Succession to the Crown Act 2013

In a written statement from Parliament, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has announced that the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 has come into force, effective today, March 26, 2015.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Perth, Australia in October 2011, the Heads of Government of the 16 realms who have Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State announced they would all introduce legislation to eliminate the male-preference succession. This became known as the Perth Agreement.  In the United Kingdom, the Act passed through Parliament and was given Royal Assent on April 25, 2013.  However, it needed to be approved in the other realms as well.  While most passed the legislation quickly (or agreed that there was no need for separate legislation in their realm), Australia was the last to pass through, finally passing through Parliament in March 2015.  Canada was actually the first to pass their legislation, however there are currently legal challenges.

There are three provisions of the Act: Gender-blind succession, repeal of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, and the ban on marriage to a Catholic.

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Succession to the British throne, as well as those of the 16 realms, will now fall to the eldest child, regardless of gender.  This change is retroactive only back to October 28, 2011 when the Perth Agreement was reached.  So, contrary to some published reports, this does not change the place in succession of The Princess Royal and her descendants.  In fact, the first people affected are some of the grandchildren of the Duke of Gloucester.  His two daughters both have a daughter and a son.  As both sons were born after the retroactive date of the Act, they will no longer come before their sisters in the line of succession.

Royal Consent for Marriage. The Royal Marriages Act 1772 required all descendants of King George II (other than those of princesses who had married into other royal families) to receive consent from the Sovereign before marrying.  Going forward, this requirement will only apply to the first six people in the line of succession.

Ban on marriage to Catholics. Previously, those who married a Catholic lost their place in the line of succession.  Going foward, this will no longer be the case.  This will return both George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews (elder son of the Duke of Kent), and Prince Michael of Kent to the line of succession.  Both had lost their rights of succession due to their marriages.  Despite this change, the Act of Settlement still requires that the monarch may not be Catholic.

Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of All Russia

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Alexandra Feodorovna, Credit – Wikipedia

Queen Victoria’s 23rd grandchild, Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, is remembered best as Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Empress of Russia. She was born on June 6, 1872, at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany, the sixth of seven children of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine.

She was christened Alix Victoria Helena Luise Beatrice – named for her mother and her four maternal aunts – on July 1, 1872, her parents’ tenth wedding anniversary, with the following godparents:

Alix had six siblings:

Hesse and by Rhine family in 1876; Credit – Wikipedia

Nicknamed Sunny, she was, by all accounts, a happy and beautiful child. She was very close to her brother Ernie and would remain so throughout her life. The family lived a rather simple life, as they were not very wealthy by royal standards. In 1877, Alix’s father became the reigning Grand Duke, but the children’s lives remained mostly unchanged. They spent time with Queen Victoria each year, relishing their visits to ‘Grandmama’ and looking forward to the next one. This relationship would become even closer in the coming years.

In 1878, most of the family became ill with diphtheria. Sadly, Alix’s younger sister, May, succumbed to the illness, followed a few weeks later by their mother, Princess Alice. Queen Victoria stepped in to serve as a surrogate mother to the children, managing nearly every detail of their lives.

In 1884, Alix went to St. Petersburg, Russia to attend the wedding of her sister Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia.  Also in attendance was the groom’s nephew Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, the heir of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia. It was at this wedding that Alix and Nicholas first met.  The two were second cousins through their mutual great-grandparents, Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and his wife Wilhelmine of Baden. Five years later, while Alix was visiting her sister in Russia, Alix and Nicholas fell in love.

The prospect of marriage was met with much opposition from both Nicholas’ parents of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark), and Alix’s grandmother Queen Victoria.  The Emperor and Empress felt that Alix was not suitable enough for their son, in part because of their dislike and distrust for all things German. They also hoped for a ‘higher profile’ bride and future Empress. As for Queen Victoria, she quite liked Nicholas personally. However, the same could not be said for his father or for Russia. She also felt uneasy about another of her granddaughters marrying into the Russian Imperial Family. Queen Victoria had promoted marriage between Alix and her first cousin Prince Albert Victor of Wales, but Alix showed no interest. However, she was quite fond of her granddaughter and eventually gave in to Alix’s wishes.

Despite the misgivings of their respective families, the couple became engaged in April 1894, while in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at the wedding of Alix’s brother. Nicholas represented his father at the wedding of Alix’s brother Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine to Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Alix and Nicholas’ mutual first cousin. At first, Alix refused his proposal, as she was a devout Lutheran and unwilling to convert to Russian Orthodoxy as would be required. However, after some urging from her elder sister who had married into the Romanov family, Alix relented and accepted. The wedding was planned for the spring of 1895.

Engagement photo of Alix and Nicholas, 1894. Source: Wikipedia

Sadly, in the fall of 1894, Nicholas’ father fell ill. Sensing he was dying, Alexander III instructed Nicholas to send for Alix, who arrived on October 22. Despite his ailing health, Emperor Alexander III insisted on greeting her in full uniform and gave her his blessing. Emperor Alexander III died on November 1, 1894, leaving Nicholas as the new Emperor Nicholas II. The following day, Alix was received into the Russian Orthodox Church and was given the name Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna. Although originally planning to marry the following spring, the wedding was quickly arranged and the couple married on November 26, 1894, in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace. The young princess from Darmstadt was now Empress of All the Russians.

The wedding of Nicholas and Alexandra, painting by Laurits Tuxen. Source: Wikipedia

Over the next ten years, the couple had five children:

Alexandra found it difficult to relate to the Russian people and was perceived as being haughty and aloof. Those who knew her attribute this to her extreme shyness. This was magnified by the drastic difference in the personality of her mother-in-law, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, who was very outgoing and greatly loved. Alix was also met with distrust by the Russian people, due to her German roots. This would be greatly magnified in years to come, during World War I.

Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova, who became Alexandra’s dear friend, started as a maid of honor at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in 1903, serving various female members of the Romanov family. In 1905, Anna was summoned to Tsarskoye Selo, the town containing residences of the Imperial Family located 15 miles south of St. Petersburg, to fill in for a lady-in-waiting to Alexandra who became ill. Thus began her longtime relationship with Alexandra.  Anna became a close friend of Alexandra, was close to the Imperial Family for many years, accompanied them on many trips, and attended private family events. Anna wrote about her experiences in her memoir, Memoirs of the Russian Court, published in 1923 and still available.

Having had four daughters, Alexandra felt great pressure to provide an heir. Finally, in 1904, she gave birth to a son, Alexei. However, it would soon become apparent that she was a carrier of hemophilia, and her young son was a sufferer. This would cause great pain to Alexandra, and great measures were taken to protect him from harm and to hide the illness from the people. When it eventually became public knowledge, it led to more dislike for Alexandra, with many  Russian people blaming her for the heir’s illness.  See Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Descendants.

After working with many physicians to help Alexei, the Empress turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, and disastrous, relationship with Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Several times he appeared to have brought the Tsarevich back from the brink of death which further cemented Alexandra’s reliance. To many historians and experts, this relationship would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy.  In December 1916, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the first cousin of Nicholas II, was one of the conspirators in the murder of Rasputin.  For more information see Unofficial Royalty: Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.

 

During World War I, in March 1917, Nicholas was forced to abdicate. The family was held under house arrest first at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo and later in Tobolsk in Siberia. Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, they were moved to the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. It was here on the morning of July 17, 1918, that the family was brought to a room in the basement and assassinated. Their bodies were initially thrown down a mine, then retrieved and hastily buried.

In 1979, a mass grave was discovered, believed to include the remains of the Imperial Family. They were exhumed in 1991, and in 1998, through DNA testing, it was announced that the remains were of Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their daughters. On July 17, 1998 – 80 years to the day of their murders – the remains were interred in St. Catherine Chapel at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. The remains of the last two children were found in a nearby grave in 2007 and positively identified the following year. These remains have not yet been buried. The Russian Orthodox Church has questioned whether the remains are authentic and blocked the burial.  For more information see July 17, 1918 – Execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and His Family

St Catherine Chapel at the Peter and Paul Cathedral where the Imperial Family is interred; Source: Wikipedia

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Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Richard III: Lost and Found

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Stained glass window in St James Church in Sutton Cheney, England, where it is believed Richard III (left) attended his last Mass before facing Henry VII (right) in the Battle of Bosworth Field; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 22, 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the last king of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty, 32-year-old King Richard III of England, lost his life and his crown. The battle was a decisive victory for the House of Lancaster, whose leader, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first monarch of the House of Tudor.

Richard had entered the battle as a seasoned soldier, wearing a battle crown on atop his helmet. During the battle, he saw an opportunity to strike directly at Henry Tudor and his personal guard, and sped off on his horse. After managing to kill Henry Tudor’s standard-bearer, Richard saw something he had not expected. Sir William Stanley changed sides. Instead of supporting Richard and the Yorkists, Stanley attacked them, helping to secure a victory for Henry Tudor and the Lancastrians.

“Bosworth Field – Clash” by Jappalang – Base map:1933 Ordnance Survey maps of Leicester, 50-year Crown copyrights have expired Terran details based on:Features modified according to File:John Pridden’s map of the Battle of Bosworth Field.jpgDeployment and movements based on:Gravett, Christopher (1999) Bosworth 1485: Last Charge of the Plantagenets, Campaign, 66, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. p. 47 Retrieved on 16 March 2009. ISBN: 1-85532-863-1.English Heritage Battlefield Report: Bosworth Field 1471 (PDF). English Heritage (1995). Retrieved on 2009-04-10.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bosworth_Field_-_Clash.svg#mediaviewer/File:Bosworth_Field_-_Clash.svg

Richard was overwhelmed by Stanley’s soldiers, and at some point, he took off or lost his helmet. Polydore Vergil, Henry Tudor’s official historian, wrote that “King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies.” According to Welsh poet Guto’r Glyn, the leading Welsh Lancastrian Rhys ap Thomas, or one of his men, killed the king, writing that he “killed the boar, shaved his head.” After the battle, Henry Tudor’s men were yelling, “God save King Henry!”  Inspired by this, Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Debry who was married to the new king’s mother, found Richard’s battle crown and placed it on the head of his stepson, saying, “Sir, I make you King of England.”

Finding Richard’s crown after the battle, Lord Stanley hands it to Henry, Credit – Wikipedia

Richard’s body was stripped of its armor and carried naked across a packhorse to Greyfriars Abbey, a Franciscan abbey in Leicester, England. There, the public was allowed to view the body for two days to prove that Richard was dead, and the remains were then buried at the abbey church. Several years later, King Henry VII paid a sum of money to the abbey to provide a tomb for Richard. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, during the reign of King Henry VIII, the abbey church in Leicester, along with Richard’s burial place, was destroyed.

Richard III and his nephew Edward V were the only English monarchs since the Norman Conquest in 1066 whose remains did not have an acknowledged burial place. There were stories that when the abbey church was destroyed, Richard’s bones were dug up and thrown into the River Soar, which flows through Leicester. Another story said his coffin was used as a horse trough and that eventually the trough was broken up and used to make the steps to the cellar of the White Horse Inn.

The abbey’s site was eventually acquired by Robert Herrick (1540 -1618), a mayor of Leicester, who built a mansion and gardens there. Although the abbey church and Richard’s grave were gone, it appears that it was local knowledge where Richard had been buried. Herrick had a monument erected with an inscription, “Here lies the Body of Richard III, Some Time King of England.” There is evidence that the monument was standing in 1612, but it had disappeared by 1844.

Over the years, the site changed ownership and several buildings were built there, including a boys’ school and a bank. In 1915, the Leicestershire County Council acquired part of the site and built new offices there. The county council moved out in 1965 when Leicestershire’s new County Hall was opened, and the Leicester City Council moved in. The rest of the site, where Herrick’s garden had once been, had been turned into a staff parking lot in 1944. In 2007, when a building on the site was demolished, archaeologists did an excavation to see if any traces of Greyfriars Abbey could be found. The excavation turned up little besides the fragment of a post-medieval stone coffin, and the results suggested that the remains of the Greyfriars Abbey were further west than had been thought.

Finding the remains of Richard III had always been an interest of the Richard III Society.  In 1975, an article published in the society’s journal suggested that Richard’s remains were buried under the Leicester City Council’s parking lot (car park). Two historians, David Baldwin in 1986 and John Ashdown-Hill in 2005, also suggested the claim about the parking lot could prove true. Philippa Langley, the secretary of the Scottish Branch of the Richard III Society, became convinced that the parking lot needed to be investigated while doing research for a screenplay about Richard in 2005. In 2008, writer Annette Carson independently came to the conclusion that Richard’s body probably lay under the parking lot in her book Richard III: The Maligned King. Langley, Carson, and Ashdown-Hill teamed up with two Richard III Society members, Dr. David Johnson and his wife Wendy, to form a project Looking for Richard: In Search of a King. Eventually, the project gained the backing of the Leicester City Council, Leicester Promotions (responsible for tourist marketing), the University of Leicester, Leicester Cathedral, Darlow Smithson Productions (responsible for the planned TV show), and the Richard III Society. The University of Leicester Archaeological Services agreed to do the archaeological excavations.

“Greyfriars, Leicester site” by Hel-hama – Own work, based on work of Robin Leicester (Base map OS OpenData VectorMap District. Greyfriars perimeter from Billson, C. J., 1920, Medieval Leicester, facing p. 1. Edgar Backus, Leicester (Archive.org). Greyfriars Church details, University of Leicester Plan of the 2012 Archaeological dig, Mail Online, 12 Sept 2012) This vector image was created with Inkscape. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greyfriars,_Leicester_site.svg#mediaviewer/File:Greyfriars,_Leicester_site.svg

The excavations began on August 25, 2012, and on that day, two human leg bones were discovered. Over the next several days, evidence of medieval walls and rooms was uncovered, allowing the archaeologists to determine the area of the abbey. It soon became clear that the leg bones found on the first day lay inside the east part of the church, possibly the choir, where Richard was said to have been buried. Further investigation in the area where the leg bones were found revealed more remains: the skull was found in an unusual propped-up position, consistent with the body being put into a grave that was slightly too small; the spine was curved in an S-shape; the hands were in an unusual position, crossed over the right hip, suggesting they were tied together at the time of burial. No evidence of a coffin or shroud was found, and the skeleton’s position suggested that the body had been dumped into the grave.

On September 12, 2012, the archaeological team announced that the human remains could possibly be those of Richard III. Evidence of such a possibility included:

  • The body was an adult male
  • It was buried under the choir of the church
  • Severe scoliosis of the spine, possibly making one shoulder higher than the other
  • There were severe injuries to the skull

 

“Richard III burial site” by Chris Tweed – Flickr: richard iii trench 1 richard iii burial site 02. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_III_burial_site.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Richard_III_burial_site.jpg

Now the scientists set to work on the remains. The DNA from Michael Ibsen, a direct descendant of Richard’s sister Anne of York, and an unnamed direct maternal line descendant matched the mitochondrial DNA extracted from the remains.

The bones were examined, and the following discoveries were made:

  • The base of the back of the skull had been completely cut away by a bladed weapon, which would have exposed the brain
  • Another bladed weapon had been thrust through the right side of the skull to impact the inside of the left side through the brain
  • A blow from a pointed weapon had penetrated the crown of the head
  • Bladed weapons had clipped the skull and sheared off layers of bone, without penetrating it
  • Holes in the skull and lower jaw were found to be consistent with dagger wounds to the chin and cheek.
  • One of the right ribs and the pelvis had been cut by a sharp implement
  • No evidence of the withered arm that afflicted the character in William Shakespeare’s play Richard III
  • Severe curvature of the spine was attributed to adolescent-onset scoliosis
  • The bones are those of a male with an age range estimation of 30–34; Richard was 32 when he died

 

On February 4, 2013, the University of Leicester confirmed that the remains were those of King Richard III.

The remains of Richard III were reburied at Leicester Cathedral on March 26, 2015. Three members of the Royal Family, The Countess of Wessex (now The Duchess of Edinburgh) and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, attended the reburial. It was fitting that the Duke of Gloucester attended the reburial as his name is also Richard, and Richard III was also a Duke of Gloucester. The Duke of Gloucester is Patron of The Richard III Society.

 

Tomb of Richard III, Leicester Cathedral by RobinLeicester – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tomb_of_Richard_III,_Leicester_Cathedral.jpg#/media/File:Tomb_of_Richard_III,_Leicester_Cathedral.jpg

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There are lots of resources and more information at:

Works Cited

  • “Battle of Bosworth Field.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field>.
  • “Exhumation of Richard III of England.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhumation_of_Richard_III_of_England>.
  • “Greyfriars, Leicester.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars,_Leicester>.
  • Jones, Dan. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors. Print.
  • Lisle, Leanda. Tudor: Passion, Manipulation, Murder: The Story of England’s Most Notorious Royal Family. Print.
  • “Richard III of England.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_England>.
  • Ross, Charles Derek. Richard III. Berkeley: U of California, 1981. Print.
  • “The Discovery of Richard III.” By the University of Leicester. Web. 8 Mar. 2015. <http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/>.
  • Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

King Richard III of England

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2015

King Richard III of England; Credit – Wikipedia

King Richard III of England was born at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, England, on October 2, 1452. He was the twelfth of the thirteen children of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville, both great-grandchildren of King Edward III of England. Richard’s birthplace, Fotheringhay Castle, was the last place Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned, and it was the site of her execution. The castle fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1635.

Richard’s father was the Yorkist leader during the Wars of the Roses until his death. In 1399, Henry of Bolingbroke, the eldest son of John of Gaunt who was the third surviving son of King Edward III, overthrew his cousin King Richard II and assumed the throne as King Henry IV. Henry IV’s reigning house was the House of Lancaster as his father was Duke of Lancaster and Henry assumed the title upon his father’s death. Henry IV’s eldest son King Henry V retained the throne, but he died when his only child King Henry VI was only nine months old. Henry VI’s right to the crown was challenged by Richard, 3rd Duke of York, who could claim descent from Edward III’s second and fourth surviving sons, Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence and Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York.

During the early reign of King Henry VI, Richard, 3rd Duke of York held several important offices and quarreled with the Lancastrians at court. In 1448, he assumed the surname Plantagenet and then assumed the leadership of the Yorkist faction in 1450. The first battle in the long dynastic struggle called the Wars of the Roses was the First Battle of St. Albans in 1455 when the future King Richard III was not yet three years old. Richard, 3rd Duke of York and his second surviving son Edmund, Earl of Rutland were killed on December 30, 1460, at the Battle of Wakefield. Within a few weeks of Richard of York’s death, his eldest surviving son became King Edward IV, establishing the House of York on the throne following a decisive victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton. Edward IV was overthrown by the Lancastrians in 1470, and Henry VI once again assumed the throne. His second reign was short, and in 1471, Edward IV was once again king.

This was the atmosphere in which the future King Richard III spent his childhood. At his birth in 1452, no one could have predicted that 31 years later, Richard would be King of England. Richard had twelve siblings, and a number of them did not survive childhood.

As was customary at the time, Richard was sent to a noble’s household, Middleham Castle in Yorkshire, the home of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, for his education and training as a knight. Neville, known as Warwick the Kingmaker during the Wars of the Roses, was Richard’s first cousin. At Middleham Castle, Richard became acquainted with the Earl of Warwick’s younger daughter Lady Anne Neville, who would become his wife.

On November 1, 1461, Richard was created Duke of Gloucester by his brother King Edward IV. Richard was a loyal and loving brother and fought bravely in the later battles of the Wars of the Roses in support of his brother. In 1470, when King Edward IV was overthrown and Henry VI once again assumed the throne, Edward and Richard fled to Burgundy, where they knew they would be welcomed by their sister Margaret, the wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. The Duke of Burgundy provided funds and troops to Edward to enable him to launch an invasion of England in 1471. Although only eighteen years old, Richard played crucial roles in the Battle of Barnet and the Battle of Tewkesbury, which resulted in Edward’s restoration to the throne in the spring of 1471.

On July 12, 1472, Richard married Anne Neville. Anne’s father, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, had switched his allegiance from the House of York to the House of Lancaster, and he had arranged for Anne to marry King Henry VI’s only child, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales to seal his allegiance with the Lancasters. Edward died at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, while Warwick died at the Battle of Barnet on April 14, 1471. Anne’s elder sister Isabella had married Richard’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, three years earlier. These marriages caused a rift between the two brothers because George wanted all of Warwick’s estate for himself. Richard and Anne had one child, Edward of Middleham, born about December 1473 at Middleham Castle. Edward was a sickly child and spent most of his time at Middleham Castle.

Stained glass window of Richard and Anne Neville in Cardiff Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 9, 1483, King Edward IV died and his twelve-year-old son succeeded him as King Edward V. Richard was named Lord Protector of his young nephew and moved to keep the Woodvilles, the family of Edward IV’s widow Elizabeth Woodville, from exercising power. The Queen sought to gain political power for her family by appointing family members to key positions and rushing the coronation of her young son. The new king was accompanied to London by his maternal uncle Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers and his half-brother Sir Richard Grey. Rivers and Grey were accused of planning to assassinate Richard, arrested, and taken to Pontefract Castle, where they were later executed without trial. Richard then proceeded with the new king to London, where Edward V was presented to the Lord Mayor of London. For their safety, King Edward V and his nine-year-old brother Richard, Duke of York, were sent to the Tower of London.

William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings had been a key figure in checking the power plays of the Woodvilles. However, things changed dramatically on June 13, 1483, during a council meeting at the Tower of London. Richard, supported by Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, accused Hastings and other council members of having conspired with the Woodvilles to kill him. The other alleged conspirators were imprisoned, but Hastings was immediately beheaded in the courtyard.

On June 22, 1483, a sermon was preached at St. Paul’s Cross in London declaring Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville invalid and his children illegitimate. This information apparently came from Robert Stillington, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who claimed a legal pre-contract of marriage to Eleanor Butler, invalidating the king’s later marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. The citizens of London presented Richard with a petition urging him to assume the throne, and he was proclaimed king on June 26, 1483. Richard and his wife Anne were crowned in Westminster Abbey on July 6, 1483, and their son was created Prince of Wales. In January 1484, Parliament issued the Titulus Regius, a statute proclaiming Richard the rightful king

Contemporary illumination of Richard III, his queen Anne Neville, and their son Edward the Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

After Richard III’s accession, his nephews Edward and Richard were gradually seen less and less within the Tower of London. By the end of the summer of 1483, they had disappeared from public view altogether. Their fate remains unknown, and various theories promote their uncle Richard III, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and King Henry VII as ordering their murders. Bones belonging to two children were discovered in 1674 by workmen rebuilding a stairway in the Tower of London. On the orders of King Charles II, these remains were placed in an urn in Westminster Abbey. The bones were re-examined in 1933, and by measuring certain bones and teeth, it was concluded that the bones belonged to two children around the correct ages for the princes, but no positive identification was made. No further scientific examination has been conducted on the bones, which remain in Westminster Abbey, and DNA analysis has not been attempted.

On April 9, 1484, Richard’s son Edward of Middleham died at the age of 10. His burial site is unknown. Richard’s wife Anne Neville died on March 16, 1485, probably from tuberculosis. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, in an unmarked grave to the right of the High Altar, next to the door to Edward the Confessor’s Chapel. Richard did not survive her long. He lost his life and his crown at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. On that day, Henry Tudor, the Lancastrian leader, became the first monarch of the House of Tudor, King Henry VII. The first Parliament of King Henry VII’s reign repealed the Titulus Regius, the statute proclaiming Richard the rightful king. Henry VII ordered his subjects to destroy all copies of it and all related documents.

The site of Richard III’s remains remained a mystery for centuries. On September 12, 2012, an archaeological team announced that the human remains they found could be those of Richard III. DNA from Michael Ibsen, a direct descendant of Richard’s sister Anne of York, and an unnamed direct maternal line descendant matched the mitochondrial DNA extracted from the remains. On February 4, 2013, the University of Leicester confirmed that the remains were those of King Richard III. The remains of King Richard III were reburied at Leicester Cathedral on March 26, 2015.

For more information on Richard III’s death, the discovery of his remains, and his reburial at Leicester Cathedral, see Unofficial Royalty: Richard III – Lost and Found.

Tomb of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral; By User:Isananni, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42870716

England: House of York Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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Prince Friedrich “Frittie” of Hesse and by Rhine

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine photo: Wikipedia

Born on October 7, 1870, at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in the German state of Hesse, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm August Viktor Leopold Ludwig of Hesse (known as ‘Frittie’) was the fifth child, and youngest son of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine. One of his given names was Leopold, in honor of his uncle, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.

Frittie had six siblings:

Hesse and by Rhine family in 1876; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Following a cut to his ear in February 1873, it was discovered that Frittie suffered from hemophilia when the wound took days to stop bleeding. Ironically, it was the same disease suffered by his uncle and godfather, Prince Leopold. Frittie’s sisters Irene and Alix had sons who also suffered from hemophilia.

In May 1873, Frittie and his brother Ernst Ludwig were playing in their mother’s bedroom at the Neues Palais. Ernst went into another room to look through the window, angled to the window in Alice’s bedroom. While Alice was out of the room to get Ernst, Frittie climbed up to the window in the bedroom to see Ernst. The chair he climbed on tipped over and Frittie fell from the window to the ground below.

Due to his hemophilia, Prince Friedrich died from a brain hemorrhage on May 29, 1873, at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany. He is buried in the Neues Mausoleum at Rosenhöhe Park in Darmstadt where his parents and younger sister Marie were buried.

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Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich was the second wife of Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, a grandson of Queen Victoria. She was born Eleonore Marie Ernestine on September 17, 1871, in Lich, Principality of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, now in the German state of Hesse, the fourth of seven children of Hermann, The Prince of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich and Countess Agnes of Stolberg-Wernigerode.

Eleonore had six siblings:

  • Karl, Prince of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1866-1920), married Princess Emma zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, had four children
  • Reinhard Ludwig (1867-1951) married Countess Marka zu Solms-Sonnenwalde, had six children
  • Anna Elizabeth (1868-1950) married Count Johannes zu Lynar, had two children
  • Marie Mathilde (1873-1953) married Prince Richard zu Dohna-Schlobitten, had five children
  • Karoline (1877-1958) married Chlodwig, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, had five children
  • Dorothea (1883-1942) married Prince Hermann of Stolberg-Wernigerode, had one child

Eleonore (known affectionately as Onor) married Ernst Ludwig on February 2, 1905, in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in the German state of Hesse. He was the son of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine. The couple had two sons:

Onor quickly became popular with the people of Hesse and was known for her down-to-earth and approachable manner. It was partially due to this that they were treated rather well at the end of World War I. While many of Ernie’s counterparts were stripped of their possessions, and in some cases, exiled from their homelands, Ernie and Onor remained much loved by the Hessian people. They lived out the rest of their lives at Wolfsgarten and the New Palace in Darmstadt.

She was widowed on October 9, 1937, when her beloved Ernie passed away. Just weeks later, on November 16, 1937, she boarded a plane bound for London accompanied by her elder son Georg Donatus, his wife, and their two sons. The group was heading to London for the wedding of Onor’s younger son, Ludwig. Tragically, the plane crashed in Ostend, Belgium, and all were killed.

The last Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine was buried alongside her husband in the burial ground in Rosenhöhe Park, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. Around them are the graves of their children and grandchildren.

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Hesse and by Rhine Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine: The House of Hesse-Darmstadt was one of several branches of the House of Hesse. After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was raised to the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and Ludwig X, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became the first Grand Duke, Ludwig I.  Several years later, at the Congress of Vienna, Ludwig was forced to cede his Westphalian territories but in return was given the Rheinhessen region and the Grand Duchy of Hesse became the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. Ernst Ludwig, a grandson of Queen Victoria, was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. With the fall of the German states, Ernst Ludwig refused to abdicate but still lost his throne on November 9, 1918. Today the territory that encompassed the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine is in the German state of Hesse.

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Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine;

Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine was the fourth child of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine. He was born Ernst Ludwig Karl Albrecht Wilhelm (known as Ernie), on November 25, 1868 in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany. He had six siblings:

In 1874, his younger brother Frittie died after falling from a window while the two were playing. A hemophiliac, Frittie succumbed to a brain hemorrhage. Ernie was distraught and developed what would become a lifelong fear of death, particularly of dying alone. This fear would soon be reinforced by the deaths of his mother and youngest sister. In late 1878, most of the family fell ill with diphtheria. Sadly, Ernie’s youngest sister, Princess May, did not recover and died in November. While consoling Ernie, Alice gave him a hug and kiss, thus exposing herself to the illness. Due to her weakened state, she quickly fell ill herself and died on December 14, 1878.

After Alice’s death, Queen Victoria stepped in as a surrogate mother to the Hessian children, often having them stay with her at her residences in the United Kingdom. Ernie’s three elder sisters also contributed to his upbringing, and he remained particularly close to both Victoria and Ella.

After being educated privately, Ernie began serving with the First Hessian Infantry Regiment as a sub-lieutenant in 1885. He became a first lieutenant in 1889 and then attended the University of Leipzig and the University of Giessen. In 1891, following his father’s example, he was attached to the First Prussian Regiment of Foot Guards at Potsdam. Then, on March 13, 1892, Ernie became the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine upon his father’s death.

 

On April 9, 1894, in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now in the German state of Bavaria, Ernie married his first cousin Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She was the daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. The wedding was attended by Queen Victoria and many of her extended family. It was at this gathering that Ernie’s younger sister Alix became engaged to the future Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. While that marriage turned out to be a happy one, the same could not be said for Ernie and Victoria Melita. Having been pushed into marriage by Queen Victoria, the couple shared little in common and quickly grew to resent each other. Despite this, they had two children:

Queen Victoria, surrounded by her extended family, gathered for Ernie’s wedding in 1894; Credit – Royal Collection Trust 

Disenchanted with each other, Ernie and Victoria Melita wished to divorce, but their grandmother would not allow it. However, following Queen Victoria’s death, they quickly separated and were divorced on December 21, 1901. They shared custody of their daughter, to whom Ernie was particularly close. Victoria Melita later married another first cousin, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia.

The Hesse siblings, October 1903. L-R: Ernie, Alix (with Nicholas), Irene (with Heinrich), Ella (with Serge), Victoria (with Louis). photo: Wikipedia

Following a large family gathering in Darmstadt in October 1903 for the wedding of his niece Princess Alice of Battenberg, Ernie and his daughter Elisabeth visited the Russian Imperial Family at their hunting lodge in Poland. While there, Elisabeth fell ill. At first, it was just believed to be exhaustion from so much playing with her cousins, but her condition quickly worsened. A telegram was sent to her mother, imploring her to come quickly, as it seemed the child would not survive. Unfortunately, the telegram would arrive too late. Princess Elisabeth died on November 16, 1903. Rumors at the time were that she had been poisoned by eating or drinking something that was intended for her uncle Nicholas II. However, it was discovered that she had died from typhoid. Ernie, of course, was distraught. His daughter had been, in his own words, “the sunshine of my life.”

On February 2, 1905, Ernie married Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, in Darmstadt. Eleonore was the daughter of Hermann, The Prince of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich and Countess Agnes of Stolberg-Wernigerode. This marriage, from all accounts, was a very happy one. The couple had two sons:

Ernie, Eleonore, and their two sons; Credit – Wikipedia

Ernie was well-loved in Hesse and involved himself with maintaining and supporting the arts, particularly music. Sadly, the later years of his life were marred by tragedy. World War I brought the murders of two sisters Alix and Ella in Russia, as well as the loss of the Grand Ducal throne. With the fall of the German states, Ernie refused to abdicate but still lost his throne on November 9, 1918. However, unlike many of his counterparts, he was allowed to remain in Hesse and retained several of the family’s properties, including Schloss Wolfsgarten and the New Palace in Darmstadt.

Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine died at Wolfsgarten on October 9, 1937. Tragically, just weeks later, a plane crash in Belgium took the lives of many of his remaining family – his widow, elder son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons. The plane crash took place on November 16, 1937, ironically, this was the anniversary of the deaths of both Ernie’s sister May (in 1878) and his daughter Elisabeth (in 1903). Ernie is buried in Rosenhöhe Park in Darmstadt, Germany alongside his wife and family.

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Hesse and by Rhine Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

 

Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit -Wikipedia

Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe was the first husband of Princess Viktoria of Prussia (Moretta), a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. He was born on July 20, 1859, at Schloss Bückeburg in Bückeburg, then the capital of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in Lower Saxony, Germany. Adolf was the seventh child of the eight children of Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Hermine of Waldeck and Pyrmont.

Prince Adolf had seven siblings:

In 1890, Prince Adolf met Princess Viktoria of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, during a visit to Princess Marie of Wied, the mother of Queen Elisabeth of Romania. On November 19, 1890, he married Viktoria, known as Moretta, in Berlin. After an extended honeymoon in Egypt and Greece, the couple took up residence in the Palais Schaumburg in Bonn. Moretta had a miscarriage early in the marriage and the couple remained childless.

Following the death of Woldemar, Prince of Lippe in 1895, Prince Adolf became the Regent for Woldemar’s successor and brother Alexander, Prince of Lippe who was mentally incapacitated. Adolf served as Regent until 1897 when Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld replaced him. Prince Adolf served in the Prussian Army and during World War I, he was the Deputy Commanding General of the 8th Corps in Bonn.

Prince Adolf died on July 9, 1916, in Bonn, Kingdom of Prussia, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and was buried in the family mausoleum (link in German) in the Bückeburg Palace Park in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in Lower Saxony, Germany.

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Prince Sigismund of Prussia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Prince Sigismund of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

The first grandchild of Queen Victoria to die, Prince Sigismund of Prussia (Franz Friedrich Sigismund) was born on September 15, 1864, at the Neues Palais in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany. He was the fourth of the eight children of Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia and Victoria, Princess Royal.

Sigismund had seven siblings:

Sigismund’s mother, known in the family as Vicky, felt a special closeness to her fourth child. Vicky’s first three children had difficulties, and she had always felt more intimate with her five younger children. The first three children were not allowed to be breastfed by their mother. On orders from their paternal grandmother Queen Augusta, they were fed by wet nurses. By the time Vicky had her fourth child, she had enough self-confidence to defy her mother-in-law and breastfeed Sigismund. Perhaps it was the experience of breastfeeding Sigismund that fostered that special closeness.

Two months after Sigismund’s birth, Vicky wrote to one of her mother’s ladies-in-waiting, “My little darling has grown so fat! He has not had a single ache or pain…and sleeps like a top. I cannot say how happy I am with him and what a delight nursing is. I really think that I have never been so happy, and I certainly never loved one of the others so much…” As Sigismund became a toddler, Vicky thought him much cleverer and more intelligent than his three elder siblings and believed he would have great potential in the future.

On June 4, 1866, Vicky’s husband Fritz was on his way to the front of the Austro-Prussian War.  Even before his father left, Sigismund had been fretful, thought to be caused by teething. However, the day after Fritz left, Sigismund was unable to eat or sleep. Twenty-four hours later, he could no longer stand. Because all the doctors normally used by the family had left with the army, Vicky was forced to consult doctors unknown to her who gave her the terrible news that her son had meningitis. At that time, there was no successful treatment for meningitis, and death usually occurred. Sigismund’s convulsions grew increasingly worse until he died in agony on June 18, 1866, only 21 months old. Vicky wrote to her mother Queen Victoria, “Oh to see it suffer so cruelly, to see it die and hear its last piteous cry was an agony I cannot describe, it haunts me night and day!”

Vicky was without her husband to comfort her, and her mother-in-law Queen Augusta personally went to the front to tell Fritz. Fritz’s father gave him permission to come home for the funeral, but Fritz declined. He said, “I am in the service of the fatherland. I would never forgive myself if we were attacked when I was absent from my post.” Understandably, Vicky did not comprehend this and wrote to her husband, “In you, of course, the soldier is uppermost.”

Vicky prepared a small room in the Friedenskirche in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany, with carpets, cushions, pictures, and flowers to receive the tiny coffin. In great shock, Vicky was the only one who attended Sigismund’s funeral who did not cry.

After Sigismund’s father died in 1888, the Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum was added to the Friedenskirche, and Sigismund and his brother Waldemar, who died of diphtheria when he was eleven years old, were re-interred there. German sculptor Reinhold Begas was commissioned to make their marble tombs.

Tomb of Prince Sigismund; Credit – Wikipedia

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Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, Princess of Prussia

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, Princess of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine was the third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, and Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine. She is often overlooked, as history tends to focus on two of her sisters – Ella and Alix – who both married into the Russian Imperial Family and tragically lost their lives at the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1918. Irene’s obscurity would likely be satisfying to the Princess, who much preferred living her life out of the spotlight. She was born Princess Irene Luise Maria Anna on July 11, 1866, at the New Palace in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany, and had six siblings:

Irene was just 12 years old in 1878 when her mother died, following an outbreak of diphtheria in the family which also took the life of her youngest sister, May. Much of the next years were spent, along with her sisters, under the supervision of their grandmother, Queen Victoria. The Queen had taken a particular interest in the children following Alice’s death, overseeing almost every aspect of their lives. Soon, following the marriages of her two elder sisters in 1884, Irene became the eldest daughter living at home and became her father’s companion and often served as hostess for his official events.

Wedding of Irene and Heinrich, 1888. photo: Wikipedia

On May 24, 1888, in the chapel of Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Brandenburg, Irene married her first cousin, Prince Heinrich of Prussia. He was the second son of Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia, and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom. Like her own mother, Irene was a carrier of hemophilia and passed it to two of her sons. They were two of the nine descendants of Queen Victoria who suffered from the disease. Read more here — Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Descendants.

The couple had three sons:

  • Waldemar (1889-1945) – married Princess Calixta of Lippe-Biesterfeld, no issue; a hemophiliac who died at age 56 in Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany  due to lack of blood transfusion facilities as the Russians and Americans advanced on Germany at the very end of World War II
  • Sigismund (1896-1978) – married Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg, had issue
  • Heinrich (1900-1904) – hemophiliac, died at age 4 from a brain hemorrhage due to a fall

Prince Henry with his wife, Princess Irene, and their two surviving sons Waldemar and Sigismund; Credit – Wikipedia

Irene and her husband gained the nickname “The Very Amiables” because of their quiet, unassuming manner. Perfectly happy to stay home and enjoy their family, they were the least royal of the Prussian royals of the time. Heinrich’s primary focus was his military career, and Irene’s was raising her family. In 1894, they bought Hemmelmark, an estate in Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Germany, as it was close to Heinrich’s military base in Kiel. Hemmelmark would become the family’s primary home, with occasional stays in Potsdam and Berlin when royal duty called.

The Hesse siblings with their spouses gathered in Darmstadt in 1903 for the wedding of Princess Alice of Battenberg. L-R: Ernie, Alix, Nicholas II, Irene, Heinrich, Ella, Serge, Victoria, and Louis

Irene remained very close to her siblings. Irene and her sister Victoria often traveled to Russia to visit their sisters Ella and Alix, and back to Darmstadt to visit their brother Ernie. The families gathered for vacations in Hesse, often staying at Schloss Wolfsgarten.

Irene and her sisters were separated during World War I, with the others being on opposite sides and, for the most part, unable to communicate with each other. It would not be until the end of the war that Irene learned of the murders of her sisters Ella and Alix, as well as Alix’s whole family. Meanwhile, in Prussia, her brother-in-law (and first cousin) Kaiser Wilhelm II, was forced to abdicate, ending the Prussian monarchy. While Wilhelm was banished from the country, Irene and Heinrich could remain and lived the remainder of their days at Hemmelmark.

In 1920, Irene met with Anna Anderson, who claimed to be her niece, Grand Duchess Anastasia. Although Irene held hope that one of her nieces had survived the family’s execution, she quickly found Anderson to be a fake. It was a subject that caused great stress to Irene, with her husband banning Anderson’s name from being brought up in his wife’s presence. Some years later, Irene’s son would pose some questions to Anderson about their childhood and found that Anderson answered them all to his satisfaction. Many years later, Anderson’s claim was proven false thanks to DNA evidence.

Following her husband’s death in 1929, Irene continued to live at Hemmelmark. More losses would come in the following years. Her brother Ernie died in 1937, followed just weeks later by the horrific plane crash that took the lives of Ernie’s widow, his elder son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons. Then, World War II broke out, once again separating Irene from her only remaining sibling, her sister Victoria.

Following the war, and her sister’s death in 1950, Irene spent her remaining years quietly, often in the company of her granddaughter Princess Barbara of Prussia. On November 11, 1953, Princess Irene passed away at Hemmelmark with Barbara by her side. She was buried beside her husband and youngest son in the chapel on the grounds of Hemmelmark.

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