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Rich. Handsome. Charming. Heir to the British Empire. Prince Albert Victor of Wales was the world's most eligible bachelor in the late 19th century. He appeared to have his pick of the royal brides across Europe. Nevertheless, when his grandmother Queen Victoria decided it was time for him to marry, the task took longer and caused more heartache than she could have imagined.
With nine children and dozens of grandchildren, Victoria relished her role as both matriarch and matchmaker. Feeling herself an expert on both duty and romance, she never hesitated to offer unsolicited advice to all of her offspring. Whether summoning them to join her at one of her many homes for in-person instruction or mailing them pages and pages of written expectations, she rarely hesitated to let them know what she thought they should do.
Victoria ultimately had grandchildren serving as monarchs or consorts in Germany, Greece, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The British throne, however, was obviously the most important to her. She had fretted over finding a successful match for her eldest son, Bertie, the future King Edward VII. His marriage to the beautiful and loving Princess Alexandra of Denmark might have been troubled by his infidelities, but Alexandra was a popular and gracious Princess of Wales and mother of six. She was barely 19 when she gave birth prematurely to Prince Albert Victor in 1864. He grew up in a rambunctious and close-knit family full of fun and hijinks thanks to his lively parents.
As an eventual king, Albert Victor, called Eddy in the family, was subjected to the usual assortment of tutors expected to prepare him for the role. That's where the troubles began. Eddy was not only lethargic; he was not bright. At all. His little brother Georgie, 17 months younger was included in his studies. Moderately smarter and more attentive, Georgie did not inspire Eddy to greater academic achievements. The family decided the navy was the best solution. Both boys were sent to sea when Eddy was 13 and Georgie was 11. As teens, they were even sent on a five-continent tour around the globe. None of this really helped Eddy advance either. Six years later, the boys were finally separated. Eddy was sent to Cambridge University while Georgie remained in the navy. Eddy was excused from exams, but he did not excuse himself from the fun of student life during his two years at university. After that, he moved on to the army. He hated it, but he still had plenty of time for polo and socializing.
Grandmama Queen was not overly concerned with Eddy's lack of academic accomplishment preferring to focus on his kindness and charm. By now in his mid-20s, Eddy was gaining a reputation that was kept from Victoria. Not only had he likely already contracted a venereal disease and had been involved with "questionable" young women (two of whom committed suicide), but he was also implicated in the Cleveland Street scandal, an investigation into a male brothel that offered young boys for some highly placed London gentlemen. To be fair, the Prince was never officially investigated and to this day no direct proof has ever been produced.
Eddy's father, himself no stranger to sexual scandals, was aware of the investigation. So, when Queen Victoria decided that the thing that would "make" Eddy was a wife, Bertie readily agreed. Eddy would need another paragon like his mother. The search for the ideal bride did not start far from home.
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Alix of Hesse via Wikimedia Commons |
Alix of Hesse was a favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was the youngest surviving child of Victoria and Albert's second daughter Princess Alice, who had died nursing her youngsters through diptheria when Alix was only six. (Read about this tragedy in my post The Kiss of Death.) Victoria appointed herself as a foster mother to her Hesse grandchildren, which included four girls and one boy. (Another little boy, who had hemophilia, had died in an accidental fall, and the youngest girl succumbed to diptheria a month before Alice.) Alix was considered to be one of the most beautiful princesses of the day. She was also sweet and quiet. Her first cousin Eddy, eight years her senior, found her to be lovely in every way. Everyone agreed that the 17-year-old would be a perfect future queen for Eddy. Well, almost everyone.
When marriage was suggested to Eddy, he immediately obliged by falling in love with darling Alix. Queen Victoria immediately invited the princess to join her for the summer in 1889. Eddy feared that their shared grandmother's interference might actually scare off Alix by placing too much emphasis on his future position. He wrote to Alix's brother-in-law Louis of Battenberg, "I will do all I can to persuade Alicky that I love her for herself."
Unfortunately for the lovesick Eddy, he had lost the race long before he got to the starting line. Alix had given her heart away when she was only 12 when she attended her sister Elizabeth's wedding to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia. Grandmama Queen had battled Elizabeth over her choice of groom, fearing that Russia was too unstable for her granddaughter. Sergei's father, Tsar Alexander II, had been assassinated the year before the wedding. She would have preferred Ella, as she was called, to have married her besotted cousin Wilhelm of Germany, another grandson who was a future monarch in need of a good wife to "make him" -- though for different reasons than Eddy.
During the engagement and wedding celebrations, the very young Alix had met Sergei's sweet and quiet nephew, Nicholas, heir to the Russian autocracy. Nicky noticed Alix too. The 16-year-old was immediately in love. They were both far too young to make any commitments, but he did give her a bracelet and two began corresponding. Ella, once again defying Grandmama Queen, encouraged their puppy love. She took every opportunity to invite Alix to Russia and she gave Nicholas a small portrait of Alix with their brother.
Victoria could not have imagined that the one person most opposed to the proposed engagement with Eddy was Alix herself. Always sweet and demure, Alix proved stronger and more self-determined than Grandmama could have imagined. Not only did she firmly, but gently, decline the greatest position that could have been offered her as future Queen and Empress of the British Empire--breaking Eddy's heart in the process--she remained determined to marry Nicholas. It was a decision that would ultimately cost her her life along with the lives of the five children they had together. (See my post, The Last Romanov Ladies, Part I.)
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Margaret of Prussia by Alexander Bassano via Wikimedia Commons |
Heartbroken Eddy was sent off to India while Victoria reconsidered his options. Perhaps a less attractive cousin would not think so highly of herself and be more grateful for Grandmama's advice than the Hesse princesses.
In May1890, Victoria rewarded Eddy with the title Duke of Clarence. She also rewarded him with the offer of new potential bride. She wrote to Eddy to extol the virtues of his Cousin Mossy, aka Princess Margaret of Prussia, youngest daughter of Victoria's firstborn child, Vicky Princess Royal. By this time, Vicky was the Dowager Empress of Germany, her beloved husband having died of cancer less than a year after inheriting the throne. At 18, Mossy knew her place in the pecking-order of princesses. She might be the daughter and sister of emperors, but she lacked the sparkling beauty that helped attract a good match. By the late 19th century, high status was no longer enough for a princess--treaties were not built on royal marriages any more. To put it simply, Mossy was mousy.
Nevertheless, Mossy "had a great love of England," Victoria assured the new Duke of Clarence. Never one to mince her words, Victoria admitted that Mossy might not be "regularly pretty" but she had a nice a figure and was nice.
Bertie approved. This time, however, Eddy was less obliging. He was not going to fall for the "nice personality" of Cousin Mossy. Fortunately for him, his mother Alexandra, who hated all things German, made sure to stop this latest proposed romance before Mossy even arrived in Britain.
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Helene of Orleans via Wikimedia Commons |
In fact, Alexandra and her three daughters had already launched a plan of their own. Without telling the Queen, who had already voiced concerns about Princess Helene of Orleans, Eddy's oldest sister Louise invited the French princess to stay at her marital home just when Eddy was coming to visit. Tall and gorgeous, Helene was lively and spontaneous. She fit right in with the Wales family. As the daughter of a pretender to the French throne, 18-year-old Helene had been born in England but raised in France until her father was exiled once again in 1886. With her older sister Amelie already married to the heir to the Portuguese throne, Helene had good prospects on the international marriage market even if her family no longer had a throne.
With both mother's encouraging the couple, Eddy and Helene spent much of the summer of 1890 together at Louise's homes in England and in Scotland. Amidst the shooting parties, balls, and parties, the couple became very fond of each other. Eddy wrote his brother Georgie that Helene was "everything that is nice in a girl" and that "she really likes me." This was an exhilarating new feeling for Eddy. Where Alix had been shy and quiet, Helene was warm and reciprocal. He need not fear another rejection as she confidently declared that she had been in love with him for years. Soon the young couple exchanged engagement rings.
Now, how to tell Grandmama. Eddy's mother once again hatched a plan. She knew her mother-in-law very well. Underneath all of those imperial admonitions, beat the heart of a true romantic. Alexandra told the young couple to declare their love in front the Queen and fling themselves on her mercy. As soon as it could be arranged, the party from Louise's Scottish house paid a visit to the Queen at Balmoral. As their guests, they brought the Orleans princess and her family with them. That afternoon, as was her habit, Queen Victoria retired to her private sanctuary for a respite from a castle full of people. Soon, she had a message that her most important grandchild wished to see her.
Eddy and Helene came in together hand in hand. With tears in their eyes, they declared their love for each other. Beautiful Helene begged for the Queen's blessing, "Oh! Do help please do!" Eddy added his own plea, promising to be "grateful to you to the end of my life."
Victoria was moved. Here, at last, was Prince Eddy showing initiative and here was the young woman who had inspired him to do it. If Helene could achieve that, she must indeed be the right bride for the future king. When Victoria announced her consent, Alexandra feigned surprise at the impulsive couple, writing the Queen that the couple must have been more deeply attached than she could have imagined.
There was just one problem. A huge problem. The very reason Victoria had sought to prevent Eddy from ever thinking about Helene in the first place. The marriage was illegal.
Since 1689, Catholics had been barred from sitting on the British throne. In 1701, the Act of Settlement further confirmed that a British monarch could not be married to a Roman Catholic. Helene was Catholic.
The answer seemed simple to Victoria, Eddy, Bertie and Alexandra: Helene must convert to the Church of England. Helene herself, after days of thought, had promised Eddy that she would before they declared themselves to the Queen. However, she neglected to consult her father, the Comte de Paris, on this point. Well aware of the concern, the Comte had already been seeking legal advice to try to work around this issue. His daughter's conversion was not an option that he would consider. The prospect of another daughter on another throne was no replacement for her eternal soul or for the loss of support from the Catholic community. Faced with no other alternative, the Comte pressured Helene to break her promise to Eddy.
Helene herself was troubled by her conscience. Would she truly be risking damnation for the sake of love? Unconvinced by her father and the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Helene sought out the highest authority. Chaperoned by friends of her parents, she undertook a personal pilgrimage to Rome and sought a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. Following that conversation in November, Helene wrote to Eddy to decline his marriage proposal.
Eddy declared that he would never love another woman. He even threatened to give up his right to the throne. For months, he anguished hoping that Helene would change her mind. Finally in May 1891, she wrote to consider the religious and political consequences they would face. Mature beyond her years, she advised him to "do your duty as an English prince and forget me." When Eddy appealed one last time to Queen Victoria to use her influence to change Helene's mind, Grandmama was saddened to break his heart one more time, telling him he "must have the courage to renounce the idea forever."
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Mary of Teck from the Royal Collection via Wikimedia Commons |
Despite Eddy's "violent" emotions over the loss of Helene, the search for his bride carried on without him. (Eddy fell in love again that summer with Lady Sybil St. Erskine, a match that never would have been considered for someone of his exalted status.) Bertie unsuccessfully suggested Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, but that thought went nowhere. Victoria, for her part, went digging a little deeper in the cousin closet. If the decidedly plain Mossy would be appropriately grateful to wed a future King-Emperor, what about a princess who had no prospects whatsoever?
Victoria's first cousin, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, had a daughter who could fit that bill perfectly. Although Mary Adelaide was a granddaughter of King George III, she has married "beneath" herself. As handsome as he was poor by royal standards, Francis of Teck was the product of a morganatic marriage. His father, a scion of the royal House of Wurttemberg, had surrendered his rights to the throne in order to marry a mere countess. Francis had served well in the Imperial Austrian Army and had been granted the style of a Serene Highness before marrying a Royal Highness. Nevertheless, his family were largely dependent on the generosity of Queen Victoria providing them with homes free of rent while the British government gave Mary Adelaide a small annual income. The first of their four children and only daughter Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was born in Kensington Palace, in the very room where Queen Victoria had been born 48 years earlier. Calm, quiet, shy and always appropriate, the new little Princess was always called May.
The colorful, loud, and outgoing Mary Adelaide adored entertaining lavishly and generally living beyond her means--much like the Hanoverians who came before her and Victoria. She was nevertheless popular with the public who loved her personality and her sincere devotion to charitable causes. By the time May was 16, pressure from the creditors forced the Tecks to flee to the continent in some disgrace. After years of living abroad, they returned to Britain.
The time in Europe had helped to expand May's cultural education. She remained devoted to the arts and to museums for the rest of her life. She also was fluent in German, French, and English. Though she was never considered a beauty, she had a fresh prettiness and slim figure. All of these fine qualities did little to attract a husband. To be fair, a couple of unattractive, low-status princes had made advances early on, but May had turned them down. Now, at the age of 24, the likelihood of her finding a marriage partner was almost zero.
Suddenly, however, the Tecks were invited to the Waleses at Sandringham early in 1891. Then, Queen Victoria requested May's photograph. Then, that fall, May and her oldest brother (without their parents) were invited to visit the Queen at Balmoral. No one really consulted Eddy or May, but behind the scenes Bertie, Victoria, and their staff were making arrangements. Victoria determined that May would make a "good sensible wife." She was not a beauty like Alix or Helene but she pretty with charming manners. Plus, she was more mature, more worldly and more steady. Most importantly, May had a great deference for the Crown. The Queen was assured that both Eddy and May would do as they were expected.
Perhaps exhausted by the drama of his thwarted love matches, Eddy proposed to May in early December 1891 while both families were visiting a country house. The couple dutifully set for engagement portraits. By the time May returned to London, she was besieged by throngs of people longing to see the woman who had won the prince's heart. Newspapers around the world speculated on their romance.
There was a whirlwind of preparations for an early spring wedding that preoccupied much of May's time. The couple and their families were often together over the holiday season. In fact, the Tecks were at Sandringham after the New Year when Eddy started feeling ill. Despite a flu epidemic, Eddy continued to participate in the lively outdoor activities that were always part of a Wales house party. Then, one day, he was too ill to go out. Doctors were called. The family and May attended his sick room but his flu worsened into pneumonia. The whole country was hushed as they awaited news of their bright young prince, praying for his recovery. May sat quietly beside him as he, in his delirium called out for Helene.
On January 14, days before his 28th birthday and weeks before his wedding, Eddy was gone. May laid her planned bridal bouquet on his coffin and bid farewell to the man she did not love and the crowned future that had been hers for just a moment.
Sixteen months later she married a man she would love. Seventeen years after that, she would become Queen. (See my post, Royal Love Triangle: Eddy, Georgie and Mary)