Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia

Infobox Hanoverian Royalty
name = Princess Victoria Louise
title = Duchess of Brunswick


caption = Photography of Princess Victoria Louise in 1910
spouse = Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
issue = Ernest Augustus IV
Prince George William
Frederica, Queen of the Hellenes
Prince Christian Oscar
Prince Welf Henry
full name = Victoria Louise Adelaide Matilda Charlotte
titles = "HRH" The Dowager Duchess of Brunswick
"HRH" The Duchess of Brunswick
"HRH" Princess Ernest Augustus of Cumberland and Hanover
"HRH" Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia
royal house = House of Hanover
House of Hohenzollern
father = William II, German Emperor
mother = Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein
date of birth = birth date|1892|9|13|df=yes
place of birth = Marble Palace, Potsdam
date of death = death date and age|1980|12|11|1892|9|13|df=yes
place of death = Hanover|

Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, Duchess of Brunswick (Victoria Louise Adelaide Matilda Charlotte; _de. Viktoria Luise Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte; 13 September 1892 – 11 December 1980) was the only daughter and the seventh child of William II, German Emperor and Empress Augusta Victoria – at the time of her death, she was their last surviving child. Princess Victoria Louise is the maternal grandmother of Queen Sophie of Spain and the former King Constantine II of the Hellenes.

Marriage

Ernest Augustus, heir to the title of Duke of Cumberland, and grandson of Christian IX of Denmark through the latter's daughter, Princess Thyra of Denmark, came to the court and fell in love with Victoria Louise. Their marriage, on 24 May 1913 in Berlin, put an end to the rift between the House of Hanover and House of Hohenzollern that began after the 1866 annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover into the Kingdom of Prussia following the Austro-Prussian War. Their wedding was one of the last great social events of European royalty before World War I. It was celebrated in the presence of George V of the United Kingdom and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Empress Augusta Victoria took the separation from her youngest child and only daughter badly and spent the night weeping.

Victoria Louise and Ernest Augustus had five children:

* Ernest Augustus IV, Prince of Hanover (18 March 1914 – 9 December 1987)
* George Wiliam, Prince of Hanover (25 March 1915 – 8 January 2006)
* Frederika, Princess of Hanover and Queen of the Hellenes (married Paul I of Greece)
* Christian Oscar, Prince of Hanover (1 September 1919 – 10 December 1981); married, 1963, Mireille Dutry (10 January 1946 –); divorced 1976; had issue
* Welf Henry, Prince of Hanover (11 March 1923 – 12 July 1997); married, 1960, Princess Alexandra of Ysenburg and Büdingen (23 October 1937 –); had issue

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

*13 September 1892 – 24 May 1913: "Her Royal Highness" Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia
*24 May – 1 November 1913: "Her Royal Highness" Princess Ernest Augustus of Hanover:*"in Britain: Her Royal Highness" Princess Ernest Augustus of Cumberland
*1 November 1913 – 30 January 1953: "Her Royal Highness" The Duchess of Brunswick
*20 January 1953 – 11 December 1980: "Her Royal Highness" The Dowager Duchess of Brunswick

As the wife of a prince of the House of Hanover, Victoria Louise also bore the titles "Princess of Hanover", "Royal Princess of Great Britain and Ireland" and "Duchess of Brunswick and Lunenburg".

Legacy

Publications

Approximate translations of the titles into English are given in parentheses.

*Ein Leben als Tochter des Kaisers ("Life as Daughter of the Emperor")
*Im Strom der Zeit ("In the Stream of Time")
*Bilder der Kaiserzeit ("Pictures from the Imperial Period")
*Vor 100 Jahren ("100 Years Ago")
*Die Kronprinzessin ("The Crown Princess" (her sister-in-law, Duchess Cecily of Mecklenburg-Schwerin))
*Deutschlands letzte Kaiserin ("Germany's Last Empress" (her mother, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein))

Pop Culture

“Die Prinzessin von Preussen” (The Princess of Prussia, Victoria Louise) by artist Shaun von Knasick of the band Star Chamber released on Toten Troll Records, London, England, 2003.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia
2= 2. William II, German Emperor
3= 3. Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
4= 4. Frederick III, German Emperor
5= 5. Victoria, Princess Royal
6= 6. Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
7= 7. Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
8= 8. William I, German Emperor
9= 9. Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
10= 10. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
11= 11. Victoria of the United Kingdom
12= 12. Christian, Duke of Augustenborg
13= 13. Louise of Danneskiold-Samsøe
14= 14. Ernst, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
15= 15. Princess Feodora of Leiningen
16= 16. Frederick William III of Prussia
17= 17. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
18= 18. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
19= 19. Maria Pavlovna of Russia
20= 20. Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
21= 21. Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
22= 22. Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
23= 23. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
24= 24. Frederik Christian II, Duke of Augustenborg
25= 25. Louise Auguste of Denmark
26= 26. Christian-Conrad, Count of Danneskiold-Samsøe
27= 27. Johanna Kaas of Mur
28= 28. Charles Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
29= 29. Amalie of Solms-Baruth
30= 30. Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen
31= 31. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (= 23)

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