Princess Beatrice of Great Britain and Ireland (1857-1944)

Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore of Great Britain and Ireland was born on the 14th April 1857 at Buckingham Palace, the youngest child of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819-1861) and Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland (1819-1901). On her grandmother's and father's death both in 1861, her mother relied on her and her sister, Princess Alice to be there for her. It was for this reason that Victoria never wanted Beatrice to marry, so that she could be with her, but Beatrice married Prince Henry of Battenburg (1858-1896) on the 23rd July 1885 on the Isle of Wight. They had four children together: Alexander (1886-1960), Victoria Eugenie (1887-1969), Leopold (1889-1922) and Maurice (1891-1914). Her husband died during the Anglo-Boer war in 1896. Due to anti-German feeling in Britain, she changed her surname from 'Battenburg' (a German name) to its English translation 'Mountbatten'. As did two of her children, Alexander and Leopold. In her later years, she published her mother's journals. She died on the 26th October 1944 at Brantridge Park in Sussex, aged 87.