Princess Helena, A Dependable and Civic-Minded Princess
 |
| Princess Helena. Image from Wikimedia Commons |
During the later part of Queen Victoria’s reign, Princess Helena emerged as the most active member of the British Royal Family, carrying out a full round of royal engagements at a time when it was not customary for royals to appear in public. She also actively supported causes that are close to her heart, especially nursing and needlework. She campaigned for nurse registration and threw her support on women’s rights, endeavours which went relatively forgotten today but had huge impact in the advancement of nursing and women's rights. Among Queen Victoria’s children, Princess Helena is said to have the most successful family life, her marriage to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, having reached the golden year and was generally spent in relative peace.
Helena Augusta Victoria was born on May 25, 1846 at Buckingham Palace in London, the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In a conversation with his brother, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert said that Helena "came into this world quite blue”, and that his wife "suffered longer and more than the other times” while giving birth to the princess that she had to “remain very quiet to recover”. As a baby she is said to have been a remarkably pretty and engaging child. One of her nurses described her as one with “a heavenly temper.”
Lenchen, as she was dearly called within the family circle, was often overshadowed by her siblings, despite her being an accomplished pianist and artist at a young age. She was particularly close to her second brother, Prince Alfred, a strong bond that they maintained until his death in 1900. She had a brief affair with her father’s librarian, Carl Ruland, who was dispatched back to his homeland, Germany, by Queen Victoria upon learning of the said romance. Following Ruland’s dismissal, Queen Victoria went on to find a suitable partner for Princess Helena. Being a middle child, however, not to mention her unconventional appearance— as a young lady, she was described as dowdy, chunky, and double-chinned —got in the way of attracting eligible princes from powerful European royal houses.
 |
| Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Image from Wikimedia Commons |
Princess Helena first met her future husband, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, who 15 years her senior, while visiting Coburg. Their engagement, however, was met with disapproval from both parties as the relationship was considered to be politically awkward brought about by the Schleswig-Holstein issue. Alexandra, Princess of Wales, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, infamously exclaimed about the possible union: "The Duchies belong to Papa." On the one hand, Helena’s sister, Princess Alice, thought that their mother, Queen Victoria, was sacrificing her daughter’s own happiness for her own convenience.
In spite of the many controversies and misgivings, Helena and Christian tied the knot on July 5, 1866 at the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle. During her married life, she was addressed as Princess Christian. Parliament settled £30,000 for her dowry and an annuity of £6,000. The union produced six children.
The late 1870s proved to be an utterly distressing period in Helena’s life. Her son, Prince Harald, succumbed to death at just eight days old in 1876. The following year, she gave birth to a stillborn. Her grief did not end there as she also lost her beloved sister Alice in 1878.
At Cumberland Lodge, in Windsor Great Park, the princess brought up her children in quiet and relatively unostentatious fashion; considering their stature as “the poorest of members of the Royal Family,” she taught her daughters to make their own dresses and to perform many domestic chores.
Frail in health, she got addicted to laudanum and opium, which was initially dismissed by Queen Victoria to be merely just hypochondria induced by her tolerant husband. The queen, in a letter to her daughter, Victoria, Crown Princess of Prussia, thought Helena had the tendency to "coddle herself (and Christian too) and to give way in everything that the great object of her doctors and nurse is to rouse her and make her think less of herself and of her confinement".
Princess Helena was among the most civic-minded of the queen’s children. She lived her genuine interest in nursing and was an ardent supporter of nurse registration. At that time, it was heavily opposed by the leading public figures, including Florence Nightingale. In 1870, she helped establish the Ladies’ Committee of the British Red Cross, and was elected president of the Royal British Nurses’ Association (RBNA) in its founding year (1887). At Nightangle's request, Helena accepted the presidency of the British Nurses Association in 1889. The organization standardized the training provided to hospital nurses. In 1892, at the princess' request, Queen Victoria granted a royal charter to the association. Between 1890 and 1914, Princess Helena worked tirelessly to raise the country's nursing care in work-house infirmaries. She also worked towards the building of a children's home and infant nursery at Windsor. Her help was a huge boost to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Young Women's Christian Association. In 1894, she established Princess Christian District Nurse in Windsor. By 1904, four houses were already built for the nurses and her group was renamed Princess Christian Nursing Home. The home was enlarged and, later, through the efforts of her daughters, Princess Helena Victoria and Princess Marie Louise, a maternity wing was added. Today, the Princess Christian Nursing Hospital continues to serve the local community.
Princess Helena was also active advocate of needlework. She became the first president of the School of Art Needlework in 1872 (renamed Royal School of Needlework four years later). According to the princess, the school was the "first, to revive a beautiful art which had been well-nigh lost; and secondly, through its revival, to provide employment for gentlewomen who were without means of a suitable livelihood."
Always ready to help the children and the needy, she hosted free dinners for children and the unemployed, that author C. W. Cooper said "the poor of Windsor worshipped her". Her kindness was well-known during her lifetime and she was in fact called "the good fairy of Windsor" for her selfless deeds.
An article of the day kindly described her:
"Her Royal Highness frequently comes to town the day before the Drawing Room, taking up her quarters at the Palace, where she occasionally holds an informal reception in the evening. It is however, at her cosy residence of Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, that the Princess usually receives her friends. The life she leads here is one of the simplest imaginable. At one day, she may be seen with her sketching block seated alone under one of the trees in Windsor Great Park; at another, she will pass along the celebrated avenue known as the Long Walk, on her way to pay an important visit to her royal mother at a third she will quietly enter the hall where the Windsor Madrigal Society is practising, and taking her seat, unostentatiously, will soon be mingling with her fine and well-trained voice with the rest. And wherever she may be, we may rest assured that her daughter, Princess Victoria, known in the home circle as 'Doria,' is not far away. The great event in Princess Christian's quiet life is the return home of her sons, and perhaps her greatest trial is still that she sees so little of them.”
A society writer, meanwhile, described her temper and sweet nature: “I have seen the Princess Christian under all circumstances, under some in which she would have been justified in manifesting the utmost anger; but never have I seen the least ruffle of her sweet and even temper.”
Princess Christian was an avid translator of German works, including the first biography of Prince Albert (1867), The Memoirs of Wilhelmine, Margravine of Bayreuth (1887), and First Aid to the Injured (1882). Sir Charles Grey praised the princess for the “surprising fidelity” of her work, while Saturday Review wrote that her work was “thoroughly alive, with a sound dictionary translation and a high accuracy in spirit.”
Plump and dowdy but firm and steady, Princess Helena was criticized by her own mother for her appearance, although Princess Marie Louise, would later describe her mother as one with "very lovely, with wavy brown hair, a beautiful little straight nose, and lovely amber-coloured eyes." Helena's artistic inclinations were in music, drawing and water-color. In her youth she played the piano with Charles Hallé. Jenny Lind and Clara Butt were among her friends. She was also a constant support to her mother, standing on her behalf at court presentations, which was considered equivalent to being presented to the queen herself.
In 1916, Helena and Christian celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Despite the war raging between Britain and Germany, her oldest nephew Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a congratulatory telegram to his aunt and uncle through Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, the eldest child of Helena's younger brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. King George V and Queen Mary were there when the telegram was received, and the king remarked to Helena's daughter, Marie Louise, that her former husband, Prince Aribert of Anhalt, did her a service when he turned her out. When Marie Louise said she would have run away to Britain if she was still married, the King said, "with a twinkle in his eye", that he would have had to intern her.
At the height of World War I in 1917, anti-German sentiments swept across United Kingdom and the ire of the nationalistic Britons hit the British Royal Family, particularly because its name was German in origin. To appease his subjects, King George V changed the name of the British royal house from Saxe-Coburg- Gotha to the House of Windsor. The king also relinquished, on behalf of the members of the royal family and his relatives who were British subjects, their German titles and styles. He also changed their names to English-sounding ones. For example, the House of Battenberg became the House of Mountbatten.
To compensate for the loss of their German princely titles, the king created his male relatives British peers. Thus, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was forced to resign from his position as First Sea Lord after anti-German sentiments, was renamed Louis Mountbatten and ennobled as the first Marquess of Milford Haven.
At Cumberland Lodge, in Windsor Great Park, the princess brought up her children in quiet and relatively unostentatious fashion; considering their stature as “the poorest of members of the Royal Family,” she taught her daughters to make their own dresses and to perform many domestic chores.
Frail in health, she got addicted to laudanum and opium, which was initially dismissed by Queen Victoria to be merely just hypochondria induced by her tolerant husband. The queen, in a letter to her daughter, Victoria, Crown Princess of Prussia, thought Helena had the tendency to "coddle herself (and Christian too) and to give way in everything that the great object of her doctors and nurse is to rouse her and make her think less of herself and of her confinement".
 |
| Princess Helena with her two sons. Image from Wikimedia Commons |
Princess Helena was among the most civic-minded of the queen’s children. She lived her genuine interest in nursing and was an ardent supporter of nurse registration. At that time, it was heavily opposed by the leading public figures, including Florence Nightingale. In 1870, she helped establish the Ladies’ Committee of the British Red Cross, and was elected president of the Royal British Nurses’ Association (RBNA) in its founding year (1887). At Nightangle's request, Helena accepted the presidency of the British Nurses Association in 1889. The organization standardized the training provided to hospital nurses. In 1892, at the princess' request, Queen Victoria granted a royal charter to the association. Between 1890 and 1914, Princess Helena worked tirelessly to raise the country's nursing care in work-house infirmaries. She also worked towards the building of a children's home and infant nursery at Windsor. Her help was a huge boost to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Young Women's Christian Association. In 1894, she established Princess Christian District Nurse in Windsor. By 1904, four houses were already built for the nurses and her group was renamed Princess Christian Nursing Home. The home was enlarged and, later, through the efforts of her daughters, Princess Helena Victoria and Princess Marie Louise, a maternity wing was added. Today, the Princess Christian Nursing Hospital continues to serve the local community.
Princess Helena was also active advocate of needlework. She became the first president of the School of Art Needlework in 1872 (renamed Royal School of Needlework four years later). According to the princess, the school was the "first, to revive a beautiful art which had been well-nigh lost; and secondly, through its revival, to provide employment for gentlewomen who were without means of a suitable livelihood."
Always ready to help the children and the needy, she hosted free dinners for children and the unemployed, that author C. W. Cooper said "the poor of Windsor worshipped her". Her kindness was well-known during her lifetime and she was in fact called "the good fairy of Windsor" for her selfless deeds.
An article of the day kindly described her:
"Her Royal Highness frequently comes to town the day before the Drawing Room, taking up her quarters at the Palace, where she occasionally holds an informal reception in the evening. It is however, at her cosy residence of Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, that the Princess usually receives her friends. The life she leads here is one of the simplest imaginable. At one day, she may be seen with her sketching block seated alone under one of the trees in Windsor Great Park; at another, she will pass along the celebrated avenue known as the Long Walk, on her way to pay an important visit to her royal mother at a third she will quietly enter the hall where the Windsor Madrigal Society is practising, and taking her seat, unostentatiously, will soon be mingling with her fine and well-trained voice with the rest. And wherever she may be, we may rest assured that her daughter, Princess Victoria, known in the home circle as 'Doria,' is not far away. The great event in Princess Christian's quiet life is the return home of her sons, and perhaps her greatest trial is still that she sees so little of them.”
A society writer, meanwhile, described her temper and sweet nature: “I have seen the Princess Christian under all circumstances, under some in which she would have been justified in manifesting the utmost anger; but never have I seen the least ruffle of her sweet and even temper.”
Princess Christian was an avid translator of German works, including the first biography of Prince Albert (1867), The Memoirs of Wilhelmine, Margravine of Bayreuth (1887), and First Aid to the Injured (1882). Sir Charles Grey praised the princess for the “surprising fidelity” of her work, while Saturday Review wrote that her work was “thoroughly alive, with a sound dictionary translation and a high accuracy in spirit.”
Plump and dowdy but firm and steady, Princess Helena was criticized by her own mother for her appearance, although Princess Marie Louise, would later describe her mother as one with "very lovely, with wavy brown hair, a beautiful little straight nose, and lovely amber-coloured eyes." Helena's artistic inclinations were in music, drawing and water-color. In her youth she played the piano with Charles Hallé. Jenny Lind and Clara Butt were among her friends. She was also a constant support to her mother, standing on her behalf at court presentations, which was considered equivalent to being presented to the queen herself.
In 1916, Helena and Christian celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Despite the war raging between Britain and Germany, her oldest nephew Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a congratulatory telegram to his aunt and uncle through Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, the eldest child of Helena's younger brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. King George V and Queen Mary were there when the telegram was received, and the king remarked to Helena's daughter, Marie Louise, that her former husband, Prince Aribert of Anhalt, did her a service when he turned her out. When Marie Louise said she would have run away to Britain if she was still married, the King said, "with a twinkle in his eye", that he would have had to intern her.
At the height of World War I in 1917, anti-German sentiments swept across United Kingdom and the ire of the nationalistic Britons hit the British Royal Family, particularly because its name was German in origin. To appease his subjects, King George V changed the name of the British royal house from Saxe-Coburg- Gotha to the House of Windsor. The king also relinquished, on behalf of the members of the royal family and his relatives who were British subjects, their German titles and styles. He also changed their names to English-sounding ones. For example, the House of Battenberg became the House of Mountbatten.
To compensate for the loss of their German princely titles, the king created his male relatives British peers. Thus, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was forced to resign from his position as First Sea Lord after anti-German sentiments, was renamed Louis Mountbatten and ennobled as the first Marquess of Milford Haven.
However, Prince and Princess Christian and their two daughters ended in an oddly different situation. After the king disposed of the Christians’ German titles and styles, Christian, Helena and their daughters simply became known as Prince and Princess Christian, Princess Helena Victoria and Princess Marie Louise, giving them the peculiar distinction of being royals with royal titles but without any particular royal family.
Princess Helena passed away on June 9, 1923 at the Schomberg House in London. She was 77 years old. Her remains were originally buried in the St. George’s Royal Vault, and were later re-interred at the Royal Burial Ground in Frogmore.
Princess Helena passed away on June 9, 1923 at the Schomberg House in London. She was 77 years old. Her remains were originally buried in the St. George’s Royal Vault, and were later re-interred at the Royal Burial Ground in Frogmore.
If you're looking to burn fat then you have to jump on this totally brand new custom keto meal plan diet.
ReplyDeleteTo create this service, certified nutritionists, fitness couches, and professional chefs joined together to provide keto meal plans that are useful, convenient, economically-efficient, and delightful.
From their grand opening in 2019, hundreds of individuals have already transformed their body and well-being with the benefits a proper keto meal plan diet can provide.
Speaking of benefits: clicking this link, you'll discover eight scientifically-tested ones offered by the keto meal plan diet.