Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
Princess Beatrice | |||||
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Princess Henry of Battenberg | |||||
St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham | |||||
Spouse | |||||
Issue |
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House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1917) Windsor (from 1917) | ||||
Father | Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
Mother | Queen Victoria | ||||
Signature |
Princess Beatrice (Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore; 14 April 1857 – 26 October 1944), later Princess Henry of Battenberg, was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Beatrice was also the last of Queen Victoria's children to die, nearly 66 years after the first, her elder sister Alice.
Beatrice's childhood coincided with Queen Victoria's grief following the death of her husband on 14 December 1861. As her elder sisters married and left their mother, the Queen came to rely on the company of her youngest daughter, whom she called "Baby" for most of her childhood. Beatrice was brought up to stay with her mother always and she soon resigned herself to her fate. The Queen was so set against her youngest daughter marrying that she refused to discuss the possibility. Nevertheless, many suitors were put forward, including
Beatrice fell in love with
Early life
Princess Beatrice was born on 14 April 1857 at
From birth, Beatrice became a favoured child.
He wrote to Baron Stockmar that Beatrice was "the most amusing baby we have had." Despite sharing the rigorous education programme designed by Prince Albert and his close adviser,
Queen Victoria's devoted companion
In March 1861, Queen Victoria's mother
The depth of the Queen's grief over the death of her husband surprised her family, courtiers, politicians and general populace. As when her mother died, she shut herself off from her family—most particularly, the Prince of Wales, (whom she blamed for her husband's death),[14] with the exception of Alice and Beatrice. Queen Victoria often took Beatrice from her cot, hurried to her bed and "lay there sleepless, clasping to her child, wrapped in the nightclothes of a man who would wear them no more."[15] After 1871, when the last of Beatrice's elder sisters married,[16] Queen Victoria came to rely upon her youngest daughter, who had declared from an early age: "I don't like weddings at all. I shall never be married. I shall stay with my mother."[17] As her mother's secretary, she performed duties such as writing on the Queen's behalf and helping with political correspondence.[18] These mundane duties mirrored those that had been performed in succession by her sisters, Alice, Helena and Louise.[19] However, to these the Queen soon added more personal tasks. During a serious illness in 1871, the Queen dictated her journal entries to Beatrice, and in 1876 she allowed Beatrice to sort the music she and the Prince Consort had played, unused since his death fifteen years earlier.[19]
The devotion that Beatrice showed to her mother was acknowledged in the Queen's letters and journals, but her constant need for Beatrice grew stronger.[20][21] The Queen suffered another bereavement in 1883, when her highland servant, John Brown, died at Balmoral.[22] Once again, the Queen plunged into public mourning and relied on Beatrice for support. Unlike her siblings, Beatrice had not shown dislike for Brown, and the two had often been seen in each other's company; indeed, they had worked together to carry out the Queen's wishes.[23]
Marriage
Possible suitors
Although the Queen was set against Beatrice marrying anyone in the expectation that she would always stay at home with her, a number of possible suitors were put forward before Beatrice's marriage to
After the death of the Prince Imperial, the Prince of Wales suggested that Beatrice marry their sister Alice's widower,
Other candidates, including two of Prince Henry's brothers,
Engagement and wedding
When Beatrice, after returning from Darmstadt, told her mother she planned to marry, the Queen reacted with frightening silence. Although they remained side by side, the Queen did not talk to her for seven months, instead communicating by note.[33] Queen Victoria's behaviour, unexpected even by her family, seemed prompted by the threatened loss of her daughter. The Queen regarded Beatrice as her "Baby" – her innocent child – and viewed the physical sex that would come with marriage as an end to innocence.[34]
Subtle persuasions by the Princess of Wales and the Crown Princess of Prussia, who reminded her mother of the happiness that Beatrice had brought the Prince Consort, induced the Queen to resume talking to Beatrice. Queen Victoria consented to the marriage on condition that Henry give up his German commitments and live permanently with Beatrice and the Queen.[35]
Beatrice and Henry were married at
The ceremony – which was not attended by her eldest sister and brother-in-law, the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, who were detained in Germany;
Queen Victoria's last years
After a short honeymoon, Beatrice and her husband fulfilled their promise and returned to the Queen's side. The Queen made it clear that she could not cope on her own and that the couple could not travel without her.[41] Although the Queen relaxed this restriction shortly after the marriage, Beatrice and Henry travelled only to make short visits with his family. Beatrice's love for Henry, like that of the Queen's for the Prince Consort, seemed to increase the longer they were married. When Henry travelled without Beatrice, she appeared happier when he returned.[41]
The addition of Prince Henry to the family gave new reasons for Beatrice and the Queen to look forward, and the court was brighter than it had been since the Prince Consort's death.[42] Even so, Henry, supported by Beatrice, was determined to take part in military campaigns, and this annoyed the Queen, who opposed his participation in life-threatening warfare.[43] Conflicts also arose when Henry attended the Ajaccio carnival and kept "low company",[44] and Beatrice sent a Royal Navy officer to remove him from temptation.[44] On one occasion, Henry slipped away to Corsica with his brother Louis;[35] the Queen sent a warship to bring him back.[35] Henry was feeling oppressed by the Queen's constant need for his and his wife's company.[44]
Despite being married, Beatrice fulfilled her promise to the Queen by continuing as her full-time confidante and secretary. Queen Victoria warmed to Henry.
Although court entertainments were few after the Prince Consort's death, Beatrice and the Queen enjoyed
Devastated, she left court for a month of mourning before returning to her post at her mother's side.[43] The Queen's journal reports that Queen Victoria "[w]ent over to Beatrice's room and sat a while with her. She is so piteous in her misery."[48] Despite her grief, Beatrice remained her mother's faithful companion,[43] and as Queen Victoria aged, she relied more heavily on Beatrice for dealing with correspondence. However, realising that Beatrice needed a place of her own, she gave her the Kensington Palace apartments once occupied by the Queen and her mother.[49] The Queen appointed Beatrice to the governorship of the Isle of Wight, vacated by Prince Henry's death.[35] In response to Beatrice's interest in photography, the Queen had a darkroom installed at Osborne House.[18] The changes in the family, including Beatrice's preoccupation with her mother, may have affected her children, who rebelled at school. Beatrice wrote that Ena was "troublesome and rebellious", and that Alexander was telling "unwarrantable untruths".[50]
Later life
Beatrice's life was overturned by the
After inheriting Osborne, the King had his mother's personal photographs and belongings removed and some of them destroyed, especially material relating to John Brown, whom he detested.[53] Queen Victoria had intended the house to be a private, secluded residence for her descendants, away from the pomp and ceremony of mainland life.[54] However, the new king had no need for the house and consulted his lawyers about disposing of it, transforming the main wing into a convalescent home, opening the state apartments to the public, and constructing a Naval College on the grounds. His plans met with strong disapproval from Beatrice and Louise. Queen Victoria had bequeathed them houses on the estate, and the privacy promised to them by their mother was threatened. When Edward discussed the fate of the house with them, Beatrice argued against allowing the house to leave the family, citing its importance to their parents.[54]
However, the King did not want the house himself, and he offered it to his heir-apparent, Beatrice's nephew George, who declined, objecting to the high cost of maintenance. Edward subsequently extended the grounds of Beatrice's home, Osborne Cottage, to compensate her for the impending loss of her privacy. Shortly afterwards, the King declared to Arthur Balfour, the prime minister, that the main house would go to the nation as a gift. An exception was made for the private apartments, which were closed to all but the royal family members, who made it a shrine to their mother's memory.[55]
Queen Victoria's journals
Upon Queen Victoria's death, Beatrice began the momentous task of transcribing and editing her mother's journals. The hundreds of volumes from 1831 onwards contained the Queen's personal views of the day-to-day business of her life and included personal and family matters as well as matters of state.[56]
Queen Victoria had given Beatrice the task of editing the journals for publication, which meant removing private material as well as passages that, if published, might be hurtful to living people. Beatrice deleted so much material that the edited journals are only a third as long as the originals.[56] The destruction of such large passages of Queen Victoria's diaries distressed Beatrice's nephew, George V, and his wife Queen Mary, who were powerless to intervene.[57] Beatrice copied a draft from the original and then copied her draft into a set of blue notebooks. Both the originals and her first drafts were destroyed as she progressed.[57] The task took thirty years and was finished in 1931. The surviving 111 notebooks are kept in the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle.[58]
Retirement from public life
Beatrice continued to appear in public after her mother's death. The public engagements she carried out were often related to her mother, Queen Victoria, as the public had always associated Beatrice with the deceased monarch.[59]
The beauty of Beatrice's daughter,
During her time as Queen of Spain, Ena returned many times to visit her mother in Britain, but always without Alfonso and usually without her children. Meanwhile, Beatrice lived at Osborne Cottage in East Cowes until she sold it in 1913, when
Her presence at court further decreased as she aged. Devastated by the death of her favourite son,
Following the war, Beatrice was one of several members of the royal family who became patrons of The Ypres League, a society founded for veterans of the Ypres Salient and bereaved relatives of those killed in fighting in the Salient.[67] She was herself a bereaved mother, as her son, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, had been killed in action during the First Battle of Ypres. Rare public appearances after his death included commemorations, including laying wreaths at the Cenotaph in 1930 and 1935 to mark the 10th and 15th anniversaries of the founding of the League.[68][69]
Last years
Even in her seventies, Beatrice continued to correspond with her friends and relatives and to make rare public appearances, such as when, pushed in a wheelchair, she viewed the wreaths laid after the death of George V in 1936.
Legacy
Beatrice was the shyest of all of Queen Victoria's children. However, because she accompanied Queen Victoria almost wherever she went, she became among the best known.[74] Despite her shyness, she was an able actress and dancer as well as a keen artist and photographer.[75] She was devoted to her children and was concerned when they misbehaved at school. To those who enjoyed her friendship, she was loyal and had a sense of humour,[76] and as a public figure she was driven by a strong sense of duty.[77] She was Patron of the Isle of Wight Branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1920 until her death.[78] Music, a passion that was shared by her mother and the Prince Consort, was something in which Beatrice excelled. She played the piano to professional standards and was an occasional composer.[79][80] Like her mother, she was a devout Christian, fascinated by theology until her death.[81] With her calm temperament and personal warmth, the princess won wide approval.[82]
The demands made on Beatrice during her mother's reign were high. Despite suffering from rheumatism, Beatrice was forced to endure her mother's love of cold weather.[83] Beatrice's piano playing suffered as her rheumatism got gradually worse, eliminating an enjoyment in which she excelled; however, this did not change her willingness to cater to her mother's needs.[83] Her effort did not go unnoticed by the British public.
In 1886, when she agreed to open the Show of the Royal Horticultural Society of Southampton, the organisers sent her a
She died at
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 14 April 1857 – 23 July 1885: Her Royal Highness The Princess Beatrice
- 23 July 1885 – 14 July 1917: Her Royal Highness The Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg[89]
- 17 July 1917 – 26 October 1944: Her Royal Highness The Princess Beatrice[90]
Honours
- British honours
- 1 January 1878: Order of the Crown of India[91]
- 8 January 1919: Dame Grand Cross of the British Empire[92]
- 12 June 1926: Dame Grand Cross of St John[93]
- 11 May 1937: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order[94]
- Royal Order of Victoria and Albert[95]
- Royal Red Cross[95]
- Foreign honours
- Grand Cross of St. Catherine[95]
- 11 September 1875: Dame of the Order of Queen Saint Isabel[96]
- 27 May 1889: Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa[99]
Arms
In 1858, Beatrice and the three younger of her sisters were granted use of the royal arms, with an inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony and differenced by a label of three points argent. On Beatrice's arms, the outer points bore roses gules, and the centre a heart gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant from George V.[100]
Princess Beatrice's coat of arms (1858–1917) | Princess Beatrice's coat of arms as a Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa |
Issue
Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Prince Alexander of Battenberg later Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke |
23 November 1886 | 23 February 1960 | married Lady Irene Denison (4 July 1890 – 16 July 1956) on 19 July 1917. 1 daughter (Lady Iris Mountbatten, 1920–1982). | |
Princess Victoria Eugénie of Battenberg later Queen of Spain |
24 October 1887 | 15 April 1969 | married Juan Carlos I of Spain ).
| |
Prince Leopold of Battenberg later Lord Leopold Mountbatten |
21 May 1889 | 23 April 1922 | Suffered from haemophilia; died unmarried and without issue during a knee operation. | |
Prince Maurice of Battenberg | 3 October 1891 | 27 October 1914 | Died of wounds from action during World War I. |
Ancestry
Ancestors of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Notes
- ^ Dennison, p. 2
- ^ Dennison, p. 3
- ^ Longford, (Victoria R. I.), p. 234
- ^ Quoted in Dennison, p. 3
- ^ Dennison, p. 8
- ^ a b Dennison, p. 13
- ^ Jagow, p. 272
- ^ Quoted in Dennison, p. 11
- ^ Dennison, p. 22
- ^ Longford, (Victoria, Duchess of Kent) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Quoted in Epton, p. 92
- ^ Bolitho, p. 104
- ^ Bolitho, pp. 195–196
- ^ Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Duff, p. 10
- in 1871
- ^ Quoted in Dennison, p. 38
- ^ a b Dennison, p. 204
- ^ a b Dennison, p. 92
- ^ Bolitho, p. 301
- ^ After a failed assassination attempt on the Queen in 1882, she wrote of Beatrice: "Nothing can exceed dearest Beatrice's courage and calmness, for she saw the whole thing, the man take aim, and fire straight into the carriage, but she never said a word, observing that I was not frightened."
- ^ Buckle, p. 418
- ^ Dennison, pp. 95–101
- ^ Corley, p. 349
- ^ Dennison, pp. 86–87
- ^ Quoted in Dennison, p. 89
- ^ a b c d Dennison, pp. 103–106
- ^ McFarland, Cynthia; Reid, Brian (17 August 2003). "Anglican Online archives". Anglican Online. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
- ^ "Deceased Wife's Sister Bill". New York Times. 6 February 1902. Archived from the original on 21 November 2007. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
- ^ Quoted in Dennison, p. 126
- ^ Dennison, p. 116
- ^ Dennison, p. 124
- ^ Dennison, p. 130
- ^ Dennison, pp. 127–129
- ^ a b c d e f g h Purdue, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Beatrice and her siblings were confirmed here
- ^ Dennison, pp. 152–153
- ^ "Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg with their bridesmaids and others on their wedding day". National Portrait Gallery, London, UK.
- ^ Dennison, p. 153
- ^ Hibbert, p. 294
- ^ a b Dennison, pp. 179–180
- ^ a b c Dennison, p. 171
- ^ a b c d Dennison, p. 190
- ^ a b c Dennison, pp. 185–186
- ^ Bolitho, p. 27
- ^ a b Quoted in Dennison, p. 164
- ^ Dennison, p. 161
- ^ Quoted in Dennison, p. 192
- ^ Dennison, p. 203
- ^ Dennison, pp. 210–212
- ^ Quoted in Dennison, p. 213
- ^ Dennison, pp. 233–234
- ^ Magnus, p. 290
- ^ a b Benson, p. 302
- ^ Dennison, pp. 225–228
- ^ a b "Extracts from Queen Victoria's journals" (PDF). Official website of the British Monarchy. 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
- ^ a b Magnus, p. 461
- ^ "Collections in the Royal Archives". Official website of the British Monarchy. 2008–2009. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
- ^ Dennison, p. 215
- ^ a b c Noel, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Lee, p. 513
- ^ a b Noel (Spain's English Queen), p. 10
- ^ a b c "The Princess of the Wight". The Isle of Wight Beacon. 31 July 2007. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ "Carisbrooke Castle Museum". Carisbrooke Castle Museum Trust. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
- ^ Dennison, p. 245
- ^ "No. 30374". The London Gazette. 7 November 1917. p. 11594.
- ^ The Ypres League webpage Archived 12 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Aftermath – when the boys came home, accessed 16 January 2010
- ^ "To celebrate the tenth anniversary ...", Reading Eagle, 9 December 1930, p. 10
- ^ "Beatrice Lays Wreath", Getty Images, image number 3294671, from the Hulton Archive, accessed 16 January 2010
- ^ Princess Beatrice pushed in a chair (23 January 1936). Viewing the Wreaths (News broadcast). London, UK: Pathe News.
- ^ Dennison, p. 262
- ^ "Brantridge Park". 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2007.
- ^ "Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805". College of St George - Windsor Castle. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ Dennison, p. 157
- ^ Dennison: (dancing) pp. 44, 53; (acting) 174–175; (musician) 232–233; (photographer) 121–122
- ^ Aspinall-Oglander, C.F. (1959). "Beatrice, Princess". Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- ^ Dennison, p. 112
- ISBN 9780752454436.
- ^ Dennison, p. 58
- ^ 'Retrospection', published in The Girl's Own Paper (1897)
- ^ Dennison, pp. 84–85
- ^ Dennison, p. 193
- ^ a b Dennison, p. 110
- ^ "Illuminated Proclamation for Princess Beatrice". Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America. 31 July 1885. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
- ^ a b Dennison, p. 134
- ^ The Times newspaper, 29 July 1885
- ^ "Osborne House". English Heritage. 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
- ^ Dennison, p. 230
- ^ e.g. "No. 25751". The London Gazette. 25 October 1887. p. 5763.
- ^ e.g. "No. 34396". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 May 1937. p. 3073.
- ^ "No. 24539". The London Gazette. 4 January 1878. p. 114.
- ^ "No. 31114". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 January 1919. p. 447.
- ^ "No. 33284". The London Gazette. 14 June 1927. p. 3836.
- ^ "No. 34396". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 May 1937. p. 3074.
- ^ a b c "The King and the Royal Family". The County Families of the United Kingdom. Spottiswode, Ballantyne and Co. 1919. p. xvi. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ Bragança, Jose Vicente de (2014). "Agraciamentos Portugueses Aos Príncipes da Casa Saxe-Coburgo-Gota" [Portuguese Honours awarded to Princes of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]. Pro Phalaris (in Portuguese). 9–10: 13. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ^ Sullivan, p. 224
- ^ "Goldener Löwen-orden", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1885, p. 35
- ^ "Real orden de Damas Nobles de la Reina Maria Luisa". Guía Oficial de España. 1918. p. 227. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Velde, Francois (2007). "British Royal Cadency". Heraldica. Retrieved 18 December 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed.) (1977). Burke's Royal Families of the World, 1st edition. London: Burke's Peerage
References
- Aspinall-Oglander, C. F., "Princess Beatrice (1857–1944)", Dictionary of National Biography (archive), Oxford University Press, 1959; accessed 26 December 2007
- Beatrice, HRH The Princess, A Birthday Book (Smith, Elder & Co. London, 1881)
- The Adventures of Count Georg Albert of Erbach (John Murray, London, 1890)
- In Napoleonic Days: Extracts from the private diary of Augusta, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Queen Victoria's maternal grandmother, 1806 to 1821 (John Murray, London, 1941)
- Benson, E. F., Queen Victoria's Daughters (Appleton and Company, 1938)
- Bolitho, Hector, Reign of Queen Victoria (Macmillan, London, 1948)
- Buckle, George Earle, The Letters of Queen Victoria (Second Series [3rd volume]) (John Murray, London, 1928)
- Corley, T. A. B., Democratic Despot: A Life of Napoleon III (Barrie and Rockliff, London, 1961)
- Dennison, Matthew, The Last Princess: The Devoted Life of Queen Victoria's Youngest Daughter (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Great Britain, 2007); ISBN 978-0-297-84794-6
- Duff, David, The Shy Princess (Evans Brothers, Great Britain, 1958)
- Epton, Nina, Victoria and her Daughters (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Great Britain, 1971)
- Jagow, Kurt, Letters of the Prince Consort 1831–1861 (John Murray, London, 1938)
- ISBN 978-0-7509-2349-1
- Lee, Sir Sidney, King Edward VII: A Biography (Volume I) (Macmillan company, 1925)
- Longford, ElizabethVictoria R. I. (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Great Britain, 1964)
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28273. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Magnus, Philip, Edward the Seventh (John Murray, London, 1964)
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32975. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-0-09-479520-4
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36656. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Purdue, A. W. (2008) [2004]. "Beatrice, Princess [married name Princess Henry of Battenberg] (1857–1944)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30658. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
External links
- Ceremonial observed at Beatrice's wedding: "No. 25495". The London Gazette. 28 July 1885. p. 25495.
- "Isle of Wight Beacon on Princess Beatrice". Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2008.
- Information about Queen Victoria's journals
- Carisbrooke Castle Museum
- Osborne House
- Princess Beatrice letter, MSS SC 1247 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
- Portraits of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom at the National Portrait Gallery, London