Queen Victoria's Grandchildren, Part 3 Quiz

Answer: 1863

Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Alberta Elizabeth Matilda Mary of Hesse and the Rhine was born on April 5 in Windsor Castle, where Alice had gone for the birth. Being Alice's first child, and a girl, there was only one possible name the girl could be given - that of her illustrious maternal grandmother.

The 'Alberta' in her name was a tribute to Alice's late father, the Prince Consort, who had died two years earlier. Alice and Louis's wedding was a dismal affair, with the Queen still in mourning for Albert.

It was more like a funeral than a wedding.

Answer: Elizabeth

Elizabeth Alexandra Louise Alice, or Ella as she was called in the family, grew up to be the beauty of the family, though as a child, her mother complained that she was 'pale and languid'. Ella was perhaps the most beautiful of all Queen Victoria's granddaughters.

Answer: Peace

She named her thus because, at the time, the Austro-Prussian war was in full swing, and Hesse-Darmstadt had been occupied by Prussian troops. It was a very difficult time for Alice, since she and Louis were on the Austrian side and Alice's eldest sister Vicky was the Crown Princess of Prussia.

In any event, Prussia destroyed Austria within seven weeks, but though she swallowed other German states (like Hanover) whole, Hesse-Darmstadt was left alone for the most part. Irene grew up to be a quiet, gentle girl, not as beautiful as her sisters.

She was the family peacemaker, and always made sure the other children done the right thing, so much so that she was known as 'Aunt Fuss'.

Answer: Ernest

Ernest Louis Charles Albert William (or 'Ernie'), to be precise, was heir to the Grand Duchy after his father, Prince Louis. He was a sensitive, arty child with a personality that would later reveal itself to be somewhat unstable.

Answer: 3

One morning, he and his brother Ernie came in to their mother's bedroom to wake her up. In all the fun, Frittie fell out the window and landed on the stone terrace below. He bled to death soon after. Ironically, Frittie's godfather was Alice's brother Prince Leopold, the first known sufferer of haemophilia in the family. Alice was devastated, but Leopold assured her that Frittie was better off dead than to have to live the life of a haemophiliac.

Answer: Alexandra

She was christened Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice ('Alicky' or 'Sunny' in the family). Her mother had wanted to call her Alice, but decided that since the Germans 'butchered' that name, Alix was more appropriate and easier to pronounce. Alicky was a shy girl, very beautiful with long red-gold hair and sea-green eyes.

She was a particular favourite of Queen Victoria. In fact, the Queen's idea was to marry Alix (her favourite granddaughter) to Prince Albert Victor of Wales (her favourite grandson) but when the matter was broached to Alix years later, she refused to have anything to do with her cousin.

Answer: Diphtheria

Diphtheria ran rampant in the Hesse household in 1878. Prince Louis (who had become Grand Duke of Hesse in 1877) and all the children save Ella went down with the disease. Ella was swiftly dispatched to stay with her paternal grandmother while Alice stayed to look after the family. Everyone quickly recovered, save May, who died. Ernie, who had been devoted to his little sister, was so upset at her death that Alice broke the golden rule about avoiding infection - she kissed him. Thus, in the memorable words of Benjamin Disraeli, she received 'the kiss of death'.

She died within days, too tired and overworked to resist the sickness. She died exactly seventeen years to the day Prince Albert had. From that time on, Queen Victoria took a special interest in the upbringing of the Hesse children, the eldest of whom (Victoria) was still only fifteen.

Answer: First cousin once removed

Serge's mother, Princess Marie of Hesse, was the aunt of Ella's father, Louis. Also, Serge's sister-in-law, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was the sister of Ella's aunt, the Princess of Wales, wife of her mother's brother Bertie. Serge was seven years older than Ella, having been born in 1857.

He was a quiet man whose political views were very strong. Sadly, the Russian people disliked him. Later, there were rumours that he was homosexual. He and Ella had no children.

Answer: Her aunt Beatrice

Beatrice met and fell in love with Louis's brother Henry during the wedding celebrations and married him soon afterwards. Victoria and Louis were happy enough together. Their first child, a daughter named Alice, was born in 1885. She later married Prince Andrew of Greece and became mother to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Elizabeth II.

Answer: Henry's father, Emperor Frederick (Fritz)

Fritz was dying of throat cancer, but attended the wedding. He died a short time later. Henry had been close to his brother Wilhelm, whose malign influence had made him arrogant and contemptuous of his English relatives. Irene, though, soon straightened him out. Sadly, it transpired that Irene was a carrier of haemophilia, the deadly bleeding disease.

She had three children with Henry: Waldemar (born 1889), Sigismund (born 1896) and Henry (born 1900). Of the three, both Waldemar and Henry were haemophilic.

Answer: Elisabeth

Little Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt was born in 1895. The reason that Ernest and Ducky were so unhappy was simple: Ernest (Grand Duke of Hesse since 1892, when his father's died) was homosexual. In Ducky's rather brutal words, 'no boy was safe around him'. Against the will of the entire family, the couple were divorced in 1901. Elisabeth died in 1903. Ernie later remarried to Princess Eleanore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich. Finally, he began to settle down.

He was happy with Eleanore, and they had two children - George Donatus and Louis.

Answer: She didn't want to change her religion

Alix was a deeply religious girl, and marrying 'Nicky' would mean converting from Protestantism to the Russian Orthodox church, as Ella had done. Finally, she agreed to do so, and married Nicky. The couple were certainly smitten, and Alix took the name Alexandra Feodorovna on her conversion (just as Ella had become Elisaveta Feodorovna), though the family continued to know her as Alix. Alix's life in Russia was not happy though. Like Queen Victoria, she was not comfortable in high society, and as a result appeared shy and gauche at social functions.

The Russian court, which revolved around glittering social occasions, was alien to her nature. She was misunderstood by both the nobles and the common people, and was almost universally disliked.

Answer: Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven

Since Victoria and Louis were now Lady and Lord Milford Haven, their younger daughter Louise became Lady Louise Mountbatten, their son George became the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven (upon Louis's death in 1921) and their younger son Louis became Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Ernie's family suffered during the war too. He was no solider, and commanded the troops of Hesse only in name. But he had one sister in Germany, two in Russia and one in England.
Meanwhile, Alix's popularity in Russia had plunged to even lower depths, and even Ella was suspected of being a German sympathiser (since Serge's assassination in 1905, she had become an Orthodox nun).

Answer: 7

As is well known, Alix was shot by the Bolsheviks, along with Nicky and their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei in 1918. Also that year, Ella was pushed down a mine shaft by the Bolsheviks along with several other Romanov family members. In 1993, Ella was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church. She was followed by Alix and her husband and children in 2000.

Answer: 1953

Ernie died in 1937. He had faced the revolution of 1918 with amazing courage, getting his sons to safety but insisting on staying in the palace himself. Though the years immediately after the war were sad for him, he was still respected and valued in Hesse. Though he had not ruled Hesse for 19 years when he died peacefully in 1937, he was given what amounted to a state funeral. Tragically, his wife Grand Duchess Eleanore, his elder son Grand Duke George Donatus, his daughter-in-law Cecile (the daughter of Princess Alice of Battenberg, Victoria's daughter) and his grandchildren Louis and Alexander were all killed in a plane crash that same year. His younger son Louis and his British wife Margaret adopted George's daughter Joanna, but she died in 1939. Louis himself died in 1968, and Margaret in 1997.
Victoria died in 1950, at the great age of 87. Like all of Alice's daughters, she was a strong, interesting woman who never lost her positive outlook on life. 'I should have been the man of the family,' she laughed. Meriel Buchanan, a friend of the Hesse family described her thus: 'It is true that her lack of personal vanity, her firm handshake and her direct, sometimes rather abrupt manner gave an almost masculine impression. She was, however, a woman whose absolute integrity seemed to shine out of her bright, blue eyes, whose clear, reasoning brain was remarkable, whose honesty and singleness of purpose made one feel that one could never tell her a lie or indulge in any subterfuge or evasion, a woman who had faced the many sorrows life brought her with unflinching courage, for whom it was possible to feel nothing but respect and admiration.'
Irene, the third of what Alice called her 'three graces' (Victoria, Ella and Irene) died in 1953, aged 86. Her husband Henry had died in 1929, and her brother Ernie wrote this of her: 'Now her husband is dead after two years of grave illness. She is alone now, but in spite of this she managed to do so much that she is sometimes worn out. Her only thought and concern is to find ways in which she can help people, time and time again.'