Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

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Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha bigraphy, stories - Princess of Great Britain and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; former Grand Duchess of Hesse; pretender Empress of Russia; a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England.

Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha : biography

25 November 1876 – 2 March 1936

Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (25 November 1876 – 2 March 1936), was the third child and second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria as well as of Tsar Alexander II of Russia.

Born a British Princess, Victoria spent her early life in England and for three years in Malta, where her father was serving in the Royal Navy. In 1889 the family moved to Coburg, where Victoria’s father became the reigning Duke in 1893. In her teens Victoria fell in love with her maternal first cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, but they could not marry because the Orthodox Christian religion forbids the marriage between first cousins. Instead, bowing to family pressure, Victoria married in 1894 a paternal first cousin, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, following the wishes of their shared grandmother, Queen Victoria. Their marriage was a failure. Victoria scandalized the royal families of Europe when she divorced her husband in 1901. The couple’s only daughter died of typhoid fever in 1903.

Victoria married Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich in 1905. They wed without the necessary approval of the Tsar. In retaliation, Nicholas II stripped Kirill of his offices and honors and Victoria and Kirill were initially banished from living in Russia. They had two daughters and settled in Paris before they were allowed to return in 1909. In 1910 they moved to Russia where she was known as Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna. After the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917, they escaped to Finland where she gave birth to her only son. In exile they lived for some years in Germany and from the late 1920s in Saint-Briac. In 1926 Kirill proclaimed himself emperor in exile and Victoria supported her husband’s claims. Victoria died after suffering a stroke while visiting her daughter Maria in Amorbach.

War

During World War I, Victoria worked as a Red Cross nurse and organized a motorized ambulance unit that was known for its efficiency.Sullivan, p. 288 Victoria frequently visited the front near Warsaw and she occasionally carried out her duties under enemy fire. Kirill, for his part, was also in Poland, assigned to the naval department of Admiral Russin, member of the staff of Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch, commander in chief of the Russian army. Kirill and Victoria had always shared their relatives’ distaste for the Tsar and Tsarina’s friendship with the starets Grigori Rasputin.Sullivan, p. 271 The Tsarina believed Rasputin healed her son of his hemophiliac attacks with his prayers. Victoria told her sister, Queen Marie of Romania, that the Tsar’s court was "looked upon as a sick man refusing every doctor and every help."Sullivan, p. 272

When Rasputin was murdered in December 1916, Victoria and Kirill signed a letter along with other relatives asking the Tsar to show leniency to Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, one of those implicated in the murder. The Tsar denied their request. Twice during the war Victoria visited Romania providing the country, where her sister Marie was now Queen, with help. Victoria returned to St. Petersburg in February 1917. Kirill had been appointed commander of the Naval Guards, quartered in St. Petersburg, so he could be with his family for some time. Although publicly loyal to the Tsar, Victoria and Kirill began to meet in private with other relatives to discuss the best way to save the monarchy.

Ancestry

Claims to the Russian throne

Kirill suffered a nervous breakdown in 1923 and Victoria nursed him back to health. She encouraged his dreams of restoring the monarchy in Russia and becoming Tsar.Sullivan, p. 355 At Saint-Briac, Kirill officially declared himself the Guardian of the Throne in 1924.Sullivan, p. 357 Victoria went on a trip to the United States in 1924, hoping to raise American support for restoring the monarchy.Sullivan, 364 Her attempt did not meet with success, due to the isolationism prevalent in the United States during the 1920s.Sullivan, p. 371 She continued in her efforts to help Kirill restore the monarchy and also sold her artwork to raise money for the household.Sullivan, p. 379