Alice of the United Kingdom
Princess Alice (Alice Maud Mary), (25 April 1843 – 14 December 1878), was a member of the British Royal Family, the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria. She was the Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, the consort of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.
Princess Alice was the great-grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.
Early life
The Princess Alice was born on April 25, 1843 at Buckingham Palace, London. Her mother was the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, the only child of King George III's fourth son, Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent. Her father was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As the daughter of the sovereign, Alice was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Alice from birth. She was baptised in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace on June 2, 1843 by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury and her godparents were the King of Hanover, the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Sophia of Gloucester and the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.
Alice was educated with her elder sister, Princess Victoria, Princess Royal. She was especially attached to her elder brother, Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. After the marriage of the Princess Royal to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Queen Victoria came to rely on Alice's support as the eldest daughter at home. The eighteen year-old Alice nursed Prince Albert during his final illness in December 1861.
Marriage
On 1 July 1862, Princess Alice married Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine (12 September 1837-13 March 1892), the son of Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine and the nephew of Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (9 June 1806-13 June 1877), at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. On the day of the wedding, Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent granting her new son-in-law the style Royal Highness. This style was in effect in Great Britain, not Hesse.
Alice and Ludwig took up residence at Darmstadt, Hesse. The couple had seven children:
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Victoria | 5 April 1863 | 24 September 1950 | Married Prince Louis of Battenberg, later Marquess of Milford-Haven (24 May 1854-11 September 1921), and had issue. |
| Princess Elisabeth | 1 November 1864 | 17 July 1918 | Took the name Yelisaveta Fyodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church, m. Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (11 May 1857-17 February 1905), son of Alexander II of Russia and had no issue. Had been courted by her cousin, Wilhelm, but rejected him. |
| Princess Irene | 11 July 1866 | 11 November 1953 | Married Prince Heinrich, (14 August 1862-20 April 1929), son of Friedrich III of Germany and had issue. |
| Prince Ernst Ludwig | 25 November 1868 | 9 October 1937 | Became Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, 13 March 1892; abdicated 9 November 1918; married HRH Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (25 November 1876-2 March 1936), divorced; married HH Princess Eleonore zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (17 September 1871-16 November 1937), and had issue. |
| Prince Friedrich | 7 October 1870 | 29 May 1873 | Suffered from hemophilia. |
| Princess Alix | 6 June 1872 | 17 July 1918 | Took the name Alexandra Feodorovna on her baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church, m. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (18 May 1868-17 July 1918), and had issue. |
| Princess Marie | 24 May 1874 | 16 November 1878 | Died of diphtheria. |
Later life
Princess Alice's concern about the poor nursing conditions for wounded soldiers during the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, led her to found the Alice-Frauenverein, or Women's Union, to train nurses and auxiliary workers. On 13 June 1877, Prince Ludwig succeeded his uncle as the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice became the Grand Duchess. However, in November 1878, the Grand Duke and all but one of the children, Princess Elizabeth, fell ill with diphtheria; Princess Marie died of the disease. Exhausted by nursing all of them, Alice succumbed to the disease and died at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt on 14 December, the anniversary of her father's death. Alice is buried at Rosenhöhe, the mausoleum for the Grand Ducal House of Hesse outside Darmstadt.
Titles
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Alice
- Her Royal Highness Princess Ludwig of Hesse
- Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Hesse
Genetics
As a matrilineal descendant of Victoria of the United Kingdom, she and all her female-line descendants are members of mitochondrial haplogroup H.
