Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont (later Duchess of Albany; 17 February 1861 – 1 September 1922) was a member of the
British royal family by marriage. She was the fifth daughter and child of
George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
George Victor (14 January 1831 – 12 May 1893) was the 3rd sovereign Prince of the German state of Waldeck and Pyrmont.
He was born in Bad Arolsen the son of George II, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his wife Princess Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg- ...
, and his first wife,
Princess Helena of Nassau
Princess Helena of Nassau (german: Prinzessin Helene Wilhelmine Henriette Pauline Marianne von Nassau-Weilburg; 18 August 183127 October 1888) was a daughter of William, Duke of Nassau, and consort of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont ...
.
Family
Helen was born in
Arolsen
Bad Arolsen (, until 1997 Arolsen, ''Bad'' being the German name for ''Spa'') is a small town in northern Hesse, Germany, in Waldeck-Frankenberg district. From 1655 until 1918 it served as the residence town of the Princes of Waldeck-Pyrmont and t ...
, capital of
Waldeck principality, in Germany.
She was the sister of
Friedrich Friedrich may refer to:
Names
* Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich''
* Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich''
Other
* Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Year ...
, last reigning Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont;
Marie
Marie may refer to:
People Name
* Marie (given name)
* Marie (Japanese given name)
* Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973
* Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...
, the first wife of
William II of Württemberg
, spouse =
, issue = Pauline, Princess of WiedPrince Ulrich
, house = Württemberg
, father = Prince Frederick of Württemberg
, mother = Princess Catherine of Württemberg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Stu ...
; and of
Emma, Queen consort of
William III of the Netherlands
William III (Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 18 ...
(and mother of
Queen Wilhelmina
Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...
).
Marriage
Along with Emma and a third sister,
Pauline, Helen was considered as a second wife for their distant cousin
William III of the Netherlands
William III (Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 18 ...
. She later met with another distant cousin
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, youngest son of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
, at the suggestion of his mother. The two became engaged in November 1881.
On 27 April 1882, Leopold and Helen married in
St. George's Chapel,
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
. After their wedding, Leopold and Helen resided at
Claremont House
Claremont, also known historically as 'Clermont', is an 18th-century Palladian mansion less than a mile south of the centre of Esher in Surrey, England. The buildings are now occupied by Claremont Fan Court School, and its landscaped gardens a ...
. The couple had a brief, but happy marriage, ending in the
hemophiliac
Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...
Leopold's death from a fall in Cannes, France, in March 1884. At the time of Leopold's death, Helen was pregnant with their second child.
The couple had two children:
*
Princess Alice of Albany (1883–1981), later
Countess of Athlone
*
Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany (1884–1954), later Duke of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-d ...
.
Personality and social work
According to the memoirs of Helen's daughter,
Princess Alice of Albany, Helen was very intelligent, had a strong sense of duty, and a genuine love of welfare work.
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
, initially worried that Helen might turn out to be a stereotypically remote German Princess, remarked in a letter to her eldest daughter,
German Crown Princess Victoria, that she was pleased Helen liked 'to go among the people.' The Queen soon came to regard her young daughter-in-law with great respect and affection, notwithstanding her initial concerns upon hearing from the match-making Vicky that Helen was an "intellectual", being unusually well-educated for a princess. Before her marriage, Helen's father had made her superintendent of the infant schools in his principality, and in this position the Princess had devised the pupils' educational curriculum. Helen particularly enjoyed solving mathematical problems and reading philosophy: during their tragically brief marriage, Prince Leopold proudly introduced his wife to the circle of academics he'd befriended at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. Helen maintained these friendships for the rest of her life.
In 1894, Helen was one of the founders of the Deptford Fund, which instigated many projects to help the local community in
Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
. In 1899 Helen opened the Albany Institute. This later expanded into a combined community/performance centre with the theatre venue known as the Albany Empire. A centre of 1970s anti-fascist activity and
Rock Against Racism
Rock Against Racism (RAR) was a political and cultural movement which emerged in 1976 in reaction to a rise in racist attacks on the streets of the United Kingdom and increasing support for the far-right National Front at the ballot box. Betwe ...
, the Empire and Institute buildings were destroyed in an arson attack in 1978. A new
Albany Theatre was opened by
the Princess of Wales in 1982.
Helen was also involved in several hospital charities and with those dedicated to ending human trafficking. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, she organised much of her charity work along with that of her sister-in-law
Princess Beatrice
Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (Beatrice Elizabeth Mary; born 8 August 1988) is a member of the British royal family. She is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is a niece of Charle ...
and husband's niece
Princess Marie-Louise to avoid the not-uncommon problem of conflicting (and sometimes misguided) royal war-work projects.
Later life
After Leopold's death, Helen and her two children, Alice and Charles Edward, continued to reside at Claremont House. After the death of her nephew, the
Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1899, Helen's sixteen-year-old son was selected as the new heir to the German duchy, and was parted from his mother and sister in order to take up residence there. When the First World War broke out 14 years later, Charles Edward found himself fighting in the German Army. As a result, he was stripped of his British titles by an
act of Parliament in 1917. By contrast, her daughter
Alice remained in England and by marriage to
Prince Alexander of Teck
Major General Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone (Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George; born Prince Alexander of Teck; 14 April 1874 – 16 January 1957), was a British Army commander and major-general who served as Governor- ...
in 1904 became a sister-in-law of
Queen Mary, consort of
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
.
Helen died on 1 September 1922 of a heart attack in
Hinterriss in
Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, while visiting her beloved son, Charles Edward. Through her son, she is the great-grandmother of
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973.
He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, D ...
.
On her death her estate was valued at £177,312 (resworn £183,053 and equivalent to £7.2 million in 2022).
Issue
Ancestry
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helen Of Waldeck And Pyrmont, Princess
1861 births
1922 deaths
People from Bad Arolsen
People from the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (United Kingdom)
House of Windsor
Wives of British princes
Albany
Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert
Companions of the Order of the Crown of India
Members of the Royal Red Cross
Dames of Justice of the Order of St John
House of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Princesses of Waldeck and Pyrmont