The Princess Beatrice
Princess Beatrice the youngest child of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort Albert was born on April 14, 1857 at Buckingham Palace.
The Queen herself wrote to her uncle, the King of the Belgians, early in May, explaining the reason why these names were chosen:
"She is to be called Beatrice, a fine old name, borne by three of the Plantagenet princesses and her other names will be Mary (after poor Aunt Mary), Victoria after Mamma and Vicky who with Fritz Wilhelm, are to be the sponsors and Feodore".
Feodore, it will be remembered, was the name of the Queen´s half-sister, the child of the Duchess of Kent by her first marriage and between whom the closest attachment existed.
When she married the Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885 a provision was granted by Parliament; it was the same as that for Princess Alice and Louise, a dowery of £30 000 and an allowance of £6000 a year.
The pendant on the right is a wedding gift of her husband, set with diamonds and a sapphire cabochon; she is wearing this pendant on a string of pearls.
Behind in the smaller picture the Princess wears some pearl jewels and a large brooch with a pear-shaped hanging pearl.
In 1892, Princess Beatrice lost pearls and a parure of emeralds in a fire at Heiligenberg Palace, the home of her husband. She started the fire, chasing gnats with a candle. Nothing is known about the emeralds, but it's been cited in some Court Circulars that she was wearing an emerald tiara to some events.
Sources: Illustrated London News;"The Last
Princess" by Matthew Dennison, last daugher of Queen Victoria
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