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Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece
Hugo Vickers's Alice is the remarkable story of Princess Andrew of Greece, whose life seemed intertwined with every event of historical importance in twentieth century Europe. "In 1953, at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Alice was dressed from head to foot in a long gray dress and a gray cloak, and a nun's veil. Amidst all the jewels, and velvet and coronets, and the fine uniforms, she exuded an unworldly simplicity. Seated with the royal family, she was a part of them, yet somehow distanced from them. Inasmuch as she is remembered at all today, it is as this shadowy figure in gray nun's clothes..."Princess Alice, mother of Prince Phillip, was something of a mystery figure even within her own family. She was born deaf, at Windsor Castle, in the presence of her grandmother, Queen Victoria, and brought up in England, Darmstadt, and Malta.In 1903 she married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and from then on her life was overshadowed by wars, revolutions, and enforced periods of exile. By the time she was thirty-five, virtually every point of stability was overthrown. Though the British royal family remained in the ascendant, her German family ceased to be ruling princes, her two aunts who had married Russian royalty had come to savage ends, and soon afterwards Alice's own husband was nearly executed as a political scapegoat.The middle years of her life, which should have followed a conventional and fulfilling path, did the opposite. She suffered from a serious religious crisis and at the age of forty-five was removed from her family and placed in a sanitarium in Switzerland, where she was pronounced a paranoid schizophrenic. As her stay in the clinic became prolonged, there was a time where it seemed she might never walk free again. How she achieved her recovery is just one of the remarkable aspects of her story.
761 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2000
414 people are currently reading
2722 people want to read
About the author
Hugo Vickers
48 books55 followersHugo Vickers is a writer and broadcaster, who has written biographies of many twentieth century figures, including the Queen Mother, Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough, Cecil Beaton, Vivien Leigh, a study of Greta Garbo, Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece, and his book, The Private World of The Duke and Duchess of Windsor was illustrated with pictures from their own collection. Mr Vickers’s book, The Kiss: The Story of an Obsession won the 1996 Stern Silver Pen Award for Non-Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
February 4, 2015
What a very challenging biography this must have been to write, yet how very interesting and rewarding it must have been to research.
Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece was both a beautiful young lady, and a truly remarkable woman. I repeatedly found myself asking the question, “Could I have coped / cope with as much change in my life as she experienced in hers?” Having to date lived a largely straightforward and settled life, that question becomes absurd and perfectly impossible to answer.
The four family trees given on pages 450 - 457 are perhaps the most essential pages in this book. I rather wish the publisher had ordered them to be printed fanfold, so that I wouldn’t have needed to permanently keep them ‘marked’ with my thumb. Keeping track of who was / is related to who is probably the hardest part in reading this book. Yet even then I surprised myself at the point when I realised that for the first time I had actually gained a tangible understanding of the sheer size and interrelatedness of the European royal families at that time.
This is not a book to read quickly, but one to savour and think through. Alice lived through a remarkably ‘busy’ period of history, and in an age where travelling a good distance was not necessarily onerous. Yes, there are an awful lot of ‘what if’s’ one can ask; but only to ultimately realise what a very honourable, admirable, and human life of both rights and wrongs is described within these pages. HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is indeed fortunate to have been so blessed with such a remarkable mother, and such an interesting family. I have not looked for a biography of Prince Andrew of Greece; because having read this book I feel that Alice was undoubtedly the brighter star.
Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece was both a beautiful young lady, and a truly remarkable woman. I repeatedly found myself asking the question, “Could I have coped / cope with as much change in my life as she experienced in hers?” Having to date lived a largely straightforward and settled life, that question becomes absurd and perfectly impossible to answer.
The four family trees given on pages 450 - 457 are perhaps the most essential pages in this book. I rather wish the publisher had ordered them to be printed fanfold, so that I wouldn’t have needed to permanently keep them ‘marked’ with my thumb. Keeping track of who was / is related to who is probably the hardest part in reading this book. Yet even then I surprised myself at the point when I realised that for the first time I had actually gained a tangible understanding of the sheer size and interrelatedness of the European royal families at that time.
This is not a book to read quickly, but one to savour and think through. Alice lived through a remarkably ‘busy’ period of history, and in an age where travelling a good distance was not necessarily onerous. Yes, there are an awful lot of ‘what if’s’ one can ask; but only to ultimately realise what a very honourable, admirable, and human life of both rights and wrongs is described within these pages. HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is indeed fortunate to have been so blessed with such a remarkable mother, and such an interesting family. I have not looked for a biography of Prince Andrew of Greece; because having read this book I feel that Alice was undoubtedly the brighter star.
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June 29, 2018Why am I reading so many books at the moment when this book has arrived for me at the library.
I am so looking forward to reading this and feel stressed because I can't make a start on this book yet. Alice sounds a really interesting lady. I'm so tempted to start reading this now.
I am so looking forward to reading this and feel stressed because I can't make a start on this book yet. Alice sounds a really interesting lady. I'm so tempted to start reading this now.
October 24, 2012
Sometimes I rate books by how quickly I read them. Granted, I picked this up in Delaware while on vacation, but still, a 400 page book should not take me nine days to read. The problem is that there are so many people to keep track of that are explained exactly once. Royal families are usually quite large, and names are often reused, so it's almost impossible to keep various members straight. I also found this biography rather tedious. There is *so* much detail, regarding Alice's every single movement throughout her life. I feel I didn't need quite so much detail regarding the more mundane aspects of her life, where she traveled and when, when it was simply a matter of her visiting her family.
However, when you stop to think about what Princess Alice had to go through during her life, it's almost mind-boggling. From knowing Queen Victoria intimately (being her granddaughter), to watching two of her aunts die in the Russian Revolution, to the horrors of both WWI and WWII, all while her country of Greece, of which she was Princess, abolished and then restored the monarchy several times. She even nursed injured soldiers during the Balkan Wars, instead of locking herself up in a palace somewhere safe. It is almost no wonder that she suffered what could almost be termed a nervous breakdown, and was hospitalized for a couple of years in a sanitarium.
I found quite interesting the opposites in Alice's temperament, how she lived as simply as possible (quite unusual for a royal of her age), leaving only three dressing gowns at her death, and choosing to wear a nun's habit for most of her life, though she never took orders. Yet she would also enjoy a game of canasta, and she apparently smoked like a chimney.
In general, I would have preferred a tighter, more concise accounting of Alice's life, as most of the mundane details seemed to bog things down a bit while reading. Also I found Vickers to assume his reader had far more knowledge of European history than I do, so many things flew right over my head. Perhaps that is my fault, not the author's.
I would love to read another biography of Alice, if one exists, to compare.
However, when you stop to think about what Princess Alice had to go through during her life, it's almost mind-boggling. From knowing Queen Victoria intimately (being her granddaughter), to watching two of her aunts die in the Russian Revolution, to the horrors of both WWI and WWII, all while her country of Greece, of which she was Princess, abolished and then restored the monarchy several times. She even nursed injured soldiers during the Balkan Wars, instead of locking herself up in a palace somewhere safe. It is almost no wonder that she suffered what could almost be termed a nervous breakdown, and was hospitalized for a couple of years in a sanitarium.
I found quite interesting the opposites in Alice's temperament, how she lived as simply as possible (quite unusual for a royal of her age), leaving only three dressing gowns at her death, and choosing to wear a nun's habit for most of her life, though she never took orders. Yet she would also enjoy a game of canasta, and she apparently smoked like a chimney.
In general, I would have preferred a tighter, more concise accounting of Alice's life, as most of the mundane details seemed to bog things down a bit while reading. Also I found Vickers to assume his reader had far more knowledge of European history than I do, so many things flew right over my head. Perhaps that is my fault, not the author's.
I would love to read another biography of Alice, if one exists, to compare.
October 22, 2009
This is a heavily annotated account of the life of Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece, Princess of Battenburg, and the mother of Prince Phillip. I had never really heard much about her, but she really was a character. It is a shame that so much time passed between her passing and this account of her life, which is based mostly on letters written by, to, or about her. It is not at all novelistic, nothing is made up, and apologies are made where gaps occur. Nevertheless, I found it an interesting read. I probably would not read a similar book again - this took me about 4 months to get through.
February 10, 2017
Some of the politics were confusing, as was the abundance of names (the editor even said there were too many Georges), and the massive amount of detail sometimes slipped into minutiae. BUT Alice herself is fascinating at every turn, and I never tired of seeing what she would do next. The mind reels to imagine what she might have achieved in a less restrictive time, with her keen and creative mind, her drive and independence, her compassion, and utter devotion to serving others. Alice was her own wonderland.
May 5, 2016
Remembered today as Prince Philip's mother (if at all), Alice was born in Windsor Castle and died in Buckingham Palace - although she lived for much of her life in Greece and for a few years as a prisoner in European mental institutions. Her final resting place is Jerusalem.
Vickers comfortably guides us through the various factors in Alice's life: her many royal and aristocratic relations, ranging in time from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth and crossing the whole of Europe (one needs to consult frequently the family trees at the back of the book to keep up); constant political intrigues and revolutions in Greece; the medical treatment she experienced in European clinics; and her rather eccentric religious opinions.
The medical chapters are perhaps the most dramatic part of the story: facing a mid-life crisis, Alice was first put in the care of Ernst Simmel, an associate of Sigmund Freud. Because Alice believed she was "married to Christ" at this point, Simmel diagnosed a "neurotic-pre-psychotic libidinous condition", for which Freud, in full quack mode, suggested "an exposure of the gonads to X-rays, in order to accelerate the menopause". Alice was then passed - against her will - to Ludwig Binswanger, who had studied with Carl Jung and dealt with various novelists and artistic types. Vickers points out that she could very easily have spent the rest of her life institutionalised, but instead she made a recovery and during the war was living in occupied Greece and able to protect a Jewish family.
Alice's religious ideals were inspired by her Aunt Ella, a Hessian who had married into the Russian royal family. Ella had converted to Orthodoxy, and following her husband's murder she became a nun and founded a sisterhood. Ella was later murdered by the Bolsheviks, and was afterwards canonised. Alice, following the death of her estranged husband, in emulation (or, in Alice's elderly mother's sceptical opinion, in mockery) of these achievements took to wearing a nun's habit and herself founded a short-lived sisterhood in Tinos, Greece (another royal nun mentioned was Princess Tatiana Bagration or Abbess Tamara, based in Jerusalem).
However, Alice's actual ideas were somewhat less conventional. She was hugely influenced by a mystical tome on comparative religion, The Great Initiates, by Edouard Schure, and dabbled in automatic writing with her brother-in-law Christo. She also befriended Count Hermann von Keyserling, of the School of Wisdom and Thought. While ill, she declared herself to be in telepathic contact with the Panacea Society in Bedford, and in later life took an interest in UFOs (sending a clipping on the subject from the Reader's Digest to her famous brother Louis "Dickie" Mountbatten).
The book includes an interesting appendix on how the Dean of Windsor, Michael Mann, undertook years of negotiations with Orthodox clerics to arrange for Alice's body to be laid to rest in the Russian Orthodox cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
Vickers comfortably guides us through the various factors in Alice's life: her many royal and aristocratic relations, ranging in time from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth and crossing the whole of Europe (one needs to consult frequently the family trees at the back of the book to keep up); constant political intrigues and revolutions in Greece; the medical treatment she experienced in European clinics; and her rather eccentric religious opinions.
The medical chapters are perhaps the most dramatic part of the story: facing a mid-life crisis, Alice was first put in the care of Ernst Simmel, an associate of Sigmund Freud. Because Alice believed she was "married to Christ" at this point, Simmel diagnosed a "neurotic-pre-psychotic libidinous condition", for which Freud, in full quack mode, suggested "an exposure of the gonads to X-rays, in order to accelerate the menopause". Alice was then passed - against her will - to Ludwig Binswanger, who had studied with Carl Jung and dealt with various novelists and artistic types. Vickers points out that she could very easily have spent the rest of her life institutionalised, but instead she made a recovery and during the war was living in occupied Greece and able to protect a Jewish family.
Alice's religious ideals were inspired by her Aunt Ella, a Hessian who had married into the Russian royal family. Ella had converted to Orthodoxy, and following her husband's murder she became a nun and founded a sisterhood. Ella was later murdered by the Bolsheviks, and was afterwards canonised. Alice, following the death of her estranged husband, in emulation (or, in Alice's elderly mother's sceptical opinion, in mockery) of these achievements took to wearing a nun's habit and herself founded a short-lived sisterhood in Tinos, Greece (another royal nun mentioned was Princess Tatiana Bagration or Abbess Tamara, based in Jerusalem).
However, Alice's actual ideas were somewhat less conventional. She was hugely influenced by a mystical tome on comparative religion, The Great Initiates, by Edouard Schure, and dabbled in automatic writing with her brother-in-law Christo. She also befriended Count Hermann von Keyserling, of the School of Wisdom and Thought. While ill, she declared herself to be in telepathic contact with the Panacea Society in Bedford, and in later life took an interest in UFOs (sending a clipping on the subject from the Reader's Digest to her famous brother Louis "Dickie" Mountbatten).
The book includes an interesting appendix on how the Dean of Windsor, Michael Mann, undertook years of negotiations with Orthodox clerics to arrange for Alice's body to be laid to rest in the Russian Orthodox cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
June 4, 2017
I debated whether to give this 3 stars or 4. It is not easy reading, and is clearly intended for people who have a serious interest in history. The book is well-researched and documented, and since the author had the permission of Alice's family (indeed wrote at their request) he had access to interviews and documents not available to just anyone.
There is a a lot of detail in the book, much footnoted. There's a lot of people... Queen Victoria had 9 children, and her descendants intermarried with the royal houses of Europe and used family names, so there are Victorias and Alices and Elizabeths and Louis-es and Louises and... it can get quite confusing. Fortunately at the back of the book there are three family trees which are very helpful in sorting out the folks, and by the end of the book, for the most part by then the family trees were quite understandable.
I had thought to learn more about Prince Philip by reading this book, since Alice was his mother, and it was sad to see how little involvement she actually had with him in his youth. He was her youngest, and illness and the falling apart of her marriage played a role in that. As adults, though, they did spend more time together and he was solicitous of her well-being. While she lived in Greece by choice, and indeed did much charity work there, at the end of her life she lived in the palace in London.
What I actually learned the most about, though, was the history and politics in Greece during her lifetime. Her husband, Andrew, was the son of King George I of Greece. While he was not the firstborn son, he could be considered in line for the throne, and in fact with all the political machinations of the period, it might even have fallen upon Philip. Fortunately he became a British citizen and married Princess Elizabeth.
The role of Dickie Mountbatten, Alice's brother, was covered as well. He was quite influential in furthering the idea of Philip marrying Elizabeth, and pushed hard to have the royal family's name be Mountbatten. I always thought that it was turned down and that they are all Windsors, but actually eventually it went through as Mountbatten-Windsor for some of Elizabeth and Philip's children and that was the name on their marriage certificates. In fact, the name isn't used as they have titles, Prince, Duke, Earl, Princess Royal...
I had to push through at first as the style is fairly dry and scholarly, but I was glad I kept going!
There is a a lot of detail in the book, much footnoted. There's a lot of people... Queen Victoria had 9 children, and her descendants intermarried with the royal houses of Europe and used family names, so there are Victorias and Alices and Elizabeths and Louis-es and Louises and... it can get quite confusing. Fortunately at the back of the book there are three family trees which are very helpful in sorting out the folks, and by the end of the book, for the most part by then the family trees were quite understandable.
I had thought to learn more about Prince Philip by reading this book, since Alice was his mother, and it was sad to see how little involvement she actually had with him in his youth. He was her youngest, and illness and the falling apart of her marriage played a role in that. As adults, though, they did spend more time together and he was solicitous of her well-being. While she lived in Greece by choice, and indeed did much charity work there, at the end of her life she lived in the palace in London.
What I actually learned the most about, though, was the history and politics in Greece during her lifetime. Her husband, Andrew, was the son of King George I of Greece. While he was not the firstborn son, he could be considered in line for the throne, and in fact with all the political machinations of the period, it might even have fallen upon Philip. Fortunately he became a British citizen and married Princess Elizabeth.
The role of Dickie Mountbatten, Alice's brother, was covered as well. He was quite influential in furthering the idea of Philip marrying Elizabeth, and pushed hard to have the royal family's name be Mountbatten. I always thought that it was turned down and that they are all Windsors, but actually eventually it went through as Mountbatten-Windsor for some of Elizabeth and Philip's children and that was the name on their marriage certificates. In fact, the name isn't used as they have titles, Prince, Duke, Earl, Princess Royal...
I had to push through at first as the style is fairly dry and scholarly, but I was glad I kept going!
September 21, 2020
At first I struggled to get into this book because of the complicated family connections (a lot that I ended up having to look up to understand where they fit into the whole Monarchy system), but once I got past that and onto more closer family connections, then I was able to get into the book more.
Things seemed fairly vague at times in this book (in comparison to another book I've read on royalty), though I do understand that Alice remained a bit of an enigma and was most likely a more private person. I admire how she decided to go to a completely different country and live there, far away from her own English family.
I'm glad that she didn't stay at the clinic that she was first at, that she was able to move beyond that and get better. I like how Prince Philip had 'two' homes - the one in Greece, and the one in England. I got the idea that both sides of the family was playing it safe and letting things take their natural course rather than force things with Prince Philip's relationship with (then) Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth.
I wonder how different Alice's life would have been if she had stayed closer to the British Royal Family, and I'm glad that at the end of her life that she went back to the country of her birth. This was an enjoyable read, and for those that are interested in the royal family, this is a fairly interesting one to look into.
Things seemed fairly vague at times in this book (in comparison to another book I've read on royalty), though I do understand that Alice remained a bit of an enigma and was most likely a more private person. I admire how she decided to go to a completely different country and live there, far away from her own English family.
I'm glad that she didn't stay at the clinic that she was first at, that she was able to move beyond that and get better. I like how Prince Philip had 'two' homes - the one in Greece, and the one in England. I got the idea that both sides of the family was playing it safe and letting things take their natural course rather than force things with Prince Philip's relationship with (then) Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth.
I wonder how different Alice's life would have been if she had stayed closer to the British Royal Family, and I'm glad that at the end of her life that she went back to the country of her birth. This was an enjoyable read, and for those that are interested in the royal family, this is a fairly interesting one to look into.
August 17, 2022
Very thorough and the subject was interesting. Stylistically, it seemed like this could have used some editing. Vickers switched between formal titles, names and nicknames for some of the players involved with such regularity it sometimes was hard to decipher who was who. Also, a few commas here and there for clarification would have been nice.
Overall, however, this was an entertaining and informative account of a very interesting, at times eccentric, woman who dedicated her life to acts of service - and though she failed at times she always seemed to persevere.
Overall, however, this was an entertaining and informative account of a very interesting, at times eccentric, woman who dedicated her life to acts of service - and though she failed at times she always seemed to persevere.
August 8, 2018
I enjoyed the focus on family relationships and got a good feel for the woman herself. Yet at times the minutia of detail felt forced as if the author wanted to add every bit of information found during the research of his subject just to show how thoroughly he delved. Some big issues were briefly introduced but left under analyzed such as the statement that suddenly Alice had fallen in love with an unknown Englishman just before her decline into mental illness. The suggestion seemed out of character with the portrait painted of a devoted wife, mother and princess thus far presented. Likewise the author pictured Prince Andrea as a politically challenged Prince of Greece and family man lovingly concerned but overwhelmed by Alice's plunge into mental illness. However, much later in the book the author reports this previously presented loving husband as having found a life-long mistress the same year of Alice's decline and never suggested this might have been a contributing factor to her decline! Andrea abandoned his responsibilities to Alice, daughters and very young son appointing her mother, Princess Victoria, to act as guardian of Alice's and Philip's lives. Again, this betrayal by Andrea of Alice and family was never linked as a possible contributing factor to Alice's life challenges or as leaving any mark on young Philip or his sisters. It felt as though the author were presenting facts alone throughout the book without adding any personal reflection on how they might have influenced his title subject. Personal reflections drawn from deep involvement with the person one is striving to know intimately in order to bring her to life in pages should be noted as such in the book yet definitely included so the reader can see the whole woman presented while being free to come to his or her own conclusions. For these reasons I have given the book 3 stars and finally finished the somewhat tedious book with a sigh of relief.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2025
For a lover of all things European royalty, I loved this book. It is about the late Prince Phillips mother, Princess Alice of Greece. A great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alice's life was right at golden age of European royalty. I LOVED reading about her growing up, all the cousins and siblings, aunts and uncles of the most recognizable European royal houses. It seems like Alice had a relatively normal childhood, albeit a lot of moving around. She married a Prince of Greece and seemed to love Greece. Alas, it was not to be. The Greeks deposed various royals and Alice's family was one of the casualties. It is at this time that Alice starts to go a little looney. She believes she is a bride of Jesus. Her mother forcibly puts her in a mental institution, albeit for the super rich, so think.club med like. It is the final part of Alice's life that was eye opening to me. She became a nun, but boy was she pushy and strong willed. I guess, I just imagined when one becomes a nun, they are humble and not try to force everything to their way. But that is what she was.
This book is great for a royal lover like me, not sure how interesting it would be to someone marginally excited. Probably a book you could pick up periodically, eventually finish.
This book is great for a royal lover like me, not sure how interesting it would be to someone marginally excited. Probably a book you could pick up periodically, eventually finish.
December 2, 2019
A book of dense facts, royal titles, dates and histories but what a great book and what an amazing woman. Prince Phillip's mother's life sheds great light on the royal households of Britain, Greece, Germany and the conflict of families divided during war. Fascinating insight.
January 12, 2021
Fascinating insight into the life of a side-stepped royal!
September 16, 2022
More like a text book than novel-ish reading. Not gonna lie, skimmed a lot but what an interesting woman!
December 15, 2018
I had a bit of a hard time with this book because so many members of the royal family (not just British, but also Greek and several other countries) were mentioned that it was difficult to keep track of who everyone was, even with the family trees included in the back of the book. Even so, much of it was interesting because Alice, the mother of Prince Philip and mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth, was a fascinating woman. She was born with a hearing impairment and relied on lip-reading, which she could do in multiple languages. She was institutionalized for several years due to mental health issues (she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but I think the diagnosis may have been different if she was treated today). Late in life, she founded a Greek Orthodox convent. Several of her family members died tragically.
The book, unfortunately, doesn't spend nearly enough time on the most interesting thing about Alice: during World War II, she hid a Jewish family, saving their lives. She's designated as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, but she didn't appear to think she'd done anything extraordinary and never talked about the family she saved. The book also glosses over some of the uglier facts about her family- namely, that all four of her daughters married Germans, three of whom were Nazis. For that reason, they weren't even allowed to attend their brother's wedding to the now-queen.
So, yes, Alice was a heroic, fascinating, often overlooked member of the royal family. I think this is her only biography, so it's unfortunate that it's so hard to read unless you're well-versed in the history of European royalty and also unfortunate that there's not more emphasis on the conflicting roles Alice and her family members played in World War II.
(This is a tiny part of the book, but it's so strange that I have to mention it here- it turns out that one of the kings of Greece was killed BY A FREAKING MONKEY BITE. Seriously, a monkey bit him when he was trying to separate it from his dog, and the wound got infected and killed him. Read his Wikipedia page.)
The book, unfortunately, doesn't spend nearly enough time on the most interesting thing about Alice: during World War II, she hid a Jewish family, saving their lives. She's designated as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, but she didn't appear to think she'd done anything extraordinary and never talked about the family she saved. The book also glosses over some of the uglier facts about her family- namely, that all four of her daughters married Germans, three of whom were Nazis. For that reason, they weren't even allowed to attend their brother's wedding to the now-queen.
So, yes, Alice was a heroic, fascinating, often overlooked member of the royal family. I think this is her only biography, so it's unfortunate that it's so hard to read unless you're well-versed in the history of European royalty and also unfortunate that there's not more emphasis on the conflicting roles Alice and her family members played in World War II.
(This is a tiny part of the book, but it's so strange that I have to mention it here- it turns out that one of the kings of Greece was killed BY A FREAKING MONKEY BITE. Seriously, a monkey bit him when he was trying to separate it from his dog, and the wound got infected and killed him. Read his Wikipedia page.)
June 27, 2021
Absolutely lovely book. This seems like a labor of love for Hugo Vickers. Amazingly and thoroughly researched, he gives the complex background history of her life as well as a lovely portrait of Alice, Prince Phillip's mother.
She was beautiful, feisty, intelligent, unorthodox in her lifestyle and surprisingly interesting. Virtually unknown to me except that she was part of the Greek royal family through her husband, had a mental breakdown and was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. I didn't know that she was born at Windsor Castle and very close to her grandmother after her mother, Alice, died. She was savvy politically, escaped death a number of times, became a nurse during Greece's various wars, established a soup kitchen in Athens for children during WWII and lastly, became a nun. Her life purpose was about service, almost to the detriment of her children's, especially Phillip's, upbringing. She was constantly on the move, visiting her extended family throughout Europe and taking a number of rest cures. A fascinating Princess. Warning: there is So Much family to keep track of...it may boggle your mind. If you are a lover of Victoriana, read Christina Croft's books: Alice, The Enigma - A Biography Of Queen Victoria's Daughter, and Queen Victorian Granddaughters 1869-1918. This will help. 🤗
She was beautiful, feisty, intelligent, unorthodox in her lifestyle and surprisingly interesting. Virtually unknown to me except that she was part of the Greek royal family through her husband, had a mental breakdown and was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. I didn't know that she was born at Windsor Castle and very close to her grandmother after her mother, Alice, died. She was savvy politically, escaped death a number of times, became a nurse during Greece's various wars, established a soup kitchen in Athens for children during WWII and lastly, became a nun. Her life purpose was about service, almost to the detriment of her children's, especially Phillip's, upbringing. She was constantly on the move, visiting her extended family throughout Europe and taking a number of rest cures. A fascinating Princess. Warning: there is So Much family to keep track of...it may boggle your mind. If you are a lover of Victoriana, read Christina Croft's books: Alice, The Enigma - A Biography Of Queen Victoria's Daughter, and Queen Victorian Granddaughters 1869-1918. This will help. 🤗
July 19, 2021
Princess Alice was a wonderful presence for the numerous families of Royalty scattered in Greece, England, Sweden and Russia. Her battles with depression and mental illness didn’t prohibit her working tirelessly for the War efforts as a nurse. Her spirituality gave her a direct conflict with all the trials of the World. She housed a Jewish family during Nazi rule. The fact that she was born deaf did not hamper her service to others.
March 9, 2021
A detailed biography with well researched historical facts. I learned a lot about 20th century Greece and their international relationships. A good portrait of Alice's life and psychological development. Very informative and interesting.
May 18, 2021
Very interesting story of a woman about whom I had known nothing. It was very slow reading due to the detail and all of the royal names to try and remember.
October 7, 2021
Long but worth it
I recommend this if your really interested in knowing about Princess Alice . I took my time reading this and it was worth taking my time reading this book.
I recommend this if your really interested in knowing about Princess Alice . I took my time reading this and it was worth taking my time reading this book.
November 11, 2024
Poor Alice, had it all and by all, I mean, riches, prestige, love, and also knew penny pinching hardship, distain, fear, and worry. She lived through wars, civil conflicts, revolts, insane asylums, illness, and always felt isolated and distant due to her deafness. Her story is told in Alice Princess Andrew of Greece by Hugo Vickers.
She was born in Buckingham Palace because her grandmother, Queen Victoria, wanted all her grandchildren to be born there. She was hard of hearing and I think as she got older, her deafness worsened. She learned to lip read in a few languages, but if the man had a bushy mustache, she couldn't. Consequently, she seemed strange, aloof, and unstable.
She married a Greek prince, but when the Greek monarchy was overthrown, the family had to flee. She was related to royalty in Germany and Russia, but their reigns were overthrown. Assassinations were always a threat. No wonder she had a nervous breakdown. She spent some time in Switzerland's hospitals, away from her family. They were ashamed of her and considered her religious obsessions ridiculous. She was Greek Orthodox and started an order of nuns. The family laughed at her smoking cigarettes and playing cards in her nun's habit.
She started a hospital and hid Jews from Nazis. Due to her work, helping the Jews she was awarded the Righteous Gentile honor and is buried in Jerusalem. During WWII, while she was in Switzerland and working in the hospital, she was separated from her family. Her husband hung out in the south of France and died there. Her children, by that time, had families of their own and living in different countries. Her only son, Philip was in an English school. This boy eventually married Princess of Elizabeth--Queen Elizabeth and he became her consort.
What an eventful life! The book was interesting, but at times, like all biographies, had too many details. Queen Victoria's progeny was too hard to keep track. The author made Alice's life sympathetic and interesting. I am happy to learn about her.
She was born in Buckingham Palace because her grandmother, Queen Victoria, wanted all her grandchildren to be born there. She was hard of hearing and I think as she got older, her deafness worsened. She learned to lip read in a few languages, but if the man had a bushy mustache, she couldn't. Consequently, she seemed strange, aloof, and unstable.
She married a Greek prince, but when the Greek monarchy was overthrown, the family had to flee. She was related to royalty in Germany and Russia, but their reigns were overthrown. Assassinations were always a threat. No wonder she had a nervous breakdown. She spent some time in Switzerland's hospitals, away from her family. They were ashamed of her and considered her religious obsessions ridiculous. She was Greek Orthodox and started an order of nuns. The family laughed at her smoking cigarettes and playing cards in her nun's habit.
She started a hospital and hid Jews from Nazis. Due to her work, helping the Jews she was awarded the Righteous Gentile honor and is buried in Jerusalem. During WWII, while she was in Switzerland and working in the hospital, she was separated from her family. Her husband hung out in the south of France and died there. Her children, by that time, had families of their own and living in different countries. Her only son, Philip was in an English school. This boy eventually married Princess of Elizabeth--Queen Elizabeth and he became her consort.
What an eventful life! The book was interesting, but at times, like all biographies, had too many details. Queen Victoria's progeny was too hard to keep track. The author made Alice's life sympathetic and interesting. I am happy to learn about her.
August 17, 2019
Interesting look at the mother of Prince Phillip
Found this to be a good read. It's supposed to be a book about Princess Alice the mother of Prince Phillip, but it seems more like a book about the broader family the was both born into as well as the one she married into.
She was born in Windsor Castle the great granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She met and married Prince Andrew of Greece when she was a teenager and they made a life in Greece. They had four girls in quick succession but things were not so easy. They were forced to go into exile more than once and Andrew was almost killed.
In the 1930s Alice and Andrew effectively separated and he went on to live in Monte Carlo. While he might not have been the womanizer that he's painted as he did have a long time love love with him.
Alice bounced from country to country, visiting various relatives in england, sweeden, Germany and Greece. She spent a lot of time in england after her son Prince Phillip married the future Queen Elizabeth II and they had their children. She spent her last year's living in Windsor.
Found this to be a good read. It's supposed to be a book about Princess Alice the mother of Prince Phillip, but it seems more like a book about the broader family the was both born into as well as the one she married into.
She was born in Windsor Castle the great granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She met and married Prince Andrew of Greece when she was a teenager and they made a life in Greece. They had four girls in quick succession but things were not so easy. They were forced to go into exile more than once and Andrew was almost killed.
In the 1930s Alice and Andrew effectively separated and he went on to live in Monte Carlo. While he might not have been the womanizer that he's painted as he did have a long time love love with him.
Alice bounced from country to country, visiting various relatives in england, sweeden, Germany and Greece. She spent a lot of time in england after her son Prince Phillip married the future Queen Elizabeth II and they had their children. She spent her last year's living in Windsor.
February 3, 2020
Princess Alice was certainly an interesting woman, but I feel this book didn't quite live up to her reputation. Commissioned by the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Sophie of Hanover, Vickers was tasked with combing through their mother's life and producing a biography that met the approval of his royal patrons, but at times it comes across more of a sterile account. The first half is chock full of the lives of Alice's large family and goes up to her marriage, at which time more and more letters are introduced. Prince Andrew and the crisis in Greece is gone through in great detail, but it seems once WWII happens, the rest of Alice's life is told quickly. Vickers also list out a lot of small details which seems to add bulk to the story, but not much else. Overall, if you know a good deal about European history there might not be anything really new here. However, this knowledge will help you with the extensive list of people mentioned.
January 6, 2021
This biography of Princess Alice was extremely thoroughly researched and annotated. It provides a very comprehensive and detailed view of her long, active and volatile life as she lived through wars, exiles, and tragedies on a personal and global scale. The author details a period of time in which Princess Alice seems to lose touch with reality and ends up distancing herself greatly from her family for a time. It was also fascinating to see how she and some other royal family members were involved heavily and personally in hands-on charitable work. My rating ends up being only three stars because it was a very ponderous book to read. All the names and titles were very confusing (especially to someone who is not well-versed in European peerage and royal families). Also, the strict chronological and detailed account of her life tends to bog the reader down in minutiae. I am glad, though, that I persevered through this story of such a fascinating yet little-known royal.
January 20, 2018
A fabulously interesting biography of Princess Alice: mother of Prince Philip, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. What an incredible time she lived in and how many tragedies she endured.
Didn't realize there were family trees in the back until I finished. The entire time I was reading I was wishing for those because Victoria and Albert's descendants are occasionally hard to keep straight (SO MANY VICTORIAS).
This is one of those biographies with copious gossipy footnotes and honestly, each footnote could spin off into another book.
Highly recommended for history or royal family aficionados. Read books like this to correct whatever misconceptions you have from television. (Looking at you, "The Crown" indeed.)
Didn't realize there were family trees in the back until I finished. The entire time I was reading I was wishing for those because Victoria and Albert's descendants are occasionally hard to keep straight (SO MANY VICTORIAS).
This is one of those biographies with copious gossipy footnotes and honestly, each footnote could spin off into another book.
Highly recommended for history or royal family aficionados. Read books like this to correct whatever misconceptions you have from television. (Looking at you, "The Crown" indeed.)
March 9, 2019
For such a fascinating time of history and person, I was hoping for a great biography. Especially since other reviews praise this. It read, however, like a research paper. It wasn't dry but rather like the author had to cram EVERYTHING in. Since everyone was related back then it ends up being 3/4 of Europe. All the different families from first cousins to third and their maids and nannies and personal friends etc. until you were throughly confused. There was footnotes, but even those felt after awhile like the author was craving whatever didn't really fit into the book at the bottom (who married who, and who divorced who). I really wish this could have been enjoyable, but it was such a chore to read.
August 14, 2018
Princess Alice of Battenberg, great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and mother-in-law to Queen Elizabeth, seems to have been a very interesting person. She was mostly deaf, but became a fluent lip-reader in several languages. She was an intelligent beauty, with political insights ahead of her time. She organized field hospitals when her country went to war. She went through several years of a spiritual-mental illness, and came out sane, but eccentric. Sadly, this biography, based carefully on quotes from primary sources, is a rather dull read. I learned a lot, but the story was not written in a very engaging way.
January 7, 2019
I shouldn’t complain but this was an exhausting book. Largely it is because of its subject’s peripatetic life. The book is a travelogue combined with Who’s Who in European Royalty. Princess Alice spent her life traveling from place to place, troubled, broke, ill, and mostly aimless. Her identity vacillated from exiled Greek princess to faux nun. I’ve read many royal bios and have a slight mental map of the players but this book was confounding with so many royal connections and events. The political history of Greece alone was a PhD maze. I read this out of interest in Prince Philip’s early life and was only mildly rewarded with a greater understanding.
December 23, 2019
After watching The Crown's latest season, I became interested in Prince Phillip's mother, Alice, and found this book in my library system. It is clear that the author did a lot of research, however, the book is just that - a lot of facts just run together. It doesn't really give the reader any insight into how any of the characters actually "felt" about anything. It seems clear that Phillip wasn't as removed from his mother as The Crown implied, but it also isn't as sympathetic to Alice as the TV show was. If you want to know the facts of her life, read this. If you want something of the feeling of her life, look for another book and then let me know what that book is.
February 2, 2022
This was a slow read that was a heavily researched odyssey through the 19th and 20th century European royal families. The continually recurring names, Victoria, Alice, Louis, George, etc, kept me jumping back and forth from the book to google. I found it amusing that Princess Alice was never actually a nun but used a nun’s garb to better navigate a world outside her royal birth to give back as an early social or relief worker. She was obviously an extraordinary talented and gifted woman who was born many years too early, succeeded despite physical handicap ( deafness) and mental illness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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