Once their grandmother, Queen Victoria, died in 1901, Ernie and Ducky were finally free to do what everyone sorta kinda understood they should: divorce. But sovereigns don’t divorce, so the situation became a scandal in the Royal Houses of Europe, and in Russia, Ernie’s sister, Empress Alexandra, blamed Ducky for it all. This became a…
Tag: House Hesse-Darmstadt
31. Ernie and Ducky, Part One (Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
Queen Victoria’s efforts to make suitable matches for her dozens of grandchildren was in no way a flawless endeavor. Take today’s subjects, for instance. First cousins Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (nickname: Ernie) and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (nickname: Ducky), became the subject of intense Royal meddling as…