Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Rare card · No. 68810

Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (25 November 1876 – 2 March 1936) was Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine from 1894 to 1901 as the wife of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and Consort of the Head of the House of Romanov as the wife of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia from 1924 until her death. She was the daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Her parents were the son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and the daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, respectively. Born a British princess, Victoria spent her early life in England and lived for three years in Malta, where her father served in the Royal Navy. In 1889, the family moved to Coburg, where Victoria's father became the reigning duke in 1893. In her teens, Victoria fell in love with her maternal first cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, but his Orthodox Christian faith discouraged marriage between first cousins. Bowing to...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Hugo Thiele, Public domain