August 6, 1844: Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Part II. Marriage.

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Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Edinburgh, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Emperors of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and by Rhine, Marie of Hesse and By Rhine, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Marriage

During a visit to her maternal relatives, the Princes of Battenberg, at Jugenheim in August 1868, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, then fifteen years old, met Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria’s second son, was a shy and handsome young man, with a career in the British navy. He was visiting his sister, Princess Alice, who was married to Maria Alexandrovna’s first cousin, Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine

Alfred’s voyage around the world with the Royal Navy kept him away, traveling for the next two years. Maria and Prince Alfred saw each other again in the summer 1871, when Emperor Alexander II and his wife visited the Battenbergs again at their schloss, Heiligenberg. The Emperor and his wife were accompanied by seventeen-year-old Maria and her two elder brothers.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

Alfred also happened to be there, along with the Prince and Princess of Wales. During that summer, Maria and Alfred felt attracted to each other, spending their days walking and talking together. They had a common love of music; Alfred was an enthusiastic amateur violinist, while Maria played the piano. Although they wished to marry, no engagement was announced, and Alfred returned to England.

Their parents were against the match. Emperor Alexander II did not want to lose his daughter, to whom he was deeply attached. He presented his daughter’s youth as the main obstacle and suggested a waiting period of at least one year before any definitive decision should be taken. The Emperor also objected to a British son-in-law, due to the general anti-English feeling in Russia following the Crimean War.

The Empress regarded the British customs as peculiar and the English people as cold and unfriendly. She was convinced that her daughter would not be happy there. However, marriage negotiation began in July 1871, only to be stalled in 1872.

Queen Victoria was also against the match. No British prince had ever married a Romanov, and she foresaw problems with Maria’s Orthodox religion and Russian upbringing. The Queen considered that Russia was generally “unfriendly” towards Britain. Victoria was also suspicious about Russian moves in the direction of India.

The Queen was dismayed, therefore, when she heard that official negotiations had restarted in January 1873. There were rumors going about St Petersburg that Maria Alexandrovna had compromised herself with Prince Golitsyn, the Emperor’s aide-de-camp, and her family were anxious to see her settled.

Alfred refused to believe those rumors and he was prepared to fight to marry the woman he loved. Queen Victoria therefore swallowed her pride and said nothing. Both mothers continued to look for other partners for their children, but Alfred and Maria would not have anyone else.

Marie liked neither the Prince of Württemberg nor the Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz that were presented to her as alternatives. As the Empress failed to find a German prince acceptable for her daughter, a meeting among Alfred, the Empress and her daughter took place in Sorrento, Italy in mid April 1873.

The reunion did not go as planned because Marie came down with fever and Alfred could spend only a short time with her. That year, there was an Anglo-Russian dispute over the Afghan border. The Queen’s ministers thought that a marriage might help to ease the tension between the two countries, if only by putting the monarchs into closer contact with one another.

In June 1873, Emperor Alexander II joined his wife and daughter at Ems, and Alfred was invited to meet them at Jugenheim. Alfred arrived in early July. On July 11, he Officially asked for Maria Alexandrovna’s hand In marriage and she accepted him. He was nearly twenty-nine; she was nineteen. He sent a telegram from Germany back to his mother: “Maria and I were engaged this morning. Cannot say how happy I am. Hope your blessing rests on us.”

The Queen sent her congratulations, but confined her misgivings to her diary on July 11, 1873: “Not knowing Marie, and realizing that there may still be many difficulties, my thoughts and feelings are rather mixed.” When breaking the news to her eldest daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Queen Victoria simply said: “The murder is out.”

On January 23, 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh married the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the second (and only surviving) daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Wilhelmine of Baden, at the Winter Palace, St Petersburg.

To commemorate the occasion, a small English bakery made the now internationally popular Marie biscuit, with the Duchess’ name imprinted on its top. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made their public entry into London on March 12, The marriage, however, was not a happy one, and the bride was thought haughty by London Society.

Maria, the new Duchess of Edinburgh, was surprised to discover that she had to yield precedence to the Princess of Wales and all of Queen Victoria’s daughters and insisted on taking precedence before the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra) because she considered the Princess of Wales’s family (the Danish royal family) as inferior to her own. Queen Victoria refused this demand, yet granted her precedence immediately after the Princess of Wales. Her father gave her the then-staggering sum of £100,000 as a dowry, plus an annual allowance of £32,000.

For the first years of her marriage, Maria Alexandrovna lived in England. She neither adapted to the British court nor overcame her dislike for her adopted country. She accompanied her husband on his postings as an Admiral of the Royal Navy at Malta (1886–1889) and Devonport (1890–1893). The Duchess of Edinburgh travelled extensively through Europe. She visited her family in Russia frequently and stayed for long periods in England and Germany attending social and family events.

Failed Engagement of Marie of Edinburgh and George of Wales

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Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Arranged Marriage, Carol I of Romania, Duchess of Edinburgh, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Ferdinand of Romania, George of Wales, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Marie of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Victoria Mary (May) of Teck

Marie of Edinburgh (Marie Alexandra Victoria; October 29, 1875 – July 18, 1938) Born into the British royal family, she was titled Princess Marie of Edinburgh at birth. Her parents were Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (later the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia.

Marie of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncle Ernst II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire. Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia was the fifth child and only surviving daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and his first wife, Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. She was the younger sister of Alexander III of Russia and the paternal aunt of Russia’s last emperor, Nicholas II.

George of Wales

Marie of Edinburgh grew into a “lovely young woman” with “sparkling blue eyes and silky fair hair”; she was courted by several royal bachelors, including Prince George of Wales, the second son of Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII), and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. As a young man destined to serve in the navy, Prince George served for many years under the command of his uncle, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was stationed in Malta. There, he grew close to and fell in love with his cousin, Princess Marie of Edinburgh. It was Prince George’s desire to marry Princess Marie.

Marie of Edinburgh

Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh all approved of the match but the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh did not. The Princess of Wales disliked the family’s pro-German sentiment. The Danish Royal Family had been strongly anti-German ever since Denmark ‘s war with Prussia in 186?

The Duchess of Edinburgh did not wish for her daughter to remain in England, which she resented. The Duchess of Edinburgh never liked her husbands native land. She felt ill treated there. This dislike of England began when the Duchess, the only daughter of Alexander II of Russia, resented the fact that, as the daughter of an Emperor and wife of a younger son of the British sovereign, she had to yield precedence to George’s mother, the Princess of Wales, whose father, Christian IX, had been a mere minor German prince before being called unexpectedly to the throne of Denmark.

Another reason the Duchess of Edinburgh was against the idea of the marriage between George and Marie was due to the fact that they were first cousins. Although first cousin marriages were acceptable in many European Royal Houses, first cousin unions were not allowed in the Russian Empire because it was against the teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church. Thus, when George officially proposed to her, Marie informed him that the marriage was impossible and that he must remain her “beloved chum”. Queen Victoria would later comment that “Georgie lost Missy by waiting & waiting”.

Ferdinand and Marie as Crown Prince and Princess, 1893

Around this time, King Carol I of Romania was looking for a suitable bride for his son and heir, Crown Prince Ferdinand. As a young kingdom King Carol was looking for a princess with strong connections throughout Europe’s Royal Families in order to secure the succession and assure the continuation of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Possibly motivated by the prospect of removing tensions between Russia and Romania on the subject of control over Bessarabia, the Duchess of Edinburgh suggested that Marie meet Crown Prince Ferdinand.

Marie and Ferdinand first became acquainted during a gala dinner and the pair conversed in German. She found him shy but amiable, and their second meeting went just as well. Once the pair were formally engaged, Queen Victoria wrote to another granddaughter, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, that “[Ferdinand] is nice & the Parents are charming–but the country is very insecure & the immorality of the Society at Bucharest quite awful. Of course the marriage will be delayed some time as Missy won’t be 17 till the end of October!”

Marie in traditional Romanian dress.

German Empress Victoria, Marie’s aunt, and Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, wrote to her daughter, Crown Princess Sophia of Greece, that “Missy is till now quite delighted, but the poor child is so young, how can she guess what is before her?” In late 1892, King Carol visited London in order to meet the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Victoria, who eventually agreed to the marriage and appointed him a Knight of the Garter. On January 10, 1893, Marie and Ferdinand were married at Sigmaringen Castle in three ceremonies: one civil, one Catholic (Ferdinand’s religion) and one Anglican.

On October 11, 1914, Ferdinand and Marie were acclaimed as King and Queen of Romania in the Chamber of Deputies, one day after Ferdinand’s uncle, Carol I, died without surviving issue.

Though rejected Prince George of Wales still sought the hand of an eligible princess.

Victoria Mary of Teck

In November 1891, George’s elder brother, Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale and second in line to the British throne after his father the Prince of Wales, became engaged to his second cousin once removed Princess Victoria Mary of Teck. Known as “May” within the family. Her parents were Prince Francis, Duke of Teck (a member of a morganatic, cadet branch of the House of Württemberg), and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a male-line granddaughter of King George III and a first cousin of Queen Victoria.

On January 14, 1892, six weeks after the formal engagement, Albert Victor died of pneumonia, leaving George second in line to the throne, and likely to succeed after his father. George had only just recovered from a serious illness himself, after being confined to bed for six weeks with typhoid fever, the disease that was thought to have killed his grandfather Prince Albert. Queen Victoria still regarded Princess May as a suitable match for her grandson, and George and May grew close during their shared period of mourning.

George and Mary on their wedding day

George was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney by Queen Victoria on 24 May 1892. A year after Albert Victor’s death, George proposed to May and was accepted. They married on July 6, 1893 at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, London. Throughout their lives, they remained devoted to each other. George was, on his own admission, unable to express his feelings easily in speech, but they often exchanged loving letters and notes of endearment.

On the death of Queen Victoria on January 22, 1901, George’s father ascended the throne as King Edward VII. George then inherited the title of Duke of Cornwall, and for much of the rest of that year, he was known as the Duke of Cornwall and York. Later that year, on November 9, 1901, George was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester by his father.

George V, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Emperor of India.

On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died, and became King George V. George had never cared for double names and therefore disliked his wife’s habit of signing official documents and letters as “Victoria Mary” and insisted she drop one of those names. They both thought she should not be called Queen Victoria, and so she became Queen Mary.

March 2, 1855: Emperor Alexander II ascends the Russian throne.

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Assassination, Cossacks, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Marie of Hesse and By Rhine, Reforms, Russian Emperors, Russian Empire

Emperor Alexander II (April 29, 1818 – March 13 1881) was born in Moscow as Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich the eldest son of Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia (daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz). As Emperor he is known for implementing the most challenging reforms undertaken in Russia since the reign of Peter the Great.

Alexander’s most significant reform as emperor was emancipation of Russia’s serfs in 1861, for which he is known as Alexander the Liberator. The Emperor was responsible for other reforms, including reorganizing the judicial system, setting up elected local judges, abolishing corporal punishment, promoting local self-government through the zemstvo system, imposing universal military service, ending some privileges of the nobility, and promoting university education. After an assassination attempt in 1866, Alexander II adopted a somewhat more reactionary stance until his death.

In 1838–39, as a young bachelor, Alexander made the Grand Tour of Europe which was standard for young men of his class at that time. One of the purposes of the tour was to select a suitable bride for himself. He stayed for three days with the maiden Queen Victoria, who was already Queen although she was one year younger than him. The two got along well, but there was no question of marriage between two major monarchs.

Alexander went on to Germany, and in Darmstadt, he met and was charmed by Princess Marie, the 15-year-old daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and By Rhine. On April 16, 1841, aged 23, Tsarevitch Alexander married Marie in St. Petersburg; the bride had previously been received into the Russian Orthodox Church, taking the new name of Maria Alexandrovna. The marriage produced six sons and two daughters.

Marie of Hesse and by Rhine

(Marie was the legal daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Wilhelmina of Baden, although some gossiping questioned whether the Grand Duke Ludwig or Wilhelmina’s lover, Baron August von Senarclens de Grancy, was her biological father. Alexander was aware of the question of her paternity.)

Empress Maria Alexandrovna died of tuberculosis on June 3, 1880, at the age of fifty-five, and on July 18, 1880, a little more than a month after Empress Maria’s death, Alexander married morganatically his mistress Princess Catherine Dolgorukov, (1847 – 1922) with whom he already had four children. As his morganatic wife, was given the title of Princess Yurievskaya.

Princess Catherine Dolgorukov

Alexander became Emperor when his father, Emperor Nicholas I died on March 2, 1855, during the Crimean War, at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. He caught a chill, refused medical treatment and died of pneumonia, although there were rumors he had committed suicide. He was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Despite his otherwise pacifist foreign policy, he fought a brief war with the Ottoman Empire in 1877–78, pursued further expansion into Siberia and the Caucasus, and conquered Turkestan. Although disappointed by the results of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Alexander abided by that agreement. Among his greatest domestic challenges was an uprising in Poland in 1863, to which he responded by stripping that land of its separate constitution and incorporating it directly into Russia. Alexander II adopted the title King of Poland.

Alexander II placed a great deal of hope in his eldest son, Tsarevich Nicholas. In 1864, Alexander II found Nicholas a bride, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, second daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and younger sister to Alexandra, Princess of Wales (married to future Edward VII) and King George I of Greece. However, in 1865, during the engagement, Nicholas died and the tsar’s second son, Grand Duke Alexander, not only inherited his brother’s position of tsarevich, but also his fiancée. The couple married in November 1866, with Dagmar converting to Orthodoxy and taking the name Maria Feodorovna.

In time, political differences, and other disagreements, led to estrangement between Alexander and his heir. Amongst his children, he remained particularly close with his second, and only surviving daughter, Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna. In 1873, a quarrel broke out between the courts of Queen Victoria and Alexander II, when Victoria’s second son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and later reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, made it known that he wished to marry the Grand Duchess.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

The Emperor objected to the queen’s request to have his daughter come to England in order to meet her, and after the January 1874 wedding in St. Petersburg, the Emperor insisted that his daughter be granted precedence over the Princess of Wales, a request which the queen rebuffed.

Assassination

The Emperor survived several assassination attempts in 1866, 1867, and 1879. On the evening of February 5, 1880 Stephan Khalturin, set off a timed charge under the dining room of the Winter Palace, right in the resting room of the guards a story below, killing 11 people and wounding 30 others.

On March 13, 1881, Alexander fell victim to an assassination plot in Saint Petersburg. As he was known to do every Sunday for many years, the Emperor went to the Mikhailovsky Manège for the military roll call. He travelled both to and from the Manège in a closed carriage accompanied by five Cossacks and Frank (Franciszek) Joseph Jackowski, a Polish noble, with a sixth Cossack sitting on the coachman’s left.

The Emperor’s carriage was followed by two sleighs carrying, among others, the chief of police and the chief of the Emperor’s guards. The route, as always, was via the Catherine Canal and over the Pevchesky Bridge. The street was flanked by narrow pavements for the public. A young member of the Narodnaya Volya (“People’s Will”) movement, Nikolai Rysakov, was carrying a small white package wrapped in a handkerchief. He threw the bomb near the horses hooves thinking it would blow up under the carriage.

The explosion, while killing one of the Cossacks and seriously wounding the driver and people on the sidewalk, had only damaged the bulletproof carriage, a gift from Emperor Napoleon III of France. The emperor emerged shaken but unhurt. Rysakov was captured almost immediately. Police Chief Dvorzhitsky heard Rysakov shout out to someone else in the gathering crowd. The surrounding guards and the Cossacks urged the emperor to leave the area at once rather than being shown the site of the explosion.

The assassination of Alexander II.

Nevertheless, a second young member of the Narodnaya Volya, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, standing by the canal fence, raised both arms and threw a bomb at the emperor’s feet which exploded instantly. He was alleged to have shouted, “It is too early to thank God.” Alexander was carried by sleigh to the Winter Palace to his study where almost the same day twenty years earlier, he had signed the Emancipation Edict freeing the serfs. Alexander was bleeding to death, with his legs torn away, his stomach ripped open, and his face mutilated. Members of the Romanov family came rushing to the scene.

The dying emperor was given Communion and Last Rites. When the attending physician, Sergey Botkin, was asked how long it would be, he replied, “Up to fifteen minutes.” At 3:30 that day, the standard of Alexander II (his personal flag) was lowered for the last time.

Aftermath

Alexander II’s death caused a great setback for the reform movement. One of his last acts was the approval of Mikhail Loris-Melikov’s constitutional reforms. Though the reforms were conservative in practice, their significance lay in the value Alexander II attributed to them: “I have given my approval, but I do not hide from myself the fact that it is the first step towards a constitution.”

In a matter of 48 hours, Alexander II planned to release these plans to the Russian people. Instead, following his succession, Alexander III, under the advice of Konstantin Pobedonostsev, chose to abandon these reforms and went on to pursue a policy of greater autocratic power.

The assassination triggered major suppression of civil liberties in Russia, and police brutality burst back in full force after experiencing some restraint under the reign of Alexander II, whose death was witnessed first-hand by his son, Alexander III, and his grandson, Nicholas II, both future emperors who vowed not to have the same fate befall them.

The life of Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duchess of Galliera.

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Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Beatrice of Edinburgh, Carlos IV of Spain, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Galliera, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Fernando VII of Spain, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Infante of Spain, Isabella II of Spain, Louis Philippe, Princess Beatrice, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Beatrice Leopoldine Victoria; April 20, 1884 – July 13, 1966) was a member of the British royal family. Her father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, (reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) the second son of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort. Her mother was Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. She was called “Baby Bee” by her family.

Beatrice spent much of her early years in Malta, where her father was serving in the Royal Navy. Along with her elder sister Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of their paternal cousins the Duke and Duchess of York (the future King George V and Queen Mary) on July 6, 1893.

On the death of Prince Alfred’s uncle, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on August 22, 1893, the duchy was inherited by the Duke of Edinburgh, since the Prince of Wales, the Duke’s elder brother and future King Edward VII, had renounced his right to the succession. The Duke and Duchess, with their five surviving children, travelled shortly afterwards to Coburg to take up residence.

Marriage prospects

In 1902, Princess Beatrice had a romance with Russian Grand Duke Michael, the younger brother of Emperor Nicholas II, and at that time the heir presumptive to the Imperial Throne. She began receiving letters from him in September 1902 and, although he was a Russian Grand Duke and she now a German Princess, they corresponded in English, and he nicknamed her “Sima”.

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia

However she was prevented from marrying the Grand Duke as the Russian Orthodox Church forbade the marriage of first cousins. Although such marriages had been allowed previously in the House of Romanov (Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, whose hand was denied to Napoleon I, was twice allowed to wed first cousins; her descendants became the Russian branch of the Dukes of Oldenburg), the devout Emperor Nicholas II, official head of Russia’s church, refused to relax the rules for the sake of his brother.

In November 1903, Michael wrote to Beatrice telling her that he could not marry her. The situation was aggravated by a letter Beatrice then received from her elder sister Victoria Melita (“Ducky”), in which Michael was blamed for having callously initiated the doomed romance. Years later, ironically, or hypocritically, Ducky, having divorced her first cousin Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and By Rhine, was told that remarriage to another first cousin, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, would likewise be forbidden by the Tsar, she refused to take no for an answer; the couple eloped and went into exile. The humiliated Beatrice was sent to Egypt to recover from heartbreak, but pined and wrote reproachful letters to Michael until 1905.

Beatrice was then rumoured to be intending to marry King Alfonso XIII of Spain, but this proved to be a false rumour also as he married her cousin Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906. It was at their wedding that Beatrice met another cousin of King Alfonso, Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón (November 12; 1886 – August 10, 1975), Infante of Spain, 5th Duke of Galliera. The Spanish government objected to an infante’s proposed match with a British Princess who, unlike Queen Victoria Eugenie, had not agreed to convert to Roman Catholicism: the King was obliged to make clear that, should the wedding take place, the couple would have to live in exile.

Genealogy of her husband.

Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain, Duke of Galliera (November 12, 1886 – August 6, 1975), was the elder son of Infante Antonio, Duke of Galliera and his wife, Infanta Eulalia of Spain.

Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain, Duke of Galliera

His father, Infante Antonio, was the only surviving son of Prince Antoine of Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, and his wife Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain, the youngest daughter of King Fernando VII of Spain and his fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. Infante Antonio’s father, Prince Antoine, was the youngest son of King Louis Philippe of France and his wife Maria Amelia Teresa of the Two Sicilies.

Infanta Eulalia of Spain

His mother, Infanta Eulalia of Spain, was the youngest of the five children born to Queen Isabella II of Spain and Francis de Assisi de Borbón, Duke of Cadiz, the second son of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain, (himself the son of the youngest son of Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma) and of his wife (and niece), Princess Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily.

Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Duke of Galliera was also first cousin of Alfonso XIII of Spain.

Nonetheless, Beatrice and Alfonso married in a Roman Catholic and Lutheran ceremony at Coburg on July 13, 1909. The couple settled in Coburg until, in 1912, Alfonso and Beatrice were allowed to return to Spain and his rank of Infante was restored. In August 1913, Beatrice was received into the Roman Catholic Church.

The couple had three sons:
* Alvaro Antonio Fernando Carlos Felipe (April 20, 1910 – August 22, 1997)
* Alonso María Cristino Justo (May 28, 1912 – November 18, 1936); Killed in action during the Spanish Civil War
* Ataúlfo Carlos Alejandro Isabelo (October 20, 1913 – October 4, 1974)

Princess Beatrice and her eldest son, Infante Alvaro of Spain

Scandal and exile

During King Alfonso XIII’s unhappy marriage, he had numerous affairs and dalliances, some of which produced illegitimate children. He allegedly also made advances toward Princess Beatrice, which she rebuffed. The King expelled her and her husband from Spain, under the pretext of sending Infante Alfonso on a mission to Switzerland. At the same time, the King’s circle of friends, who despised both Beatrice and Queen Ena, started to spread malicious rumours, saying that Beatrice had been expelled because of her bad behaviour, which was not true.

The family moved to England, where their three sons were educated at Winchester College. The Spanish royal family eventually relented, and Beatrice and her family were allowed to return to Spain where they established their home at an estate in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

The 1930s were an unhappy time for the family, as the collapse of the Spanish monarchy and the subsequent civil war led to the loss of much of the family’s wealth. After the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, King Alfonso and his family fled into exile in Italy. In the years that followed, the political situation in Spain worsened as various groups wrestled for power. By the late-1930s, the conflicts had erupted into all-out civil war. Beatrice and Alfonso lost their estate during the war and the couple’s middle son, Alonso, was killed fighting the Republicans.

Later life

Beatrice died at her estate of El Botánico in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on July 13, 1966. Her husband survived her by nine years. Their son Ataulfo died, unmarried, in 1974. Their only grandchildren are the children of Prince Alvaro. At the time of her death, Beatrice was the last surviving child of Prince Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna.

The death of Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

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Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, German Empire, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Prince Alfred Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

On this date in history: February 6, 1899. The death of Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, at the age of 24.

HRH Prince Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Prince Alfred of Edinburgh was born on October 15, 1874 at Buckingham Palace, London. His father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, was a daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.

He was a grandson of both Queen Victoria and Tsar Alexander II of Russia.

The exact circumstances of Alfred’s death are not known, and varying accounts have been published. His sister Marie’s memoirs simply say his health “broke down”, and other writers have said that he had “consumption.” The Times published an account stating he had died of a tumor, while the Complete Peerage gives the generally accepted account that he “shot himself.

Various authors have speculated on reasons why he might have killed himself, and one author, Frank Bush, claimed to have been a descendant of a secret marriage between Alfred and Mabel Fitzgerald, granddaughter of the 4th Duke of Leinster, and claimed that friction between Alfred and his family over the “secret marriage” was the cause of the suicide. Despite the lack of documentary evidence, and the lack of contemporary reference, other authors have repeated Bush’s assertion that Alfred and Mabel married, including John van der Kiste and Bee Jordaan in Dearest Affie, and the assertion is repeated as fact in the official family history (Das Haus von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha).

According to theory, Alfred shot himself with a revolver while the rest of the family was gathered for the anniversary celebration. He survived and was looked after at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha (Thuringia) for three days before being sent to theMartinnsbrunn Sanatorium in Gratsch near Meran in the County of Tyrol (Austria-Hungary, now Italy). Alfred died there at 4:15 pm on February 6, 1899, aged 24 years. He was buried in the ducal mausoleum of the Friedhof am Glockenberg [de], Coburg, Bavaria (southern Germany).

Later in 1899 Alfred’s uncle the Duke of Connaught and his son Prince Arthur of Connaught renounced their succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As a result, his first cousin Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany, became heir presumptive.

The death of Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

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Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Alfred Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Death, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

On this date in history: February 6, 1899. The death of Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, at the age of 24.

Prince Alfred of Edinburgh was born on October 15, 1874 at Buckingham Palace, London. His father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, was a daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.

He was a grandson of both Queen Victoria and Tsar Alexander II of Russia.

The exact circumstances of Alfred’s death are not known, and varying accounts have been published. His sister Marie’s memoirs simply say his health “broke down”, and other writers have said that he had “consumption.” The Times published an account stating he had died of a tumor, while the Complete Peerage gives the generally accepted account that he “shot himself.

Various authors have speculated on reasons why he might have killed himself, and one author, Frank Bush, claimed to have been a descendant of a secret marriage between Alfred and Mabel Fitzgerald, granddaughter of the 4th Duke of Leinster, and claimed that friction between Alfred and his family over the “secret marriage” was the cause of the suicide. Despite the lack of documentary evidence, and the lack of contemporary reference, other authors have repeated Bush’s assertion that Alfred and Mabel married, including John van der Kiste and Bee Jordaan in Dearest Affie, and the assertion is repeated as fact in the official family history (Das Haus von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha).

According to theory, Alfred shot himself with a revolver while the rest of the family was gathered for the anniversary celebration. He survived and was looked after at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha (Thuringia) for three days before being sent to theMartinnsbrunn Sanatorium in Gratsch near Meran in the County of Tyrol (Austria-Hungary, now Italy). Alfred died there at 4:15 pm on February 6, 1899, aged 24 years. He was buried in the ducal mausoleum of the Friedhof am Glockenberg [de], Coburg, Bavaria (southern Germany).

Later in 1899 Alfred’s uncle the Duke of Connaught and his son Prince Arthur of Connaught renounced their succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As a result, his first cousin Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany, became heir presumptive.

Kissin’ Cousins

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Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Duke of Clarence, European Royalty, Feodora of Leiningen, Friedrich III of Germany, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Grand Duke Sergi of Russia, King George V of Great Britain, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, Prince Albert Victor, Prince Harry, Princess Alix of Hesse by Rhine, Princess Beatrice of York, Princess Elizabeth of Hesse by Rhine, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, Victoria Mary (May) of Teck, Victoria Princess Royal, Wilhelm II of Germany

HRH Prince Marie of Edinburgh (Queen Consort of Romania)

HRH Prince George, The Duke of York (future George V)

One cannot talk about the genealogy of royalty without discussing cousin marriages. Royalty has a reputation for being inbred and that reputation is deserved although I don’t see the issue pejoratively. I do recognize that this was acceptable during different eras when people did not know the role genetics played in heredity and when social conventions were different.

The reasons cousins married were often due to two things. 1). monarchies were and are, to some extent, under the class system. Although it has lessened a great deal. An example is when current Crown Prince Haakon of Norway married a single mother, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, many Norwegians were upset with his choice, deeming her inappropriate. However, since the marriage in 2001 the fervor over her past has been largely forgotten and Mette-Marit has become an exemplary crown princess. This demonstrates that both the royals themselves and their citizens/subjects have had the expectation that royalty will marry their own kind. Even among us commoners we often choose spouses that are within our social group and social class. It is a very common human behavior and practice. 2). Another reason that cousin marriages were prevalent is one that is unintentional.  Young princesses were often pawns and objects of barter in the days when monarchies wielded power. Alliances through marriage were sought to ensure political stability between nations. However, reality was far different. With a minimal number of aristocratic and royal families to choose from, this lead to all these families being interrelated.

By the 19th century there were an occasional marriage done in the name of political alliances. The marriage between the Victoria, Princess Royal and the future Friedrich III, German Emperor and Prussia is a good example. For the most part marriages were selected for appropriateness in terms of matching people with similar personalities and social rank. The monarchs themselves, such as Queen Victoria, were often active in selecting suitable mates for their children and grandchildren. Even though these mates were often selected for them, the respectable parties did have a choice and at times refused certain prospects.

There were times when cousins met each other and actually fell in love, such as the case with the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II and Princess Alix of Hesse by Rhine. Then there were times when the love was not reciprocated. For example, Alix’s sister, Elizabeth (called Ella within the family) was chased after by her cousin, the future Wilhelm II, German Emperor and Prussia, but she wanted nothing to do with him. At one point, Alix was also pursued by her cousin, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and heir to the British throne after his father, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, but she tuned him down. Albert Victor’s brother, the future King George V of Great Britain, fell in love with his cousin, Princess Marie of Edinburgh, but she turned him down despite George’s father and her father approving of the match. Marie’s mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, did not like the British Royal Family (despite being married into that family) so she had her daughter turn down the proposal. George’s mother, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the Princess of Wales, also did not approve of the match

Even though these cousin marriages did not happen the participants found other cousins to marry. Ella married Grand Duke Sergi of Russia, the uncle of her sister’s husband (Nicholas II) and brother to Marie of Edinburgh’s mother. Wilhelm II married Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (the granddaughter of Feodora of Leiningen the half-sister to Wilhelm’s grandmother, Queen Victoria of Great Britain). Albert Victor became engaged to Princess Victoria Mary (May) of Teck, the daughter of Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, who was the first cousin to Albert Victor’s grandmother, Queen Victoria of Great Britain. When Albert Victor died within a month after his engagement to May of Teck, Queen Victoria thought that May was such a wonderful catch and would make an excellent Queen Consort she encouraged a match between May and George. After a suitable time George and May were wed. All these connections are enough to make your head spin!

I think this demonstrates how times have changed in over 100 years. I don’t think if Prince Henry (Harry) were to marry his cousin, Princess Beatrice of York, people would see it as a good thing. Although I do like it when royals marry royals, if only for making studying genealogy interesting, I am not sure when we will see the existing monarchies of Europe marrying royals once again. If it ever does happen it will happen the way we commoners fall in love.