Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine | |||||
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Princess Louis of Battenberg Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven |
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Photograph by Alexander Bassano, c. 1878
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Born |
Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire |
5 April 1863||||
Died | 24 September 1950 Kensington Palace, London |
(aged 87)||||
Burial | 28 September 1950 St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight |
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Spouse | Prince Louis of Battenberg | ||||
Issue |
Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark Louise, Queen of Sweden George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma |
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House | Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
Father | Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine | ||||
Mother | Princess Alice of the United Kingdom |
Full name | |
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Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie |
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie; 5 April 1863 – 24 September 1950) was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837–1892), and his first wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (1843–1878), daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Her mother died while her brother and sisters were still young, which placed her in an early position of responsibility over her siblings. She married her father's first cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, an officer in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, in a love match and lived most of her married life in various parts of Europe at her husband's naval posts and visiting her many royal relations. She was perceived by her family as liberal in outlook, straightforward, practical and bright.
During World War I, she and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the British-sounding surname of Mountbatten, which was simply a translation into English of the German "Battenberg". Two of her sisters – Elisabeth and Alix, who had married into the Russian imperial family – were killed by communist revolutionaries.
She was the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.