Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Victoria Melita) (25 November 1876 - 2 March 1936) was a member of the British Royal Family, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Victoria held the titles of Grand Duchess of Hesse (1894-1901), and Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna of Russia (1906-1917).
Victoria scandalised the royal families of Europe with her divorce and remarriage in the early 20th century.
Early life
Victoria was born on November 25, 1876 in the San Antonio Palace in Malta, hence her name Melita. Her father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her mother was Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, a daughter of Alexander II of Russia and his first Empress consort Marie of Hesse. As a grandchild of the British monarch, she was styled Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Edinburgh. To her family she was called Ducky. At the time of her birth she was 10th in the line of succession to the British throne.
Victoria lived in Malta in her early years where as her father was stationed as an officer in the Royal Navy.
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
As a son of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria's father was in the line of succession to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Alfred became the heir apparent to the duchy, when his older brother and Victoria's uncle, The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) renounced his succession rights. Subsequently, the family moved to Coburg, Germany in 1889.
Romantic Interests
In 1891, Victoria travelled with her mother to the funeral of Princess Alexandra who was the Duchess' s brother's wife. There Victoria met Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovich of Russia, her first cousin. Although the two were deeply attracted to one another, Victoria's mother was reluctant to allow her to marry into the Russian Royal Family.
After her sister, Princess Marie of Edinburgh was married to the Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania, a search was made for a suitable husband for Victoria. Queen Victoria observed that Victoria had good relations with her cousin, Prince Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, the heir to grand ducal throne of Hesse and eldest son of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, Queen Victoria's second eldest daughter.
Queen Victoria was very keen for her two grandchildren to marry. Victoria's mother was also keen for the marriage, as her own mother was born a Princess of Hesse. However both Victoria and Ernst were reluctant to marry. Victoria had also met Kyril again in St Petersburg and had become secretly engaged.
Grand Duchess of Hesse
Eventually, Victoria and Ernst bowed to their families' pressure and married on April 9, 1894 at Schloss Ehrenburg in Coburg. The wedding was a large affair, with most of the royal families of Europe attending. Victoria was now titled The Grand Duchess of Hesse. Together Victoria and Ernst had two children:
- Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, (1895 - 1903) who died of typhoid.
- An unnamed son (25 May, 1900, stillborn).
Victoria and Ernst's marriage was an unhappy affair. Victoria despaired of her husband's lack of affection towards her. Whilst in Russia for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II, her passion for Kyril was rekindled.
The marriage finally ended in 1897, when Victoria claimed her husband was homosexual. According to her account, she returned from Romania after a visit to her sister, when she caught Ernst in bed with a servant. Efforts to rekindle the marriage failed and the Supreme Court of Hesse dissolved the marriage in December 21, 1901. The divorce of the reigning Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse caused scandal in the royal circles of Europe. After her divorce, Victoria went to live with her mother at her house in the French Riviera.
Remarriage
Kyril, Victoria's first love, was also scandalised by the divorce of Victoria and Ernst. The Empress of Russia, Alexandra Fyodorovna was Ernst's sister, and persuaded her husband, Nicholas II to exile Kyril to the Far East. Later in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, Kyril survived an attack on the Russian fleet, and returned to Moscow a war hero. The Tsar finally allowed him permission to leave Russia and he left for Coburg to be with Victoria.
The couple married on October 8, 1905 in Tegernsee. It was a simple ceremony, with no royal parties in attendance. Tsar Nicholas II responded to the marriage by stripping Kyril of his royal allowances and expelled him from the Russian navy. The couple retired to Paris, where they purchased a house off the Champs-Élysées.
Together Kyril and Victoria had three children:
- HH Princess Maria Kyrilovna (February 2, 1907-October 27, 1951)
- HH Princess Kira Kyrilovna (May 9, 1909-September 8, 1967) who married Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia
- HH Prince Vladmir Kyrilovitch (August 30, 1917-April 21, 1992)
Grand Duchess of Russia
Nicholas II was forced to reinstate Kyril after deaths in the Russian royal family had promoted Kyril to third in the line of succession to the Russian throne. Kyril and Victoria were brought back to Russia, with Victoria granted the title of Grand Duchess of Russia.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Kyril and Victoria fled to Finland, then Coburg, Germany. The exiled family moved to St Briac in France where they stayed for the rest of their lives. While in Germany, Victoria had shown an interest in the Nazi Party.
Victoria died on March 1, 1936 and was buried in the family mausoleum in Coburg, Germany.
Titles
- Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Edinburgh (1876-1893)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1893-1894)
- Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Hesse (1894-1901)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1901-1905)
- Her Imperial and Royal Highness Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna of Russia (1905-1936)
After 1917, Victoria referred to herself as Viktoria Feodorovna. She remained a British princess with the style Her Royal Highness and retained her place in the line of succession to the British throne.
