The Granddaughters Who Ruled

By Scarlett Bantin, Second Year History

‘The Royal Circle at Windsor’ - Queen Victoria with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. At the centre sits Queen Victoria. To the right of Queen Victoria is Maud, future Queen of Norway. In the front row, seven from the right, sits Marie, future Queen of Romania. Accessible via the National Portrait Gallery.

Any decent self-proclaimed fan of the hit CBBC series, Horrible Histories, will be familiar with the song ‘The Cousins’. It details the exploits of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, George V of the United Kingdom, and Wilhelm II of Germany, during the ‘Frightful First World War’ to the tune of a funky swing song. The same fans, however, may be entirely unaware of their five female cousins, who, like the three kings, were all grandchildren of Queen Victoria. Though they married into their respective monarchies, they still wielded significant influence over their fate in the 20th century. With revolution and haemophilia rife, not to mention their own war efforts, their lives ranged from inspiring to tragic and ought to be remembered just as much as the kings they were married to.

Take Alexandra of Russia (née Hesse). She was married to Nicholas II of Russia from 1894 and is the true biological relative of Wilhelm II and George V, yet it was her husband who featured on CBBC. Such dismissal featured throughout Alexandra’s life: first for needing to convert to Orthodoxy to marry; then for giving birth to only daughters in the first decade of her marriage; and then for passing haemophilia to their long-awaited only son, Alexei. While these factors were entirely beyond her control, she did also make unpopular choices, such as refusing to learn and speak Russian and her infamous friendship with Rasputin. Consequently, she has long been remembered for destabilising the Russian monarchy, who would all ultimately be murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1917, during the Russian Revolution.

‘King Edward VII and large royal party’ - In the front row, fourth from the left sits Alexandra of Russia.

Alexandra was not the only granddaughter to encounter revolution. Sophia of the Hellenes (née Prussia) ruled Greece from 1913 alongside her husband, Constantine I. During the First World War, her strong connections to Germany and desire to be uninvolved in the war – likely due to being the younger sister of Wilhelm II – led to heavy public criticism, unpopularity and her ultimate downfall. There had already been a long series of disagreements on foreign policy between the monarchy and Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, known as the Great Schism. However, the monarchy’s unwillingness to aid the Allies was the final straw, and Constantine was forced to abdicate in 1917 in favour of his second son, Alexander – and Greece joined the war.

Similarly, Victoria Eugenie of Spain (née Battenburg)’s marriage to Alfonso XIII in 1906 led to unrest and the forced end of their rule. Like Alexandra, she was disliked for converting her religion (in this case, to Catholicism) prior to her marriage – and was almost assassinated on her wedding day. Such violence seems to have doomed their marriage and rule. Her unpopularity was only exacerbated by the births of her five sons: two haemophiliacs, one deaf, one stillborn, and just the one who could legally inherit the throne, for which Fernando entirely blamed Victoria Eugenie. Despite the breakdown of her marriage, she devoted her life to hospitals, the poor and education, and was particularly honoured for her work for the Spanish Red Cross. By 1931, Alfonso and Victoria Eugenie accepted voluntary exile to avoid a civil war, and the Second Spanish Republic was declared. 

‘Royal group in the Crimson Drawing-Room at Windsor Castle’ - In the front row, on the far-left sits Maud of Norway, and on the far-right sits Victoria Eugenie of Spain.

Some of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters were far luckier. Maud of Norway (née Wales) married Carl of Denmark in 1896, and upon the 1905 dissolvement of the Norway-Sweden Union, was elected the queen of Norway, alongside her husband, who was crowned as Haakon VII. Norway was keen to promote a constitutional monarchy, so an English princess (constitutional since 1688) and a Danish prince (constitutional since 1849) made a very favourable choice. Though this was viewed as ‘unnervingly modern’ and unpopular among other royals, Maud and Carl were keen to adapt to their new culture and language. They were incredibly popular and set an example of acting primarily within representative and ceremonial roles, not politics, which has continued to this day.

The final of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters to become a queen, Marie of Romania (née Edinburgh) married the future Ferdinand I in 1895 and ascended to the throne in 1914. By 1916, Romania finally joined the First World War in favour of the Allies, fulfilling the public desire which had been blocked by the previous king, Carol I. This was largely due to the repeated urging and demands of Marie, who was keen to support her British relatives. During the war, Marie was a practicing nurse and actively involved in politics and military strategy – for her resoluteness, she was described as ‘truly the only man in Romania’. Even after the war, her work in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference actively bolstered both her and her country’s international prestige and led to official recognition of Greater Romania. Though there were later attempts to damage her reputation by her own son, Carol II, her popularity and legacy are undeniable.

These queens all shared Queen Victoria as their grandmother and were greeted with the challenge of ruling an unfamiliar country as its consort. Beyond this, however, their experiences and fates vary dramatically, partly due to luck, their husbands, and their ability to wield their newfound influence. Ultimately these women are interesting case studies, but they also represent the changing world at the end of the long nineteenth century: those who were willing to adapt and evolve with modernity; and those who were outrun by the modernity of their own sovereignties and peoples.

Edited by Ben Bryant

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