Share on Facebook (opens in a new window), Share on Flipboard (opens in a new window). She left no possessions whatsoever behind, as she had given everything she had ever owned to the needy. During episode 4, "Bubbikins," we meet Princess Alice of Battenbergalso known as Princess Andrew of Greeceplayed by Jane Lapotaire. The seventh out of the eleven children of King Nicholas I and Queen Milena of Montenegro, Princess Anna was born in 1874 and grew up in the small Balkan Principality, which became a Kingdom in 1910, before being educated in Russia under the care of the Tsar. Philip and his mother, Princess Alice, via YouTube Thanks for signing up. There was nothing she could do but listen to the doctors and hope they might one day let her walk free again. Princess Alice of Greece Timeline 1885-1969 Born - 25th February 1885 Died - 5th December 1969 Father - Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854 - 1921) Mother - Princess Victoria of Hesse (1863 - 1950) Spouse - m. 1903 - Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1882 - 1944) [3][52], On 31 October 1994, Princess Andrew's two surviving children, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess George of Hanover, went to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial) in Jerusalem to witness a ceremony honouring her as "Righteous Among the Nations" for having hidden the Cohens in her house in Athens during the Second World War. However, she did still have some jewels remaining from her more glamorous days. Alice had five daughters, here are the possibilities: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip invited her to live with them at Buckingham Palace. As seen in The Crown Season 2 episode Paterfamilias, Princess Alice was estranged from her family following her institutionalization. Elizabeth inspired Alice to live a more religious life. Both he and Simmel consulted Sigmund Freud, who believed that her delusions were the result of sexual frustration. Later in her life, the "Princess of Battenberg" established an order of nuns, giving away all her possessions before dying on 5 December 1969. . . Later in the year, the Grand Duchess began giving away all her possessions in preparation for a more spiritual life. Until it wasnt. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. [15], The global war effectively ended much of the political power of Europe's dynasties. Of course, thats when tragedy struck again. [24] The diagnosis was confirmed at Ernst Simmel's sanatorium at Tegel, Berlin. Alice was talking, but she seriously struggled with pronunciation, far more than physicians considered normal. Alexis Nedd is a senior entertainment reporter at Mashable. The funeral of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester will take place on 5 November at 11am in St George's Chapel, Windsor. Alices family sent her to the finest psychiatrists in Europe, and they all offered the same diagnosis: Princess Alice was a paranoid schizophrenic. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. After the coronation, she returned to Greece. [7] A few weeks before her 16th birthday, she attended the funeral of Queen Victoria in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and shortly afterward she was confirmed in the Anglican faith.[8]. She had some of her remaining jewels used in Princess Elizabeth's engagement ring. Netflix introduced us to a host of new royals and actors for season 3 of The Crown. Princess Andrew protested that she was sane and repeatedly tried to leave the asylum. Princess Alice died on December 5, 1969. The British Royal Family orbits around Princess Alice of Battenberg. They married in 1902 and got to their royal business. A German general personally paid her a visit and asked her if there was anything he could do for her. To dampen her libido, of course, and thus fix the problem. Later, Israels Holocaust memorial institution would declare her Righteous Among Nations for her efforts. She had come a long way from begging for her freedom in a sanatorium. Spoiler alert: It didnt work. A massive blow came to her in 1936, when her daughter Cecile, along with her husband and two children died in a plane crash. For more ways to live your best life plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter! [13], With the advent of the Balkan Wars, Prince Andrew was reinstated in the army, and Princess Andrew acted as a nurse, assisting at operations and setting up field hospitals, work for which King George V awarded her the Royal Red Cross in 1913. If anything, the city grew even more dangerous, as the streets became a battleground for the struggle. Alice was brilliant, and soon she could speak and lip-read in both English and German. Princess Alice married Prince Andrew of Greece in 1903. [25] Princess Andrew was forcibly removed from her family and placed in Ludwig Binswanger's sanatorium in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. The trip was cut short when she unexpectedly took ill, and her sister-in-law, Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who happened to be passing through Delhi on her own tour, had to smooth things with the Indian hosts who were taken aback at Princess Andrew's sudden change of plans. Queen Victorias 63-year reign ended in 1901, and a 16-year Princess Alice attended the funeral. In 1993 she was posthumously given the "Righteous Gentile" award by Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum. Alices sudden change in behavior terrified them, and they sent her to several specialists to try and find out what was really happening. Alice was born in the Tapestry Room at Windsor Castle in Berkshire in the presence of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Truth is often stranger than fiction though, and Season 3 of The Crown didnt have to stray too far from history to introduce Prince Philips mother Princess Alice of Battenberg (also known as Mother-Superior Alice-Elizabeth or Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark) to its story. Princess Alice of Battenberg: a final reunion. Princess Alice of Battenberg was famed for saving a Jewish family from the Holocaust during the Second World War by sheltering them in her Athens home. Years earlier, in 1913, a Jewish man named Haimaki Cohen aided the King of Greece. When the Colonels Coup of 1967 rocked Greece once again, it was Philip who reached out to her and made the arrangements for his mother to come to England. [1] She was the eldest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. People believe that gender equality is improving, but the rest of the data tells a different story. The liberation came just in time, because only a little while longer and Alice might not have made it. Melissa Gervais is a freelance writer with both a print journalism diploma and a BA in Communication Studies. Those people close to her grew concerned by her disturbing behaviorand it was going to get worse before it got better. Spoiler: But after we get a glimpse into Alice's intriguing life, we rarely hear more about her until her death is depicted later in the season. [39] In a letter to her son, she admitted that in the last week before liberation she had had no food except bread and butter, and no meat for several months. [42] On the day of the wedding, her son was created Duke of Edinburgh by George VI. She's written for Vulture, Racked, Brooklyn. Princess Alice: The Royals' Greatest Secret: Directed by Joanna Burge, Tamsin Curry. Sadly, it sealed Alices fate. Born deaf, she faced tremendous hardships but found solace in . It was decided not to invite Princess Andrew's daughters (the groom's sisters) to the wedding because of anti-German sentiment in Britain following World War II. The funeral will be private, attended by The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, and the Princess's family and friends, and will not be a State occasion. However, people couldnt help but notice something wasdifferent about Princess Alice. From there, she set up a base of operations with the Red Cross, providing relief to the people of the city. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. After their wedding, Prince Andrew continued his career in the military and Princess Andrew became involved in charity work. Battenberg family, English Mountbatten, a family that rose to international prominence in the 19th and 20th centuries, the name being a revival of a medieval title. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. "[55] In 2010, the Princess was posthumously named a Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government. From her heroism during WWII to her abandonment in a mental institution, this forgotten royal is worth a closer look. Princess Alice in 1945: some 15 years after she reportedly suffered a religious crisis that caused her to be separated from her family (Image: Getty Images). She was christened Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie in Darmstadt on 25 April 1885. [33][34] She moved out of her small flat and into her brother-in-law George's three-storey house in the centre of Athens. Princess Alice was an unconventional royal who prioritized helping others over wealth and privilege. It all happened in the aftermath of World War I. Any military officials with ties to the monarchy were arrestedand who had closer ties than the kings brother? Several former ministers and generals arrested at the same time were shot following a brief trial, and British diplomats assumed that Prince Andrew was also in mortal danger. Finally, after the liberation of Athens, it seemed like the time might finally be right for them to get back together. That was the day she met the man who would change her life forever. Queen Victorias nine children and countless grandchildren saw to that. 20052023 Mashable, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. And, if her demand wasnt courageous enough, she was also hiding a secretone that would mean certain death if it got out. After the war, she stayed in Greece and founded a Greek Orthodox nursing order of nuns known as the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary. Husbands hiding things from wives, mothers from children, and generation from generation. [3] King Constantine II of Greece and Queen Anne-Marie went into exile that December after a failed royalist counter-coup. Her mother couldnt believe it of her own daughter, exclaiming, What can you say of a nun who smokes and plays canasta?. Before you ask: Yes, it's worth the price. Princess Alice spent the last two years of her life in a single room in Buckingham Palace alongside her son and his family. A memorial service will be held at a later date. So, why worry about that? [14] By June 1917, the King's neutrality policy had become so untenable that she and other members of the Greek royal family were forced into exile when her brother-in-law abdicated.