The Tragic Fate of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

Born the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Alice should have lived a life of comfort and luxury. However, her life was anything but. From the moment she was born, she endured nothing but tragedy.

Her parents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, had raised their children in modesty and middle-class family values. No opulence, no fancy clothes, no luxurious dinner parties. They wore humble clothing and lived in a simple home without regular heating.

Despite her position in the family, she was very close to her elder siblings, Princess Victoria and Prince Edward, and she got along well with the rest. But at some point down the road, her strong-willed nature and stubornness caused her to clash often with her mother.

Things became particularly intense when her mother pushed her to marry at a young age. With help from Princess Victoria, they found her a couple of suitors who she disliked. Thankfully, she fell in love with her third suitor, Prince Louis of Hesse.

But then, the first among a series of tragedies struck. Her maternal grandmother, with whom she was particularly close, died. Not long after that, her father, Prince Albert, died as well, severely affecting Queen Victoria, so much so that even during Alice's wedding, the queen forced her to wear black.

Alice's relationship with her mother soured even more after that. Then, her second son and fifth child, Friedrich, inherited hemophilia passed down from the queen. He died at the age of two and a half after falling from a window 20 feet high.

As if that wasn't enough, in 1878, the household had been stricken with diphtheria which claimed the life of her youngest daughter Marie. Wanting to spare her other children from the grief, she kept Marie's death from the others, until she eventually told her son Ernest, who did not take the death of his sister well.

Alice, wanting to console her son, kissed him to ease the pain. However, she ended up contracting the disease, and after a few days, succumbed to it as well. If only things ended there for Princess Alice.

Alas, her daughter Princess Alexandra was married to Tsar Nicholas II. We all know how that ended. This is the forgotten story of Princess Alice, who may be the most tragic British royal in history.

(Image credit: Franz Backofen/Wikimedia Commons)