Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg

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"Victoria Eugenia" redirects here. For other uses, see Victoria Eugenia (disambiguation).
Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg
Queen Victoria Eugenia photographed by Kaulak in 1925.
Queen consort of Spain
ReignMay 31, 1906 – April 14, 1931
(24 years, 318 days)
PredecessorMaria Christina of Austria
SuccessorSofía of Greece
Born(1887-10-24)October 24, 1887
Balmoral Castle, Scotland, United Kingdom
DiedApril 15, 1969(1969-04-15) (aged 81)
Lausanne, Switzerland
Burial
Royal Crypt of the Monastery of El Escorial
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1906; "his death" is deprecated; use "died" instead. 1941)​
Issue
HouseHouse of Battenberg
(by birth)
House of Bourbon
(by marriage)
FatherHenry of Battenberg
MotherBeatrice of the United Kingdom
ReligionCatholic (Before marriage: Anglican)

Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg (Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena; Aberdeenshire, October 24, 1887 – Lausanne, April 15, 1969) was Queen of Spain through her marriage to King Alfonso XIII.[1] She was the daughter of Henry of Battenberg and Beatrice of the United Kingdom. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and of Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom.

Biography

Birth

Victoria Eugenia, with her brothers and her mother.

Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg was born at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on October 24, 1887. She was the daughter of Henry of Battenberg and his wife, Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert.[2][3] Her mother, as the Queen's youngest daughter, remained "at home" with the court, which happened to be at Balmoral Castle when she went into labor.

Baptism

She was baptized in the Drawing Room of Balmoral Castle. Her godparents were her paternal grandmother the Princess of Battenberg, her maternal aunts the German Crown Princess and Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, her paternal uncle Prince Louis of Battenberg, her maternal uncle the Duke of Edinburgh, and Empress Eugénie of France.

Names

  • Victoria: In honor of her maternal grandmother Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
  • Eugenia (Eugenie): In honor of her godmother Eugénie de Montijo.
  • Julia: In honor of her paternal grandmother Princess Julia von Hauke.
  • Ena: A name her parents liked, which in Scottish means Eva, and which was moreover what her family and the public called her.

Early life

Victoria Eugenia grew up in Queen Victoria's household, since the monarch had reluctantly allowed Beatrice to marry on the condition that she remain her full-time lady-in-waiting and personal secretary. She therefore spent her childhood at Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle and Osborne Castle on the Isle of Wight.

Health

When she was 6 years old, Victoria Eugenia suffered a severe concussion when she was thrown from her pony at Osborne Castle and struck her head on the ground. The physicians of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom noted dangerous symptoms, such as evident signs of intracranial hypertension and probably a cerebral hemorrhage.

Death of her father

Her father died on February 5, 1896, after contracting fevers in Africa while traveling to the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) to suppress an Asante or Ashanti revolt, which was a hard blow for her.

Marriage and issue

Courtship and engagement

In 1905, the Princess attended, at the present-day Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz, a party organized by her uncle, Edward VII, given in honor of Alfonso XIII of Spain. The Spanish Monarch began to court the young woman despite the existing opposition to a possible marriage.

Queen Maria Christina, mother of Alfonso XIII, was not in favor of this union, given the origins of the Battenberg line; indeed, Victoria Eugenia's grandmother, Countess Julia von Hauke, mother of Henry Maurice, was the daughter of a French mercenary, for which reason Victoria Eugenia held only the style of Highness in the United Kingdom and Serene Highness in Battenberg, which Queen Maria Christina considered of inferior rank. Furthermore, the history of hemophilia coming from her grandmother's branch of the family did not please the Queen either.

Marriage

Victoria Eugenia with mantilla, by Joaquín Sorolla.

Princess Victoria Eugenia married King Alfonso XIII of Spain on May 31, 1906, at the Church of San Jerónimo el Real in Madrid, Spain. Present at the ceremony were her widowed mother and her brothers, as well as her cousins. After the wedding ceremony, the royal procession was heading back to the Royal Palace of Madrid when an assassination attempt was made against the King and Queen, when the anarchist Mateo Morral threw a bomb from a balcony at the royal carriage. Victoria Eugenia's life was saved because, at the exact moment the bomb exploded, she turned her head to look at the Church of Santa María, which Alfonso was pointing out to her. She escaped injury, although her dress was stained with the blood of a guard who was riding alongside the carriage.

Issue

Juan and María Cristina, with their mother, photographed by Christian Franzen.

The royal couple had seven children:

As for her personal relations with her husband, Alfonso XIII always reproached her for transmitting hemophilia to his children and heirs.

Nuptials

Historic photograph, Victoria Eugenia and King Alfonso XIII of Spain on their wedding day in 1906, when an assassination attempt was made: the anarchist Mateo Morral threw a bomb from a balcony at the royal carriage. Photo taken by a young medical student, Eugenio Mesonero Romanos, grandson of the writer Ramón de Mesonero Romanos, and the newspaper ABC published it heavily retouched.

Despite everything, the Royal House of Spain announced on March 9, 1906, the engagement of King Alfonso XIII and Princess Victoria Eugenia. The news worried many Spaniards, since the bride was Anglican and did not have the rank of a royal consort.

The Princess avoided the first obstacle by converting to Catholicism. On March 7, 1909, the conversion ceremony was held by the Bishop of Nottingham in the oratory of the Miramar Palace in the City of San Sebastián.[4] Her uncle, King Edward VII, removed the second obstacle by granting her the style of Royal Highness on April 3, 1906. The marriage treaty was signed in duplicate in London on May 7, 1906.[5] The marriage took place at the Church of San Jerónimo in Madrid on May 31, 1906, and the Queen wore the fleur-de-lis diadem for the first time.[6][7][8][9]

After the ceremony, the wedding procession heading back to the Royal Palace suffered an attack perpetrated by Mateo Morral, who threw a bomb from a balcony toward the royal coach, which bounced off its folded hood, killing a large number of people and the entire team of horses. After this event, Victoria appeared before the wedding guests at the Royal Palace in her bloodstained wedding dress. Her years at the court of Madrid were complicated. Her reserved character, typical of the rigid Victorian court, was compounded by her difficult relationship with the queen mother Maria Christina of Habsburg-Lorraine, who always maintained her authority over the royal family and her influence over the King. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the differences between the two were heightened, since the queen mother showed her clear Germanophile sentiment, while the Queen consort showed her support for her cousin, King George V of the United Kingdom.

In political matters she always kept herself apart from the struggle of the parties, with a public life devoted exclusively to charity. Years later, in exile, she told the writer Augusto Assía of the displeasure she suffered over the coup d'état of September 13, 1923, because she had been raised in the tradition of constitutional monarchy and the pact with the people had been broken, and she saw no possibility of its being repaired.[10]

As for her personal relations with her husband, Alfonso XIII always reproached her for transmitting hemophilia to his children and heirs. In addition, the relationship gradually cooled, and the King's infidelities became a common matter at the palace. Each of the King's infidelities was compensated with a jewel, so Queen Victoria Eugenia amassed a large number of personal jewels.[11] Victoria Eugenia began a personal isolation.

Issue

Victoria Eugenia with her six children in 1918.

The couple had a total of seven children, five sons and two daughters:

After the birth of their children, the relationship between the Queen and her husband deteriorated, since Alfonso XIII had numerous extramarital relationships.

Exile and death

In 1912 the City of San Sebastián inaugurated the Teatro Victoria Eugenia, so named in her honor.
In 1916 the City of Madrid inaugurated the Teatro Reina Victoria, so named in her honor.

The Spanish royal family departed into exile on April 15, 1931, when in the municipal elections of April 12, 1931, the republican parties won in most of the large cities and as a consequence King Alfonso XIII deliberately suspended the exercise of royal power, which led to the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. The royal family moved to France and later to the Kingdom of Italy. The royal couple ended up separating, and Victoria Eugenia returned to London, settling at 34 Porchester Terrace (now the embassy of Peru), from where she was close to her mother. In 1939, after the beginning of the Second World War, the Queen consort was invited to leave the United Kingdom and ceased to belong to the British royal family. She moved to Lausanne, in Switzerland, where she established her permanent residence in a small palace called "Vieille Fontaine" (currently owned by a Swiss financial institution), where many of her grandchildren came to visit her.

In 1938 the whole family gathered in Rome for the baptism of the eldest son of Juan of Bourbon, Juan Carlos, future King of Spain, to whom she was godmother together with Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII. On January 15, 1941, Alfonso XIII, sensing that his death was near, transferred the succession rights to the Spanish Crown to his son Juan. Alfonso XIII died on February 28, 1941, at the Grand Hotel in Rome.

Victoria Eugenia returned briefly to Spain in February 1968, after thirty-seven years of exile, to act as godmother at the baptism of her great-grandson Felipe. During those days she stayed at the Liria Palace, residence of the Duchess of Alba, her goddaughter, with whom she also had a very affectionate relationship.

Victoria Eugenia died at her residence in Lausanne on April 15, 1969, as a result of an irreversible liver disease.[12] She was buried in the chapel of the Sacré Coeur in Lausanne. On April 25, 1985, the Royal House transferred her remains and those of her sons Alfonso, Jaime and Gonzalo to Spain, where they rest in the Monastery of El Escorial. After spending the established time in the royal pudridero, in October 2011 she was placed in the Pantheon of Kings, sharing the chamber with her husband, Alfonso XIII.

Titles, styles, honors and arms

Monogram of Queen Victoria Eugenia.

Titles and styles

  • October 24, 1887 – April 3, 1906: Her Highness Princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg.[13]
  • April 3, 1906 – May 31, 1906: Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg.[14]
  • May 31, 1906 – April 14, 1931: Her Majesty the Queen of Spain.
  • April 14, 1931 – April 15, 1969: Her Majesty Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain.

Honors

Kingdom of Spain

Foreign

Arms
Coat of arms of H.H. Princess Victoria Eugenia (1887–1906)
Coat of arms of H.R.H. Princess Victoria Eugenia (1906)
Coat of arms of H.M. the Queen of Spain (1906–1941)
Coat of arms of H.M. Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain (1941–1969)

Offices

Namings in her honor

The Old Hotel Reina Victoria in Melilla.
The Hotel Reina Victoria in Valencia.

Ships

Places and institutions

Medals

Music

In fiction

Ancestry

Ancestors of Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Victoria Eugenia: se cumplen 50 años de la muerte de la reina desgraciada". El Mundo (in español). April 13, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Whitehall, October 28, 1887". The London Gazette. No. 25751. p. 5763.
  3. ↑ "Whitehall, November 1, 1887. Memorandum". The London Gazette. No. 25753. November 1, 1887. p. 5819.
  4. ↑ "Los Reyes en San Sebastián. La conversión de la princesa Ena". ABC (in español). San Sebastián. March 7, 1906. pp. 13–14.
  5. ↑ Boletín Oficial del Estado
  6. ↑ "La boda del Rey". ABC (in español). No. 505. pp. 5–6.
  7. ↑ "Crónica de la Boda". ABC (in español). No. 505. pp. 12–14.
  8. ↑ "Madrid - Bodas Reales". La Ilustración Española y Americana (in español). June 8, 1906.
  9. ↑ "Bodas Reales". Blanco y Negro (in español). No. 787. Madrid. June 2, 1906.
  10. ↑ Diario Vasco, February 4, 1973
  11. ↑ "El joyero de la reina Victoria Eugenia, chequera de los Borbón. Noticias de Casas Reales". El Confidencial (in español). Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  12. ↑ Aniversario de la Muerte de Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg
  13. ↑ "Whitehall, December 13, 1885". The London Gazette. No. 25655. December 14, 1886. p. 6305.
  14. ↑ "Whitehall, April 3, 1906". The London Gazette. No. Supplement 27901. April 3, 1906. p. 2421.
  15. ↑ "Guía Oficial de España" (in español). 1907. Retrieved February 25, 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ↑ "Real decreto concediendo á S. M. la Reina Doña Victoria Eugenia, la Gran Cruz de la Orden civil de Beneficencia" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in español). August 31, 1910. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Entrega de la Rosa de Oro a S.M. la Reina Doña Victoria". ABC (in español). May 22, 1923. p. 17. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Madrid, en la Nunciatura Apostólica". ABC (in español). May 22, 1923. p. 3. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  19. ↑ Belchite), Julio de Atienza y Navajas (barón de Cobos de (1993). La obra de Julio de Atienza y Navajas, barón de Cobos de Belchite y marqués del Vado Glorioso, en "Hidalguía" (in español). Ediciones Hidalguía. ISBN 9788487204555. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  20. ↑ Pérez, María de los Ángeles Hijano (2000). Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg: una reina exiliada, 1887-1969 (in español). Alderabán. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  21. ↑ "CANCILLERIA.- Recepción por SS. MM. (q. D. g.) en audiencia privada del Excmo Monseñor Federico Tedeschini, Arzobispo de Lepanto, Nuncio Apostólico, en calidad de Delegado y Comisario Apostólico, para entregar a S. M. la Reina la Rosa de Oro con que el Papa Pío XI ha tenido a bien agraciarla" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in español). May 22, 1923. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  22. ↑ Subasta Herederos Victoria Eugenia
  23. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie - 1912 (in Deutsch). Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  24. ↑ "ÖNB-ALEX - Staatshandbuch". alex.onb.ac.at (in Deutsch). Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  25. ↑ author, Unknown (1922). "English: Portrait of Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain". Retrieved April 13, 2020. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  26. ↑ Jch (November 30, 2018). "Pictographic Remembrance of Queen Victoria Eugenia Julia Ena of Battenberg of Spain". A Pictographic Remembrance of Queen Victoria Eugenia Julia Ena of Battenberg of Spain. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Sagrada Orden Constantiniana de San Jorge". Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center (1923). Almanach de Gotha. Gotha, Germany : Justus Perthes. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  29. ↑ "Real decreto nombrando a S. M. la Reina Doña Victoria Eugenia (q. D. g.) Coronel honorario del Regimiento Cazadores de Victoria Eugenia, 22 de Caballería" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in español). January 11, 1918.
  30. ↑ "Alfonso, el príncipe maldito". Archived from the original on December 11, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  31. ↑ "Sofía". Archived from the original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  32. ↑ Gran Hotel
  33. ↑ El Rey
  34. ↑ Tiempos de guerra

Bibliography

  • Rubio, María José, Reinas de España. Siglos XVIII al XXI. De María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya a Letizia Ortiz. Madrid, La Esfera de los Libros, 2009.
  • Gómez-Santos, Marino. La Reina Victoria Eugenia de cerca. Madrid, Afrodisio Aguado, 1964.
  • Gómez-Santos, Marino. La reina Victoria Eugenia de cerca. Madrid, Ediciones Magisterio Español, 1967.
  • Gómez-Santos, Marino. La reina Victoria Eugenia. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1993.
  • Gómez-Santos, Marino. Correspondencia epistolar de la princesa Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg al rey Alfonso XII (1905–1906). Madrid, Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Transportes y Medio Ambiente. Secretaría General de Comunicación. Organismo Autónomo de Correos y Telégrafos y Patrimonio Nacional, 1993.
  • De la Cierva, Ricardo, Victoria Eugenia. El veneno en la sangre. Barcelona, Planeta, 1992.
  • Rayón, Fernando and Sanpedro, José Luis, "Las joyas de las reinas de España". Barcelona, Planeta, 2004.
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