A Long-Lived Princess: Alice of Albany

from Canada national Archives via Wikimedia Commons

Having another grandchild was not generally an extraordinary moment for Queen Victoria, who already had 33 when a new little princess arrived at Windsor Castle on Feb. 25, 1883. Indeed a grandson had been born there just six weeks earlier, but this new little girl, named Alice after her aunt who had died in 1878, was unexpected: Queen Victoria had assumed that the baby's father could not have children due to his health. More amazingly, Victoria, who often called babies ugly and froglike, thought the new baby was beautiful.

Princess Alice of Albany was born just 10 months after her father Prince Leopold Duke of Albany married Princess Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont. The youngest of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's four sons, Leopold had grown up overprotected and on a much shorter leash than his older brothers. Victoria thought him and handsome and clever but she fretted that any activity could lead to his death. He was the first member of her family to exhibit the dreaded hemophilia that would come to haunt the Russian Imperial Family, the Spanish Royal Family and other royal families through Victoria's daughters and granddaughters. Victoria thought fathering a child would prove too rigorous for him, but Leopold and his bride proved her wrong. By the end of 1883, Helena was expecting again, but Leopold's health was troublesome. On the advice of his doctors, he decided to escape the British climate as he had done many times before. With one young infant and an advancing pregnancy, Helena opted to stay home while Leopold traveled to Cannes. In late March, the prince slipped on the stairs, banging his knee and his head. Injuries which would be mere annoyances for most people proved deadly for him: unable to stop internal bleeding he died in less than 24 hours.  

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Baby Alice was 13 months old. Her little brother, Prince Charles Edward was born four months later and became Duke of Albany upon his birth. The widowed Helena was 23, but determined to take a strong role in her children's upbringing. (Her sister Emma was widowed a few years later and left to raise her daughter Wilhelmina, who had become Queen of the Netherlands at age 10. See my posts Abdicating Queens and End of the Queen Streak.) Helena's efforts to raise her children as "good Englishmen"--even sending Charlie to Eton--were thwarted when her son was selected as the heir to his uncle, Prince Alfred the Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, who had himself inherited it from his Uncle Ernst, older brother of Prince Albert. It was heartbreaking for the family to have to uproot and move to Germany where the teenaged Charles Edward could now learn to be a "good German." The family was separated permanently when Helena and Alice returned to live in England in 1903, believing that the 19-year-old Duke was well-established. The pain of their separation grew even more during the first World War, when Charles Edward fought on the German side and had his English rights and titles revoked even after the German Revolution of November 1918 forced him to abdicate his ducal role. As Alice would later write in her 1966 memoirs, For My Grandchildren, the war "shattered" her brother's life as "he was denounced in Germany for being English and in England for being German." By World War II, he was nationality was clear: he was a full-fledged Nazi. Despite Alice's pleas on his behalf, his American captors would not release him. At his trial, he was exonerated of crimes against humanity (which saved his life) but was order to undergo de-nazification and fined to the point of near bankruptcy.

As for Alice, she lived a decidedly British life -- though not without further tragedies. Shortly before her 20th birthday, she married the dashing Prince Alexander of Teck, a member of a morganatic branch of the Hessian Grand Ducal Family which had been granted titles by the King of Wurttemberg. Alexander's mother was Queen Victoria's popular cousin, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, the youngest grandchild of King George III. More importantly, Alexander or Alge as he was affectionately known, was the brother of the Princess of Wales, better known to us today as Queen Mary. Therefore, Alice's children were first cousins of King Edward VIII and King George VI and Alice herself was a beloved aunt to Queen Elizabeth II.

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Alice and Alge's three children (May, Rupert and Maurice) were born as Princess and Princes of Teck in 1906, 1907, and 1910. Unfortunately, as the daughter of hemophiliac (see Unofficial Royalty's information about hemophilia), Alice was a carrier of the gene, which she passed to her sons. Maurice died as an infant. Rupert died of otherwise survivable injuries following an auto accident in France when he was 20. He was buried at Frogmore, Windsor. Having lived with the knowledge that their son could die for any small injury at any time, Alice and Alge were nonetheless devastated even more so because they were in South Africa and unable to attend his funeral during an age when even air flight could not have brought them to England quickly enough. 

In 1917, when all of the extended British Royal Family relinquished their German styles and titles, Alice as a male-line granddaughter of British monarch remained a royal highness and princess, but her husband and children no longer had princely rank and changed their surname to Cambridge. A British Army officer on active duty in the war, Alge was simply Sir Alexander Cambridge for a few months until his brother-in-law King George V created him 1st Earl of Athlone and Viscount Trematon. From then on, his wife was styled as HRH Princess Alice Countess of Athlone.

Alice traveled widely on behalf of the Crown throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North America during the early years of her marriage. Later, Alge served as Governor General of South Africa from 1924 to 1930 and Governor General of Canada from 1940 to 1946. During both appointments, Alice was a popular and active vicereine. In Canada, she was particularly busy helping the many displaced royal cousins who had fled to Canada ahead of Nazi invasions. Her three grandchildren, like many other British youngsters, also came to Canada. They and their mother stayed with Alice and Alge. So did Alice's cousin Queen Wilhelmina's daughter then-Crown Princess Juliana and her children, who had fled The Netherlands ahead of the Nazi invasion. 

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After the war, Alice and Alge returned to Britain to take up residence again at their Kensington Palace apartment and their country home Brantridge in West Sussex. Like other British princesses, she remained actively engaged with honorary military appointments, university chancellorships, and charitably patronages at home and in the Commonwealth. Alge passed away in 1957 at Kensington Palace. His widow maintained an unofficial role in the British Royal Family as a kind of protocol advisor and participated in major public royal events including the Trooping the Color balcony appearances. Privately, she was often seen around the Kensington neighborhood to attend church and visit the shops.

When she passed away on January 3, 1981 seven weeks shy of her 98th birthday, she was not only the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria but the oldest surviving member of the British Royal Family. She has since been surpassed by two of her nephews' wives, The Queen Mother and Princess Alice The Duchess of Gloucester, as well as by The Duke of Edinburgh, but they all married into the family. She remains the oldest person born as a British Royal. The first person who could surpass her is Queen Elizabeth II, who will not reach the same age until April 2024.

For more about Princess Alice, Countess of Albany:
Birth of Princess Alice of Albany, Countess of Athlone on European Royal History
Dear Leopold's Child on History of Royal Women
Frankness and Candour on History of Royal Women
Princess Alice, Countess of Albany on Unofficial Royalty

Books about Princess Alice, Countess of Albany:

The Best of Royal 2020

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex

image via Wikimedia Commons

The year 2020 will not be well-remembered by most people. From the pandemic to the lockdowns to the economic despair to the racial and political strife, it brought suffering to many of us around the entire globe. While the year started off well enough for most, we royal watchers were already struggling with deep sorrow when 2020 dawned. The year was born just days after the Norwegian Royal Family suffered the tragic suicide of Ari Behn and in the midst of the Sussexes exit from the official British Royal Family, which was made certain on January 9. Even with that we hoped for a brighter year. As royal families, like the rest of us, found ways to cope with the challenges of 2020 -- including Covid-19 illness for the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Prince of Monaco, Prince Christian of Denmark and Prince Joachim of Belgium and unrelated hospitalization for King Harald of Norway -- other brighter spots of hope and joy emerged throughout the year.

Indeed, we had small weddings and new babies to break up the dreary months of 2020. Here are a few of the top highlights.

Belgium

In Belgium, we gained two new princesses and a new prince although a few within the family many not view this as a "brighter spot" in the year. The development came in October when a Belgian court ruled that Delphine Boël, the natural daughter of ex-King Albert II was entitled to the royal name and royal status even though she not born within a royal marriage. These royal prerogatives were also extended to her two children, Josephine and Oscar, as they are to the other grandchildren of the former king. Albert had long denied that Josephine was his daughter, even refusing court-ordered paternity tests for many weeks despite daily fines for noncompliance. Nevertheless, Princess Delphine has now been welcomed by her half-brother King Philippe and has also met privately with her other half-siblings Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent as well as other members of the family, including her father and his wife ex-Queen Paola. Despite her change in status, her life has not changed and she continues her work as an artist. (Read my post about Delphine.)

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Meanwhile, the current heir to the Belgian throne, King Philippe's eldest daughter Princess Elisabeth Duchess of Brabant completed her sixth form (like U.S. twelfth grade). When she received her international baccalaureate from United World College of the Atlantic in Wales in May, she graduated virtually like most members of the Class of 2020 in schools and universities around the globe. Now 18, she is enrolled at the Belgian Military Academy in Brussels. Military training and service is a common part of preparation for most European heirs now, regardless of gender.

Austria

The formerly Imperial House of Habsburg celebrated a lockdown wedding with the marriage of Archduchess Eleonore van Habsburg to Belgian Formula E racecar driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio on July 20 at the civil registry in Monaco. Eleonore is the daughter of the Head of the House of Habsburg Archduke Karl by his first wife Baroness Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, The grandson of the last Austrian emperor, Karl is a former member of the European Parliament and current president of Blue Shield International, an international organization dedicated to protecting cultural heritage. Eleonore is a jewelry designer. In September, the happy couple took a delayed socially distanced honeymoon horseback riding in the Italian Alps.

Then, in September, her cousin Archduchess Gabriella married her longtime love Prince Henri of Bourbon Parma at Schloss Tratzberg in Jenbach, Austria. The Swiss-based bride is the daughter of Archduke Carl Christian van Habsburg and Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg (the older sister of the current Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg. The Danish-born groom is a descendant of the former royal Dukes of Parma, who were scions of the French Royal House of Bourbon. The couple has reportedly been engaged since shortly before their daughter Victoria was born in 2017. Unlike the other royal weddings of the year, this one was attended by a larger crowd of family and friends, including the bride's cousins Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg. Covid restrictions were less severe in Austria at that time; December brought stricter guidelines to the region though I'm not sure how the new recommendations are impacting weddings there now.

Greece

Although Princess Theodora of Greece's planned May 2020 wedding on Spetses appears to be delayed until after the pandemic is over, her little brother Prince Philippos surprised us with a lockdown marriage to his longtime love Nina Flohr. The new Princess Nina and her love had a civil ceremony on Dec. 15 in a snow-covered St. Moritz with only their fathers, former King Constantine II of Greece and Thomas Flohr, in attendance. Their engagement had only been announced in September though it actually took place in Greece earlier in the year. 

Jordan

Another lockdown wedding marked the union of Princess Raiyah bint Hussein and Ned Donovan on July 7 in the United Kingdom instead of the nuptials they had planned to take place in Jordan. Raiyah is the youngest of the late King Hussein's 12 children. Her mother is his fourth wife and widow, Queen Noor Al-Hussein, who was born as Lisa Halaby in Washington, D.C. The British groom is a journalist and is a grandson of the writer Roald Dahl, whose works include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and, one of my favorite childhood reads, James and the Giant Peach. Raiyah is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the UCLA in the field of modern Japanese literature.

Luxembourg

For me, one of the most joyous royal moments of 2020 occurred on May 10 with the long-awaited birth of Prince Charles Jean Philippe Joseph Marie Guillaume, who is heir to the Grand Ducal throne of Luxembourg after his father Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume. The baby's mother is the former Countess Stephanie de Lannoy. Guillaume and Stephanie married in 2012. The couple waited many years to be able to share this happy experience with the world while many speculated why they had not yet had a child. The pain of such public speculation (not to mention the heartache if they were having fertility issues) must have been a burden to the couple. Their pregnancy announcement late in 2019 was met with tremendous rejoicing. The fate of the throne was never in questions -- Guillaume has four siblings, several nieces and nephews, and numerous cousins -- so this was a truly personal joy that I and so many others were pleased to be able to share with them. 

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And, just today, as I finish composing this post on New Year's Eve, another happy announcement has come from the extended Royal Family of Luxembourg. Tessy Antony de Nassau has just shared news on her Instagram (@tessy_from_luxembourg) of her engagement to Swiss financier Frank Floessel. It is not clear exactly how long the couple has known each other, but he first appeared in her Insta posts with her sons by her former husband, Prince Louis of Luxembourg, over Easter during the lockdown. Although Tessy's divorce from Louis, a younger brother of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume was protracted, they seem to have a friendly relationship as he has also made appearances in her Insta posts with her and their boys, 12-year-old Prince Noah of Nassau and 14-year-old Prince Gabriel. Tessy is an international advocate for girls and women, widely celebrated for her humanitarian work with organizations like Professors Without Borders and Finding Butterflies, both of which she co-founded.

Sweden

Many royal ladies have been working hard throughout the pandemic to support various charities and communities, but Princess Sofia of Sweden, daughter-in-law of King Carl Gustaf has been actively working in Sweden's hospitals. Early in the global crisis, she enrolled in an online training course and started working as a volunteer as Sophiahemmet Hospital in Stockholm. Her efforts have included assisting on kitchen shifts, janitorial services, and disinfecting medical instruments. Perhaps as a consequence of her noble efforts, both she and her husband Prince Carl Philip tested positives for the coronavirus in November and experienced some mild flu-like symptoms. Early in December, they announced much better news: they are expecting their third child in the spring. Their first two children are Prince Alexander (4) and Prince Gabriel (3) 

The United Kingdom

Like so many brides-to-be around the world, Princess Beatrice of York's wedding plans were scrapped with the onset of lockdowns. Her marriage to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi was originally scheduled for May 29 at the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace in London. When it became clear that she (and we) would not have the wedding of her (and our) dreams, it looked like we might be waiting for many months or longer before the princess became a bride. Then, suddenly on the 18th of July, we were all delighted to see new photos of our princess bride and her new husband outside of the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge Windsor, her divorced parents' Berkshire home. The scaled-down ceremony included two very special guests, her grandparents Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, who appeared as the only family members in any of the publicly released photos. Underscoring her closeness to her granny, Beatrice wore the Queen's diamond fringe tiara, which once belonged to her own grandmother Queen Mary. (This means that neither York princess wore the York tiara that was gifted to their mother by the Queen and Duke and worn at her own wedding in 1986. The tiara has not been seen in public in years...) Beatrice's dress was created for her by the Queen's dresser Angela Kelly from a Norman Hartnell gown the Queen wore back in the early 1960s. The hem of the dress was augmented to accommodate Beatrice's taller frame and satin-trimmed organza puff sleeves were added to the strappy dress. The effect was both ethereal and temporary; all of the additions were created to be removed so as to preserve the vintage gown in its original state.

Two months later, we got more good news from the Brits as Beatrice's little sister Princess Eugenie announced her first pregnancy. She and husband Jack Brooksbank only shared that the little one is expected "early" in 2021. Perhaps the baby will arrive in time for Eugenie's own birthday on March 23. 

At the end of September, we received news of another wedding in the BRF when Flora Ogilvy shared a wedding day pic on her Instagram account (@floravesterberg). She and Swedish investment banker Timothy Vesterberg were married in a small unannounced ceremony at the Chapel Royal. Art agent Flora is a granddaughter of the Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra and the late Sir Angus Ogilvy.

Then, at the beginning of December, Mike Tindall, son-in-law of Princess Anne the Princess Royal announced on his radio show that he and wife Zara Phillips are expecting a third child. The couple previously experienced two miscarriages and have two healthy and rambunctious daughters, Mia (nearly 7) and Lena (2). Baby Brooksbank and new Baby Tindall will be the ninth and tenth great-grandchildren for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Good News from Bad

Even in Norway, where Ari's death is still deeply grieved, his family found ways through the sorrow. His daughters by his ex-wife Princess Martha Louise of Norway emerged publicly as they never had before. Middle daughter Leah Behn, 15, grew her status as a social media influencer as her Instagram account (@leahhbeauty) gained more followers and product promotions. Meanwhile, oldest daughter Maud Angelica Behn, 17, became prominent in her work in support of mental health issues. She had bravely and movingly spoken on the topic at her father's funeral just days after losing him. In October, her efforts earned her the "Bravest Woman of the Year" Award from Tara Magazine.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who initially moved to Canada, settled in Los Angeles and suffered another heartbreak during the summer when Meghan miscarried her second child. She wrote honestly of the experience in a newspaper column many months later earning her both tremendous admiration for speaking on such a personal and still taboo topic suffered by so many women and families. Unfortunately, as with everything the Sussexes do, the column also earned scorn and derision from those who are determined to see evil in anything associated with Harry and Meghan. Nevertheless, they persisted in their efforts to set up their Archewell foundation, made a production deal with Netflix, and launched a new web site and a new podcast, with a special cameo on the first episode by their 19-month-old son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor cheerfully wishing us all a happy new year. 

Indeed, we all ("commoners" and royals alike) are looking to 2021 to bring better things are way. And, many of us are already looking forward to May/June 2022 for the already announced 70th Jubilee for Queen Elizabeth II. Let's all plan to meet in London for an unprecedented celebration!

The New Princess of Belgium

Princess Delphine of Belgium

by Luc van Braekel via Wikimedia Commons

Back in 2009, I wrote a post entitled How to Become a Princess. In the past, there really have been almost exclusively two ways: be born a princess or marry a prince. Today, Belgium added a new way: court order. On this day, the Belgian courts elevated 52-year-old artist Delphine Boël and both of her children, 17-year-old Josephine and 12-year-old Oscar to princely status.

Many readers of this blog may have dreamt of having such a conversation with your mother. On your 18th birthday, as you are celebrating becoming an adult at last, mom says there is something you need to know. Your real father is a prince. But, that rarely happens in real life. In recent decades, however, it has happened at least twice. California girl Jazmin Grace Grimaldi grew up knowing that her father was Prince Albert of Monaco, although he did not publicly acknowledge her or her younger French-born half-brother Alexandre Coste until DNA tests proved the fact. Albert acknowledged his paternity of 22-month-old Alexandre in 2005, after he became the ruling Prince Albert II. Ten months later, he finally acknowledged Jazmin, who was 14 at the time.

Born in Brussels in 1968, Delphine grew up thinking her father was her mother's husband, nobleman Jacques Boël. With him as her father, she was a jonkvrouw (translated "young lady"), the lowest rank in Belgian nobility. Her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps and Jonkheer Jacques Boël divorced when Delphine was 10. A few years later, Sybille married a member of the British nobility, the Honourable Michael Cayzer and moved to England. It was 1986, when Sybille finally decided to tell her only child that she was the product of an 18-year affair with Prince Albert of Belgium, the younger brother of the well-respected by childless King Baudouin. 

Albert was born in 1934 as the third child of the young King Leopold III of Belgium and his wife, who had been born Princess Astrid of Sweden, a granddaughter of King Oscar II of Sweden on her mother's side and King Frederik VIII of Denmark on her mother's. When Albert was just 16 months old, his mother, pregnant with her fourth child, was killed in car accident. Leopold controversially remarried to Lilian Baels, who was given the title of Princess not Queen because their marriage was considered invalid under Belgian law. They had three children together. Although strongly disliked by the public, Lilian was loved by her stepchildren: Albert and his older siblings Prince Baudouin and Princess Josephine Charlotte. The entire family was kept under house arrest in Germany and then in Austria by the Nazis during World War II. Since Belgium is a kind of composite country of primarily Protestant Flemish speakers and traditionally Catholic French speakers, the war and its German occupation threatened to tear the delicate balance apart. Many feared that Leopold was actually a German collaborator who could no longer fill the symbolic role of national unifier. A 1950 referendum favored his return to Belgium but violent strikes soon followed. The following year, he abdicated in favor of Baudouin. Albert had just turned 16.

By the time Delphine was born in 1968, Prince Albert was married to Italian noblewoman Paola Ruffo di Calabria and had three royal children by her: Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent. His brother King Baudouin had married a Spanish noblewoman Fabiola de Mora y Aragon, but the couple struggled to have children, with Fabiola suffering several unsuccessful pregnancies. In 1968, however, it still seemed unlikely that Albert would ever be king. As the years passed, the likelihood eventually became inevitable. Upon Baudouin's death in 1993, 59-year-old Duke of Liege became King Albert II of Belgium.    

In the meantime, Delphine had attended boarding schools in Switzerland and England before completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at London's Chelsea School of Art and Design and launching her art career. Her life seemed to roll along steadily, despite her mother's revelation, her "parents'" divorce and her stepfather's death in 1990. But, it all fell apart in 1999, when an unofficial biography of Queen Paola revealed that the king had had a long affair and fathered a child. It wasn't long before savvy reporters discovered that the unnamed child was Delphine. Both Delphine and her mother were pestered by the media to tell their story. The harassment became so unbearable for Sybille, that Delphine appealed directly to the king to intervene.

"You are not my daughter," he declared.

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The following year, Delphine married James O'Hare. Once her daughter Josephine was born, motherhood prompted Delphine's desire to connect with her biological father, but he still refused her. Only then, did she finally speak to the media in 2005 to tell her story, alleging not only that the king was her father, but that he had hoped to divorce Paola and marry her mother at the time of her birth. As king, however, Albert had immunity leaving Delphine with no legal recourse except to attempt to get DNA from his other children, When that failed, she could do nothing more to prove who her father was.

But, the controversy took a toll on the monarch's reputation. Shortly after Delphine made those legal demands for DNA, Albert announced his abdication stating, "I realize that my age and my health are no longer allowing me to carry out my duties as I would like."

With his regal immunity no longer applicable, Delphine renewed her request for a paternity test. A 2017 court said she had no basis for her claim. In 2018 a different court asserted that Jacques Boël was not her father and ordered King Albert to submit a DNA test. He refused to comply. By 2019 a court began fining him 5000 euros (about $5,800) a day for noncompliance. He finally relented. The DNA results were made public in January 2020 and Albert confirmed his fatherhood by press release.

This latest ruling not only allows her and her children to claim the titles of Princesses and Prince, but also changes her surname to Saxe Cobourg. Her attorney told the media that while Delphine is delighted by the court's decision, the years of denials and court battles have been painful for her and her family. He said, "A legal victory will never replace the love a father but offers a sense of justice."

It is unclear what if any role the Princess Delphine will play in the royal family. She will almost certainly not be given any official duties, as was the case with King Albert's half-siblings, the children of Lilian Baels. Although titled as Prince Alexandre, Princess Marie-Christine and Princess Marie-Esmeralda, the three were excluded from the succession to the throne (some say without legal cause) and have led private lives only appearing with the family on some public family occasions. A businessman, Alexandre died in 2009 but his widow, Princess Lea (formerly Lea Wolman) still appears with the family. Marie-Esmeralda is a journalist, documentary filmmaker (focused on redeeming her mother's reputation) and activist for women's rights, indigenous people and the environment. Princess Marie-Christine, who lives in Washington state, has been estranged from the family (except Marie-Esmeralda) for decades. She did not even attend her parents' nor brothers' funerals.

In addition to the fact that both of these recent reluctant fathers are Albert II of their respective countries, there is one other interesting observation I'd like to make about this story. Delphine has named her children Oscar and Josephine. These were the names of the first Bernadotte king and queen of Sweden. Thanks to these court rulings in 2020, she can now legally claim descent from them through her father's mother -- but that descent has always been in her DNA. Unlike most European royals, however, she is not descended from Queen Victoria, though the family is related. They are descended from her uncle Leopold, who was the first King of Belgium.