John Van Der Kiste - Edward VIIs Children

ALSO BY JOHN VAN DER KISTE

Published by Sutton Publishing unless stated otherwise

Frederick III: German Emperor 1888 (1981)

Queen Victorias Family: A Select Bibliography (Clover, 1982)

Dearest Affie: Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victorias

Second Son, 18441900 [with Bee Jordaan] (1984)

Queen Victorias Children (1986; large print edition, ISIS, 1987)

Windsor and Habsburg: The British and Austrian Reigning Houses 18481922 (1987)

George Vs Children (1991)

Princess Victoria Melita: Grand Duchess Cyril of Russia, 18761936 (1991)

George IIIs Children (1992)

Crowns in a Changing World: The British and European Monarchies 190136 (1993)

Kings of the Hellenes: The Greek Kings 18631974 (1994)

Childhood at Court 18191914 (1995)

Northern Crowns: The Kings of Modern Scandinavia (1996)

King George II and Queen Caroline (1997)

The Romanovs 18181959: Alexander II of Russia and his Family (1998)

Kaiser Wilhelm II: Germanys Last Emperor (1999)

The Georgian Princesses (2000)

Gilbert & Sullivans Christmas (2000)

Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz: Queen Victorias Eldest Daughter and the German Emperor (2001)

Royal Visits in Devon and Cornwall (Halsgrove, 2002)

Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II

[with Coryne Hall] (2002)

William and Mary (2003)

EDWARD VIIs CHILDREN

JOHN VAN DER KISTE

First published in 1989

This new revised paperback edition first published in 2004 by Sutton Publishing Limited

The History Press
The Mill, Brimscombe Port
Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL 5 2 QG
www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

John Van der Kiste, 1989, 2004, 2013

The right of John Van der Kiste to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 9517 0

Original typesetting by The History Press

Contents

3 The One Wish of Louise Herself

Foreword

A t first glance, it is hardly surprising that the children of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, with the exception of King George V, have been paid scant attention by biographers. John Gores personal memoir of the latter, undertaken at the request of King George VI and Queen Mary and published in 1941, was complemented by a similarly-commissioned work from Harold Nicolson chronicling his public life and attitude towards the successive political issues of his reign, which appeared in 1952. These have been added to by Kenneth Roses equally indispensable biography of the King, based on a wealth of material made available more recently and published in 1983; and to a lesser extent by Roger Fulfords concise character study in Hanover to Windsor , as well as Denis Judds profusely illustrated volume in the Lives of the Kings and Queens of England series edited by Antonia Fraser.

Of the remaining four who lived to maturity, only one Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale has been the subject of individual studies by Michael Harrison published in 1972, and by Theo Aronson in 1994. His brief life has been dealt with admirably in biographies of Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy (author of the officially-commissioned volume), Anne Edwards and David Duff, and with varying degrees of (in)accuracy and sensationalism in a host of Jack the Ripper books, more of interest to the student of criminology or devotee of lurid detective fiction.

King Edward VIIs daughters had only a slight impact on public life in Britain, and hardly merit biographies to themselves beyond the chapters in part-biographies such as those of all the Princesses Royal by Geoffrey Wakeford and Helen Cathcart. All the same, their lives are of interest, not least Princess Maud, who unexpectedly became Queen of Norway nine years after her marriage to her cousin Prince Charles of Denmark. Only passing mention is made of her in the two accounts of her husband King Haakon VIIs life published in English, by Maurice Michael and Tim Greve. Her letters to Queen Mary, now in the Royal Archives, Windsor, most of which are published here for the first time, paint an interesting picture of life in a neutral European country during the Great War, 191418; they also reveal her shrewd observation of family matters from afar, particularly during and after the abdication crisis of 1936. Additional previously unpublished correspondence from her sisters Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife, and Princess Victoria of Wales, has helped to throw new light on members of the royal family from the latter days of Queen Victorias reign through the turbulent first four decades of the twentieth century.

I wish to acknowledge the gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen to publish certain material to which she owns the copyright.

I am indebted to the following copyright holders for permission to quote from published works: Constable & Co Ltd ( King George V , by Harold Nicolson; Queen Alexandra , by Georgina Battiscombe); John Murray (Publishers) Ltd ( King Edward the Seventh , by Philip Magnus: King George V , by John Gore); Unwin Hyman Ltd ( Dearest Mama and Your dear letter , both edited by Roger Fulford); and George Weidenfeld & Nicolson ( King George V , by Kenneth Rose).

Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge all copyright owners, and apologies are offered to authors and publishers whose rights may have been inadvertently infringed.

My thanks for constant help, encouragement and advice during the writing of this book are due to Wing Commander Guy and Nancy Van der Kiste; Theo Aronson; Bee Jordaan; Mrs R. Prior, of the Sussex Commemorative Ware Centre; The Hon. Giles St Aubyn; and Shirley Stapley.

John Van der Kiste

This, and all other works referred to in the Foreword, is cited in full in the Bibliography.

Prologue

A s the year 1863 dawned, London society looked forward to the wedding of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Gloom had enveloped court and country since the Prince Consorts death in December 1861, and at last there was reason to rejoice. The marriage was to take place on 10 March, the first wedding of a Prince of Wales since the ill-starred union of Prince George to Princess Caroline of Brunswick in 1795. It was widely expected that St Pauls or Westminster Abbey would be the chosen venue for the ceremony.

However, still in deepest mourning for her husband, Queen Victoria refused to consider the idea of a wedding involving any state procession in which she would have to be seen alone by her subjects in other words, without Prince Albert at her side. She, therefore, decided that the ceremony should take place in the comparative seclusion of St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle, which had room for less than one thousand.

Punch gave vent to the national feeling of disappointment. It commented acidly that the heirs nuptials were to be held in an obscure Berkshire village, noted only for an old castle with no sanitary arrangements; already it was suspected that the castles poor drainage facilities had contributed to the Prince Consorts fatal illness. The only announcement, it suggested, should be inserted in the marriage columns of The Times , and worded thus: