September 24, 1950: Death of Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven. Part I.

Tags

Diptheria, Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine), Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine, King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie; April 5, 1863 –September 24, 1950) was the eldest daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837–1892), and his first wife, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (1843–1878), daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Victoria’s mother died while her brother and sisters were still young, which placed her in an early position of responsibility over her siblings. Over her father’s disapproval, she married his first cousin Prince Louis of Battenberg, an officer in the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy, and lived most of her married life in various parts of Europe at her husband’s naval posts and visiting her many royal relations. She was perceived by her family as liberal in outlook, straightforward, practical and bright.

During World War I, she and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the British-sounding surname of Mountbatten, which was simply a translation into English of the German “Battenberg”. Two of her sisters—Elisabeth and Alix, who had married into the Russian imperial family—were killed by communist revolutionaries.

She was the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.

Victoria was born on Easter Sunday at Windsor Castle in the presence of her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria. She was christened in the Lutheran faith in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, in the arms of the Queen on April 27. Her godparents were Queen Victoria, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse (represented by Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine), the Prince of Wales and Prince Heinrich of Hesse and by Rhine.

Her early life was spent at Bessungen, a suburb of Darmstadt, until the family moved to the New Palace in Darmstadt when she was three years old. There, she shared a room with her younger sister, Elisabeth, until adulthood. She was privately educated to a high standard and was, throughout her life, an avid reader.

During the Prussian invasion of Hesse in June 1866, Victoria and Elisabeth were sent to Britain to live with their grandmother until hostilities were ended by the absorption of Hesse-Cassel and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt into Prussia.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, military hospitals were set up in the palace grounds at Darmstadt, and she helped in the soup kitchens with her mother. She remembered the intense cold of the winter, and being burned on the arm by hot soup.

In 1872, Victoria’s eighteen-month-old brother, Friedrich, was diagnosed with haemophilia. The diagnosis came as a shock to the royal families of Europe; it had been twenty years since Queen Victoria had given birth to her haemophiliac son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and it was the first indication that the bleeding disorder in the royal family was hereditary. The following year, Friedrich fell from a window onto stone steps and died. It was the first of many tragedies to beset the Hesse family.

In early November 1878, Victoria contracted diphtheria. Elisabeth was swiftly moved out of their room and was the only member of the family to escape the disease. For days, Victoria’s mother, Princess Alice, nursed the sick, but she was unable to save her youngest daughter, Victoria’s sister Marie, who died in mid-November.

Just as the rest of the family seemed to have recovered, Princess Alice fell ill. She died on December 14, the anniversary of the death of her father, Prince Albert. As the eldest child, Victoria partly assumed the role of mother to the younger children and of companion to her father. She later wrote, “My mother’s death was an irreparable loss … My childhood ended with her death, for I became the eldest and most responsible.”

Marriage and family

At family gatherings, Victoria had often met Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was her first cousin once removed and a member of a morganatic branch of the Hessian royal family. Prince Louis had adopted British nationality and was serving as an officer in the Royal Navy. In the winter of 1882, they met again at Darmstadt, and were engaged the following summer.

After a brief postponement because of the death of her maternal uncle Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Victoria married Prince Louis on 30 April 1884 at Darmstadt. Her father did not approve of the match; in his view Prince Louis had little money and would deprive him of his daughter’s company, as the couple would naturally live abroad in Britain.

However, Victoria was of an independent mind and took little notice of her father’s displeasure. Remarkably, that same evening, Victoria’s father secretly married his mistress, Countess Alexandrine von Hutten-Czapska, the former wife of Alexander von Kolemine, the Russian chargé d’affaires in Darmstadt.

His marriage to a divorcee who was not of equal rank shocked the assembled royalty of Europe and through diplomatic and family pressure Victoria’s father was forced to seek an annulment of his own marriage.

May 21, 1801: Birth of Princess Sophie of Sweden. Part I.

Tags

Grand Duke Charles I of Baden, Instrument of Government, King Carl XIII of Sweden, King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, National Day of Sweden, Prince Leopold of Sweden, Princess Frederica of Baden, Princess Sophie of Sweden

From the Emperor’s Desk: Today begins a three part series on the life of Princess Sophie of Sweden. Part I and III will focus on the Princess Sophie while Part II will focus on how her husband, Leopold, rose from being a morganatic scion of the Grand Duchy of Baden to becoming it’s Grand Duke.

Princess Sophie of Baden (May 21, 1801 – July 6, 1865) was, by marriage, Grand Duchess of Baden as the wife of sovereign Grand Duke of Baden, Leopold.

Princess Sophie of Sweden

Princess Sophie was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 21, 1801. She was the daughter of King Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden and his wife, Frederica of Baden, the daughter of Charles-Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Frederica of Baden was the younger sister of Princess Louise of Bade who became Empress Elisabeth Alexeievna as the spouse of Emperor Alexander I of Russia.

After her birth, Sophie was raised under the supervision of the royal governesses Hedvig Ulrika De la Gardie and Charlotte Stierneld in succession.

King Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden

Princess Frederica of Baden.

Sophie was eight years old when her father was deposed by the Coup of 1809 and she left Sweden with her family.

The occupation of Finland in 1808-09 by Russian forces was the immediate cause of the violent overthrow of King Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden by officers of his own army. Following the King’s abdication on March 29, 1809, an Instrument of Government was hastily written, which severely circumscribed the powers of the monarchy.

The “Instrument” was adopted on June 6, 1809, now called the National Day of Sweden. The Instrument of Government remained in force until replaced in 1974. The crown (now with strictly limited powers) passed to Gustav’s uncle, who became King Carl XIII.

Between the time of the coup which deposed her father, and leaving Sweden, she and her mother were under house arrest. During this period, she was described in the famous diary of Hedwig-Elizabeth-Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp as a stubborn girl who was much more haughty and possessed less self-control than her brother Gustaf.

Princess Sophie of Sweden

An anecdote describes the contrast between the siblings. When Frederica and her children were given permission to join the deposed king, famous Swedish nobleman Axel von Fersen came to discuss the arrangements. When he was about to leave, Sophie’s older brother ran to the door to open it for Fersen. The former queen Frederica is quoted as saying, “Sophie would never in the world have done that, she thinks of herself too highly for that.”

Sophie is described as wise and dutiful but strict. She kept late hours and arose late in the mornings, after which she spent hours writing letters to various relatives around Europe in her négligée. She was interested in science, art and politics, and kept herself well informed on all political events of the day through her correspondence.

Prince Leopold of Baden

In 1815, Princess became engaged, and on July 25, 1819 in Karlsruhe, Sophie married her half-grand-uncle Prince Leopold of Baden, the son of a morganatic marriage. The marriage with Leopold had been specifically arranged by her uncle, Grand Duke Charles I of Baden, to improve the chances that Leopold would one day succeed him as grand duke because of Sophie’s royal lineage; Leopold, though his right to the throne was recognized, since he was originally the issue of a morganatic marriage, he had no succession rights.

May 1, 1920: Death of Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden and Duchess of Scania.

Tags

Crown Princess of Sweden, Frederick Charles of Prussia, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King Gustaf V of Sweden, King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, Louise Margaret of Prussia, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught, Prince Luís-Filipe of Braganza, Princess Margaret of Connaught, Princess Victoria Patricia of Connaught, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Margaret of Connaught (Margaret Victoria Charlotte Augusta Norah; January 15, 1882 – May 1, 1920) was Crown Princess of Sweden and Duchess of Scania as the first wife of the future King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom holding her granddaughter Princess Margaret of Connaught

Princess Margaret was the elder daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and his wife Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. Her father, The Duke of Connaught was third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Princess Margaret’s mother, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, was the daughter of Prince Friedrich-Charles of Prussia (1828–1885), the son of Charles of Prussia (1801–1883) and his wife Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877). Her mother was Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt (1837–1906), daughter of Leopold IV of Anhalt-Dessau. Louise Margaret of Prussia‘s father, was a nephew of the German Emperor Wilhelm I,and a double cousin of the German Emperor Friedrich III, the husband of her sister-in-law, Victoria, Princess Royal.

Princess Margaret was born at Bagshot Park and baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle on March 11, 1882 by Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury. She was also confirmed in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle in March 1898. Princess Margaret was known as “Daisy” to her family.

When Princess Margaret of Connaught was 23 and her younger sister Princess Patricia of Connaught was 18, both girls were among the most beautiful and eligible princesses in Europe. Their uncle, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom wanted his nieces to marry a European king or crown prince.

In January 1905, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught visited Portugal, where they were received by King Carlos and his wife, Amélie of Orléans, whose sons Luís-Filipe, Duke of Braganza and Prince Manuel entertained the young British princesses. The Portuguese expected one of the Connaught princesses would become the future Queen of Portugal. No marriage proposal materialized.

The Connaughts continued their trip to Egypt and Sudan. In Cairo, they met Prince Gustaf-Adolph of Sweden, the future Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, grandson of the Swedish King Oscar II. Originally, Margaret’s sister Patricia had been considered a suitable match for Gustaf-Adolph; without his knowledge, a meeting was arranged with the two sisters.

Crown Prince Gustaf-Adolph of Sweden and Princess Margaret of Connaught.

Gustaf-Adolph and Margaret fell in love at first sight; he proposed at a dinner held by Lord Cromer at the British Consulate in Egypt and was accepted. Margaret’s parents were very happy with the match. Gustaf-Adolph and Margaret married on June 15, 1905 in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The couple spent their honeymoon at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland, and arrived in Sweden on July 8, 1905.

One of Margaret’s wedding presents was the Connaught tiara, which remains in the Swedish royal jewellery collection today.

Wedding of Princess Margaret and Crown Prince Gustaf-Adolf of Sweden in 1905.

The couple had five children. Margaret was a dedicated mother to her children, and was determined to spend time with them. She was not keen on letting them be raised by nursery staff, as was the convention of the day.

When Gustaf-Adolph’s father, Crown Prince Gustaf, acceded to the throne as King Gustaf V in 1907, the couple became Crown Prince and Princess of Sweden.

Coronet of Margaret used for the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902.

The marriage between Margaret and Gustaf-Adolph is described as a happy love match. Gustaf Adolf felt great pressure from the “Prussian” military discipline with which he had been raised by his mother, and he was greatly affected by and attracted to Margaret’s differing English customs. The visiting Infanta Eulalia of Spain wrote that the Crown Princess gave the Swedish court “just a touch of the elegance of the Court of St James’s” and of how much Margaret loved her life in Sweden.

After her arrival in Sweden, Margaret, who in Sweden was called “Margareta“, received lessons in the Swedish language, and asked to be educated in Swedish history and social welfare. After two years, she spoke good Swedish. She was also eager to find out more about Sweden, and on many occasions went on incognito trips.

Margaret was also interested in art, and was an admirer of the works of Claude Monet. She photographed, painted, and took a great interest in gardening. She and her spouse received Sofiero Palace as a wedding gift, and they spent their summers there and made a great effort creating gardens in an English style on the estate; her children participated in their improvement.

During World War I, Margaret created a sewing society in Sweden to support the Red Cross. The society was called Kronprinsessans Centralförråd för landstormsmäns beklädnad och utrustning (“The Crown Princess’s central storage for clothing and equipment of the home guard”), which was to equip the Swedish armed forces with suitable underwear.

When paraffin supplies ran low she organized a candle collection, and in November 1917 she instituted a scheme to train girls to work on the land. She also acted as intermediary for relatives separated by the war. With her help, private letters and requests to trace men missing in action were passed on. She was also active in her work on behalf of prisoners. She aided prisoners of war in camps around Europe, especially British nationals. Margaret’s efforts during the war were pro-British, in contrast to mother-in-law’s strictly pro-German attitude.

At 2 o’clock in the morning on Saturday, May 1, 1920, her father’s 70th birthday, Crown Princess Margaret died suddenly in Stockholm of “blood poisoning” (sepsis). Some time before this she had suffered from measles, which aggravated her ear, and she underwent surgery to remove a mastoid. Since the previous Sunday, she had been suffering from pain in her face from something below her eye, and doctors decided to perform another procedure. On Thursday, symptoms of erysipelas appeared under her right ear.

She fell gravely ill on Friday night when symptoms of sepsis became evident, and she died within hours. At the time, she was eight months pregnant with her sixth child. In announcing her death during traditional International Workers’ Day celebrations, Swedish Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting said: “the ray of sunshine at Stockholm Palace has gone out” (Solstrålen på Stockholms slott har slocknat).

In Britain, there had been reports, vicious rumors, that Margaret was unhappy in Sweden and that her death actually had been a suicide.

Princess Margaret was buried according to her specific and detailed wishes, written in 1914. She asked to be buried in her wedding dress and her veil, with a crucifix in her hands, in a simple coffin made from English oak and covered in British and Swedish flags. She requested that there should be no lying-in-state after her death.

As mentioned her death occurred on her father’s 70th birthday and she died 30 years before her husband’s accession to the throne of Sweden. Through her daughter, Princess Ingrid of Sweden who married King Frederick IX of Denmark Princess Margaret was the Grandmother of the current Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Queen Margrethe II was named after her grandmother and, like her grandmother, is known as Daisy within the family.

On 3 November 1923 at St. James’s Palace Crown Prince Gustaf-Adolph married Lady Louise Mountbatten, formerly Princess Louise of Battenberg. Her father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was an admiral in the British Royal Navy, renounced his German title during the First World War and anglicised his family name to “Mountbatten” at the behest of King George V.

He was then created the first Marquess of Milford Haven in the peerage of the United Kingdom. From 1917, therefore, his daughter was known as “Lady Louise Mountbatten”. Her mother was Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Lady Louise was a sister of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and of Princess Alice of Battenberg, who was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She was also a niece of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia. Lady Louise was also a first cousin once removed from her husband’s first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught.

Sweden: The Instrument of Government was adopted on June 6, 1809

Tags

Absolute Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, Instrument of Government 1809, King Carl XIII of Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, King Gustaf III of Sweden, King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Riksdag

Also on this date in Swedish history. The Instrument of Government (Swedish: 1809 års regeringsform) was adopted on June 6, 1809 by the Riksdag of the Estates and King Carl XIII, was one of the fundamental laws that made up the constitution of Sweden from 1809 to the end of 1974.

King Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway

The Instrument of Government came about after the Coup of 1809, when the disastrous outcome in the Finnish War led Swedish nobles and parts of the Army to revolt, forcing King Gustaf IV Adolf to involuntarily abdicate and go into exile.

For half a century, starting with the Instrument of Government of 1719, often referred to as the Age of Liberty, Sweden had enjoyed parliamentary rule under the Riksdag of the Estates, but in 1772 that was ended by a coup d’état perpetrated by Gustaf III. The coup enabled Gustav III to rule as an enlightened despot, in other words, an absolute monarch. Gustaf III’s son, Gustaf IV Adolph, succeeded him but proved a less charismatic ruler, and the change of sides of Russia in the Napoleonic wars prompted the disastrous Finnish War and the loss of Finland, settled in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn. This provided momentum for the Swedish nobility and other forces to depose the king and restore political power to the Estates.

The aged and childless brother of Gustaf III, Carl XIII was made king in 1809, but he was a mere puppet in the hands of the Estates and the question of his successor had to be solved. The election, by the Riksdag of the Estates, of the French Marshal and Prince of Pontecorvo Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte in 1810, provided not only a successor, but also a vital regent and a new dynasty. The rights of Bernadotte’s successors to accede to the Swedish throne were codified in an amendment to the constitution in the form of the Act of Succession (1810).

The Instrument of Government of 1809 replaced the Instrument of Government of 1772. It established a separation of powers between the executive branch (the king) and the legislative branch (the Riksdag of the Estates). The King and Riksdag possessed joint power over legislation (article 87, constitutional law in articles 81-86), while the Riksdag had sole power over the budget and state incomes and expenses (articles 57-77) including military burdens (article 73). While the king’s power was somewhat reduced compared to the enlightened absolutism of Gustaf III, the new document enabled the king to take a more active role in politics than during the Age of Liberty.

The liberals won a decisive victory in 1917, but Gustaf III tried to appoint another conservative ministry. However, it could not garner nearly enough support in the Riksdag. It was now obvious that the king could no longer pick a government entirely of his choosing, nor could he keep it in office against the will of the Riksdag. Gustaf yielded and appointed a liberal-social democratic coalition that effectively arrogated most of the crown’s political powers to itself.

At that time, it was definitively established that ministers were politically responsible (not just legally) to the Riksdag. From then on, while ministers were still formally appointed by the king, convention required him to ensure they had the support of a majority in the Riksdag and to act on his ministers’ advice. Although the Instrument’s statement that “the King alone shall govern the realm” (article 4) remained unchanged, it was understood that he was to exercise his powers through the ministers, who did most of the actual work of governing.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

During the period when it was in force several important reforms took place without affecting its status. In 1866 the Four Estates were replaced by a bicameral parliament, and in 1876 the office of the Prime Minister of Sweden was introduced. In the early 20th century universal suffrage was introduced and the country became a de facto parliamentary monarchy. In 1970 the parliament was transformed from a bicameral legislature to a unicameral one.

In 1975, it was replaced by a new Instrument of Government, which stripped the king of even nominal political power and made Sweden a de facto crowned republic.

HSH Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969)

Tags

Battenberg, Buckingham Palace, Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene, Duke of Edinburgh, Hesse and By Rhine, Holocaust, King Edward VII, King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, Kings and Queens of England, Prince Andrew of Greece., Prince Philip, Princess Alice of Battenberg, Queen Victoria, Righteous among the Nations

She was christened HSH Princess Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie of Battenberg and was the eldest daughter and child of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine. Prince Louis of Battenberg was a morganatic scion of the house of Hesse and was the son of f Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Countess Julia von Hauke. Louis was first cousin to his wife’s father, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine. Grand Duke Ludwig had married Princess Alice of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Because of his close relationship with the British royal family, Alice’s father, Prince Louis, lived in the UK and had an illustrious career in the British Navy rising to the post of First Sea Lord in 1912.

Princess Alice was born on February 25, 1885 in the Tapestry Room at Windsor Castle in the presence of her great-grandmother Queen Victoria. While very young her mother noticed that Alice was slow in learning to talk. Soon it was diagnosed that she suffered from a congenital form of deafness. Despite this problem Alice was able to lip read and speak English, German, French and later Greek. Because of her father’s military career Alice lived in London, Darmstadt, Jugenheim, and Malta. She was later joined by three siblings, George, Louise (who became Queen Consort of Sweden) and Louis, who became Earl Mountbatten of Burma and the last Viceroy of India.

At the coronation for her great-uncle, King Edward VII, in 1902 she met and fell in love with Queen Alexandra’s nephew, Prince Andrea (Andrew) of Greece and Denmark. The two were married the next year, October 6, 1903 with a civil ceremony in Darmstadt, followed by a Lutheran and then Greek Orthodox services. Alice and Andrea had four children between 1905 and 1914. They were all girls, Margarita, Theodora, Cecile, Sophie who all married into various German royal houses. After a gap of six years Alice and Andrea had their last child a son, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, who made the most prized marriage of them all when he married the future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on November 20, 1947.

During the early part of her marriage Alice visited her aunt, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, in Russia and became interested in the religious order she had founded along with the charity work she was engaged in. These were to become a significant focus for her entire life. Also at this juncture Greek politics, which seems to often be unstable, were experiencing political tumult once again and Prince Andrea had to renounce his military position because the political squabbles. However, he was reinstated once the Balkan Crisis of 1912 required his presence. During the Balkan Wars Alice’s nursing work lead to her being given the Royal Red Cross Award in 1913. When World War I broke out in 1914 her brother-in-law King Constantine I of Greece kept the country neutral despite the prime Minister’s support of the allies.

World War I caused great pains and tragedy for Alice and her relatives. All her German relations lost their thrones and postilions at the end of the war. He maternal aunts, Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia and the Empress Alexandra of Russia and her family, were brutally murdered in 1917. Her father and two brothers, living in the UK were forced to give up their German princely titles in a wave of anti- German sentiment. In replace of their titles they Anglicized their territorial designation of Battenberg into the surname of Mountbatten and her father was created Marquess of Mildford Haven. King Constantine I was exiled during the war and briefly reinstated. Shortly after the birth of her son, Prince Philip, in 1921 the Greek Royal Family was once again exiled. The situation became so precarious that Prince Andrea was arrested and with his life endangered King George V sent a British cruiser, the HMS Calypso, to rescue the royal family. The king feared a repeat of what happened to the Russian Royal Family.

By the 1930s Princess Alice became very religious and reported having visions. She was shortly diagnosed with schizophrenia and was institutionalized for brief period and then took two years to recover her stability. During the time she cut off ties to her family and she became estranged from her husband. In 1936 her daughter Cecile and her husband (her cousin Georg Donatus of Hesse and By Rhine) and two of their sons were killed in a plane crash. At the funeral she saw her husband for the first time in six years. When World War II broke out Princess Alice found herself with divided loyalties. Her son prince Philip was a member of the British Navy while her sons-in-law were fighting for Germany. She remained in Greece during the war continuing her charity work such as setting up soup kitchens for the poor. She would visit her sister Louise, who was married to King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, and smuggle in medical supplies. She also helped hide escaped Jews during this period when Athens was occupied by Italy.

Sadly as she was moving toward a reconciliation with her husband Prince Andrea died of a heart attack in 1944 at the age of 62. In 1947 Alice returned to Great Britain for the marriage of her son to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI. Alice returned to Greece, which had restored the monarchy after the war, and established an order of nuns. She remained in Greece until politics once again the monarchy was the victim of a military coup in 1967 forcing her to leave. Her son and the Queen Elizabeth II offered her an apartment in Buckingham Palace and lived there until her death on December 5, 1969 at the age of 84. She was initially interred in St George’s Chapel but was transferred to Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. In 1994 Alice was named by Israel “Righteous among the Nations” for aiding Jews during the war. In 2010 she was named a Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government. A deeply religious woman dedicated to service she left no material possessions. For a large part of her life she wore a nun’s habit even though she was never ordained as a nun. She also was a chain smoker for the majority of her adult life.

HRH Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark