Grand Duchess Victoria Melita

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Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Edinburgh, also Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia, died on this day in 1936! The third child of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, her siblings included Queen Marie of Romania, the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and the Duchess of Galliera, and cousins included Marchioness of Milford Haven, King George V, Countess of AthlonePrincess Marie Louise, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Princess Andrew of Greece, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsarina Alexandra FeodorovnaQueen Victoria Eugenie of SpainCrown Princess Margareta of SwedenLady Patricia Ramsay, Queen Sophie of Greece, and Queen Maud of Norway. Born in Malta, she was then 10th-in-line to the British throne, and grew up between Eastwell Park and Clarence House before moving to Coburg, where her parents became the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1894, Princess Victoria Melita married her first cousin, Ernest Louis, the Grand Duke of Hesse. The couple had one surviving daughter, Princess Elisabeth, who passed away in 1903. The marriage was arranged by Queen Victoria, and they divorced soon after her death. In 1905, she married another cousin, Grand Duke Kirill of Russia, for which the couple was exiled for a couple of years, only returning to Russia in 1911, when she was granted the title of Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess had three children, the last of them, Grand Duke Vladimir, was born in Finland, while the family was in exile after the Russian Revolution. They lived in exile in France and Germany, where the Grand Duke declared himself Emperor-in-exile and Head of the House of Romanov. As such she became the titular Empress of Russia. Victoria Melita passed away on this day in 1936, after a stroke while attending the christening of her grandson. Her sister, Queen Marie said: “The whole thing was tragic beyond imagination, a tragic end to a tragic life. She carried tragedy within her – she had tragic eyes – always – even as a little girl – but we loved her enormously, there was something mighty about her – she was our Conscience.”

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4 thoughts on “Grand Duchess Victoria Melita

  1. Her husband, a cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, actually betrayed the Tsar and offered his allegiance to the Red Army. He thus gave up all claims to the non-extant throne of Russia, through this treasonous act. Their granddaughter, Princess Maria Vladimirovna… now claims to be the head of the Russian Imperial House. Romanov scholar Paul Gilbert derides her as a charlatan.

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