Princess Helena of the United Kingdom
Posts about Princess Helena of the United Kingdom written by liamfoley63
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European Royal History
Over the years, conflict arose between Duke Frederik Christian II of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg and Louise Auguste’s brother, King Frederik VI of Denmark, especially over the relationship of the double-duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and the Duke’s own small appanage around Sonderburg on the one hand and the Danish monarchy on the other.

His wife remained loyal to the Danish royal house throughout these differences. The marriage eventually fell into acrimony and reproach, and Duke Frederik Christian II tried to legally limit Louise Auguste’s influence over their children’s futures.

In 1810, Duke Frederik Christian II’s younger brother Charles August was chosen by the estates of the Swedish realm as that nation’s Crown Prince, to succeed the elderly and childless King Carl XIII. Following Charles August’s death in May 1810, Frederik Christian himself was the leading candidate to become the new heir to the Swedish throne.

On August 8, 1810 he was elected Crown Prince by the estates. His election however, was reconsidered and withdrawn two weeks later and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France and Prince of Ponte Corvo, was elected instead.

Children

Frederik Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (September 28, 1765 – June 14, 1814 ) and his wife Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark and Norway (July 7, 1771 – January 13, 1843) had three children.

Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark and Norway was the daughter of the Queen of Denmark-Norway, Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, herself the daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

Though Princess Louise Auguste was officially regarded as the daughter of King Christian VII, it is widely accepted that her biological father was Johann Friedrich Struensee, the king’s royal physician and de facto regent of the country at the time of her birth.

The couple’s three children were:

1. Princess Caroline Amalie (September 28, 1796 — March 9, 1881), married Prince Christian Frederik of Denmark and Norway in 1815. Princess Caroline Amalie was his second wife as Prince Christian Frederick had previously been married to Duchess Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1784 – 1840) a daughter of Friedrich Franz I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Duchess Charlotte Frederica was alleged to have had an affair with her singing teacher, Swiss-born singer and composer Édouard Du Puy, led to her removal from the court. For this reason, her husband divorced her in 1810, banished her from court, sent her into internal exile, and prohibited her from ever seeing her son, the future King Frederik VII of Denmark, again.

Prince Christian Frederik was the future King Christian VIII of Denmark (September 18, 1786 – January 20, 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, briefly he was Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814.

Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederik of Denmark and Norway and Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Hereditary Prince Frederik of Denmark and Norway was a younger son of the deceased King Frederik V of Denmark-Norway and his second wife, Duchess Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and his mother was a daughter of Duke Ludwig of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Since his cousin King Frederick VI had no sons, Christian Frederik was heir presumptive to the Danish throne from 1808.

The personal relationship between Caroline Amalie and Christian Frederik was described as harmonious and as an image of the contemporary ideal of marriage. Her acceptance of her spouse’s infidelity was regarded as something suitable and appropriate within contemporary gender roles. Her amiable personality made her respected and well liked by the rest of the royal House, and she is described as a good stepmother of her stepson Crown Prince Frederik.

In 1839, when King Frederik VI died, Caroline Amalie, as the wife of of the new King Christian VIII of Denmark, became Queen of Denmark. She was considered instrumental in the pro-German party on the matter of the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein.

Caroline Amalie became a widow in 1848 and survived her spouse for more than thirty years. She took up residence at Sorgenfri Castle north of Copenhagen, but due to ill health she preferred to spend winters in southern Europe.

She also outlived her stepson by seventeen years. Hence she lived to see Christian IX become king with her niece Louise of Hesse-Cassel as queen. She was a godmother of two future Kings (Christian X of Denmark and Haakon VII of Norway) and a future Empress, Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna), the wife of Emperor Alexander III of Russia.

During her life as a queen dowager, she enjoyed more popularity than she did as queen. She continued with her charitable projects: in 1852, she took over as protector of the charitable women’s society Det Kvindelige Velgørende Selskab after queen dowager Marie, and in 1863, she encouraged queen Louise to open the deaconess institution.

She died in 1881 and was buried at Roskilde Cathedral next to Christian VIII.

2. Christian August II (July 19, 1798 — March 11, 1869), the Duke of Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg who was to become a pivotal figure in the Question of Schleswig-Holstein in the 1850s and 1860s.

So as not to offend Danish national feelings, he was married in 1820 to a Danish relative, Countess Lovisa-Sophie of Danneskjold-Samsoe (1797–1867), a kinswoman of the kings of Denmark, belonging to a bastard branch of House of Oldenburg who descended illegitimately from Christian V of Denmark.

1848, German-nationalist sympathies prompted a rebellion in Schleswig-Holstein against Danish rule. A provisional government was established at Kiel under the Duke of Augustenborg, who travelled to Berlin to secure the assistance of Prussia in asserting his rights. The First War of Schleswig ensued.

However, European powers were united in opposing any dismemberment of Denmark. Among others, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, speaking with authority as Head of the elder Holstein-Gottorp line, regarded the Duke of Augustenborg a rebel. Russia had guaranteed Schleswig to the Danish crown by the treaties of 1767 and 1773.

Duke Christian sold his rights to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark in aftermath of Treaty of London but later renounced his rights to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in favor of his son Prince Frederik August. In November 1863, his son Frederik proclaimed himself the rightful second Duke of Schleswig and Holstein as Duke Friedrich VIII.

Duke Christian August died in 1869.

Two of the sons of Christian August II and Lovisa-Sophie were:

A) Prince Frederik Christian August (July 6, 1829 – January 14, 1880), later Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. He married Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg the second daughter of Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg by his wife Princess Feodora of Leiningen, who was the older, maternal half-sister of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Prince Frederik Christian August and Princess Adelheid had one surviving son and four daughters including Princess Augusta Victoria “Dona”, the German Empress as wife of German Emperor Wilhelm II.

B) Frederick Christian Charles Augustus (January 1831 – October 28, 1917), later (1866) married his third cousin Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Gotha-Gotha) and settled in England. They were the parents of Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein.

3. Frederik Emil August (August 23, 1800 — July 2, 1865 ), the “Prince” of Nør (Noer); he was married in 1829 to Countess Henriette Danneskjold-Samsøe (1806–1858), the younger sister of Countess Louise Sophie Danneskiold-Samsøe the wife of his older brother Duke Christian August II of Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

Prince Frederik Emil was created Prinz von Noer (“Prince of Noer”).

Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (Victoria Louise Sophia Augusta Amelia Helena; May 3, 1870 – March 13, 1948) was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. From 1917 her name was simply Princess Helena Victoria.

Princess Helena Victoria (always known to her family as Thora) was born at Frogmore House, near Windsor Castle. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, the third son of Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg

and Countess Louise af Danneskjold-Samsøe.

Her mother was Princess Helena, the fifth child and third daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her parents resided in Britain from marriage.

She was baptised in the private chapel at Windsor Castle on June 20, 1870. Her godparents were Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Cambridge (former Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel), Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, Prince Valdemar of Denmark, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Princess Louise Auguste of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Caroline Amelie of Schleswig-Holstein (the latter two represented by the Duchess of Roxburghe).

She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her maternal aunt Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg and also at the wedding of her cousins the Duke and Duchess of York (future George V and Queen Mary) in 1893.

She spent most of her childhood at Cumberland Lodge, her father’s residence as Ranger of Windsor Great Park. Known to her family as “Thora”, or sometimes “Snipe”, in reference to her sharp facial features, formally she used the names “Helena Victoria” from among her string of six given names.

First World War

As a male-line granddaughter of the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Helena Victoria would have been styled Serene Highness (Durchlaucht) in the German Empire.

In May 1866, Queen Victoria had conferred the higher style of Highness upon any children to be born of the marriage of Princess Helena and Prince Christian, although the children were to remain Prince or Princess of Schleswig-Holstein.

In June 1917, a notice appeared in the Court Circular that a Royal Warrant was to be prepared by George V dispensing with his cousins’ use of the “Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg” part of their titles.

However no warrant was issued, nor were they formally granted the titles of Princesses of Great Britain and Ireland nor of the United Kingdom in their own right.

In July 1917, King George V changed the name of the British royal family to the House of Windsor. He also relinquished, on behalf of himself and his numerous cousins who were British subjects, the use of their German titles, styles, and surnames. Princess Helena Victoria and her younger sister, Princess Marie Louise, thereupon ceased to use the territorial designation “of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.”

Instead, they became known simply as “Her Highness Princess Helena Victoria” and “Her Highness Princess Marie Louise”. Although the two had borne German titles, their upbringing and domicile were entirely English.

Later life

Princess Helena Victoria never married. She followed her mother’s example in working for various charitable organizations, most notably YMCA, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and Princess Christian’s Nursing Home at Windsor. During World War I, she founded the YWCA Women’s Auxiliary Force. As its president, she visited British troops in France and obtained the permission of the Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, to arrange entertainments for them.

Between the world wars, she and her sister, Princess Marie Louise, were enthusiastic patrons of music at Schomberg House, their London residence. After a German air raid damaged the house in 1940, the two princesses moved to Fitzmaurice Place, Berkeley Square.

In ill health and a wheelchair user after World War II, Princess Helena Victoria made one of her last major appearances at the November 20, 1947 wedding of her first cousin twice removed Princess Elizabeth, to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.

Princess Helena Victoria died at Fitzmaurice Place, Berkeley Square. Her funeral took place at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor and she was buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, Windsor Great Park. She died at the age of 77, the same age at which her mother, Princess Helena, had also died.

Part II.

Health

Princess Helena’s health was not always robust, and she became was addicted to the drugs opium and laudanum. However, the Queen did not believe that Helena was really ill, often accusing her of hypochondria encouraged by an indulgent husband. Queen Victoria wrote to her daughter the Crown Princess of Prussia, complaining that Helena was inclined to “coddle herself (and Christian too) and to give way in everything that the great object of her doctors and nurse is to rouse her and make her think less of herself and of her confinement”.

Not all of her health scares were brought on by hypochondria; in 1869, she had to cancel her trip to Balmoral Castle when she became ill at the railway station. In 1870, she was suffering from severe rheumatism and problems with her joints. In July 1871, she suffered from congestion in her lungs, an illness severe enough to appear in the Court Circular, which announced that her illness caused “much anxiety to members of the royal family”. In 1873, she was forced to recuperate in France as a result of illness, and in the 1880s she travelled to Germany to see an oculist.

Nursing

Helena had a firm interest in nursing, and was the founding chair of the Ladies’ Committee of the British Red Cross in 1870, playing an active role in recruiting nurses and organising relief supplies during the Franco-Prussian War. She subsequently became President of the British Nurses’ Association (RBNA) upon its foundation in 1887. In 1891, it received the prefix “Royal”, and received a Royal Charter the following year. She was a strong supporter of nurse registration, an issue that was opposed by both Florence Nightingale and leading public figures.

Needlework

Helena was also active in the promotion of needlework, and became the first president of the newly established School of Art Needlework in 1872; in 1876, it acquired the “royal” prefix, becoming the Royal School of Needlework. In Helena’s words, the objective of the school was: “first, to revive a beautiful art which had been well-nigh lost; and secondly, through its revival, to provide employment for gentlewomen who were without means of a suitable livelihood.”

After Victoria

Edwardian period

In October 1900, while in Pretoria, South Africa, Prince Christian-Victor of Schleswig-Holstein, Helena’s favourite son, came down with malaria, and died of enteric fever, on 29 October 29, aged 33, after receiving Holy Communion in the presence of Lord Roberts and Prince Francis of Teck, the brother of the British queen Mary of Teck, wife of King the future King George V.

The reason Prince Christian-Victor was in Pretoria was because he served as a staff officer in the Second Boer War, being involved in the relief of Ladysmith under General Sir Redvers Buller and later was with Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts.

Prince Christian-Victor of Schleswig-Holstein

Three months after the death of her son, Prince Christian-Victor, her mother, Queen Victoria, died at Osborne House on January 22, 1901. Her brother, the new King, Edward VII, did not have close ties with his surviving sisters, with the exception of Princess Louise. Helena’s nephew, Prince Alexander of Battenberg (later Marquess of Carisbrooke) recorded that Queen Alexandra was jealous of the royal family, and would not invite her sisters-in-law to Sandringham. Moreover, Alexandra never fully reconciled herself to Helena and Christian following their marriage controversy in the 1860s.

Evidentially, the Royal Family was not very close and after the death of her mother and Princess Helena saw relatively little of her surviving siblings, and continued her role as a support to the monarchy and a campaigner for the many charities she represented. She and Christian led a quiet life, but did carry out a few royal engagements. On one such occasion, the elderly couple represented the King at the silver wedding anniversary, in 1906, of Emperor Wilhelm II (Helena’s nephew) and his wife Augusta-Victoria (Christian’s niece).

During the Edwardian period, Helena visited the grave of her son, Prince Christian Victor, She was met by South African Prime Minister Louis Botha, but Jan Smuts refused to meet her, partly because he was bitter that South Africa had lost the war and partly because his son had died in a British concentration camp.

Later years

Her brother King Edward VII died on May 6, 1910, and her nephew became King George V of the United Kingdom. The First World War began four years after his death. Helena devoted her time to nursing, and her daughter, Princess Marie-Louise, recorded in her memoirs that requests for news of German loved ones would often reach Helena and her sisters. It was decided that the letters should be forwarded to Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, (born Princess Margaret of Connaught, niece of Princess Helena) as Sweden was neutral during the war.

King Edward VII

It was during the war that Helena and Christian celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1916, and despite the fact that Britain and Germany were at war, the Emperor Wilhelm II sent a congratulatory telegram to his aunt and uncle through the Crown Princess of Sweden. King George V and Queen Mary were present when the telegram was received, and the King remarked to Helena’s daughter, Marie-Louise, that her former husband, Prince Aribert of Anhalt, did her a service when he turned her out. When Marie-Louise said she would have run away to Britain if she was still married, the King said, “with a twinkle in his eye”, that he would have had to intern her.

The conclusion will be tomorrow!

HRH Princess Helena (Helena Augusta Victoria; May 25, 1846 –June 9, 1923) was the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Princess Helena was born at Buckingham Palace, the official royal residence in London of Queen Victoria. With Princess Helena birth on May 25, 1846, it was the day after her mother’s 27th birthday. Her father, Prince Albert, reported to his brother, Ernst II, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, that Helena “came into this world quite blue, but she is quite well now”.

Princess Helena (right) with her brother Prince Alfred. Helena was Alfred’s favourite sister. Portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

Prince Albert also said to his brother that the Queen “suffered longer and more than the other times and she will have to remain very quiet to recover. Albert and Victoria chose the names Helena Augusta Victoria. The German nickname for Helena was Helenchen, later shortened to Lenchen, the name by which members of the royal family invariably referred to Helena.

As the daughter of the sovereign, Helena was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Helena from birth. Helena was baptised on July 25, 1846 at the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. Her godparents were the Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (the husband of Queen’s cousin); Princess Helene, Duchess of Orléans (for whom the Queen’s mother the Duchess of Kent stood proxy); and Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge (the Queen’s aunt).

Helena was a lively and outspoken child, and reacted against brotherly teasing by punching the bully on the nose. Her early talents included drawing. Lady Augusta Stanley, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, commented favourably on the three-year-old Helena’s artwork.

Like her sisters, she could play the piano to a high standard at an early age. Other interests included science and technology, shared by her father Prince Albert, and horseback riding and boating, two of her favourite childhood occupations. However, Helena became a middle daughter following the birth of Princess Louise in 1848, and her abilities were overshadowed by her more artistic sisters.

Death of Prince Albert

Helena’s father, Prince Albert, died on December 14, 1861. The Queen was devastated, and ordered her household, along with her daughters, to move from Windsor to Osborne House, the Queen’s Isle of Wight residence. Helena’s grief was also profound, and she wrote to a friend a month later: “What we have lost nothing can ever replace, and our grief is most, most bitter … I adored Papa, I loved him more than anything on earth, his word was a most sacred law, and he was my help and adviser … These hours were the happiest of my life, and now it is all, all over.”

The Queen relied on her second eldest daughter Princess Alice as an unofficial secretary, but Alice needed an assistant of her own. Though Helena was the next eldest, she was considered unreliable by Victoria because of her inability to go long without bursting into tears. Therefore, Louise was selected to assume the role in her place. Alice was married to Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine in 1862, after which Helena assumed the role—described as the “crutch” of her mother’s old age by one biographer—at her mother’s side. In this role, she carried out minor secretarial tasks, such as writing the Queen’s letters, helping her with political correspondence, and providing her with company.

Marriage Controversy

Princess Helena began an early flirtation with her father’s former librarian, Carl Ruland, following his appointment to the Royal Household on the recommendation of Baron Stockmar in 1859. He was trusted enough to teach German to Helena’s brother, the young Prince of Wales, (future King Edward VII) and was described by the Queen as “useful and able”. When the Queen discovered that Helena had grown romantically attached to a royal servant, he was promptly dismissed back to his native Germany, and he never lost the Queen’s hostility.

Following Ruland’s departure in 1863, the Queen looked for a husband for Helena. However, as a middle child, the prospect of a powerful alliance with a European royal house was low.

Her appearance was also a concern, as by the age of fifteen she was described by her biographer as chunky, dowdy and double-chinned. Furthermore, Victoria insisted that Helena’s future husband had to be prepared to live near the Queen, thus keeping her daughter nearby. Her choice eventually fell on Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg; the match was politically awkward, and caused a severe breach within the royal family.

Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg

Schleswig and Holstein were two territories fought over between Prussia and Denmark during the First and Second Schleswig Wars. In the latter, Prussia and Austria defeated Denmark, but the duchies were claimed by Austria for Prince Christian’s family. However, following the Austro-Prussian War, in which Prussia invaded and occupied the duchies, they became Prussian, but the title Duke of Schleswig-Holstein was still claimed by Prince Christian’s family.

The marriage, therefore, horrified King Christian IX of Denmark’s daughter, Alexandra, Princess of Wales, who exclaimed: “The Duchies belong to Papa.” Alexandra found support in her husband, his brother Prince Alfred, and his second sister, Princess Alice, who openly accused her mother of sacrificing Helena’s happiness for the Queen’s convenience.

Princess Helena and Prince Christian

Alice also argued that it would reduce the already low popularity of her sister, the Crown Princess of Prussia, at the court in Berlin. However, and unexpectedly, the Crown Princess, who had been a personal friend of Christian’s family for many years, ardently supported the proposed alliance.

In September 1865, while visiting Coburg, The Princess Helena met Prince Christian for the first time.

Despite the political controversies and their age difference—he was fifteen years her senior—Prince Christian was 35 and Helena was 21 at the time of her marriage-Helena was happy with Christian and was determined to marry him. As a younger son of a non-reigning duke, the absence of any foreign commitments allowed him to remain permanently in Britain—the Queen’s primary concern—and she declared the marriage would go ahead.

Helena and Christian were actually third cousins in descent from Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales. Relations between Helena and Alexandra remained strained, and Alexandra was unprepared to accept Christian (who was also a third cousin to Alexandra in descent from King Frederik V of Denmark) as either a cousin or brother-in-law.

The Queen never forgave the Princess of Wales for accusations of possessiveness, and wrote of the Waleses shortly afterwards: “Bertie is most affectionate and kind but Alix [pet name for Alexandra] is by no means what she ought to be. It will be long, if ever, before she regains my confidence.”

Engagement and wedding

The engagement was declared on December 5, 1865, and despite the Prince of Wales’s initial refusal to attend, Princess Alice intervened, and the wedding was a happy occasion.

The Queen allowed the ceremony to take place at Windsor Castle, albeit in the Private Chapel rather than the grander St George’s Chapel on July 5, 1866. The Queen relieved her black mourning dress with a white mourning cap which draped over her back.

Seven days before the wedding, on 29 June 1866, the Queen granted her future son-in-law the style of Royal Highness by Royal Warrant. This Royal Warrant was only valid in the United King, in the North German Confederation where Prince Christian had the style of Highness.

The main participants filed into the chapel to the sound of Beethoven’s Triumphal March, creating a spectacle only marred by the sudden disappearance of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, who had a sudden gout attack. Christian filed into the chapel with his two supporters, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar and Prince Frederic of Schleswig-Holstein, and Helena was given away by her mother, who escorted her up the aisle with the Prince of Wales and eight bridesmaids.

Christian looked older than he was, and one guest commented that Helena looked as if she was marrying an aged uncle. Indeed, when he was first summoned to Britain, he assumed that the widowed Queen was inspecting him as a new husband for herself rather than as a candidate for one of her daughters. The couple spent the first night of their married life at Osborne House, before honeymooning in Paris, Interlaken and Genoa.

Helena and Christian were devoted to each other, and led a quiet life in comparison to Helena’s sisters. Following their marriage, they took up residence at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park, the traditional residence of the Ranger of Windsor Great Park, the honorary position bestowed on Christian by the Queen. When staying in London, they lived at the Belgian Suite in Buckingham Palace.

The couple had six children: Christian Victor in 1867, Albert in 1869, and Helena Victoria and Marie Louise in 1870 and 1872 respectively. Their last two sons died early; Harald died eight days after his birth in 1876, and an unnamed son was stillborn in 1877. Princess Louise, Helena’s sister, commissioned the French sculptor Jules Dalou to sculpt a memorial to Helena’s dead infants.

The Christians were granted a parliamentary annuity of £6,000 a year, which the Queen requested in person. In addition, a dowry of £30,000 was settled upon, and the Queen gave the couple £100,000, which yielded an income of about £4,000 a year. As well as that of Ranger of Windsor Park, Christian was given the honorary position of High Steward of Windsor, and was made a Royal Commissioner for the Great Exhibition of 1851. However, he was often an absentee figurehead at the meetings, instead passing his time playing with his dog Corrie, feeding his numerous pigeons, and embarking on hunting excursions.

Helena, as promised, lived close to the Queen, and both she and Beatrice performed duties for her. Beatrice, whom Victoria had groomed for the main role at her side, carried out the more important duties, and Helena took on the more minor matters that Beatrice did not have time to do. In later years, Helena was assisted by her unmarried daughter, Helena Victoria, to whom the Queen dictated her journal in the last months of her life.