Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, Part III

[larri*]

Four portraits of little Alice from the Royal Collection:

Princess Alice when 11 months old:


Close up:


In 1845:


In ca1847:

[GrandDuchessAndrea]

I love the 1845 one, just adorable!

[wildone]

Alice wrote several letters to Queen Victoria detailing the sitting and why they picked the chilren they died--Victoria being 'too big' for instance though being the eldest she should have been in, she would have been 'too preponderant.

What I find odd about her statement is that in 1878, Ella was clearly taller than Alice, and maybe taller than Victoria.  Yet she was included and Victoria wasn't.  In the painting, it looks as though she is leaning on the chair in order to appear shorter than she really was.  Why couldn't they have had Victoria do that?

[Eric_Lowe]

Maybe just by looking at photographs.

[violetta]

a similar picture must have been posted.

te reason for princess alice`s everlasting popularity and her legend that is still alive is simple. people need legends, people need figures that they look up to, people need a myth that would enliven their everyday existence. princess alice was young,beautiful, kind and melancholic. She was famous for her numerous charities and merciful nature. She was so ethereal and seemed to exist on the border between the two realms:the mundane and the elevated.  and suddenly the life of such a creature is brutally interrupted. people couln`t help being affected by her death. so untimely death! besides, there were 5 sad orphaned children. creation of the legend was the direct consequence  of people`s emotional needs. and there is nothing wrong with that.

edgar allan poe said in his "Philosophy of Composition" (of course, I`m paraphrasing) : "The death of a young beautiful woman is the most beautiful thing". He was a Romantic writer.And in many of his short stories e.g. Morella, Ligeia and Berenika, the death of a young beautiful woman is the starting point of the story

[violetta]

2 new (for me) pictures

[violetta]

sorry for the size.with her sister victoria.does anyone have it bigger?




with her family, after the death of frittie

[THERRY]

I found this 

[grandduchessella]

The previous 2 photos (as well as many, many other great photos) can be found in Queen Victoria's Family by Charlotte Zeepvat. It's a GREAT book.

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. Great books to be had !

[HerrKaiser]

Particularly with Vicki and Alice right next to each other, Wilhelm II far more resembles his aunt than his mother.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Baby Alice asleep, this was made as a gift for her mother QV


Courtesy: royalcollection

[Thomas_Hesse]

Joseph Hartmann: Grand Duchess Alice with her daughters Victoria and Elisabeth. 1866. Schlossmuseum Darmstadt

In 1904 Elisabeth, by now Grand Duchess Serge of Russia, comissioned the Hessian court painter H.R.Kröh to copy the painting for her. Another copy is part of the British Royal Collection

[Sara Araújo]

From the Royal Collection:

Aged 10, with her brothers:

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/object.asp?searchText=princess+alice&x=0&y=0&pagesize=20&object=2900011&row=18

Close up:



With her sister Vicky a few days latter:

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/object.asp?searchText=princess+alice&x=0&y=0&pagesize=20&object=2905990&row=20

With her mother, grandmother and brother, 1856:

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/object.asp?searchText=princess+alice&x=0&y=0&pagesize=20&object=2932493&row=23

[Carolath Habsburg]

Im afraid that the girl  with the costume is Victoria, not Alice.

This is Alice