#Duchess Helen of Albany

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[queenalexandraofdenmark]

~ ROYALS AND THEIR SIGNATURES ~

Part 3/3

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Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark(Princess Alice of Battenberg)

Crown Princess Thyra of Hanover(Princess Thyra of Denmark)

Princess Diana, Princess of Wales

Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia

Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna

Empress Elisabeth(Sissi) of Austria

Empress Maria Feodorovna(Dagmar of Denmark)

Tsar Alexander III

Princess Helen, Duchess of Albany(Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont)

Empress Maria Alexandrovna

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Duchess of Albany by Carl Rudolph Sohn, 1882

‘Helen is tall, & “élancée”, with a fine figure, rich colour, very dark hair, dark brown, deep set eyes, & a sweet smile. She has a charming, friendly manner & is very affectionate & warm hearted.’ Queen Victoria

The Queen was pleased with Sohn's painting which she described as 'vy. like & vy fine. He is, after Angeli, one of the best Portrait Painters I know'. (x)

[princesselisabethofhesse]

1901

Letter excerpts from Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna to Princess Marie of Romania

Osborne House, 16 January 1901

Yesterday we went over Osborne Cottage, it is quite changed, but certainly much improved and Aunt Beatrice is enchanted with it. A curious lot they all are, somehow I cannot fit in at all anymore. Ducky's child is mad with the sea and shells and very jolly.

Osborne House, 26 January 1901

I am writing under great difficulties, as Aunt Helen (Duchess of Albany) is sitting in my room and chattering to Ducky's little girl.

source: My Dear Mama by Diana Mandache

[heavyarethecrowns]

Leopold and Helen, the Duke and Duchess of Albany (1)

[glitterofthepast]

Duchess Helene of Albany on her wedding day, photo colored by me.

[history-of-fashion]

1882 Carl Rudolph Sohn - Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Duchess of Albany

(Royal Collection Trust)

[carolathhabsburg]

Halloween mini spam

Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany as Mary Beaton. 1890.

[nineteenthcenturyportraits]

Portrait of Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Duchess of Albany, 1882, by Karl Rudolf Sohn (1845-1908)

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Duchess Helen of Albany with her children, Alice and Charles Edward

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[skippyv20]

Cool!  Thank you😁❤️❤️❤️❤️

Knitting with Queen Victoria

A charming photograph taken by Mary Steen in the Queen’s Sitting Room at Windsor on 21 May 1895 shows an elderly Queen Victoria knitting, sat with her youngest daughter, Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg, who dutifully reads the newspaper aloud to her mother whilst the Queen listens, needles in her hand and a ball of wool at her feet. It is a wonderfully domestic snapshot, capturing a moment of intimacy between Queen Victoria and her beloved fifth daughter. The Queen is surrounded by precious clutter and furniture, the walls hung with family paintings, while on the tables stand clocks, sculptures under domes of glass, flowers, knickknacks and plants.

Photographs showing the Queen at her knitting are unusual, as not many appear to have been made. One earlier exception is the photograph made of her in 1889 by Byrne & Co, doing what seems to be crochet work.

We might not immediately think of Queen Victoria knitting, perhaps due to demands on her time. Her sketchbook we would surely first think of as her creative pursuit, the Queen at her paint-box, at least one of which survives. In fact, there are not many references to knitting in the Queen’s (edited) journals. She knitted for the Crimean War effort, when mittens and scarves were sent out to the British soldiers, as might befit the ‘Great Mother’ of the Nation.

During her widowhood, Queen Victoria took up the lonely pursuit of spinning wool and was drawn by Sir Joseph Boehm at her wheel, a consciously tragic image of a woman deep in reflection, spinning her wool and wearing her widow’s cap and veil. She was also photographed spinning (1863-5) by J. E. Mayall. 

The scarf crocheted by Queen Victoria and awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel TW Colclough in the Second Boer War.

Looking at the Queen’s journals, we can see, however, that knitting went back much further. Perhaps predictably, she mentioned it while convalescing from her serious illness at Ramsgate in 1835. Other occasions were at Claremont while Lehzen, the beloved German governess of her youth, read aloud to her. We might not be surprised that after the Queen’s marriage to Prince Albert, she showed less of an interest in the activity. She describes knitting between the end of 1840 – the year of her wedding – and the beginning of 1841, a period after she had given birth to her first child, the Princess Royal. She knitted a quilt for the baby boy born in 1874 to her second son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and his wife, Duchess Marie, christened Prince Alfred after his father. She continued to knit cot covers for her numerous grandchildren when they arrived, such as that knitted for Princess Alice of Albany, daughter of her son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and Princess Helen of Waldeck. Her cot covers were little works of art which she was extremely proud of. The pink and white cot cover for Princess Alice of Albany survives at the Museum of London, shows the Queen’s cypher in black wool ‘VRI’ under a crown and the date ‘1883’, which she embroidered on the cover.

Queen Victoria spinning

At Frogmore House, some samples of Queen Victoria’s knitting actually survive. They are kept inside a small, pretty, tasselled straw basket on the table of the Sitting Room of her mother, the Duchess of Kent. The basket dates between 1850 and 1899 and also contains a little ball of pink wool. 

[early20thcenturynerd]

Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany, Queen Victoria’s daughter-in-law, with her two children, December 1884. On the right is Princess Alice of Albany. At the bottom is Charles Edward, Duke of Albany. Helena’s husband, Prince Leopold, wouldn’t live to meet his son, having died while she was pregnant.

“Darling, you shall know the whole truth every day - I do not mid the pain ( I have very little this moment) but the idea of you unhappy - perhaps crying - at Claremont joined to my horrible disappointment at not coming home - makes me howl. Oh! death would be preferable to this - Darling, we must not shut our eyes - I may be 3 or 4 weeks or longer without being able to move - You see I tell you all the worse (& shall do so on my honour always) - Could you come? by going by sea to Bordeaux, & then by canals to Marseilles? Oh! would it be possible? You see up comes my vile selfishness. You would have no rail then. Oh! if it were possible!!

Thanks [for] your letter, arrived only 2 hours ago - Darling the morphia [morphine] is struggling so with me - that I can not possibly write more. Good night, God bless you. Your ever devoted Leo.”

- Leopold to Helena, not long before his death

“I remained with dear Helen off & on, the whole time, till the Baby was born, a strong boy, who screamed very loudly, on coming into the world. It was carried into the next room, where Sir Wm Harcourt was waiting. When dear Helen was reassured that the Baby was alive, & a boy, she exclaimed: ‘Oh! my Leo, my Leo!’, which cut me to the heart. She bore her suffering most bravely & is so thankful for God's mercy in having spared her & the child. I went in afterwards to look at the Baby, which was in Pauline Bentheim's arms. He is very small. 

When I returned to dear Helen, she said, ‘Dear Mama, you will let the child be called Charles Edward, will you not, it was dear Leopold's greatest wish’, which I knew. Of course I approved, thought I should have preferred Leopold. But it will be amongst the names. I left her quite quiet. Wrote quantities of telegrams. Everyone rejoices that all is safely over, but oh! how heartrending it is that dear Leopold was not there.”

- Queen Victoria’s diary on the day of Charles Edward’s birth, 19th July

[princessvictoriamelita]

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1880-1962) as a young girl. Queen Wilhelmina succeeded to the Dutch throne at the age of ten on the death of her father, King William III, in November 1890. In May 1895, accompanied by her mother, Queen Emma, and her aunt, Helen, Duchess of Albany (widow of Queen Victoria's youngest son), she met Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.

Photograph by Adolphe.

Source: Royal Collection

[european-royalties]

#OnThisDay Year 1861, Birth of Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont,(Helene Friederike Auguste; later Duchess of Albany; 17 February 1861 – 1 September 1922), who became a member of the British royal family by marriage, was the fifth daughter and child of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his first wife, Princess Helena of Nassau. She was born in Arolsen, capital of Waldeck principality, in Germany. She was the sister of Friedrich, last reigning Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont; Marie, the first wife of William II of Württemberg; and of Emma, Queen consort of William III of the Netherlands (and mother of Queen Wilhelmina). #RoyalBirth #PrincessHelena #WaldeckandPyrmont #DuchessofAlbany #Monarchy #EuropeanRoyalties https://www.instagram.com/p/CLYpYqmF0UP/?igshid=d0slmy798u4v

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Coronet worn by HRH Helen, Duchess of Albany for the Coronations of Edward VII in 1902 & George V in 1911.

Museum of London