Alice of the United Kingdom
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Princess Alice (Alice Maud Mary), (April 25 1843 – December 14 1878), was a member of the British Royal Family, the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria. She was the Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, the consort of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.
Princess Alice was the great-grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.
Early life
The Princess Alice was born on April 25, 1843 at Buckingham Palace, London. Her father was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her mother was the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, the only child of King George III's fourth son, Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent. As the daughter of the sovereign, Alice was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Alice from birth. She was baptised in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace on June 2, 1843 by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury and her godparents were the King of Hanover, the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Sophia of Gloucester and the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.Alice was educated with her elder sister, Princess Victoria, Princess Royal. She was especially attached to her elder brother, Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. After the marriage of the Princess Royal to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Queen Victoria came to rely on Alice's support as the eldest daughter at home. The eighteen year-old Alice nursed Prince Albert during his final illness in December 1861.
Marriage
On 1 July 1862, Princess Alice married Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine (12 September 1837-13 March 1892), the son of Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine and the nephew of Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (9 June 1806-13 June 1877), at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. On the day of the wedding, Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent granting her new son-in-law the style Royal Highness. This style was in effect in Great Britain, not Hesse.Alice and Ludwig took up residence at Darmstadt, Hesse. The couple had seven children:
Later life
Princess Alice's concern about the poor nursing conditions for wounded soldiers during the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, led her to found the Alice-Frauenverein, or Women's Union, to train nurses and auxiliary workers. On 13 June 1877, Prince Ludwig succeeded his uncle as the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice became the Grand Duchess. However, in November 1878, the Grand Duke and all but one of the children, Princess Elizabeth, fell ill with diphtheria; Princess Marie died of the disease. Exhausted by nursing all of them, Alice succumbed to the disease and died at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt on 14 December, the anniversary of her father's death. Alice is buried at Rosenhöhe, the mausoleum for the Grand Ducal House of Hesse outside Darmstadt.Titles
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Alice
- Her Royal Highness Princess Ludwig of Hesse
- Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Hesse
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