Names Sakes, Part I
I began this article to illustrate the remarkable women whom Louise is named after. However the task was more difficult than what I assumed. The Earl and Countess of Wessex have not stated exactly whom their daughter was named after, so this is instead a tribute to the nearest people whom share their names with Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary.
The name Louise was to create the biggest obstacle as Louise has turned out to be a greater traditional royal name than I had ever expected, so I decided to create a separate page devoted to Royal Louise's. For the benefit of this page however I choice Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, later Queen Louise of Denmark (1817-1898) , as she was referred to as the inspiration for Louise's first name.
HRH Louise of Hesse-Cassel
Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel was a passionate and lively women. She married Prince Christian of Denmark in 1842. Although it was an organised marriage, the couple were very devoted to each other. The couple had six children, the eldest Frederick in 1843 , Alexandra in 1844, Vilhelm in 1845, Dagmar in 1847, Thyra in 1853 and Valdemar in 1858 . The Danish royal family were not rich in any standard and as Christian was relatively far from the throne, the couple enjoyed a simple family life away from court. King Christian VIII provided his son with the 'grace and favour' home of Yellow Palace at Amliegade street in Cophenagen. Although it had a grand name, their lodgings were very modest. Christian's sole income was his salary as an army officer and Louise did most of the housekeeping and child rearing. As the couple could not afford to privately school the children, Louise would take on the role of religious instructor, while Prince Christian would take them for physical instruction. Although the boys would later get a private tutor, Louise would continue her teaching of the girls as well as help them make their own clothes. This hardship cemented the close knit family. From an early age Princess Louise was strickened with deafness due to otosclerosis, despite this setback she taught her children music, English, German and French. The couple were especially religious and paid particular attention in building a Christian work ethic and discipline. Louse was also a talented painter, as can be seen by her work below, Turkish Merchants.
In his old age, Christian VIII realised that his eldest son would not have children and began preparing Christian for the throne. King Christian IX of Denmark is often referred to as the grandfather of Europe. It is thus be regarded that Louise was its grandmother. Their son, Frederick, succeeded his father as King of Denmark in 1906. Their grandson Charles became King Haakon VII of Norway in 1905. Their second son William George was asked to became King of Greece in 1863. Their eldest daughter Alexandra married the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, and became Queen of England. While their youngest daughter, Dagmar married Tsar Alexander and became Tsarina. Louise is thus a common ancestor of both HM The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
HRH Princess Alice of Greece
Princess Alice of Battenberg was born on 25 February 1885 in Windsor Castle to HRH Princess Victoria, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert ,and her husband Prince Louis of Battenberg. In 1914 King George V requested that Louis anglicanise his surname due to the Anti-German sentiments within Britain after World War I. Thus the surname of Battenberg was changed to Mountbatten, the King conferred on him the title of Marquess of Milford Haven as he had given up his right to his German titles.
Princess Alice Mountbatten lived a carefree live in the British royal houses, mostly stayed in London. She was diagnosis with congenital deafness from an early age. However she overcame this obstacle as she learnt to lip-read and speak English, French and German and later Greek. On 7 October 1903 she married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark. The couple had six children - Margarita in 1905, Theodora in 1906, Cecilie in 1911, Sophie in 1914 and Philip in 1921. Another child, Olga died in infancy. The couple made their home in Greece during a time of great turmoil for the country and its monarchy. In 1922 a Revolutionary Committee, under the leadership of Nikolaos Plastiras and Stylianos Gonatos overthrew the government and forced King Constantine I of Hellenes into exile. Prince Andrew and his family were taken to the island to Corfu as Prince Andrew was charged with treason for serving in the Second Army Corps during the Balkan War. The British government intervened and many political prisoners including Princess Alice and her family were allowed to go into exile.
The family made their home at Saint- Clouds, outside of Paris, where they had family living. Princess Alice opened a charity shop to assist Greek refugees who like herself had escaped the revolution. The Princess who had always been deeply religious, became very involved in the work of the Greek Orthodox Church. In 1930 Prince Alice suffered a nervous breakdown and was placed in an sanatorium in Switzerland. She was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. It should be noted that in the 1930's mental illnesses were misunderstood. It is now believed that Princess Alice suffered from sever depression which could today be treated with medication. Princess Alice's illness placed great pressure on Prince Andrew who was also having difficulty adjusting to life in exile. This led him to withdrew from his family. Their daughters married German princes and Prince Philip was sent to live with his maternal grandmother and uncles in England. In 1938 Princess Alice returned to Athens to work along the sick and poor.
During World War II Princess Alice decided to stay in Athens, along with Princess Nicholas of Greece (Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent's mother.) They worked with the Swedish and Swiss Red Cross Organisations and organised soup kitchens. In 1943 after the fall of Mussolini, German troops occupied Italy to prevent Allied troops from flooding it. Princess Alice helped to hide Rachel Cohen and her five children, who as German Jewish immigrants were to be handed over to the Gestapo and deportation to the death camps. She remained in Greece following the war. In 1947 she was the only member of Prince Philip's immediate family to attend his wedding to Princess Elizabeth of England. His sisters were unable to attend due to their involvement within the German royal family. She ret urned to Greece after the w e dding and in 1949 founded an order of Greek Orthodox nuns, called The Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary , which concentrates upon the Greek island of Trinos. She lived out the reminder of her life as a nun of the order.
In 1967 another coup rocked Greece and the Greek royal family went into exile again. Princess Alice accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to come live at Buckingham Palace. She died at Buckingham Palace in 1969. Her remains were interned in the Royal Crypt in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. When the Greek authorities allowed it, her remains were buried in the church crypt of the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene, Gethsemane in 1988. In 1994, Princess Alice was commended at the Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial) in Jerusalem for the bravery she showed during World War II by hiding the Cohen family.