Helena remained close to her mother and was a useful, stabilizing influence. Despite a 15-year age gap-and Christian initially believing he was to marry Victoria herself rather than her daughter-the pair were content in the marriage. Victoria wrote disparagingly about her appearance, claiming that “poor, dear” Helena “does not improve in looks and has great difficulties with her figure.” After Albert’s death, Victoria was determined to have a married daughter living at home, and Helena was soon wed to the penniless Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Level-headed and easy-going, Helena grew up favoring the outdoors and practical activities. Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1844–1900) At 35, she succumbed to diphtheria on the 17th anniversary of her father’s death.
(Victoria named a royal cow “Princess Alice” in response.)ĭuring the Austro-Prussian War, Alice threw herself into nursing, corresponding with Florence Nightingale and establishing charities that trained nurses and advanced social conditions. Relations soured, with Victoria disapproving of Alice’s “indelicate” interest in human anatomy and her decision to breastfeed her children. While her marriage to Prince Louis of Hesse provided some respite from her family, it was not an escape from her mother. Compassionate and sensitive, Alice became the family’s caregiver, and it was she, at 18, who nursed her father in his final illness, then took over her mother’s duties in managing the household and corresponding with ministers after his death. Roger Fenton, Wikimedia Commons // Public DomainĪs a child, Alice was, according to Victoria, “easy to praise and hardly ever in trouble.” Yet she, too, would rebel, sneaking out for cigarettes with Bertie. Princess Alice (right) sits with her sister Victoria. Princess Alice, Duchess of Hesse and Rhine (1843–1878)
Despite Victoria’s fears, Bertie proved a popular king until his death in 1910. Yet after Victoria’s death, he embraced the monarchy’s shift to a public institution. Victoria laid the blame at Bertie’s feet, writing, “I never can or shall look at him without a shudder.”Īlthough relations between the pair eased after Bertie’s marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Victoria refused to give him any responsibility, which only escalated Bertie’s playboy lifestyle. Upon returning, the already weakened Prince Consort grew ill and died. In 1861, Bertie’s liaison with an actress caused a scandal, and Albert hastily traveled to admonish his son. Yet with his quick temper and short attention span, she soon labeled him “my caricature.” The more his parents tried to curb his behavior, the worse it became. Known as “Bertie” by his family, Victoria fervently hoped that her heir would be like his father. Robert Milne of Ballater and Aboyne, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain Edward VII (1841–1910)Įdward VII (right) with his family, including Queen Victoria (center). Vicky outlived Queen Victoria by only six months, dying from breast cancer in 1901. Vicky then retired from public life and grew closer to her mother, maintaining a constant correspondence that totaled nearly 8000 letters. Although she had eight children (including the future Kaiser Wilhelm II), Vicky’s influence in her new country was limited, as her husband’s reign as Emperor lasted only three months before he died from throat cancer in 1888.
Her family hoped the marriage would help usher in a liberal Germany. In 1858, Vicky married the future German Emperor Prince Frederick William of Prussia. At that time, male children took precedence in the line of succession, meaning that despite being the eldest, Vicky was not the heir to her mother's throne. With her father’s intelligence and her mother’s willfulness, Vicky was a mischievous child, leaving Victoria to complain that she was “amazingly advanced in intellect but, alas! also in naughtiness.” Vicky’s intellect made her Albert’s favorite child, and the two shared a close bond.
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