Her Royal Highness The Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore of Great Britain and Ireland, V.A., C.I., G.C.V.O., G.B.E., R.R.C. was born at Buckingham Palace. Her father, the Prince Consort, died when she was only four years old and the griefstriken Queen clung to her youngest child. Nicknamed "Baby" by the Queen, the princess became a good pianist; some her compositions were later published. Her chief occupation, however, was to act as her mother's secretary and companion, a role she fulfilled until Queen Victoria's death on 22 January 1901.
On 23 July 1885, Princess Beatrice married His Serene Highness Prince Henry of Battenberg (5 October 1858-20 January 1896) at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight. Queen Victoria gave her blessing to the marriage on the condition that the couple made their home with her. Prince Henry was the third son of His Grand Ducal Highness Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine (1823-1888) by his morganatic marriage to Julie Therese, Countess von Hauke (1825-1895), the daughter of a Polish politician. His elder brother, Prince Louis of Battenberg, had married Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and a niece of Princess Beatrice, a year earlier. On the day of his wedding, the Queen granted Prince Henry the style Royal Highness, a style that was only in effect in Great Britain, not Hesse and by Rhine, where the prince was a Serene Highness.
Their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg had four children. By Royal Warrant of 13 December 1886, the Queen granted the children the style Highness. This style was was only in effect in Great Britain and not Hesse and by Rhine, where as children of Prince Henry they were only entitled to the style Serene Highness:
When Queen Victoria died, the Princess went to live in Osborne Cottage and carried out her duties as governor of the Isle of Wright, a position she inherited from her husband. In 1914, she moved to Carisbrooke Castle, but maintained an apartment in Kensington Palace as her London home. She spent thirty years edited her mother's journals. In doing so, she followed Queen Victoria's instruction to remove anything that might cause pain to persons mentioned or to her relatives. The Princess transcribed the text in her own handwriting and burned the originals. She finished the task in 1931 and the 111 volumes of Queen Victoria's edited journals are at the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle.
In July 1917, when King George V changed the name of the British Royal House from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to House of Windsor, he relinquished, on behalf of his various relatives who were British subjects, the use of all German titles and styles. Princess Henry resumed the style of "HRH The Princess Beatrice." Her two surviving sons assumed by Royal Warrant the surname Mountbatten and discontinued the use of the title Prince of Battenberg and the style Highness. Her elder son, Alexander ("Drino") was created Marquess of Clarisbrooke, while the younger son, Leopold, assumed the courtesy title Lord Leopold Mountbatten.
In January 1919, George V created Princess Beatrice a Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (G.B.E.), in recognition for her role as president of the Isle of Wight branch of the British Red Cross Society. She was created a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in 1927.
Princess Beatrice died at her wartime home, Brantridge Park, Balcombe, Sussex, in October 1944. Her funeral took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor on 3 November, followed by internment at the royal tomb house. Her remains were transferred later to Battenberg Chapel at St Mildred's Church on the Isle of Wight on 28 August 1945. She was the last surviving child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.