Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ALICE MAUD MARY

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 662 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ALICE MAUD See also:

MARY , See also:GRAND-DUCHESS OF See also:HESSE-See also:DARMSTADT (1843-1878), second daughter and third See also:child of See also:Queen See also:Victoria, was See also:born at See also:Buckingham See also:Palace, on the 25th of See also:April 1843. A See also:pretty, delicate-featured child—" cheerful, merry, full of fun and See also:mischief," as her See also:elder See also:sister described her—fond of gymnastics, a See also:good skater and an excellent horsewoman, she was a See also:general favourite from her earliest days. Her first years were passed without particular incident in the See also:home circle, where the training of their See also:children was a See also:matter of the greatest concern to the queen and the See also:prince See also:consort. Among other things, the royal children were encouraged to visit the poor, and the effect of this training was very noticeable in the later See also:life of Princess Alice. After the See also:marriage of the Princess Royal in 1858, the new responsibilities devolving upon Princess Alice, as the eldest daughter at home, called forth the higher traits of her See also:character, and brought her into still closer relationship with her parents, and especially with her See also:father. In the summer of r86o, at See also:Windsor See also:Castle, Princess Alice first met her future See also:husband, Prince See also:Louis of Hesse. An See also:attachment quickly sprang up, and on the prince's second visit in See also:November they were formally engaged. In the following See also:year, on the announcement of the contemplated marriage, the See also:House of See also:Commons unanimously voted a See also:dowry of !30,000 and an See also:annuity of I6000 to the princess. In See also:December 1861, while preparations were being made for the marriage, the prince consort was struck down with typhoid See also:fever, and died on the 14th. Princess Alice nursed her father during his See also:short illness with the utmost care, and after his See also:death devoted herself to comforting her See also:mother under this terrible See also:blow. Her marriage took See also:place at See also:Osborne, on the 1st of See also:July 1862. The princess unconsciously wrote her own See also:biography from this See also:period in her See also:constant letters to Queen Victoria, a selection of which, edited by Dr.

Carl Sell, were allowed to be printed in 1883. These letters give a See also:

complete picture of the daily life of the See also:duke and duchess, and they also show the intense love of the latter for her husband, her mother and her native See also:land. She managed to visit See also:England every year, and it was at her See also:special See also:request that when she died her husband laid an See also:English See also:flag upon her See also:coffin. In the See also:war between See also:Austria and See also:Prussia in 1866, Hesse-Darmstadt was upon the See also:side of the Austrians; Prince Louis accompanied his troops to the front, and was duly appointed by the grand-duke to the command of the See also:Hessian See also:division. This was a See also:time of intense trial to the princess, whose husband and See also:brother-in-See also:law, the See also:crown prince of Prussia, were necessarily fighting upon opposite sides. The duke of Hesse also took See also:part in the See also:principal battles of the Franco-Prussian war, while the duchess was actively engaged in organizing hospitals for the See also:relief of the sick and wounded. The death of the duke's father, Prince See also:Charles of Hesse, on the loth of See also:March 1877, was followed by that of the grand-duke on the 13th of See also:June, and Prince Louis succeeded to the See also:throne as Grand Duke Louis IV. In the summer of 1878 the grand-duke and duchess, with their See also:family, came again to England, and went to See also:Eastbourne, where the duchess remained for some time. She returned to Darmstadt in the autumn, and on the 8th of November 1878 her daughter, Princess Victoria, was attacked by See also:diphtheria. Three more of her children, as well as her husband, quickly caught the disease, and the youngest, " May," succumbed on the 16th. On the 7th of December the princess was herself attacked, and, being weakened by See also:nursing and anxiety, had not strength to resist the disease, which proved fatal on the 14th of December, the seventeenth anniversary of her father's death. She See also:left one son and four daughters.

See Carl Sell, Alice: Mittheilungen aus ihrem Leben and Briefen, &c. (Darmstadt, 1883), with English See also:

translation by the Princess See also:Christian, Alice: See also:biographical See also:sketch and letters (1884). (G. F.

End of Article: ALICE MAUD MARY

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ALICANTE 		[next]
ALIDADE (from the Arab.)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries