Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
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See Princess Victoria for other of Saxe-Coburg princesses named Victoria | Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh |
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Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Victoria Melita) (
25 November 1876 -
2 March 1936) was a member of the
British Royal Family, a granddaughter of
Queen Victoria. Victoria held the titles of
Grand Duchess of Hesse (1894-1901), and
Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna of Russia (1906-1917).
Victoria scandalised the royal families of Europe with her divorce and remarriage in the early
20th century.
Victoria was born on
November 25,
1876 in the San Antonio Palace in
Malta, hence her name Melita. Her father was
Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her mother was
Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, a daughter of
Alexander II of Russia and his first
Empress consort Marie of Hesse. As a grandchild of the British monarch, she was styled
Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Edinburgh. To her family she was called
Ducky. At the time of her birth she was 10th in the
line of succession to the British throne.
Victoria lived in
Malta in her early years where as her father was stationed as an officer in the
Royal Navy.
As a son of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria's father was in the line of succession to the
Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Alfred became the heir apparent to the duchy, when his older brother and Victoria's uncle,
The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) renounced his succession rights. Subsequently, the family moved to
Coburg, Germany in
1889.
In
1891, Victoria travelled with her mother to the funeral of
Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna, the wife of her mother's brother
Grand Paul Alexandrovich. There Victoria met her first cousin
Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovich. Although the two were deeply attracted to one another, Victoria's mother was reluctant to allow her to marry into the
Russian Royal Family.
After her sister
Princess Marie was married to the
Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania, a search was made for a suitable husband for Victoria.
Queen Victoria observed that Victoria had good relations with her cousin,
Prince Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, the heir to grand ducal throne of
Hesse and eldest son of
Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, Queen Victoria's second eldest daughter.
Queen Victoria was very keen for her two grandchildren to marry. Victoria's mother was also keen for the marriage, as her own mother was born a Princess of Hesse. However both Victoria and Ernst were reluctant to marry. Victoria had also met Kyril again in
St Petersburg and had become secretly engaged.
Eventually, Victoria and Ernst bowed to their families' pressure and married on
April 9,
1894 at Schloss Ehrenburg in
Coburg. The wedding was a large affair, with most of the royal families of Europe attending. Victoria was now titled
The Grand Duchess of Hesse. Together Victoria and Ernst had two children:
*
Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, (11 March, 1895 - 16 November, 1903) who died of typhoid.
* An unnamed son (25 May, 1900, stillborn).
Victoria and Ernst's marriage was an unhappy affair. Victoria despaired of her husband's lack of affection towards her. Whilst in
Russia for the coronation of
Tsar Nicholas II, her passion for Kyril was rekindled.
The marriage finally ended in
1897, when Victoria claimed her husband was
homosexual. According to her account, on returning from a visit to
her sister in
Romania, she caught Ernst in bed with a servant. Efforts to rekindle the marriage failed and the Supreme Court of Hesse dissolved the marriage in
December 21,
1901. The divorce of the reigning Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse caused scandal in the royal circles of Europe. After her divorce, Victoria went to live with her mother at her house in the
French Riviera.
Kyril, Victoria's first love, was also scandalised by the divorce of Victoria and Ernst. The Empress of Russia,
Alexandra Fyodorovna, was Ernst's sister, and persuaded her husband, Nicholas II to exile Kyril to the Far East. Later in the
Russo-Japanese War of
1904, Kyril survived an attack on the Russian fleet, and returned to
Moscow a war hero. The Tsar finally allowed him permission to leave Russia and he left for
Coburg to be with Victoria.
The couple married on
October 8,
1905 in
Tegernsee. It was a simple ceremony, with no royal parties in attendance. Tsar Nicholas II responded to the marriage by stripping Kyril of his royal allowances and expelled him from the Russian navy. The couple retired to
Paris, where they purchased a house off the
Champs-Élysées.
Together Kyril and Victoria had three children:
* HH Princess Maria Kyrilovna (
February 2,
1907-
October 27 1951)
* HH Princess Kira Kyrilovna (
May 9,
1909-
September 8,
1967) who married
Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia* HH
Prince Vladmir Kyrilovitch (
August 30,
1917-
April 21,
1992)
Nicholas II was forced to reinstate Kyril after deaths in the Russian royal family had promoted Kyril to third in the line of succession to the Russian throne. Kyril and Victoria were brought back to Russia, with Victoria granted the title of
Grand Duchess of Russia.
After the
Russian Revolution of 1917, Kyril and Victoria fled to
Finland, then
Coburg, Germany. The exiled family moved to
St Briac in
France where they stayed for the rest of their lives. While in
Germany, Victoria had shown an interest in the
Nazi Party.
Victoria died on
March 1,
1936 and was buried in the family mausoleum in
Coburg, Germany.
*
Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Edinburgh (1876-1893)
*
Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1893-1894)
*
Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Hesse (1894-1901)
*
Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1901-1905)
*
Her Imperial and Royal Highness Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna of Russia (1905-1936)
After 1917, Victoria referred to herself as Viktoria Feodorovna. She remained a
British princess with the style and retained her place in the line of succession to the British throne.
