Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg

This article should be merged with Princess Victoria of Battenberg.

Princess Victoria Eugénie of Battenberg later Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain (24 October 1887-15 April 1969), a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, was the consort of the exiled King Alfonso XIII of Spain and the paternal grandmother of the current King of Spain, Juan Carlos.

Her Highness Princess Victoria Eugénie Julia Ena of Battenberg was born at Balmoral Castle, the second child and the only daughter of Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of Great Britain and Ireland, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her father was the product of a morganatic marriage between Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia Hauke. Named for her two grandmothers and for her godmother, the Empress Eugénie, the Spanish-born widow of the former Emperor of the French Napoleon III, the princess was known to her family as Ena. Since her mother was Queen Victoria's companion and personal secretary, Princess Ena spent her childhood at Windsor Castle, Balmoral, and Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight.

On 9 March 1906, the Spanish Royal Household announced the engagement of King Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886-28 February 1941), the posthumous and only son of Alfonso XII of Spain and his second wife, the Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria, later Queen Regent of Spain. The news raised concern among many Spaniards because the prospective bride was a Protestant and not sufficiently royal. Princess Victoria Eugénie had been baptised into the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, having been born at Balmoral, but was also in communion with the Church of England. And while she was a female-line granddaughter of Queen Victoria, on her father's side she was a morganatic scion of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse. Her background hardly seemed worthy in the eyes of many Spaniards to follow in the footsteps of the Bourbons and the Habsburgs who had provided the majority of Spanish queens since the sixteenth century. The princess removed the first obstacle when she agreed to undergo instruction to be received into the Roman Catholic Church. She was rebaptised by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham at San Sabistian in Madrid two days before her wedding, taking the additional names Maria Christina. Her uncle, King Edward VII, removed the second obstacle to the marriage when he issued Letters Patent on 3 April 1906, granting her the style and attribute of Royal Highness.¹

Accompanied by her widowed mother, Princess Henry of Battenberg, and her cousins, the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King George V and Queen Mary), Princess Victoria Eugénie married King Alfonso at St. Geronimo in Madrid on 31 May1906. The day nearly ended in tragedy, when after leaving the church, the newlywed King and Queen of Spain narrowly escaped an anarchist bomb attack. Popularly known as "Queen Ena," she devoted herself to work for hospitals and services for the poor, as well as education. She was involved in the reorganization of the Spanish Red Cross.

Queen Victoria Eugenia, like her mother and grandmother, was a haemophilia carrier. She and Alfonso had five sons, of whom the first, Infante Don Alfonso, and the fifth, Infante Don Gonzalo, were haemophiliacs. The second son, Infante Don Jaime, was a deaf mute and later renounced all rights of succession. Her third son was stillborn. Only the fourth son, Infante Juan, enjoyed good health. In all, King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia had seven children, five sons and two daughters:

• HRH Infante Don Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias, later Count of Covadonga (10 May 1907-6 September 1938), renounced all rights to the Spanish throne for himself and his descendants (because of his intended unequal marriage), 11 June 1933; m. 1st 1933 (div. 1937) Edelmira Ocejo y Robato (5 March 1906-23 May 1994); m. 2nd 1937 (div 1937) Marta Rocafort y Altazarra (18 September 1913-4 February 1993).

• HRH Infante Don Jaime, Duke of Sergovia, later Duke of Anjou and Sergovia (23 June 1908- 20 March 1975), renounced all rights to the Spanish throne (because of his physical infirmities), 21 June 1933; m. 1st Rome 1935 (div. 1947) Emanuela de Dampierre (8 November 1913-); m. 2nd 1949 Charlotte Tiedemann (2 January 1919-3 July 1979).

• HRH Infanta Doña Beatriz (22 June 1909-22 November 2002); m. 1935 Alesandro, Prince Torlonia di Civitelli Cesi (7 December 1911-12 May 1986).

• HRH Infanta Doña Maria Christina (12 December 1911-23 December 1996); m. 1940 Count Enrico Marone (15 March 1895-23 October 1968), and had issue.

• HRH Infante Don Juan, Count of Barcelona (20 June 1913-1 April 1993), recognized as heir apparent to the Spanish throne and held the title Prince of Asturias from 21 June 1933, but prefered to use the title Count of Barcelona; renounced his claim to the throne in favor of his son, Juan Carlos, 14 May 1977; m. 1935 HRH Princess Maria de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (23 December 1910-2 January 2000), and had issue.

• HRH Infante Don Gonzalo (24 October 1914-13 August 1934).

The Spanish Royal Family went into exile on 14 April 1931 after elections brought Republicans to power in most of the major cities. The King had hoped that his voluntary exile might avert a civil war between the Republicans and the Nationalists. The royal family went to live in France and later Italy. Queen Victoria Eugenia and her husband later separated, and she lived partly in Britain and partly in Switzerland. In 1939, she purchased a chateau, the Vielle Fontaine, outside of Lausanne, Switzerland. She returned briefly to Spain in February 1968, to stand as godmother at the baptism of her great grandson, Infante Don Felipe, the son of Infante Don Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón (later King Juan Carlos I of Spain) and Princess Sofia of Greece and Denmark (later Queen Sofia). She died at Laussane in April the following year.

Queen Victoria Eugenia was buried in Laussane. On 25 April 1985, the Spanish Royal Household returned her remains to Spain. Her remains were reiterred in the Royal Vault in the Escorial, outside Madrid, next to the remains of her husband, Alfonso XIII, and her sons, Infante Don Alfonso, Infante Don Jaime, and Infante Don Gonzalo.

Footnote

¹ By Royal Warrant of 13 December 1886, Queen Victoria granted the children of Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice the style of Highness. This style was only in effect in Great Britain, not Hesse and by Rhine, where as Princes and Princess of Battenberg they were only entitled to the style Serene Highness.

Sources

"Queen Victoria Eugénie, Granddaughter of Queen Victoria (Obituary)," The Times, 16 April 1969, p. 12, column E.

"Franco at Bourbon Prince's Baptism," The Times, 9 February 1968, p. 4, column 4.

Marlene A. Eilers, Queen Victoria's Descendants (New York: Atlantic International, 1987).