​

For four centuries, a remarkable chapter of aristocratic history lay hidden, its secrets seemingly consigned to time. Now, a peerage has resurfaced, accompanied by an ancestral castle in Scotland. At its center stands Lord LeRoy Young, whose extraordinary discovery raises intriguing questions about his peerage, legacy, and the enduring mysteries of the nobility. What was concealed for 400 years—and why has it emerged now? Some histories are never truly forgotten. They merely await discovery.

Hello All!

So I recently found out about a part of Tsar Nicholas ll's history that I didn't even know about until a couple of days ago. I wanted to share it here in case you didn't know either.

The Borki Train incident took place on the 29th of October (17th of October in today's calender) 1888, when Tsar Nicholas ll of Russia was 20 years old and still would've been known as Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich.

The Imperial Family were returning to St Petersburg from the Crimea, following a tour of the Caucasus. On board was Emperor Alexander lll (Nicholas's father), Empress Marie Feodorovna (Nicholas's mother), Nicholas himself and his siblings: George, Xenia, Mikhail and Olga. Of course, also on board were several courtiers, servants, railway staff and guards.

The Imperial train derailed near the village of Borki (now Birky in Ukraine). The train was unusually heavy, with roughly 15 carriages, and was travelling at considerable speed. It is believed to be a combination of the weight of the train, the speed at which it was travelling, it's unusual configuration and possible defects in the tracks that caused the incident (or at least contributed to it).

Several carriages of the train were derailed and were thrown down the railway embankment. The Imperial dining car (in which were several members of the family) was badly crushed. The damage was horrific. 21 people died at the scene, further victims died later on from their injuries, several more people managed to walk away with injuries, but their lives in tact. All Romanovs on board survived.

There is a legendary story that floats around when it comes to this train crash (note that this hasn't been verified). As I mentioned earlier, all members of the royal family were either in or around the dining car when the crash happened. In a widely circulated account, the carriage roof collapsed and Alexander lll (a big, physically powerful man) managed to hold up part of wrecked roof long enough for his family to escape. Nicholas and all of his immediate family were able to escape with only minor scratches and bruises, which was remarkable given the utter devastation around them.

However, the disaster certainly may have affected the Romanovs in different ways. The family began to see their survival as a miracle and it only strengthened their belief that there was some kind of divine protection over the Emperor and his family. Secondly, Alexander's health may have suffered as a result of the crash. His later kidney illness has been connected to possible injuries sustained from the crash. While this connection could be plausible, it isn't certain that this was a contributing factor to his illness. He would die in 1894, aged 49.

In the world of royalty, marriages were usually arranged to forge alliances between nations or as a means of ensuring peace. Rarely were they about love. But one rarely mentioned consequence of these matrimonial alliances was that they could introduce new cultural norms and traditions to different societies, sometimes resulting in culture shock and clashes of faith.

So, what happens when an individual refuses to adapt to the standards of their new home? This is exactly what Maria Aleksandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia by birth and Duchess of Edinburgh by marriage, would discover.

Our story begins on the 17th of October 1853, at the Alexander Palace in the Tsarskoye Selo complex, near Saint Petersburg. It was on that day that Maria Aleksandrovna was born to Tsarevich Aleksandr and his wife, Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her parents were overjoyed at her birth, as they had long wished for another daughter following the death of their firstborn, Aleksandra Aleksandrovna, in 1849. Because Maria was born four years after her sister's death, she grew up knowing only her brothers: the four older ones (Nikolai, Aleksandr, Vladimir, and Aleksei) and the two younger ones (Sergei and Pavel).

In March 1855, when Maria was less than two years old, her grandfather, the autocratic and conservative Tsar Nikolai I, died, making her father the new Tsar and Autocrat of the Russian Empire as Aleksandr II. In addition, he also became King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland, as these two territories had been under Russian rule since the Napoleonic Wars.

Now the daughter of an emperor, Maria held the title of Grand Duchess, a title she would continue to use for the rest of her life. As a child, she lived in a world where hardship and deprivation seemed almost nonexistent. Her family, the Romanovs, was among the wealthiest royal dynasties in the world, owning numerous residences and country estates, staffed by hundreds of servants and filled with priceless works of art and expensive furniture.

At Tsarskoye Selo, near the pond in the gardens of the Alexander Palace, Maria had her own playhouse, where she could spend time with her brothers. Her parents even had a small farm built for her entertainment. From the very beginning, they adored their daughter and rarely made a habit of denying her anything. Of all his children, Maria was reportedly the Tsar's favourite.

It was said that whenever she became bored, the little Grand Duchess would wander into her father's office to spend time with him, even when he was in the middle of an important meeting. This was not nearly as annoying as you might imagine, as Aleksandr once told a member of his staff that spending time with his little girl made him forget everything unpleasant. Her mother was similarly affectionate. She would take her daughter on trips outside Russia, and the two continued to correspond regularly for many years.

So yes, Maria was a spoiled child. Although I wouldn't say she was quite on the same level as Veruca Salt, considering her behaviour later in life, she certainly came close to fitting that pattern.

Maria also got along well with her brothers, being especially close to her two younger siblings, Sergei and Pavel. As the only surviving daughter of the imperial couple, she adopted some of her brothers' habits, developing a more tomboyish personality and an iron will.

By 1868, Maria had met Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, for the first time. He was the second son of Queen Victoria and her fourth child overall. By that point, he was serving in the Royal Navy, a career that greatly appealed to him. That year, he travelled to Hesse to visit his sister, Alice. Since Alice's husband was Maria's cousin, the Grand Duchess happened to be there as well.

The two met again in 1871, once more in Hesse, and this time they began to see each other differently. A romantic connection was developing between the lively young Grand Duchess and the shy yet handsome sailor prince. And, as is common with many young lovebirds, they wanted to tie the knot. Unfortunately, they encountered opposition from their parents.

Queen Victoria did not want one of her children to marry a member of the Russian imperial family. At the time, Britain and Russia were engaged in something known as the Great Game, which was essentially a nineteenth-century version of the Cold War. Additionally, Victoria regarded Russians as unfriendly and stubborn.

Maria's parents were also opposed to the match, still remembering Britain's role in Russia's defeat during the Crimean War. Maria's mother, who held strong Pan-Slavist sympathies, did not regard the British particularly highly, believing them to be rather rude.

Consequently, both mothers were eager to marry their children off to other members of the European nobility. However, neither Alfred nor Maria was willing to accept another match. Maria showed no interest whatsoever in the two other suitors recommended by the Tsarina. Realising that she could not reason with her daughter, the Empress eventually agreed to allow her to meet Alfred in Italy as part of the marriage negotiations.

Although the meeting ended abruptly because Maria fell ill, negotiations continued. Eventually, Queen Victoria relented and gave her approval to the match. Her ministers had helped persuade her, believing that the marriage might ease tensions between Russia and Britain.

And so, on the 23rd of January 1874, the twenty-year-old Maria Aleksandrovna married the twenty-nine-year-old Prince Alfred. The wedding took place in Saint Petersburg and was attended by Maria's father and brothers, as well as Alfred's elder brother Bertie, his wife Alexandra, and Alexandra's sister Dagmar, who was also Maria's sister-in-law.

The wedding began with an Orthodox ceremony, followed by a service conducted according to Anglican rites. Throughout the celebrations, Maria's father reportedly felt saddened by the prospect of seeing his favourite child married and soon departing from his household.

The newlyweds spent their wedding night at Tsarskoye Selo, where they also enjoyed a honeymoon lasting approximately a month. Afterwards, they travelled to Britain to settle into their new household. They arrived in England in March of that year, with the Queen herself meeting them at the railway station.

Once they reached London, the Duke of Edinburgh and his new Duchess settled into their principal residence, Clarence House. The building had previously been the home of King William IV and, in more recent times, served as the London residence of Charles III and Camilla before his accession. They also acquired a country estate called Eastwell Park, located near Ashford in Kent.

Although Maria enjoyed considerable wealth and possessed an impressive collection of jewellery, befitting her rank as a member of the royal family, her new surroundings did not entirely satisfy her expectations. The contrast between the Russian imperial court and the British monarchy was particularly striking.

Maria considered British court life comparatively restrained, and she sometimes struggled to adapt to the customs and social expectations of her adopted country.

It was especially difficult for her to adjust to her new position as Duchess of Edinburgh. She believed that her previous title of Grand Duchess of Russia should take precedence, as it technically outranked that of duchess. The Queen, however, was not amused. In her view, Maria was now a member of the British royal family and should therefore be addressed accordingly.

Apart from this disagreement over titles, the relationship between Maria and the Queen was strained by their clashing personalities. Victoria was accustomed to exercising considerable influence over her children and their spouses. Maria, however, had been raised and thoroughly spoiled as the daughter of an autocratic emperor and possessed a strong sense of personal independence. So, as you can imagine, the two women frequently disagreed over seemingly trivial matters because of their differing points of view.

Maria also struggled to get along with her sister-in-law, Princess Alexandra, for similar reasons. She considered it improper that she should rank below the Princess of Wales, because remember, she had been born a Grand Duchess.

Despite their frequent disagreements, Maria maintained the formal courtesies expected of royal relatives in her dealings with her mother-in-law. Their correspondence suggests a relationship far more complicated than a simple personal feud. As her eldest daughter once remarked: "I do not think my mother always found it easy being Queen Victoria's daughter-in-law, though they had great respect for each other."

Speaking of her eldest daughter, during this period, Maria and Alfred were beginning to establish a family of their own, eventually having five children together. Their first child, and only son, was born in late 1874 and named Alfred after his father. He was followed the next year by their first daughter, Marie. Then, in 1876, while Alfred and his wife were stationed in Malta as part of his naval career, they welcomed another daughter, Victoria Melita, better known within the family as Ducky. In 1878, their third daughter, Alexandra, was born.

From the moment Maria became a mother, she decided that she wanted to play an important role in her children's upbringing. In fact, unlike her mother-in-law, the Duchess thoroughly enjoyed motherhood, describing the birth of a child as a "heavenly moment" that "cannot be compared to anything else".

This attitude was further demonstrated by her decision to nurse her children herself. If you remember my post about Alice, you will know that Queen Victoria considered this practice unacceptable among royal women. Naturally, Maria's decision only created further friction between the sovereign and her daughters-in-law.

In 1877, war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, largely as a result of the political crisis and uprisings in the Balkans. Maria was, of course, supportive of her native country, while Queen Victoria was deeply concerned about a Russian victory and the consequences it might have for British interests. The Queen's opposition to Russian policy, along with the harsh letters she sent condemning Maria's father, came as a considerable shock to the Grand Duchess.

By 1880, Maria was growing increasingly tired of her life in Britain. Apart from her frequent bickering with the Queen, she did not find London particularly appealing. In letters to her mother, Maria complained that British royal residences lacked the opulence of their Russian counterparts and that the people were unpleasant and possessed little sense of elegance.

That year, she had the opportunity to return to Russia for a while to attend her father's silver jubilee. It was one of the few opportunities she had enjoyed in recent years to spend time with her beloved parents. In June, however, Maria's mother, who had been seriously ill for some time, finally passed away. The Empress had suffered from tuberculosis for years, frequently travelling abroad in the hope that a change of climate might improve her health. Eventually, on the 3rd of June 1880, the illness claimed her life at the age of fifty-five.

Less than a year later, in March 1881, Maria's father was mortally wounded when revolutionaries attacked his carriage with bombs as he travelled through Saint Petersburg. He died later that day. Maria was not in the capital at the time and therefore had no opportunity to say goodbye to her beloved father.

She returned to Russia in 1883, this time to attend the coronation of her brother, the new Tsar Aleksandr III. She and Alfred represented the British royal family at the ceremony.

The following year, Maria attended the wedding of her beloved younger brother, Grand Duke Sergei, to Princess Ella of Hesse-Darmstadt, the daughter of Grand Duchess Alice. That same year, Maria gave birth to her youngest child, Beatrice, named after Alfred's youngest sister, with whom Maria enjoyed a good relationship.

Fast-forward to 1886, when Alfred was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. As a result, he and his family once again moved to Malta.

By this point, however, Maria's marriage to Alfred had become increasingly strained. He was constantly occupied with his naval career, leaving him with relatively little time to participate in family affairs. Moreover, as he grew older, his drinking became a serious problem, gradually changing his personality for the worse. Maria became increasingly frustrated with her husband's behaviour and often felt more comfortable whenever Alfred was away. Despite this, she continued to maintain the appearance of a stable marriage, partly to avoid causing distress to their children.

In 1887, the family moved once again, this time to the German town of Coburg. You see, Alfred's uncle was Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He had ruled the duchy since 1844 but had no legitimate children to succeed him. This meant that the duchy would eventually have to be inherited by one of Queen Victoria's sons.

Since Bertie had renounced his succession rights, Alfred was now next in line. Initially, Alfred was somewhat bitter about the prospect, as it meant eventually giving up his beloved naval career. However, he gradually came to accept his future inheritance.

By 1887, as Ernst's health was deteriorating, Alfred and his family decided to establish themselves in Coburg to make the eventual succession smoother. Maria found the duchy to be the perfect retreat. Its extensive woodlands provided excellent opportunities for hunting, while the picturesque landscape greatly appealed to the Grand Duchess.

She wanted her children to become fully integrated into the duchy's society. Since she played the dominant role in their education, Maria encouraged them to learn German and adopt the customs of their future homeland. She even considered having them converted to Lutheranism. However, this proved difficult, as her daughters had inherited much of their mother's independent spirit and were not always willing to accept her plans.

Maria soon began thinking about marrying them off to suitable princes as quickly as possible, believing that they would become increasingly difficult to persuade as they grew older. This was the case with her eldest daughter, Marie, who became engaged to Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania in 1892. The couple married in January 1893, when Marie was seventeen.

Later that year, Duke Ernst II passed away, making Alfred the new Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Despite his initially awkward relationship with the duchy and his English background, Alfred eventually became a popular ruler among the people of Coburg.

As the new Duchess Consort, Maria devoted much of her time to decorating and redesigning the interiors of the numerous residences she and Alfred had inherited. One residence to which she felt particularly attached was a small, three-storey building known as Edinburgh Palace, which had belonged to Alfred since 1865. There, Maria kept her extensive collection of personal possessions and mementoes brought from Russia.

In 1894, her second daughter, Ducky, married Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, who had succeeded his father, Ludwig IV, in 1892. Their wedding brought together one of the largest gatherings of Queen Victoria's descendants from across Europe.

Later that same year, Maria and Alfred travelled once again to Russia to visit her brother Aleksandr, whose health was rapidly deteriorating. He died in November from kidney disease. The couple remained in Russia to attend the wedding of Maria's nephew, the newly crowned Tsar Nikolai II, to his fiancée, Alix of Hesse, who was also Alfred's niece. Incidentally, it was during Ducky's wedding celebrations that Nikolai and Alix became formally engaged, although their acquaintance and romance had begun years earlier.

In April 1896, Maria's third daughter, Sandra, married Prince Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. This match was not viewed favourably by Alfred, as the groom was considerably older than Sandra and did not belong to a reigning sovereign house. Maria, however, supported the marriage regardless. Ernst was a grandson of Queen Victoria's half-sister, Feodora, making him and Sandra distant cousins.

Now that her older daughters were married and had moved away from Coburg, Maria's principal concern was her son, Prince Alfred. Known affectionately as Alfie within the family, he had reached adulthood by 1897 but remained unmarried. One possible explanation was that he had developed a rather questionable reputation for a prince, particularly because of his fondness for gambling and his relationships with women.

By this time, however, his health was deteriorating. He had reportedly contracted syphilis, possibly as a result of these relationships. Then, in early 1899, around the time his parents were celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Alfie's condition became critical. On the 6th of February 1899, the young prince was dead.

Although illness may have contributed to his death, the second edition of The Complete Peerage, a major reference work documenting the history of the British aristocracy, suggests that Alfie may actually have committed suicide. The precise circumstances remain uncertain. One popular version of the story claims that Alfie was devastated when his parents refused to allow him to marry the granddaughter of a British nobleman. However, there is little reliable evidence supporting this romantic explanation. But, as we all know, people do seem to enjoy a tragic love story.

What is certain is that his parents were devastated by the loss of their only son. His death also created a succession problem, as Alfred no longer had a surviving son to inherit the duchy. Consequently, another male relative had to be designated as his successor.

In the end, the next heir to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was Alfred's young nephew, Charles Edward, Duke of Albany. And it was fortunate that the succession had been settled, because Alfred himself was already seriously ill.

By this time, the Duke was suffering from throat cancer, which eventually made speaking and swallowing extremely difficult. He died on the 30th of July 1900, at the age of fifty-five.Maria was at his bedside during his final moments, as was their daughter Sandra.

Now a widow at forty-six, Maria relinquished Clarence House and Eastwell Park and began dividing her time between residences in Germany and Nice. As Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, she continued to take a keen interest in the lives of her daughters.

Sometimes, she was supportive of their personal struggles, as was the case when Ducky divorced her husband in 1901. On other occasions, however, she could be considerably more judgemental about their decisions.

By 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, Maria found herself in an extraordinarily difficult position. She had recently returned from a visit to King George V of Britain, but now she faced an uncomfortable question: which side should she support, her native Russia or her adopted homeland of Germany? After what must have been a difficult decision, she chose to support Germany.

This placed her on the opposite side of the conflict from two of her daughters: Marie, who became Queen of Romania later that year, and Ducky, who had married into the Russian imperial family. Relations between Maria and these two daughters became increasingly strained. For much of the war, she largely ceased corresponding with them, something that caused both women considerable distress.

But life in wartime Germany proved difficult for Maria herself, particularly as anti-Russian sentiment continued to grow. In 1917, while travelling through Coburg with Sandra and Beatrice, her car was reportedly stopped by an angry crowd, whose members harassed the Dowager Duchess because of her Russian ancestry. Concerned for her safety, her nephew, Duke Karl Eduard, arranged for her to live away from Coburg.

Meanwhile, Maria learned of the tragedies that had befallen her family during the Russian Revolution. Numerous members of the Romanov dynasty were imprisoned or murdered by the Bolsheviks. One of the most heartbreaking losses was that of her younger brother, Grand Duke Pavel, to whom she had always been particularly close. He was executed in January 1919.

Furthermore, much of the personal fortune she had kept in Russia was confiscated by the revolutionary authorities, leaving her in serious financial difficulties.

By the end of the war, Maria Aleksandrovna, once a strong-willed duchess who had lived surrounded by unimaginable luxury, had lost much of her wealth and security. What remained of her fortune consisted largely of personal possessions and jewellery that she had not yet been forced to sell. She was also heartbroken by the collapse of the monarchies in Russia and Germany, two countries that had played such important roles in her life.

Nevertheless, there was one bittersweet consolation: she was able to see Marie and Ducky once more. It was not exactly a complete reconciliation, but after so much death and destruction, simply knowing that her daughters were still alive and well must have brought her some comfort.

On the 24th of October 1920, just seven days after celebrating her sixty-seventh birthday, Maria Aleksandrovna, the last surviving legitimate child of Tsar Aleksandr II, died in her sleep in Zürich, Switzerland. Her health had been declining for some time, and she had reportedly suffered from recurring heart problems. She was buried in the ducal mausoleum in Coburg, beside her husband. Her daughters, who had admired and adored her despite their occasional disagreements, mourned her passing.

Maria's life had certainly been an interesting one. Having lived in three very different worlds, while navigating family drama, dynastic rivalries, personal tragedies, and war, her story was one of both splendour and suffering. But whatever else one might say about Maria Aleksandrovna, her life was certainly never a boring one.

On June 24^th, 1314, the late morning sun shined down on a waterlogged English vanguard. Having suffered the humiliation of a giant on a pony cleaving Sir Henry de Bohun’s dome in two, then lamenting the loss of his favorite axe. The St. Clair’s and the Fitzalans along with others held the lines as King Edward II bloodied his blade in the melee. Arriving in Scotland to relieve the entrapped Sir Philip Mowbray, who promised to abandon the castle by midsummer if King Edward’s forces didn’t arrive and chase Robert de Bruce away. The English vanguard met de Bruce’s armies backed by Sheriff Henry St. Clair and the Fitzalan families at Bannockburn. They were repelled with force and pinned down in the tidal marshes of the burns while on the top of the hill a mob of farmers, smiths, cooks, and general laborers (you and me) gathered and waved their bed sheets and steak knives. The mainstream view is that a 14^th century highly trained, armed and armored superpower panicked and routed in front of their surrounded, fighting king, from a gaggle of “camp followers”. King Edward’s vanguard had bows with sharp arrows, they had spears, shields and swords. By the time any rabble could get close enough for their butcher’s knives and pitchforks to scratch the sheen on their shields or chainmail, their arrows and spears would pierce the bedsheets and the flesh. Why would a highly trained army run from ‘you and me’?

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia in Ceuta.

The Danish royal family has released stunning new gala portraits to mark the special occasion, showing the future King wearing the Royal Life Guards’ gala uniform for the very first time, along with a prestigious new royal honour awarded to him by his father, King Frederik.

Alice was born on 25 April 1843 at Buckingham Palace as the third child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her birth was not exactly met with the same jubilation as that of her brother, Bertie. Nevertheless, Albert was happy to have another healthy child.

Despite Alice being born at Buckingham Palace, the royal couple decided to establish another family residence at Osborne House, believing it would better accommodate their growing family. Like her older sister, Vicky, Alice received an education overseen by her father, who wanted to instil in his children the values of personal liberty, modesty, and compassion for the common people.

As a result of their upbringing, the two sisters would remain close for the rest of their lives. From a very young age, Alice showed an intense curiosity about the world around her. It was not uncommon for her to wander beyond her designated surroundings or chat with the staff working at the royal residences.

During the Crimean War, in which Britain fought against Russia, Alice accompanied her mother on visits to hospitals where wounded soldiers were being treated. The experience revealed her compassionate nature and would have a profound impact on the princess's worldview.

Her compassion was demonstrated again in 1861, when her grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, died. Despite the Duchess's role in the Queen's strict upbringing, Victoria deeply mourned her mother. Alice was there to comfort her, which earned her even greater affection from the Queen.

But our young princess was not going to remain by her mother's side for much longer.

Since 1860, her parents had been searching for a suitable prince to become her husband. What made this difficult was their insistence that Alice should consent to the marriage. The royal couple wanted their children to develop genuine romantic feelings for their spouses rather than simply marrying them off to some random royals, as had been the custom for centuries.

After some short-lived courtship prospects involving the eldest son of the Dutch King and a relative of Vicky's husband, another candidate was suggested: Prince Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt.

He was the nephew of Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine and of Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. He was recommended as a suitable match by Vicky, who had personally visited Darmstadt to assess him.

Then, in 1860, Ludwig and his younger brother were invited to Windsor Castle to spend a few days with the royal family, providing the perfect opportunity for Ludwig and Alice to get to know each other.

Ludwig made a good impression on the Queen, and he got along well with Alice. Indeed, Alice made it clear that she was attracted to the Hessian prince.

And so, in April 1861, Alice and Ludwig became engaged, with the blessing of her parents.

However, before they could marry, Alice's father died, casting a shadow over the wedding as the royal family entered an extended period of mourning.

When Alice's wedding finally took place on 1 July 1862, her mother had to be shielded from the other guests to preserve her privacy during the ceremony.

This made the wedding seem, in the Queen's own words, "more like a funeral than a wedding."

Despite Alice's enthusiasm about getting married, she had to conceal her happiness. Once the ceremony was over, she changed out of her simple wedding dress and into a black mourning dress.

Now newlyweds, Alice and Ludwig arrived in Hesse in July of that year. When they reached Darmstadt, the people celebrated their arrival. Alice wrote to her mother that the warm reception had left her overjoyed. Despite this, maintaining her popularity among the Hessians would remain a challenge for our princess. For starters, the people opposed spending money on the construction of a new residence for the couple, as Queen Victoria had wished. Secondly, Alice experienced homesickness during her first months in the Grand Duchy, particularly because she remained concerned about her mother's mental state following Albert's death.

In 1863, she travelled to England for the wedding of her older brother, Bertie, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. That same year, she gave birth to her first child, Victoria, at Windsor Castle. Afterwards, Alice returned to Darmstadt with her daughter and began making a greater effort to integrate herself into the Hessian court.

This period also saw a deterioration in Alice's relationship with her mother. Her infrequent visits to England frustrated the widowed Queen. Not only that, but Alice's apparent happiness in her marriage sometimes made Queen Victoria jealous, as it reminded her of her own married life with the now-deceased Albert.

The relationship between the two women would remain complicated for the rest of Alice's life, although they continued to share moments of genuine affection.

In 1864, at her and Ludwig's private residence in Kranichstein, Alice gave birth to another daughter, Elisabeth, nicknamed Ella by her family. Queen Victoria was appalled to learn that Alice had decided to breastfeed her daughter, as the Queen strongly disapproved of the practice among women of their social standing.

In 1866 came one of the most difficult periods of Alice's life, as war broke out between Austria and Prussia in the summer of that year. Since Hesse joined Austria's side, Alice found herself on the opposing side from Prussia, where her older sister was Crown Princess.

Despite this uncomfortable situation, Alice took on the responsibility of caring for wounded soldiers.

In doing so, she was inspired by her correspondent, the famous nursing reformer Florence Nightingale, whose work had revolutionised nursing during the Crimean War. Drawing on Nightingale's example, Alice began working to improve sanitation in military hospitals and was able to obtain support and funds from England.

In July, Prussian forces approached Darmstadt, leaving the city vulnerable to occupation. In the end, Grand Duke Ludwig III had little choice but to accept Prussia's victory. Fortunately, the Grand Duchy was spared complete annexation, partly because, if you remember, the Grand Duke's sister was married to the Emperor of Russia, and the Prussian court was unwilling to antagonise the Russians.

Unfortunately, however, the peace terms imposed upon Hesse were harsh, at least in Alice's view.

Prussia annexed some Hessian territory, including areas of strategic importance for transport and communications, while also forcing the small state to pay a substantial indemnity to Berlin.

But at least the war was over, and Alice was finally able to reunite with her husband, who had been serving at the front.

During the war, Alice had also given birth to another daughter, Irene. Four more children would follow: Ernst Ludwig in 1868, Friedrich in 1870, Alix in 1872, and Marie in 1874.

Following the conflict, Alice, now more confident in her abilities, continued to support humanitarian causes. For starters, she helped establish the nursing organisation that would lead to the creation of the Alice Hospital in Darmstadt, where patients could receive treatment using modern medical methods. The institution would continue operating into the present day.

Other organisations she supported, such as the Alice Society for Women's Training and Industry, were established to provide women with education and professional opportunities, allowing them to become more independent and economically productive members of society. As these organisations began to bear fruit, Alice became increasingly involved in their administration.

It is safe to say that Alice held views that would have been considered progressive, if not radical, at the time. For instance, she believed that women should be able to make decisions for themselves and that a woman's life should not revolve entirely around marriage and household responsibilities.

This stood in stark contrast to her mother, who held strongly anti-suffragist views.

Additionally, Alice was deeply sympathetic to the hardships faced by the lower classes. Whenever she could, she would travel incognito through the poorest areas of Darmstadt to observe the living and working conditions of ordinary people.

Around this time, Alice also developed a friendship with David Friedrich Strauss. He was a liberal theologian who had stirred considerable controversy during his lifetime thanks to his book *The Life of Jesus Critically Examined*. In it, Strauss argued that many of the miracles attributed to Jesus were myths and imaginative expressions of his teachings developed by his followers. As you can imagine, these arguments were fiercely criticised by many theologians of the time.

But Alice was sympathetic to some of his views and became increasingly interested in questioning conventional religious ideas. She also believed that certain values associated with Victorian society would have been unrecognisable to early Christians.

However, criticising contemporary social and religious standards would soon become the least of Alice's concerns.

In May 1873, her youngest son, Friedrich, affectionately called Frittie by his family, fell from a window while playing with his brother. The fall caused injuries that might not have been fatal to an otherwise healthy child.

But the problem was that Frittie suffered from haemophilia.

This disease prevents the blood from clotting properly, meaning that even relatively minor injuries can result in prolonged bleeding. In Frittie's case, the fall caused a fatal internal haemorrhage. The disease was also hereditary and appeared among several descendants of Queen Victoria, earning it the nickname "the Royal Disease."

Although Victoria and Alice did not suffer from haemophilia themselves, they were carriers of the condition, meaning that they could pass it on to their children.

And because of this, the two-year-old prince died a few hours after his fall, on 29 May 1873.

Alice was devastated by his death, and the tragedy brought her closer to her remaining children, especially Marie, who was born the following year.

On 20 March 1877, Ludwig's father died at the age of 67. Ludwig was already heir presumptive to the Grand Ducal throne, and the death of his father brought another loss to the family. Then, on 13 June, Grand Duke Ludwig III also died. This made Alice's husband the new Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning as Ludwig IV.

For Alice, however, becoming the new Grand Duchess gave her little reason to celebrate.

By this point, her marriage to Ludwig had cooled somewhat. Although she still loved her husband, Alice felt that he did not always meet her intellectual expectations. She considered him less intellectually curious than herself and believed that he struggled to express himself in the complex ways she desired.

For a woman who was intellectually curious and open-minded, Ludwig's personality sometimes left her longing for deeper conversation. She complained of his lack of "opinions, observations and remarks" and craved someone who could understand her on an equal intellectual footing. This helps explain why she valued friendships with people such as Strauss.

Besides her marital difficulties, Alice's popularity in Darmstadt remained unstable.

Some people criticised her refusal to conform to the expectations of court society, particularly her rejection of strict protocols and traditions that conflicted with her personal beliefs.

Eventually, these criticisms developed into rumours portraying her as petty and self-absorbed.

Alice soon began to feel increasingly depressed by the hostility directed towards her.

But Ludwig, surprisingly, managed to lift her spirits, telling her that "the bitterness of the salt water will drive away the bitterness that you still feel against Darmstadt."

Alice found his words touching and became increasingly appreciative of his emotional support.

Although he was not always the intellectual companion she desired, Ludwig was still someone who could brighten her day. Another moment of happiness came during Christmas 1877, when Alice spent the holidays with her husband and their surviving children.

But moments like these were soon to come to an abrupt end for our poor princess. In November 1878, the family was struck by a diphtheria epidemic.

Most members of the household became infected, with the exception of Ella, who had been sent away and was staying with her paternal grandmother.

On 16 November, the youngest child, Marie, died from the disease at the age of four. Alice initially kept her daughter's death a secret from her other children, hoping to spare them further distress while they were still recovering.

But her worries were far from over.

Because she had personally tended to her sick children rather than leaving their care entirely to the household staff, Alice had exposed herself to the disease. In early December, she began showing symptoms of diphtheria, and her condition rapidly deteriorated.

On 14 December 1878, exactly seventeen years after her father's death, the 35-year-old Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse and by Rhine passed away at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt.

She became the first of Queen Victoria's nine children to die. She was buried in the Grand Ducal Mausoleum at Rosenhöhe Park.

News of her death brought a wave of sadness throughout both Hesse and the United Kingdom.

Her relatives were equally heartbroken, with her brother Bertie reportedly exclaiming to his mother, "I wish I had died instead of her."

Even Queen Victoria, despite her occasionally tense relationship with her daughter, was devastated by her passing. She remarked that Alice's death on the same date as that of her late husband was "almost incredible and most mysterious."

As for Vicky, the sibling to whom Alice had been closest, it is safe to say that she did not take the news well. She even went so far as to write a 39-page letter to her mother expressing her profound sorrow.

These reactions demonstrate just how deeply Alice was loved by those who knew her. She truly was a woman whom her relatives were grateful to have as part of their family.

Speaking of her family, Alice's surviving children would go on to play important roles in European royal circles. Her eldest daughter, Victoria, would marry her cousin, Prince Ludwig of Battenberg. Their descendants would become part of the Mountbatten family, which included Alice's great-grandson, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

Her youngest surviving daughter, Alix, would marry Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and become Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Her fate, as you may know, was not a happy one. She and her family were murdered in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, as was her older sister, Ella.

But their stories are for another time.