Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Admiral Victor Ferdinand Franz Eugen Gustaf Adolf Constantin Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg GCB (11 December 1833-31 December 1891), also known as Count Gleichen, was an officer in the Royal Navy, and a sculptor.

He was born at Langenburg in Württemberg, the fourth child and third son of Prince Ernst Christian Karl of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1794-1860) and Princess Feodora of Leiningen (1807-1856). His mother was Queen Victoria's half-sister (they were both daughters of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786–1861) by her first and second marriages, to Karl, Prince of Leiningen (1763–1814) and Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (1767–1820), respectively), and so his family were on close relations with the British Royal Family.

Victor (sometimes spelled Viktor) became an officer in the Royal Navy in 1848 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1854. As a Lieutenant, he served on the first-rate HMS "St Jeanne d'Arc" in the Mediterranean under Captain Henry Keppel in 1855; commanded HMS "Traveller" for a few months in 1856 after her launch until she was paid off; served again under Keppel again on the fourth-rate HMS "Raleigh" in the East Indies and China, until she was wrecked near Macau in 1857. He was recommended for the Victoria Cross for his service in China in 1856. He was promoted to Commander in 1857, and commanded the first-rate sloop HMS "Scourge" in the Mediterranean. Promoted to Captain in 1859, he took command of the 21-gun corvette HMS "Racoon" from commissioning in 1863 until 1866, during which time Queen Victoria's second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900) served on board as a lieutenant. He retired from active service in 1866, and was appointed KCB that year (advanced to GCB in 1887).

Works

He became a sculptor after retiring from the Navy.

Examples of his work include
* the huge statue of Alfred the Great in the market square of Wantage, Oxfordshire
* the bust of Mary Seacole made in 1871, in the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston, Jamaica
* the statue of Queen Victoria in the quadrangle of Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham, Surrey
* the statue of Thomas Holloway with his wife Jane, in the quadrangle of Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham, Surrey

Family

He married Laura Williamina Seymour, the younger daughter of Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour (under whom he served on HMS "Cumberland" in the 1850s) on 24 January 1861 in London. Shortly before his morganatic marriage, his wife was created Countess Gleichen, after Gleichen which was at one stage owned by a branch of the Hohenlohe family. They had four children:

*Count (Albert) Edward Wilfred (1863-1937), soldier.
*Countess Feodora Georgina Maud (1861-1922), sculptor.
*Countess Victoria "Valda" Alice Leopoldina Ada Laura (1868-1951), singer.
*Countess Helena Emily (1873-1947), artist.

Prince Victor's only son, also known as Count Gleichen, became a Major General in the British Army, he changed his title in the First World War to "Lord Edward Gleichen".

Prince Victor reverted to the title of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in December 1885, and was given the rank of admiral in 1887. He died in London and was buried at Sunningdale.

External links

* [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=1417 Details of naval career]
* [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/prince_highness.htm#Gleichens Details of precedence]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p175.htm#i1744 Peerage.com]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp51123&rNo=0&role=sit NPG]
* [http://manuscripts.co.uk/stock/20087.HTM Letter to] Edward VII
* [http://www.victorianweb.org/scullpture/gelightn/1.html Statue of Queen Victoria at Royal Holloway College]
* [http://www.victorianweb.org/scullpture/gelightn/2.html Statue of Thomas and Jane Holloway at Royal Holloway College]