Maurice von Battenberg

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Maurice von Battenberg

Prince Maurice Victor Donald von Battenberg , KCVO (born October 3, 1891 in Balmoral Castle , Aberdeenshire , Scotland , † October 27, 1914 in Ypres , Belgium ) was a member of the British royal family and the House of Battenberg , a branch of the Hessian ruling house. He was known as Prince von Battenberg throughout his life. He died before all members of the royal family renounced their German titles in 1917 and the Battenberg house was renamed Mountbatten.

Childhood and youth

Prince Maurice von Battenberg was born on October 3, 1891 at Balmoral Castle, Scotland. He was the third son and youngest child of Prince Heinrich Moritz von Battenberg (1858-1896) and his wife Princess Beatrice of Great Britain and Ireland (1857-1944). On his father's side, he was the grandson of Prince Alexander von Hessen-Darmstadt and Countess Julia Hauke . On his mother's side, Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were his grandparents. He was the queen's youngest grandson.

Maurice von Battenberg as a teenager around 1905

Maurice was baptized on October 31 of the same year in the drawing room at Balmoral Castle. He got his name Maurice from his father, whose middle name it was. Victor was a nod to Queen Victoria and Donald received it in honor of Scotland.

He had three other siblings, Alexander (1886-1960), Victoria Eugénie (1887-1969) and Leopold (1889-1922). Maurice's eldest brother Alexander later became Marquise of Carisbrooke. The only sister Victoria Eugenie, called Ena , later became the wife of Alfonso XIII. Queen of Spain from 1906 to 1931 . Leopold, the second brother, suffered from hemophilia that he inherited from his mother. He died in 1922 during an operation on his hip.

Prince Heinrich Moritz died on January 20, 1896 in Sierra Leone to malaria . He had previously taken part in an expedition in Ashanti , Ghana . Maurice was four years old at the time and now a half-orphan. His mother had lost her father in 1861 at the same age. As a child, Maurice enjoyed his mother's sympathy. He was their favorite child because he looked a lot like his late father. He grew up with his siblings in Kensington Palace in London .

The prince received his education first from private tutors and governesses . Later was the student at Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire . He also attended Wellington College in Berkshire and was a member of Benson House. In 1910 he joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Next life

Prince Maurice's grave in Ypres, Belgium

When the First World War broke out in 1914 , Maurice and his brothers were drafted into the British Army . He served as a lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. On October 27, 1914, he was fatally injured by a shrapnel in Ypres and died on the same day. Maurice is buried in the Ypres Town Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery and Extension . A plaque for him and his brother Leopold is in Winchester Cathedral .

On November 5, 1914, a memorial service for Prince Maurice was held in the chapel of St. James's Palace . His mother, King George V and Queen Mary , Queen Mother Alexandra , Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquit and Éugenie , the former Empress of France, took part in the service.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Prince Maurice of Battenberg. In: Unofficial Royalty. Retrieved March 27, 2016 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Battenberg, Maurice of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Von Battenberg, Maurice Victor Donald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION british prince
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Balmoral Castle , Aberdeenshire , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1914
Place of death Ypres , Belgium