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Product Identifiers

PublisherShort Books, The Limited

ISBN-101780725213

ISBN-139781780725215

eBay Product ID (ePID)20067063906

Product Key Features

Book TitleLives and Deaths of the Princesses of Hesse : The Curious Destinies of Queen Victoria's Granddaughters

Number of Pages288 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicWomen, Royalty, Europe / Germany, Europe / Western

Publication Year2025

GenreBiography & Autobiography, History

AuthorFrances Welch

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.4 in

Item Weight18.6 Oz

Item Length9.3 in

Item Width6.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

TitleLeadingThe

Dewey Edition23

Dewey Decimal943.41080922

SynopsisTHE TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK Named one of The Telegraph's 'Best Biographies of the Year 2024' Queen Victoria had forty-two grandchildren but the four Princesses of Hesse were held in her particular favour. After the sudden death of her daughter Alice, Queen Victoria took an obsessive interest in the marriage prospects of the four girls their mother had left behind, hoping this might secure for them a happy future. And each of the young women did indeed marry into a European dynasty: the Romanovs and the Hohenzollerns of Germany. However no one could have foreseen how the maelstrom of the twentieth century would bring tragedy and heartache to each one of them in turn. Drawing on hundreds of previously unseen letters from the sisters as well as from their grandmother Queen Victoria, The Princesses of Hesse takes us on a sweeping journey across the tumultuous landscape of the turn of the century - from the dramas of the Russian Court to the Russian Revolution, and through both World Wars in which the sisters often found themselves on opposing sides. Both intimate and epic in scope, Frances Welch's biography sheds new light on the four sisters' lives, illuminating a remarkable period of history in the process. 'full of passions, royal peculiarities and misspelt letters...compellingly told' Christopher Howse, The Daily Telegraph 'Welch does a wonderful job of marshalling the different strands of this story, drawing on the sisters' chatty, gossipy correspondence, some of which has never been published. It grips you until the very last page' The Mail on Sunday 'Frances Welch's elegant and intimate group biography returns us to the start of the 20th century, when Queen Victoria's favourite grand-daughters were scattered between Germany, England and Russia' Frances Wilson, The Daily Telegraph 'eye-opening' and 'harrowing' The Daily Mail 'Welch brings the four princesses vividly to life' and 'will delight those who enjoy reading about the lives of royals' The Times 'brings them vividly to life...a tonic...a gripping read' Hugo Vickers, The Oldie 'Frances Welch has a gift for bringing royal figures to life, making us care about them and showing us how their stories interweave...this is both a deeply affecting story of four sisters and an informative bit of history' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Spectator 'splendid', 'a fascinating family portrait', 'Welch creates a tenderly intimate portrait of the last, doomed Tsarina and her three German-born sisters' Miranda Seymour, Literary Review 'excellent, fascinating' Jane Ridley, Times Literary Supplement, The fascinating story of the Princesses of Hesse, four sisters at the heart of twentieth-century politics A gripping family saga and a portrait of a world in turmoil The Princesses of Hesse were Queen Victoria's grandchildren. After the death of their mother, Queen Victoria's favorite daughter Alice, the Queen stepped in, taking an almost manic interest in the motherless girl's marriage prospects. Very little went according to plan. Fortunately, Queen Victoria did not live to see her direst fears for the girls spouses being realized. She died in January 1901, just before her beloved Hesse granddaughters became caught up in the maelstrom of early 20th century Europe. The youngest sister, Alix , married Tsar Nicholas II of Russia; she was assassinated, along with the rest of her family, in a cellar in Ekaterinburg. The second, Ella , married the Russian Grand Duke Serge. After he was assassinated, she became a nun, only to be assassinated by the Bolsheviks twenty-four hours after Alix in 1918. The third, Irene , married the Kaiser's brother, Prince Henry, and was entangled in the 1918 German uprisings. The eldest sister, Princess Victoria , married Prince Louis Battenberg, and became the mother of Lord Louis Mountbatten and grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Their lives were all dramatic, but this book - the first full-length biography of the Princesses of Hesse - also shows how they interacted as sisters, forever jostling for status and relaying the politics and intrigues that surrounded them. Drawing on hundreds of previously unseen letters from the sisters as well as from their grandmother Queen Victoria, The Princesses of Hesse takes us on a sweeping journey across the tumultuous landscape of the turn of the century - from the dramas of the Russian Court to the Russian Revolution, and through both World Wars in which they often found themselves on opposing sides. Both intimate and epic in scope, Frances Welch's biography sheds new light on the four sisters' lives, illuminating a remarkable period of history in the process.

LC Classification NumberDD708.W4 2024