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| Princess Helena Victoria was happy with her unmarried life. |
Helena Victoria accepted her fate of single
blessedness. She devoted her time looking after her brothers, her parents, her
grandmother and in supporting her mother’s charitable causes.
Despite the
absence of romantic pursuits, she was never stifled. In fact, her intelligence
and open-mindedness gave her the freedom to become a voracious traveler,
visiting her cousins in Germany and Russia. Her two brothers also remained
single and, though both Christian Victor, who served in the British Army, and
Albert who served in Germany, were far from one another due to active duty, the
family remained very close. In fact, the Christians enjoyed the most blissful
domestic life
among Queen Victoria’s children.
Helena Victoria also became the queen’s secretary
and companion. She saw her almost daily and joined the queen in her annual
trips to Osborne, Balmoral and Windsor. As she lived close to the queen, Helena
Victoria was a fixture in state dinners where she had the chance to converse
with politicians and statesmen. Eventually, she developed her own firm views about
politics and world affairs. At times, she even got into conflict with her
equally politically-minded mother.
“[Helena Victoria] talked just as we do about the
Government,” wrote Queen Victoria’s lady-in-waiting, Marie Mallett, “…but she
only dares to talk openly to me and a few others as Princess Christian is
furious with her and everyone else unless they ‘lard’ the Government with
fulsome praise.”
Unlike her cousin, Princess Victoria of Wales,
who was also unmarried, Helena Victoria was content with her lot, justifying
the Queen’s claim that:
“Unmarried people are often very happy, certainly
more so than married people who don’t live happily together of which there are
so many instances.” This, the queen stated after seeing many of her granddaughters
trapped in desperately unhappy marriages. Helena Victoria’s sister, Marie
Louise, did not escape this fate.
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