The Lives and Deaths of the Princesses of Hesse: The curious destinies of Queen Victoria's granddaughters

by Frances Welch

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 favourite 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 realised. 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.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Royalty, Germany, Russia

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2024

About the author

Frances Welch, coauthor of Memories of Revolution and author of The Romanovs and Mr. Gibbes, has written about the Romanovs for the Sunday Telegraph and Granta. She lives in Wiltshire, England.

Reviews

[Alan Chrisman · Rating 4 out of 5]

True story of the 4 granddaughters of Queen Victoria: one married the Russian Czar whose family was murdered by Bolsheviks, another married a Russian noble, another the German Kaisers brother, and 4th was Prince Phillip's grandmother. A great companion book to "The Last Czar." This one gives more details of the Romanov's tragic end. Both books recommended.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave Ms Welch's 2007 book 'A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson' a really bad review (see: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and criticised her skills as a researcher. I want to make plain that Ms. Welch has done some first rate archival work in the UK royal archives for this book, though she doesn't always recognise the uniqueness of what she has found (but more of that later). Unfortunately her lack of any historical knowledge comes through and again - even the title of this book is disingenuous - Queen Victoria had twenty two granddaughters and the book is only about the four Hessian granddaughters.

She has done some excellent research and she has chronicled in depth, and probably for the first time the closeness of the four Hessian sisters and records both the amount of time they spent visiting each other and it is good to see the sisters Victoria and Irene given due prominence. It is also interesting the light she throws on the grand duchess Ella's part in bringing about the marriage of her youngest sister Alix to the tsarevitch Nicholas. All this information was available lying around in the UK royal archives and elsewhere (Ms. Welsh did not consult Russian archives books - but again more of that later). In fact Ella, now a 'saint' in the Russian orthodox church and an adopted one by the UK Anglican church, had a habit of promoting very dubious marriages. Her research has also shown the UK Royal archives have correspondence from Alix, aka empress Alexandra, to queen Victoria which is fascinating because every popular biography since R.K. Massie's 'Nicholas & Alexandra' has parroted his line that all her letters were returned after Victoria's death and burnt by Alexandra at the time of the Revolution. Ms. Welsh doesn't comment on this, maybe because she is so overawed by R.K. Massie who she constantly refers to as a 'historian' (to steal a quote from Syndney Gibbs the English tutor to Tsar's children after meeting Anna Anderson the soi dissant Anastasia 'If she is Anastasia I'm a China man' and would echo that about Massie's credentials as a historian).

Her coverage of Ella is a good example of the weakness of the book - for Ella is the 'sainted' nun - she never questions the oddity of a 'holy' person actively encouraging prince Yussoupov and grand duke Dimitri to murder Rasputin. But then she only quotes Yussoupov's incredibly unreliable if not mendacious memoirs, and has ignored books about Rasputin by Edvard Radzinsky and Douglas Smith which have long consigned the Yussoupov's fairy stories about the murder and autopsy to obliquity.

Ms Welsh's failure to consult Russian archives may be excused because the book was written during COVID and the war against Ukraine which made such work difficult to impossible. What is not excusable is that she seems unaware of the vast amount of material published by Russian historians. One only has to look at the bibliography in 'The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs' by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa to see how inadequate relying only on ancient emigre memoirs or 'historians' Coryne Hall is. Ms. Welsh may not read Russian but there are plenty of first rate Russian history departments at UK universities who she should have consulted.

Although much better then her terrible 'A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson' this book is still very, very disappointing and though I resisted shelving it as bad-disappointing I can only give it two stars because of its many inadequacies.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first heard of this book, I was excited. I greatly enjoy the story of the four Hessian princesses. So, I had high hopes when I picked up this book. As I began reading, those hopes were dashed and I was horribly disappointed.

Let's start with the good. I loved how there was more information on Princess Irene. We've got lots of her letters, here. Irene is usually skimmed over when it comes to her sisters, so this was a treat. The story is more or less here. If you're familiar with it, you'll recognize it.

Now for the bad. I was saddened to see that the author went with a gossipy tone for the book. There were several factual errors, not the least of which was calling Alix the wife of the Tsarevich. She was never the wife of the Tsarevich. Her husband was Tsar when she married him. The author also mentions that several of the men in the story (Serge, Ernie, Eddie Clarence, Max of Baden) were homosexual. There were certainly rumors of it, an innuendo. But the author treats these claims as gospel and irrefutable proof. The author also uses the word "deranged" when she comes to talk about Ella and her actions after her husband's murder in 1905. In relation to Ella, she calls Maria Pavlovna and Dimitri Pavlovich her stepchildren. Neither of these two ever considered her a stepmother, and she is not referenced as such in any other book. They were placed into Serge's care after their father married their "real" stepmother. The book also mentions Prince Rainer von Hessen, who was a descendant of Victoria. He is alternately described as a descendant of Ella and Ernie and later on in the book as a relation.

I think the books merit lies in the information is has on Princess Irene, as well as the updated/modern things that have happened to memorialize Alix and Ella. Look elsewhere for a serious biography. Disappointing from Frances Welch, whose other books are fantastic.

[George Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book which provides a glimpse into the lives of Queen Victoria's Hessian granddaughters, Victoria, Elisabeth, Irène and Alix. In particular, reading about their early lives through letters in the Royal Archives was interesting. I was thrilled to see my own book, Correspondence of the Russian Grand Duchesses in the references and material from it supporting the narrative of this book. Primary sourced material such as letters and diaries provide valuable insight into the lives, mindsets and worldviews of the people being written about.
With that in mind, I was disappointed in the alleged letter of Alexandra Feodorovna's (Princess Alix) stating "You are mistaken Grandmama, Russia is not England. Here we do not need to earn the love of the people..." as there does not seem to be a primary source at all for this letter and the style of language does not quite ring true for Alexandra. I note that this has been quoted in Montefiore and Figes, but not with an ultimate source for it. All the letters between Queen Victoria and Alexandra following her becoming Empress of Russia were returned to Alexandra following the Queen's death, and were subsequently burnt by Alexandra in 1917. So if such a letter existed, it is no longer extant. It sounds more like the kind of gossipy nonsense produced by Princess Radziwill in her early 20th century books. It would be interesting to track down the first instance of this 'letter' and find out what the ultimate source of it was.
Another thing that bothered me was the suggestion that Yurovsky told the Romanovs to line up for a photo before the murder - this idea seems to have had its origin in the imagination of Eduard Radzinsky in his book, and does not appear in any recollections of the murderers.
Other than these niggles, an enjoyable book, recommended for all those who are interested in the Romanovs and their wider family.

[Mrs Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting account of the four Hesse princesses, daughters of Alice of Hesse, one of Queen Victoria's daughters. The eldest, another Victoria, married Prince Louis Battenberg, thereby becoming the grandmother of our Prince Philip. The second, Ella, married Grand Duke Serge of Russia, and when he was murdered, became an orthodox nun. Irene, the third, married Henry, the second son of the Kaiser, and of course, Alexandra, the youngest, married Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, dying in 1918 at Ekaterinburg. A fascinating tale of the four and their descendants.

[Nina Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

IF YOU HAVE READ ABOUT THESE SISTERS BEFORE

If you have read about these sisters before, you will note the many errors in the book. It is entertaining but not scholarly. It does have quite a lot of info about Princess Irene. After reading this book, move on to better books. There are many.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fear my expectations are what truly brought this book down for me. Ever since I heard about this book being released I was so excited. I have wanted a book about the princesses of Hesse for many years now. There’s so much about Alix and Ella but less about Victoria and virtually nothing about Irène so I thought this book would finally be the answer, however, I’m unfortunately left wanting more.
I can’t help but think there was something missing from this book. At times it felt jumbled. It reads more like one of those instagram posts where someone is just listing off facts, not really going into any detail. It was also very disjointed, jumping from one thing to the next. Ten years passed in two pages. I just feel like it could have been formatted better. Perhaps a chapter for each princess, one for their respective marriages, their lives after marriage and their fate, within these talking about their meetings, letters and feelings about one another. This book less talks about the princesses as individuals and more as themselves in relation to the others. Like instead of talking about their lives and events in them, it talks about their visits to one another and letters to each other in reference to the events (which I actually enjoyed but it lacked detail and substance in places). I just don’t really feel like I know the princesses any better after reading this book which is where it lets me down. I kept thinking of Helen Rappaport’s book on OTMA when reading this and wishing this book was styled similarly to that as it contained much more detail and was much more orderly. Rappaport’s book felt like reading a fleshed out story, whereas this book felt like reading loads of facts and anecdotes.
Also I couldn’t help but think the author was biased towards some of the sisters opposed to the others. I feel they wanted us to love Victoria, like Ella, be indifferent to Irène and hate Alix. I seldom remember anything overly negative being said of Victoria and anything remotely nice said about Alix. Elizabeth had the most unbiased account and Irène was just the other sister for most of the book. Irène only started to shine after the deaths of Ella and Alix. I really feel like the author had a huge dislike for Alix, even at one point, if I remember correctly, she claimed that one of the reasons Alix was disliked by Russians was because she didn’t want anyone to see her in the bath, which read a bit strange.
Overall I did like the book, it was entertaining but it contained little I didn’t already know. What I was most interested in was the remaining sister’s lives after the revolution and I feel like this is when the author comes alive. They were the most engaging chapters in the book. I just wish more detail was included throughout the whole book. I don’t recommend this to anyone with anything more than base knowledge of the sisters as you’ll feel rather unsatisfied but if you aren’t looking to gain much more knowledge or know very little to begin with then this is the book for you. This is more of a 3.5 star but I’ve rounded it to a 4 as I was so excited about it before I read it.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating joint biography of four granddaughters of Queen Victoria: Victoria of Battenburg, Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, Irene of Prussia and the Czarina Alexandra of Russia, based on their correspondence. Welch brings their world and their perspectives to life and shows how the sisters supported one another (both Irene and Alexandra had hemophiliac sons) and disagreed with one another (Victoria, Elizabeth and Irene all disapproved of Alexandra's support for Rasputin). I found the analysis of meetings between the sisters as adults especially interesting. In 1910, all four of them spent the autumn in Germany. There is also evidence of the sisters mentoring the next generation of royalty including Victoria's and Irene's letters to Alexandra's eldest daughter, Grand Duchess Olga, encouraging her to take charge of her younger siblings at home so that Alexandra can rest. After the murders of Alexandra and Elizabeth in 1918, however, the book becomes overly focused on the Anna Anderson case, the subject of another one of Frances Welch's books. While Victoria, Irene and their families had strong opinions on this case, I would have been interested to read more about their thoughts on other world events between the First and Second World Wars.

[Vicuña · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find Victoria an intriguing individual. Singular, flawed, obsessive and one who shaped the world in many ways. On the one hand she could be cold and indifferent and on the other, seemingly caring. Of course, she always had an eye on stitching together a secure monarchy, whether it was at home or abroad. This title concentrates on her influence over the four Hesse daughters.

Frances Welsh has undertaken amazing research, with as far as I can see, a wealth of new resource material. The narrative is a detailed and sweeping exploration of Europe at a time of crisis and tumult. Marrying into the Russian court may have seemed a good idea, but the Romanov’s were about to face unprecedented strife. Equally, other monarchies in Europe were unlikely to survive the disruption and conflict if the First World War.

There’s a real vibrancy in the writing and each of the sisters comes to life as an individual. It’s difficult not to feel sorry for some of them and their difficulties. Manipulated and mainly powerless, they had to accept what fate threw at them. This book gives a fascinating glimpse into a European stage at a time the old guard was about to fall apart. I’ve enjoyed it and as a kindle deal at 99p, it’s proved a great read.

[3PCats · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so glad a new book about the fascinating Hesse sisters has come out. This book contained several interesting anecdotes and reminiscences from Victoria’s memoir, as well as letters (mainly from Irene) which I hadn’t read before.

However, at times the writing felt rushed, and there were errors. The author curiously changed the spellings of the names of the Kaiser (Willy) to Willie, and Prince Albert Victor (Eddy) to Eddie—but it’s possible in a multilingual family, the sisters changed spellings when referring to their many cousins. One mistake which was inexcusable, however, was calling Kaiser Wilhelm Queen Victoria’s nephew (p. 105 of the kindle version)!

The most frustrating issue of all were the ENDLESS references to Serge and Ella’s ADOPTED children, Maria Pavlovna and Dmitri Pavlovich, as their STEPCHILDREN! Not what I expected from an author who has written extensively on the Romanovs.

I’m giving the book four stars mainly because the sisters led such fascinating lives, not necessarily because of the writing.

[Jennifer]

Good stuff, needed more dates in chapters

Fascinating stuff, quite enjoyed learning about these women and their families. But I must rant... WHY wouldn't this include a family tree or two?? Visual mappings of the complex connections... would have made it SO much easier to read. I'm completely lost on how Ella's 2 stepchildren are actually connected and am going to have to track down an actual online tree of the Romanov family to resolve my confusion. Would have given this book 5 stars if it had had even a single pedigree tree to reference.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about the younger years of the granddaughters because I didn't know much about their childhood other than their mother's death and subsequent support by Queen Victoria, their grandmother. Their adult years have been written about extensively so I learned nothing new. Minus one point because the author repeated herself multiple times, explaining who was related in what way like we hadn't read it in a previous chapter.

[Maureen Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

What already!

Wow, just Wow! Fascinating, Captivating..so happy , yet so sad…what incredible lives they all led! This is not Fiction, this is History…and not that long ago….amazing! So glad I read this book!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent history of the four Graces.

[Ellen Oltman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and thoroughly researched but not terrifically well written.

[Rachel Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating piece of history told so well that you almost forget it's true. Really enjoyed this book.

[Steffanie H Burgevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

I was struck at how much information the author had as well as how she tied it all together. Great stuff.

[Joan Burch · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyable read

I enjoyed the book. Not as in-depth as perhaps it could have been and one or two errors. For those interested in the Hessian sisters it’s worth a read.

[Mairead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed

Interesting. Very detailed. Finished in 3 days. All 4 sisters covered equally. Not just about Alix or the Tsars family

[Karin Hanke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting history. Long chapters and not a quick read.

[Caitriona Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the chatty style .
I didn’t realise how much the girls travelled to meet each other . An interesting period of time .
I would have lived a family tree to help with all the connections .