, less than a week after his 28th birthday. His parents the Prince and Princess of Wales, his sisters Princesses Maud and Victoria, his brother Prince George, his fiancée Princess Mary, her parents the Duke and Duchess of Teck, three physicians (Alan Reeve Manby, Francis Laking and William Broadbent) and three nurses were present. The Prince of Wales’s chaplain, Canon Frederick Hervey, stood over Albert Victor reading prayers for the dying.

The nation was shocked. Shops put up their shutters. The Prince of Wales wrote to Queen Victoria, “Gladly would I have given my life for his”.

November 20, 1925: Death of Alexandra of Denmark, Queen of the United Kingdom

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Albert Edward, Alexandra of Denmark, Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Christian IX of Denmark, Dagmar of Denmark, Emperor of India, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Sir Frederick Ponsonby

Alexandra of Denmark (December 1, 1844 – November 20, 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress of India from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King-Emperor Edward VII.

Princess Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia, or “Alix”, as her immediate family knew her, was born at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, immediately adjacent to the Amalienborg Palace complex in Copenhagen. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

Louise of Hesse-Cassel the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Charlotte of Denmark (herself a daughter of Frederik, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway, and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Charlotte of Denmark’s father was a younger son of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway, while her mother was a daughter of Duke Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin).

Louise of Hesse-Cassel siblings included Princess Marie Luise of Hesse-Cassel, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Auguste Sophie of Hesse-Cassel. Louise of Hesse-Hesse-Cassel lived in Denmark from the age of three.

As a niece of King Christian VIII, who ruled Denmark between 1839 and 1848, Louise was very close to the succession after several individuals of the royal house of Denmark who were elderly and childless.

Alexandra had five siblings: Frederik, George (Wilhelm), Dagmar, Thyra and Valdemar.

Her father’s family was a distant cadet branch of the Danish royal House of Oldenburg, which was descended from King Christian III. Although they were of royal blood, the family lived a comparatively modest life. They did not possess great wealth; her father’s income from an army commission was about £800 per year and their house was a rent-free grace and favour property. Occasionally, Hans Christian Andersen was invited to call and tell the children stories before bedtime.

In 1852, her father, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was chosen with the consent of the major European powers to succeed his second cousin Frederik VII as king of Denmark. Shortly, I will be doing on this blog an in depth examination of the Danish succession crisis and the London Protocol that appointed her father to the Danish throne.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband, Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, were already concerned with finding a bride for their son and heir, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. They enlisted the aid of their daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, in seeking a suitable candidate. Alexandra was not their first choice because the Danes were at loggerheads with the Prussians over the Schleswig-Holstein Question, and most of the British royal family’s relations were German. Eventually, after rejecting other possibilities, they settled on her as “the only one to be chosen”.

On September 24, 1861, Crown Princess Victoria introduced her brother Albert Edward to Alexandra at Speyer. Almost a year later on September 9, 1862 (after his affair with Nellie Clifden and the death of his father) Albert Edward proposed to Alexandra at the Royal Castle of Laeken, the home of his great-uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium.

A few months later, Alexandra travelled from Denmark to Britain aboard the royal yacht Victoria and Albert and arrived in Gravesend, Kent, on March 7, 1863. Sir Arthur Sullivan composed music for her arrival and Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, wrote an ode in Alexandra’s honour:

Sea King’s daughter from over the sea,
Alexandra!
Saxon and Norman and Dane are we,
But all of us Danes in our welcome of thee,
Alexandra!

— A Welcome to Alexandra, Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Thomas Longley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, married the couple on 10 March 10, 1863 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The choice of venue was criticised widely. As the ceremony took place outside London, the press complained that large public crowds would not be able to view the spectacle.

The year in which couple married, was the year in which her father became King of Denmark as Christian IX and her brother was appointed King of the Hellenes as George I, a few months prior to his father’s accession to the throne.

Alexandra was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has ever held that title, and became generally popular; her style of dress and bearing were copied by fashion-conscious women. Largely excluded from wielding any political power, she unsuccessfully attempted to sway the opinion of British ministers and her husband’s family to favour Greek and Danish interests. Her public duties were restricted to uncontroversial involvement in charitable work.

On the death of Queen Victoria on January 22, 1901, Albert Edward became King-Emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as Queen-Empress. She held the status until Edward’s death in 1910.

Despite being queen, Alexandra’s duties changed little, and she kept many of the same retainers. Alexandra’s Woman of the Bedchamber, Charlotte Knollys, the daughter of Sir William Knollys, served Alexandra loyally for many years.

On December 10,1903, Knollys woke to find her bedroom full of smoke. She roused Alexandra and shepherded her to safety. In the words of Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, “We must give credit to old Charlotte for really saving [Alexandra’s] life.”

Alexandra again looked after her grandchildren when George and Mary, the Prince and Princess of Wales, went on a second tour, this time to British India, over the winter of 1905–06. Her father, Christian IX of Denmark, died that January. Eager to retain their family links, both to each other and to Denmark, in 1907 Alexandra and her sister, the Dowager Empress of Russia, purchased a villa north of Copenhagen, Hvidøre, as a private getaway.

Alexandra greatly despised and distrusted her nephew, German Emperor Wilhelm II, calling him in 1900 “inwardly our enemy”.

In 1910, Alexandra became the first Queen Consort to visit the British House of Commons during a debate. In a remarkable departure from precedent, for two hours she sat in the Ladies’ Gallery overlooking the chamber while the Parliament Bill, to remove the right of the House of Lords to veto legislation, was debated. Privately, Alexandra disagreed with the bill.

Shortly afterwards, she left the United Kingdom to visit her brother, George I of the Hellenes, in Corfu. While there, she received news that King Edward VII was seriously ill. Alexandra returned at once and arrived only the day before her husband died.

On May 6, 1910, Edward suffered several heart attacks, but refused to go to bed, saying, “No, I shall not give in; I shall go on; I shall work to the end.” Between moments of faintness, his son the Prince of Wales (shortly to be King George V) told him that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won at Kempton Park that afternoon. The king replied, “Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad”: his final words. In his last hours, Queen Alexandra personally administered oxygen from a gas cylinder to help him breathe.

At 11:30 p.m. he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died 15 minutes later.

After King Edward VII died She told Frederick Ponsonby, “I feel as if I had been turned into stone, unable to cry, unable to grasp the meaning of it all.” Later that year she moved out of Buckingham Palace to Marlborough House, but she retained possession of Sandringham.

From Edward’s death, Alexandra was queen mother, being a dowager queen and the mother of the reigning monarch. She did not attend her son’s coronation in 1911 since it was not customary for a crowned queen to attend the coronation of another king or queen, but otherwise continued the public side of her life, devoting time to her charitable causes.

One such cause included Alexandra Rose Day, where artificial roses made by people with disabilities were sold in aid of hospitals by women volunteers. During the First World War, the custom of hanging the banners of foreign princes invested with Britain’s highest order of knighthood, the Order of the Garter, in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, came under criticism, as the German members of the Order were fighting against Britain.

Alexandra joined calls to “have down those hateful German banners”. Driven by public opinion, but against his own wishes, the king had the banners removed; but to Alexandra’s dismay, he had taken down not only “those vile Prussian banners” but also those of her Hessian relations who were, in her opinion, “simply soldiers or vassals under that brutal German Emperor’s orders”.

On September 17, 1916, she was at Sandringham during a Zeppelin air raid, but far worse was to befall other members of her family. In Russia, her nephew Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and he, his wife and their children were killed by revolutionaries. Her sister, the Dowager Empress, was rescued from Russia in 1919 by HMS Marlborough and brought to England, where she lived for some time with Alexandra.

Alexandra retained a youthful appearance into her senior years, but during the war her age caught up with her. She took to wearing elaborate veils and heavy makeup, which was described by gossips as having her face “enamelled”. She made no more trips abroad, and suffered increasing ill health. In 1920, a blood vessel in her eye burst, leaving her with temporary partial blindness. Towards the end of her life, her memory and speech became impaired. She died on November 20, 1925 aged 80 at Sandringham after suffering a heart attack, and was buried in an elaborate tomb next to her husband in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle

November 9, 1841: Birth of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Part I

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Alexandra of Denmark, Christian IX of Denmark, Earl of Chester, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Prince Albert Edward, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria

Edward VII (Albert Edward; November 9, 1841 – May 6, 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India from January 22, 1901 until his death in 1910.

Edward was born at 10:48 in the morning on November 9, 1841 in Buckingham Palace. He was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on January 25, 1842.

He was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known as Bertie to the royal family throughout his life. He was related to royalty throughout Europe.

As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth. As a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony.

He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on December 8 1841, Earl of Dublin on January 17, 1850, a Knight of the Garter on November 9, 1858, and a Knight of the Thistle on May 24, 1867. In 1863, he renounced his succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favour of his younger brother Prince Alfred.

The Queen and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a model constitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on a rigorous educational programme devised by Albert, and supervised by several tutors. Unlike his elder sister Victoria, he did not excel in his studies.

He tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. Although Edward was not a diligent student—his true talents were those of charm, sociability and tact—Benjamin Disraeli described him as informed, intelligent and of sweet manner. After the completion of his secondary-level studies, his tutor was replaced by a personal governor, Robert Bruce.

Edward had hoped to pursue a career in the British Army, but his mother vetoed an active military career. He had been gazetted colonel on November 9, 1858—to his disappointment, as he had wanted to earn his commission by examination.

In September 1861, Edward was sent to Germany, supposedly to watch military manoeuvres, but actually in order to engineer a meeting between him and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the eldest daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark and his wife Louise of Hesse-Cassel. The Queen and Prince Albert had already decided that Edward and Alexandra should marry.

They met at Speyer on September 24 under the auspices of his elder sister, Victoria, who had married Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia in 1858. Edward’s sister, acting upon instructions from their mother, had met Alexandra at Strelitz in June; the young Danish princess made a very favourable impression.

Edward and Alexandra were friendly from the start; the meeting went well for both sides, and marriage plans advanced.

Edward gained a reputation as a playboy. Determined to get some army experience, he attended manoeuvres in Ireland, during which he spent three nights with an actress, Nellie Clifden, who was hidden in the camp by his fellow officers.

Prince Albert, though ill, was appalled and visited Edward at Cambridge to issue a reprimand. Albert died in December 1861 just two weeks after the visit. Queen Victoria was inconsolable, wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life and blamed Edward for his father’s death. At first, she regarded her son with distaste as frivolous, indiscreet and irresponsible. She wrote to her eldest daughter, “I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder.”

Marriage

Once widowed, Queen Victoria effectively withdrew from public life. Shortly after Prince Albert’s death, she arranged for Edward to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Istanbul.

As soon as Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed at Laeken in Belgium on September 9, 1862. Edward married Alexandra of Denmark at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on March 10, 1863. He was 21; she was 18.

The couple established Marlborough House as their London residence and Sandringham House in Norfolk as their country retreat. They entertained on a lavish scale. Their marriage met with disapproval in certain circles because most of Queen Victoria’s relations were German, and Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories of Schleswig and Holstein.

When Alexandra’s father inherited the throne of Denmark in November 1863, as King Christian IX, the German Confederation took the opportunity to invade and annex Schleswig-Holstein. The Queen was of two minds as to whether it was a suitable match, given the political climate. After the marriage, she expressed anxiety about their socialite lifestyle and attempted to dictate to them on various matters, including the names of their children.

October 13, 1928: Death of Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The former Dagmar of Denmark. Part I.

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Alexandra of Denmark, Dagmar of Denmark, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, George I of the Hellenes, King Christian IX of Denmark, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Princess of Wales, Russian Empire, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia

Maria Feodorovna (November 26, 1847 – October 13, 1928), known before her marriage as Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was a Danish princess who became Empress of Russia as spouse of Emperor Alexander III (reigned 1881–1894).

She was the second daughter and fourth child of King Christian IX of Denmark (r. 1863–1906) and of Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Louise was born as the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Charlotte of Denmark. Charlotte of Denmark watithe daughter of Frederik, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway, and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

From L to R. Dagmar, Wilhelm, Alexandra. Seated King Christian IX of Denmark

Charlotte played some part in the succession crisis which occurred because her half first cousin, King Frederik VI of Denmark, lacked a male heir. In 1839, her brother Christian VIII of Denmark succeeded their cousin on the throne, and during his reign, Charlotte had an important position at the Danish royal court in Copenhagen because her brother favored that her line of the family should succeed to the throne after his male line had died out. This meant Louise of Hesse-Cassel had a better hereditary claim to the throne than her husband King ChristianIX of Denmark. But I digress. I have written about this elsewhere on the blog.

Due to the brilliant marital alliances of his children, King Christian IX became known as the “Father-in-law of Europe.” Dagmar’s eldest brother would succeed his father as King Frederik VIII of Denmark (one of whose sons would be elected as King Haakon VII of Norway).

Dagmar’s elder, and favourite, sister, Alexandra married Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) in March 1863. Alexandra, along with being queen consort of King Edward VII, was also mother of George V of the United Kingdom, which helps to explain the striking resemblance between their sons Nicholas II and George V.

Within months of Alexandra’s marriage, Dagmar’s second older brother, Wilhelm, was elected as King George I of the Hellenes. Wilhelm actually became King a few months before his father succeeded to the Danish throne. Her younger sister was Princess Thyra, who became Duchess of Cumberland with her marriage to Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland and a straight male line descendant of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover.

Princess Dagmar of Denmark

Dagmar also had another younger brother, Valdemar. He had a lifelong naval career. He was paternal uncle of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He married Princess Marie d’Orleans on October 22, 1885 at the Château d’Eu, the residence of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris. Marie was the eldest child of Robert, duke of Chartres, and his wife, Princess Françoise d’Orléans. I will write more on Prince Valdemar later this month.

Dagmar was known for her beauty. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge said that Dagmar was “sweetly pretty” and commented favorably on her “splendid dark eyes.” Her fiancee Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich was enthusiastic about her beauty. He wrote to his mother that “she is even prettier in real life than in the portraits that we had seen so far. Her eyes speak for her: they are so kind, intelligent, animated.”

Due to the rise of Slavophile ideology in the Russian Empire, Alexander II of Russia searched for a bride for the heir apparent, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, in countries other than the German states that had traditionally provided consorts for the tsars. In 1864, Nicholas, or “Nixa” as he was known in his family, went to Denmark and proposed to Dagmar. Her future mother-in-law Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse) gave her a pearl necklace and Nicholas gave her diamonds. In total, the betrothal gifts Dagmar received from her future in-laws cost 1.5 million rubles.

Dagmar of Denmark and Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich

In April, Nicholas grew gravely ill with cerebrospinal meningitis. Alexander II of Russia sent a telegram to Dagmar: “Nicholas has received the Last Rites. Pray for us and come if you can.” On April 22, 1865, Nicholas died in the presence of his parents, brothers, and Dagmar. His last wish was that Dagmar would marry his younger brother, the future Alexander III.

Dagmar was devastated by Nicholas’ death. Nicholas’ parents struggled to “pull Princess Dagmar away from the corpse and carry her out.” She was so heartbroken when she returned to her homeland that her relatives were seriously worried about her health.

She had already become emotionally attached to Russia and often thought of the huge, remote country that was to have been her home. Many were sympathetic towards Dagmar. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge wrote of “poor dear Minny’s sorrow and the blight which has fallen upon her young life.” Queen Victoria wrote “how terrible for poor Dagmar… the poor parents and bride are most deeply to be pitied.”

Princess Dagmar of Denmark

Alexander II of Russia and Maria Alexandrovna had grown fond of Dagmar, and they wanted her to marry their new heir, Tsarevich Alexander. In an affectionate letter, Alexander II told Dagmar that he hoped she would still consider herself a member of their family. Maria Alexandrovna tried to convince Louise of Hesse-Kassel to send Dagmar to Russia immediately, but Louise insisted that Dagmar must “strengthen her nerves… [and] avoid emotional upsets.”

In June 1866, Tsarevich Alexander visited Copenhagen with his brothers Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duke Alexei. While looking over photographs of Nicholas, Alexander asked Dagmar if “she could love him after having loved Nixa, to whom they were both devoted.” She answered that she could love no one but him, because he had been so close to his brother. Alexander recalled that “we both burst into tears… [and] I told her that my dear Nixa helped us much in this situation and that now of course he prays about our happiness.”

Dagmar converted to Orthodoxy and became Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The lavish wedding took place on November 9, 1866 in the Imperial Chapel of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Financial constraints had prevented her parents from attending the wedding, and in their stead, they sent her brother, Crown Prince Frederick. Her brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, had also travelled to Saint Petersburg for the ceremony; pregnancy had prevented the Princess of Wales from attending.

Dagmar of Denmark and Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich

After the wedding night, Alexander wrote in his diary, “I took off my slippers and my silver embroidered robe and felt the body of my beloved next to mine… How I felt then, I do not wish to describe here. Afterwards we talked for a long time.” After the many wedding parties were over the newlyweds moved into the Anichkov Palace in Saint Petersburg where they were to live for the next 15 years, when they were not taking extended holidays at their summer villa Livadia in the Crimean Peninsula.

Maria and Alexander had an exceptionally happy marriage. She was widely recognized as “the only person on the face of the earth in whom the Autocrat of all the Russias puts any real trust. In his gentle consort, he has unlimited confidence.” Despite her anti-Russian sentiments, Queen Victoria wrote favorably about Maria and Alexander’s marriage. She wrote that “[Maria] seems quite happy and contented with her fat, good-natured husband who seems far more attentive and kind to her than one would have thought….I think they are very domestic and happy and attached to each other; he makes a very good husband.”

May 6, 1910: Death of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

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1.The Prince of Wales (eldest son of The Queen), Alexandra of Denmark, Biarritz, Bronchitis, German Emperor Wilhelm II, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, King George V

Edward VII (Albert Edward; November 9, 1841 – May 6, 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India from January 22, 1901 until his death in 1910.

The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and nicknamed “Bertie”, Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years.

During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties, and represented Britain on visits abroad.

His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.

As king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. He re-instituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised.

He fostered good relations between Britain and other European countries, especially France, for which he was popularly called “Peacemaker”, but his relationship with his nephew, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, was poor.

The Edwardian era, which covered Edward’s reign and was named after him, coincided with the start of a new century and heralded significant changes in technology and society, including steam.

Death

Edward habitually smoked twenty cigarettes and twelve cigars a day. In 1907, a rodent ulcer, a type of cancer affecting the skin next to his nose, was cured with radium. Towards the end of his life he increasingly suffered from bronchitis.

He suffered a momentary loss of consciousness during a state visit to Berlin in February 1909. In March 1910, he was staying at Biarritz when he collapsed. He remained there to convalesce, while in London Asquith tried to get the Finance Bill passed.

The king’s continued ill health was unreported, and he attracted criticism for staying in France while political tensions were so high. On April 27, he returned to Buckingham Palace, still suffering from severe bronchitis. Alexandra returned from visiting her brother, King George I of Greece, in Corfu a week later on May 5.

On May 6, Edward suffered several heart attacks, but refused to go to bed, saying, “No, I shall not give in; I shall go on; I shall work to the end.” Between moments of faintness, his son the Prince of Wales (shortly to be King George V) told him that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won at Kempton Park that afternoon.

The king replied, “Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad”: his final words. At 11:30 p.m. he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died 15 minutes later. The Prince of Wales succeeded to the throne as King George V.

Alexandra refused to allow Edward’s body to be moved for eight days afterwards, though she allowed small groups of visitors to enter his room. On May 11, the late king was dressed in his uniform and placed in a massive oak coffin, which was moved on May 14 to the throne room, where it was sealed and lay in state, with a guardsman standing at each corner of the bier.

Despite the time that had elapsed since his death, Alexandra noted the King’s body remained “wonderfully preserved”. On the morning of May 17, the coffin was placed on a gun carriage and drawn by black horses to Westminster Hall, with the new king, his family and Edward’s favourite dog, Caesar, walking behind.

Following a brief service, the royal family left, and the hall was opened to the public; over 400,000 people filed past the coffin over the next two days. As Barbara Tuchman noted in The Guns of August, his funeral, held on 20 May 1910, marked “the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and, of its kind, the last.” A royal train conveyed the king’s coffin from London to Windsor Castle, where Edward was buried at St George’s Chapel.

November 26, 1869: Birth of Maud of Wales, Queen Consort of Norway. Part I.

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Albert Edward, Alexandra of Denmark, Francis of Teck, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King Haakon VII of Norway, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Prince Carl of Denmark, Princess Maud, Princess Maud of Wales, Queen of Norway

Maud of Wales, (Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria; November 26, 1869 – November 20, 1938) was Queen of Norway as spouse of King Haakon VII. She was the youngest daughter of the British king Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark. Maud of Wales was the first queen of Norway in over five centuries who was not also queen of Denmark or Sweden.

Maud was born on at Marlborough House, London. She was the third daughter and fifth child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and Alexandra, Princess of Wales, the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

She was christened “Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria” at Marlborough House by John Jackson, Bishop of London, on December 24, 1869. Her godparents were her paternal uncle Prince Leopold, for whom the Duke of Cambridge stood proxy; Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel, for whom Prince Francis of Teck stood proxy; Count Gleichen; the Duchess of Nassau, for whom Princess Francis of Teck stood proxy; King Carl XV of Sweden, for whom Baron Hochschild, the Swedish minister, stood proxy; Princess Marie of Leiningen, for whom Princess Claudine of Teck stood proxy; her maternal aunt the Tsarevna of Russia for whom Baroness de Brunnow stood proxy; Crown Princess Louise of Denmark, for whom Madame de Bülow, the Danish Minister’s wife, stood proxy; and her great-grand aunt the Duchess of Inverness.

The tomboyish Maud was known as “Harry” to the royal family, after Edward VII’s friend Admiral Henry Keppel, whose conduct in the Crimean War was considered particularly courageous at the time. Maud took part in almost all the annual visits to the Princess of Wales’s family gatherings in Denmark and later accompanied her mother and sisters on cruises to Norway and the Mediterranean. She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her paternal aunt Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg, and at the wedding of her brother George to Mary of Teck in 1893.

Maud, along with her sisters, Victoria and Louise, received the Imperial Order of the Crown of India from their grandmother Queen Victoria on August 6, 1887. Like her sisters, she also held the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (First Class) and was a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.

Maud married relatively late, waiting until her late twenties to find a husband. She had initially wanted to marry a distant cousin, Prince Francis of Teck, younger brother of her sister-in-law Princess Mary. Despite being relatively impoverished from mounting gambling debts and being in a position to possibly benefit from Maud’s status, he ignored her advances.

On July 22, 1896, Princess Maud married her first cousin, Prince Carl of Denmark, in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. Prince Carl was the second son of Queen Alexandra’s eldest brother, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, (future King Frederik VIII) and Princess Louise of Sweden, the only surviving child of Carl XV of Sweden and his consort, Louise of the Netherlands

The bride’s father gave them Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a country residence for her frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple’s only child, Prince Alexander, was born on July 2, 1903 in Sandringham. Maud was known to participate in tightlacing (as did all her sisters) and had an 18” waist. It was because of this small waist, she was rumoured to be infertile after giving birth to only one child.

Prince Carl served as an officer in the Royal Danish Navy and he and his family lived mainly in Denmark until 1905. In June 1905 the Norwegian Storting, dissolved Norway’s 91-year-old union with Sweden and voted to offer the throne to Prince Carl of Denmark. Maud’s membership of the British royal house had some part in why Carl was chosen.

The democratically minded Carl, aware that Norway was still debating whether to remain a kingdom or to switch instead to a republican system of government, was flattered by the Norwegian government’s overtures, but he made his acceptance of the offer conditional on the holding of a referendum to show whether monarchy was the choice of the Norwegian people.

After the referendum overwhelmingly confirmed by a 79 percent majority (259,563 votes for and 69,264 against) that Norwegians desired to retain a monarchy, Prince Carl was formally offered the throne of Norway by the Storting (parliament) and was elected on November 18, 1905. When Carl accepted the offer that same evening (after the approval of his grandfather Christian IX of Denmark), he immediately endeared himself to his adopted country by taking the Old Norse name of Haakon, a name which had not been used by kings of Norway for over 500 years. In so doing, he succeeded his maternal great-uncle, Oscar II of Sweden, who had abdicated the Norwegian throne in October following the agreement between Sweden and Norway on the terms of the separation of the union.

The new royal family of Norway left Denmark on the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog and sailed into Oslofjord. At Oscarsborg Fortress, they boarded the Norwegian naval ship Heimdal. After a three-day journey, they arrived in Kristiania (now Oslo) early on the morning of November 25, 1905. Two days later, Haakon took the oath as Norway’s first independent king in 518 years. The coronation of Haakon and Maud took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on June 22, 1906.

July 6, 1868: Birth of Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom.

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Alexandra of Denmark, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King George V of the United Kingdom, Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Marlborough House, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Wales, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom (Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary; July 6, 1868 – December 3, 1935) was the fourth child and second daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and the younger sister of George V of the United Kingdom.

Princess Victoria was born at Marlborough House, London. Her father was the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), heir apparent to the British throne as the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her mother was the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra), the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. She was known as “Toria” to her family. She was christened at Marlborough House on 6 August 1868 by Archibald Campbell Tait, Bishop of London.

Princess Victoria was educated at home by tutors and spent her childhood at Marlborough House and Sandringham. The Princess was particularly close to her brother, George, the future King George V.

With her sisters, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding in 1885 of their paternal aunt Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York (future King George V and Queen Mary) on July 6, 1893.

Although she had a number of suitors, the most famous of them being King Carlos I of Portugal, Princess Victoria never married and had no children. Her mother, Alexandra, is believed to have actively discouraged her from marrying. Instead she remained a companion to her parents, particularly her mother, with whom she lived until Queen Alexandra’s death in 1925. The Princess then set up her own home at Coppins, Iver, in Buckinghamshire. She took a particular interest in the village life, becoming honorary president of the Iver Horticultural Society.

Later life

After the death of her mother, she left Sandringham House and decided to live in Buckinghamshire. Princess Victoria’s last years were plagued with health problems. She suffered from neuralgia, migraines, indigestion, depression, colds and influenza. Princess Victoria died at home on December 3, 1935, aged 67. Her funeral took place on 7 December 1935 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where she was initially buried. Her remains were later moved and reburied at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, Windsor Great Park, on January 8, 1936. Her death greatly affected her brother, George V, who died one month later.

January 8, 1864: Birth of HRH Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale.

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Alexandra of Denmark, Duke of Clarence, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Prince Albert Victor, Princess Alix of Hesse by Rhine, Princess Hélène of Orléans, Princess Mary of Teck

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Albert Victor Christian Edward; January 8, 1864 – January 14, 1892) was the eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. From the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the British throne, but never became king because he died before his father and grandmother.

Albert Victor was born two months prematurely on January 8, 1864 at Frogmore House, Windsor, Berkshire. He was the first child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife Alexandra of Denmark, daughter of was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (King Christian IX of Denmark) and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

Following his grandmother Queen Victoria’s wishes, he was named Albert Victor, after herself and her late husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As a grandchild of the reigning British monarch in the male line and a son of the Prince of Wales, he was formally styled His Royal Highness Prince Albert Victor of Wales from birth.

He was christened Albert Victor Christian Edward in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on March 10, 1864 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley, but was known informally as “Eddy”. His godparents were Queen Victoria (his paternal grandmother), King Christian IX of Denmark (his maternal grandfather, represented by his brother Prince Johann of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), King Leopold I of Belgium (his great great-uncle), the Dowager Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (his maternal great-grandmother, for whom the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy), the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his great-aunt by marriage, for whom the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz stood proxy), the Landgrave of Hesse (his maternal great-grandfather, for whom Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, stood proxy), the Crown Princess of Prussia (his paternal aunt, for whom Princess Helena, her sister, stood proxy) and Prince Alfred (his paternal uncle).

When Albert Victor was just short of seventeen months old, his brother, Prince George of Wales, was born on June 3, 1865. Given the closeness in age of the two royal brothers, they were educated together. In 1871, the Queen appointed John Neale Dalton as their tutor. The two princes were given a strict programme of study, which included games and military drills as well as academic subjects. Dalton complained that Albert Victor’s mind was “abnormally dormant”. Though he learned to speak Danish, progress in other languages and subjects was slow. Sir Henry Ponsonby thought that Albert Victor might have inherited his mother’s deafness. Albert Victor never excelled intellectually. Possible physical explanations for Albert Victor’s inattention or indolence in class include absence seizures or his premature birth, which can be associated with learning difficulties, but Lady Geraldine Somerset blamed Albert Victor’s poor education on Dalton, whom she considered uninspiring.

In 1877, the two boys were sent to the Royal Navy’s training ship, HMS Britannia. They began their studies there two months behind the other cadets as Albert Victor contracted typhoid fever, for which he was treated by Sir William Gull. Dalton accompanied them as chaplain to the ship. In 1879, after a great deal of discussion between the Queen, the Prince of Wales, their households and the Government, the royal brothers were sent as naval cadets on a three-year world tour aboard HMS Bacchante. Albert Victor was rated midshipman on his sixteenth birthday. They toured the British Empire, accompanied by Dalton, visiting the Americas, the Falkland Islands, South Africa, Australia, Fiji, the Far East, Singapore, Ceylon, Aden, Egypt, the Holy Land and Greece. They acquired tattoos in Japan. By the time they returned to Britain, Albert Victor was eighteen.

Brothers Prince George and Prince Albert Victor

Albert Victor’s intellect, sexuality and mental health have been the subject of speculation. Rumours in his time linked him with the Cleveland Street scandal, which involved a homosexual brothel, but there is no conclusive evidence that he ever went there or was homosexual. Some authors have argued that he was the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, but contemporary documents show that Albert Victor could not have been in London at the time of the murders, and the claim is widely dismissed.

The foreign press suggested that Albert Victor was sent on a seven-month tour of British India from October 1889 to avoid the gossip which swept London society in the wake of the Cleveland Street scandal. This is not true; the trip had actually been planned since the spring. Traveling via Athens, Port Said, Cairo and Aden, Albert Victor arrived in Bombay on November 9, 1889. He was entertained sumptuously in Hyderabad by the Nizam, and elsewhere by many other maharajahs. In Bangalore he laid the foundation stone of the Glass House at the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens on November 30, 1889. He spent Christmas at Mandalay and the New Year at Calcutta. Most of the extensive travelling was done by train, although elephants were ridden as part of ceremonies. In the style of the time, a great many animals were shot for sport.

On his return from India, Albert Victor was created Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone on May 24, 1890, Queen Victoria’s 71st birthday.

Prospective brides

Princess Alix of Hesse and By Rhine

Princess Hélène of Orléans

Several women were lined up as possible brides for Albert Victor. The first, in 1889, was his cousin Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, but she did not return his affections and refused his offer of engagement. She would later marry Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, another of Albert Victor’s cousins, in 1894. The second, in 1890, was a love match with Princess Hélène of Orléans, the third of eight children born to Prince Philippe VII , Count of Paris, and Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain, daughter of Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Antoine was the youngest son of Louis-Philippe I, the last King of France, and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Infanta Luisa was the daughter of Ferdinand VII of Spain and her grandfather’s fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. All four of her grandparents and seven of her eight great-grandparents were members of the French Royal House of Bourbon.

At first, Queen Victoria opposed any engagement because Hélène was Roman Catholic. Victoria wrote to her grandson suggesting another of her grandchildren, Princess Margaret of Prussia, as a suitable alternative, but nothing came of her suggestion, and once Albert Victor and Hélène confided their love to her, the Queen relented and supported the proposed marriage. Hélène offered to convert to the Church of England, and Albert Victor offered to renounce his succession rights to marry her. To the couple’s disappointment, her father refused to countenance the marriage and was adamant she could not convert. Hélène travelled personally to intercede with Pope Leo XIII, but he confirmed her father’s verdict, and the courtship ended. On June 25, 1895, at the Church of St. Raphael in Kingston upon Thames, Hélène married Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, 2nd Duke of Aosta (1869–1931).

The Duke of Clarence and Avondale with Princess Mary of Teck

In late 1891, the Prince was implicated as having been involved with a former Gaiety Theatre chorus girl, Lydia Miller (stage name Lydia Manton), who committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid. In 1891, Albert Victor wrote to Lady Sybil St Clair Erskine that he was in love once again, though he does not say with whom, but by this time another potential bride, Princess Mary of Teck, was under consideration. Mary was the daughter of Queen Victoria’s first cousin Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Queen Victoria was very supportive, considering Mary ideal—charming, sensible and pretty. On 3 December 1891 Albert Victor, to Mary’s “great surprise”, proposed to her at Luton Hoo, the country residence of the Danish ambassador to Britain. The wedding was set for February 27, 1892.

Just as plans for both his marriage to Mary and his appointment as Viceroy of Ireland were under discussion, Albert Victor fell ill with influenza in the pandemic of 1889–92. He developed pneumonia and died at Sandringham House in Norfolk on January 14, 1892, less than a week after his 28th birthday. His parents the Prince and Princess of Wales, his sisters Princesses Maud and Victoria, his brother Prince George, his fiancée Princess Mary, her parents the Duke and Duchess of Teck, three physicians (Alan Reeve Manby, Francis Laking and William Broadbent) and three nurses were present. The Prince of Wales’s chaplain, Canon Frederick Hervey, stood over Albert Victor reading prayers for the dying.

The nation was shocked. Shops put up their shutters. The Prince of Wales wrote to Queen Victoria, “Gladly would I have given my life for his”.