{{Short description|British princess (1870–1948)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox royalty |name = Princess Helena Victoria | image = Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein1.png | caption =Photograph, c. 1910 | full name =Victoria Louise Sophia Augusta Amelia Helena | house = Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg | father =Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein | mother =Princess Helena of the United Kingdom | birth_date ={{Birth date|1870|5|3|df=y}} | birth_place =Frogmore House, Windsor, England | death_date ={{Death date and age|1948|3|13|1870|5|3|df=y}} | death_place =Berkeley Square, London | burial_date = 17 March 1948 | burial_place =St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle <br/>22 June 1948 <br/>Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore }} '''Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein''' (Victoria Louise Sophia Augusta Amelia Helena; 3 May 1870 – 13 March 1948), informally known by her family as ''Thora'', was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. From July 1917, she was addressed simply as '''Princess Helena Victoria'''.
==Early life== 190px|thumb|left|Late 1880s portrait of the young princess Helena Victoria (always known to her family as ''Thora'') was born on 3 May 1870 at Frogmore House, near Windsor Castle. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, the third son of Christian, Duke of Augustenburg and his wife, Countess Louise Sophie of Danneskiold-Samsøe. Her mother was Princess Helena, the fifth child and third daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. After their marriage, her parents resided in Cumberland Lodge, Great Britain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/about/history/|title=History | Cumberland Lodge through time}}</ref>
She was baptised in the private chapel at Windsor Castle on 20 June 1870. Her godparents were Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, Prince Valdemar of Denmark, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Princess Louise Auguste of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Caroline Amelie of Schleswig-Holstein (the latter two represented by the Duchess of Roxburghe).<ref>Queen Victoria's Journals - ''Monday 20th June 1870''</ref>
She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her maternal aunt Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg and also at the wedding of her cousins the Duke and Duchess of York (future George V and Queen Mary) in 1893.<ref>{{cite web | title=Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg with their bridesmaids and others on their wedding day | url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw145863/Prince-and-Princess-Henry-of-Battenberg-with-their-bridesmaids-and-others-on-their-wedding-day?LinkID=mp89748&role=art&rNo=2 | publisher=National Portrait Gallery | access-date=26 July 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Duke and Duchess of York and Bridesmaids|url= http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw189219/The-Duke-and-Duchess-of-York-and-Bridesmaids|publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London}}</ref>
She spent most of her childhood at Cumberland Lodge, her father's residence as Ranger of Windsor Great Park. Known to her family as "Thora", or sometimes "the Snipe", in reference to her sharp facial features, formally she used the names ''Helena Victoria'' from among her string of six given names.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG218050|title=Collections Online | British Museum}}</ref>
==First World War== In July 1917, King George V changed the name of the British royal family to the House of Windsor. He also relinquished, on behalf of himself and his numerous cousins who were British subjects, the use of their German titles, styles, and surnames. Helena Victoria and her younger sister, Princess Marie Louise, thereupon ceased to use the territorial designation "of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg".
Instead, they became known simply as "Her Highness Princess Helena Victoria" and "Her Highness Princess Marie Louise". Although the two had officially borne German titles, their upbringing and domicile were entirely English.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/prince_highness.htm|title=Royal Styles and Titles of Great Britain|website=www.heraldica.org}}</ref>
==Later life and death== Helena Victoria never married. She followed her mother's example in working for various charitable organizations, most notably YMCA, Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and Princess Christian's Nursing Home at Windsor. During World War I, she founded the YWCA Women's Auxiliary Force. As its president, she visited British troops in France and obtained the permission of the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, to arrange entertainments for them. Between the world wars, she and her sister, Princess Marie Louise, were enthusiastic patrons of music at Schomberg House, their London residence. It was reported in one publication in 1924 that 'Princess Helena Victoria has always been, together with her sister Princess Marie Louise, one of the hardest working of all our princesses.'<ref>{{Cite journal |date=3 May 1924 |title=Women Who Have Helped to Make Wembley |url=https://www.amdigital.co.uk/primary-sources/interwar-culture |journal=Woman's Pictorial |pages=10 |via=Adam Matthew Digital Interwar Culture}}</ref> After a German air raid damaged the house in 1940, the two princesses moved to Fitzmaurice Place, Berkeley Square.
In ill health and a wheelchair user after World War II, Helena Victoria made one of her last major appearances at the 20 November 1947 wedding of her first cousin twice removed Princess Elizabeth, to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.<ref>Royal Collection: Seating plan for the Ball Supper Room http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/royalwedding1947/object.asp?grouping=&exhibs=NONE&object=9000366&row=82&detail=magnify</ref>
Helena Victoria died at Fitzmaurice Place, Berkeley Square on 13 March 1948, aged 77.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last1=Wortham |first1=H. E. |last2=Reynolds |first2=K. D. |date=2011 |title=Princess Helena Victoria (1870-1948) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33802 |access-date=19 July 2022 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/33802 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> She died at the same age as her mother. Her funeral took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor on Wednesday 17 March 1948 at 11:30 am.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1948 |title=Order of Service for the Funeral of Her Late Highness Princess Helena Victoria at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, 17th March 1948 at 11:30am. |url=https://www.sophiedupreautographs.com/Search.aspx?a=1 |access-date=19 July 2022 |website=Sophie Dupré Autographs}}</ref> Her coffin was draped in the Union Jack with a wreath of daffodils and spring flowers from her sister Princess Marie Louise and a wreath of yellow roses and mauve tulips from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=18 March 1948 |title=Court Circular |work=The Times |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=22&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=5&docId=GALE%7CCS101533298&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZTMA-MOD1&prodId=GDCS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCS101533298&searchId=R1&userGroupName=mmucal5&inPS=true |access-date=19 July 2022}}</ref> Amongst the mourners were her sister Marie Louise, George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Mary was represented by Captain the Lord Claud Hamilton. Other royal mourners included Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, Lady Patricia Ramsay and her son Captain Alexander Ramsay.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=18 March 1948 |title=Court Circular |work=The Times |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=22&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=15&docId=GALE%7CCS101009010&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZTMA-MOD1&prodId=GDCS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCS101009010&searchId=R1&userGroupName=mmucal5&inPS=true |access-date=19 July 2022}}</ref> Music included a setting of Psalm 121 'I will lift up mine eyes', and the hymns 'Rock of Ages' and 'God be in my head'.<ref name=":0" /> Her coffin was later buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, Windsor Great Park.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georges/royal-connection/royal-burials/royal-burials-chapel-since-1805/|title=Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805|work=College of St George - Windsor Castle|accessdate=5 March 2023}}</ref> No orders for court mourning were issued but the King and Queen, and members of their Households, observed family mourning for one week.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 March 1948 |title=Court Circular |work=The Times |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=22&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=4&docId=GALE%7CCS117786223&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZTMA-MOD1&prodId=GDCS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCS117786223&searchId=R1&userGroupName=mmucal5&inPS=true |access-date=19 July 2022}}</ref> Probate of the Princess's estate was granted in London on 20 May 1948 and it was valued at £52,435 (£1.3 million at 2022 conversion rates).<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Evans |first1=Rob |last2=Pegg |first2=David |date=18 July 2022 |title=£187m of Windsor family wealth hidden in secret royal wills |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/18/187m-pounds-of-windsor-family-wealth-hidden-in-secret-royal-wills |access-date=19 July 2022}}</ref>
==Titles, styles, honours and arms== ===Titles and styles=== * 3 May 1870 – 14 July 1917: ''Her Highness'' Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein<ref>See for example the cover photographic portrait of ''The Sketch'' of the Princess in her fancy dress costume for the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 Diamond Jubilee ball, where she is described as 'Princess Victoria of Schleswig Holstein'.</ref> * 14 July 1917 – 13 March 1948: ''Her Highness'' Princess Helena Victoria
In May 1866, Queen Victoria had conferred the higher style of ''Highness'' upon any children to be born of the marriage of Princess Helena and Prince Christian, although the children were to remain Prince or Princess of Schleswig-Holstein. This higher style was valid only in the British realms and territories. Whithin the German Empire, as a male-line granddaughter of the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Helena Victoria would have been styled ''Serene Highness'' (''Durchlaucht'').
In June 1917, a notice appeared in the Court Circular that a Royal Warrant was to be prepared by George V dispensing with his cousins' use of the "Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg" part of their titles. However no warrant was issued, nor were they formally granted the titles of Princesses of Great Britain and Ireland nor of the United Kingdom.<ref>This led to their being mockingly referred to as 'The Princesses of Nothing' by their cousin Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, ''née'' ''Princess of Hesse and by Rhine'', as her granddaughter Pamela Hicks records in her memoir "Daughter of Empire" (London 2012), p. 161.</ref>
===Honours=== '''British honours''' *'''VA''': Lady of the Order of Victoria and Albert, ''1883'' *'''CI''': Companion of the Order of the Crown of India, ''25 May 1889''<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25939|page=2874|date=25 May 1889}}</ref> *'''RRC''': Decoration of the Royal Red Cross, ''16 March 1900''<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27174|page=1790|date=16 March 1900|}}</ref> *'''GBE''': Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, ''1918'' *'''GCStJ''': Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St John, ''1928'' '''Foreign honours''' * {{flagicon|Restoration (Spain)}} Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa
==Ancestry== {{ahnentafel |collapsed=yes |align=center |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |1= 1. '''Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein''' |2= 2. Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein |3= 3. Princess Helena of the United Kingdom |4= 4. Christian Augustus II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg |5= 5. Countess Louise Danneskiold-Samsøe |6= 6. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |7= 7. Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom |8= 8. Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg |9= 9. Princess Louise Augusta of Denmark |10= 10. Count Christian Danneskiold-Samsøe |11= 11. Henriette Kaas |12= 12. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |13= 13. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg |14= 14. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn |15= 15. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld }}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *Ronald Allison and Sarah Riddell, eds., ''The Royal Encyclopedia'' (London: Macmillan, 1992). *"Obituary: Princess Helena Victoria, Charity and Social Services," 15 March 1948, p. 7. *"Royal Titles: German Names Dropped, British Peerages for Princes," ''The Times'' 20 July 1917, p. 7.
==External links== {{commons category}} * {{NPG name}}
{{Princesses of Schleswig-Holstein}} {{Princesses of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Helena Victoria Of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess}} Category:British princesses Category:House of Augustenburg Category:Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Category:Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert Category:Companions of the Order of the Crown of India Category:Dames Grand Cross of the Order of St John Category:1870 births Category:1948 deaths Category:People from Old Windsor Category:People from Windsor, Berkshire Category:Princesses of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg Category:Burials at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore Category:Members of the Royal Red Cross Category:YMCA leaders Category:Royal reburials