Princess Beatrice (Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore; 14 April 1857 – 26 October 1944), later known as Princess Henry of Battenberg, was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Beatrice's childhood was shaped by her mother's grief following the death of Prince Albert on 14 December 1861. As her elder sisters married and left the royal household, the Queen became increasingly dependent on the companionship of her youngest daughter, whom she affectionately called "Baby" well into adulthood. Beatrice was raised with the expectation that she would remain constantly at her mother's side, a role she gradually accepted as her duty.
Queen Victoria was opposed to Beatrice's marriage and initially refused even to discuss the prospect. Nevertheless, several potential suitors were considered, including Louis Napoléon, Prince Imperial, the only son of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France, and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, the widower of Beatrice's elder sister Alice. Beatrice was particularly drawn to the Prince Imperial, and a possible engagement was widely discussed, but his death during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879 brought an end to those plans. Beatrice eventually fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia von Hauke, and the brother-in-law of her niece Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. After a year of sustained persuasion, Queen Victoria—whose approval was required under the Royal Marriages Act 1772—reluctantly consented to the union. The marriage took place on 23 July 1885 at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, on the strict condition that the couple reside with the Queen and that Beatrice continue to serve as her mother's unofficial secretary.
Henry and Beatrice had four children. However, their marriage was cut short when he died of malaria on 20 January 1896 on active service during the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War. Beatrice thereafter remained devoted to her mother, staying at her side until her death on 22 January 1901. In the decades that followed, Beatrice devoted herself to editing and preserving her mother's journals as the Queen's appointed literary executor, a task that occupied much of the final 30 years of her life. She continued to undertake public duties and make official appearances. Beatrice died in 1944 at the age of 87.
Early life
Beatrice was born at 1:45 pm on 14 April 1857 at Buckingham Palace, London. She was the fifth daughter and youngest of the nine children of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her prince consort, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The birth caused controversy when it was announced that Queen Victoria would seek relief from the pains of delivery through the use of chloroform administered by Dr John Snow. Chloroform was considered dangerous to mother and child and was frowned upon by the Church of England and the medical authorities.Dennison, p. 3 Queen Victoria was undeterred and used "that blessed chloroform" for her last pregnancy.Longford, (Victoria R. I.), p. 234 A fortnight later, she reported in her journal, "I was amply rewarded and forgot all I had gone through when I heard dearest Albert say 'It's a fine child, and a girl!'"Quoted in Dennison, p. 3 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert chose the names Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore: Mary after Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, the Queen's aunt; Victoria after the Queen; and Feodore after Feodora, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the Queen's older half-sister. The princess was baptised in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace on 16 June. Her godparents were her maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Kent; her eldest sister, the Princess Royal; and the Princess Royal's fiancé Prince Frederick of Prussia.Dennison, p. 8
From birth, Beatrice became a favoured child.Dennison, p. 13 The elder favourite daughter of Prince Albert, the Princess Royal, was about to take up residence in Germany with her new husband, Frederick of Prussia. At the same time, the newly arrived Beatrice showed promise. Albert wrote to Augusta, Frederick's mother, that "Baby practises her scales like a good prima donna before a performance and has a good voice!"Jagow, p. 272 Although Queen Victoria was known to dislike most babies, she liked Beatrice, whom she considered attractive. This provided Beatrice with an advantage over her elder siblings. The Queen once remarked that Beatrice was "a pretty, plump and flourishing child ... with fine large blue eyes, [a] pretty little mouth and very fine skin".Quoted in Dennison, p. 11 Her long, golden hair was the focus of paintings commissioned by Queen Victoria, who enjoyed giving Beatrice her bath, in marked contrast to her bathing preferences for her other children. Beatrice showed intelligence, which further endeared her to the Prince Consort, who was amused by her childhood precociousness.
The Prince Consort 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 Baron Stockmar, Beatrice had a more relaxed infancy than her siblings because of her relationship with her parents.Dennison, p. 22 By four years of age, the youngest, and the acknowledged last royal child, Beatrice was not forced to share her parents' attention the way her siblings had, and her amusing ways provided comfort to her faltering father.
Queen Victoria's devoted companion
In March 1861, Queen Victoria's mother Victoria, Duchess of Kent, died at Frogmore. The Queen broke down in grief and guilt over their estrangement at the beginning of her reign.Longford, (Victoria, Duchess of Kent) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Beatrice tried to console her mother by reminding her that her grandmother was "in heaven, but Beatrice hopes she will return".Quoted in Epton, p. 92 This comfort was significant because Queen Victoria had isolated herself from her children except Princesses Alice and Beatrice.Bolitho, p. 104 Queen Victoria again relied on Beatrice and Alice after the death of Albert, of typhoid fever, on 14 December.Bolitho, pp. 195–196
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),Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 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."Duff, p. 10 After 1871, when the last of Beatrice's elder sisters married,Victoria, Princess Royal in 1858; Alice in 1862; Helena in 1866; Louise in 1871 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."Quoted in Dennison, p. 38 As her mother's secretary, she performed duties such as writing on the Queen's behalf and helping with political correspondence.Dennison, p. 204 These mundane duties mirrored those that had been performed in succession by her sisters, Alice, Helena and Louise.Dennison, p. 92 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.
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.Bolitho, p. 301After 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." The Queen suffered another bereavement in 1883, when her highland servant, John Brown, died at Balmoral.Buckle, p. 418 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.Dennison, pp. 95–101
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. One of these was Napoléon Eugéne, the French Prince Imperial, son and heir of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France and his wife, Empress Eugénie. After Prussia defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon was deposed and moved his family to England in 1870.Corley, p. 349 After the Emperor's death in 1873, Queen Victoria and Empress Eugénie formed a close attachment, and the newspapers reported the imminent engagement of Beatrice to the Prince Imperial.Dennison, pp. 86–87 These rumours ended with the death of the Prince Imperial in the Anglo-Zulu War on 1 June 1879. Queen Victoria's journal records their grief: "Dear Beatrice, crying very much as I did too, gave me the telegram ... It was dawning and little sleep did I get ... Beatrice is so distressed; everyone quite stunned."Quoted in Dennison, p. 89
After the death of the Prince Imperial, the Prince of Wales suggested that Beatrice marry their sister Alice's widower, Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. Alice had died in 1878, and the Prince argued that Beatrice could act as replacement mother for Louis's young children and spend most of her time in England looking after her mother. He further suggested the Queen could oversee the upbringing of her Hessian grandchildren with greater ease.Dennison, pp. 103–106 However, at the time, it was forbidden by law for Beatrice to marry her sister's widower. This was countered by the Prince of Wales, who vehemently supported passage by the Houses of Parliament of the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, which would have removed the obstacle. Despite popular support for this measure and although it passed in the House of Commons, it was rejected by the House of Lords because of opposition from the Lords Spiritual. Although the Queen was disappointed that the bill had failed, she was happy to keep her daughter at her side.
Other candidates, including the brothers Princes Alexander and Louis of Battenberg, were put forward to be Beatrice's husband, but they did not succeed. Although Alexander never formally pursued Beatrice, merely claiming that he "might even at one time have become engaged to the friend of my childhood, Beatrice of England",Quoted in Dennison, p. 126 Louis was more interested. Queen Victoria invited him to dinner but sat between him and Beatrice, who had been told by the Queen to ignore Louis to discourage his suit.Dennison, p. 116 Louis, not realising for several years the reasons for this silence, married Beatrice's niece Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. Although her marriage hopes had been dealt another blow, while attending Louis's wedding at Darmstadt, Beatrice fell in love with Louis and Alexander's brother Prince Henry, who returned her affections.Dennison, p. 124
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.Dennison, p. 130 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.Dennison, pp. 127–129