Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria

Once there was Vicky, Alice, Helena, Louise, and Beatrice…

Now with Marie, Maud, Ena, Alix, and Sophie, we see the face of Europe change once more. Julia Gelardi’s book is a fascinating study of the lives of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters. It gets slightly difficult to read at times, because each woman’s life is chronicled along side the other. Winding is a good word for the style, but nevertheless, this book is a captivating look at another quintuple of royal kin. The first set was, of course, Queen Victoria’s own daughters, some of whom were the mothers of these powerful women…

Vicky, the Queen’s eldest child, married the Crown Prince of Prussia and gave birth to several children. Two of those children would be most significant to the political scene of Europe – Kaiser Wilhelm and his sister, Sophie, future Queen of Greece. Queen Sophie and the Greek royal family were caught in the crossfire of European politics. Deception and betrayal by major countries eventually forced them into exile, all because Greece wanted to stay neutral throughout WWI. The neutrality was seen as Greece siding with Germany, because after all, Sophie was the Kaiser’s sister. What people did not realize was that Wilhelm treated her very badly, and had exiled her from Prussia because of her conversion to Greek Orthodoxy. Hardly a close relationship.

Victoria’s second daughter, Princess Alice, was the mother of Empress Alexandra of Russia, the most tragic and famous of the five granddaughters. Alice’s early death from diphtheria greatly affected the young Alexandra, her once happy nature fading into sadness and wariness. She also became increasingly pious and withdrew into herself. We see that this is the beginning of a sensitive personality that would one day collapse further with the startling revelation that her only son and heir to the Russian throne was a hemophiliac. Alexandra would stop at nothing to help her son Alexei overcome his illness, even at the expense of her and the Tsar’s lives.

Princess Beatrice, the youngest of Victoria’s nine children, was mother to Queen Victoria Eugenie (Ena) of Spain. Ena had a wonderful marriage to King Alphonso XIII, that is until they discovered that their children carried the hemophilia gene. Alphonso blamed Ena and her family for the dreaded disease, and bolted from the marriage bed to carry out many affairs. However, Ena did her best to be a good Queen, and thoroughly immersed herself in Spanish culture. She had even become Catholic in order to marry into the Spanish royal family. Throughout political upheaval and occasional exile, Queen Ena was respected by the Spaniards and her grandson, Juan Carlos, reigns today.

Not to be outdone, two of Victoria’s princely sons produced the remaining consorts: Queen Marie of Romania was the daughter of Victoria’s son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Bertie, the future King Edward VII of England, fathered Queen Maud of Norway. Marie and Maud could not have been more different. In personalities, certainly; in countries, unavoidably. Romania was surrounded by warring countries, and suffered many of its own casualties throughout strife in the region. Norway, however, was relatively placid.

Maud began her married life as Princess Maud of Denmark, living in Copenhagen. She carried out many royal duties, but went back to England as much as possible. She loved her husband Charles, but she missed her old home. Much like her aunts Vicky and Alice, Maud regarded the English way of life as the only way to live. Soon, her thoughts of home and the visits to England would have to be put aside – her husband was offered the title of King of Norway. He accepted, and became King Haakon. Their only son, named Alexander, became Crown Prince Olav. True to form, the new Queen remained ‘Maud’.

Queen Marie’s life and outlook mirrored that of her aunt Vicky of Prussia. Her in-laws never warmed to her, but they took charge of her eldest son (Prince Carol) and made him bombastic, selfish, and hateful towards his mother and sisters. As Crown Princess, Marie tried her best to get along in her adopted country regardless, and was beloved by Romanians for her tireless war efforts. However, Marie did not have the happy marriage that Vicky came to know. Ferdinand of Romania was not faithful like his Prussian counterpart, Frederick (Fritz). Marie knew of Ferdinand’s dalliances and had her own affairs as well, most notably with Barbo Stirby. However, she and her husband, nicknamed “Nando”, worked closely to try to better serve Romania.

All in all, this is a great book and you will certainly enjoy the photographs therein. Wonderfully done.

© Mandy Littlefield
An Amazon.com Review
August 30, 2005