PRINCESS BEATRICE IN COURT DRESS BEATRICE (Leopoldine Victoria, 1884-1966, Princess, daughter of Alfred Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg, wife (1909) of Alfonso, 5th Duke of Galliera, grandson of Isabella II and cousin of both Alfonso XIII and Queen Ena)

Fine portrait photograph, signed and dated showing her full length in a magnificent dress with the train spread out in front of her, holding a bouquet of flowers, 11½" x 8¼", no place,

In 1902, Princess Beatrice had a romance with Russian Grand Duke Michael, the younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II, and at that time the heir presumptive to the Imperial Throne. However she was prevented from marrying the Grand Duke as the Russian Orthodox Church forbade the marriage of first cousins. In November 1903, Michael wrote to Beatrice telling her that he could not marry her. Beatrice was then rumoured to be going to marry Alfonso XIII of Spain, but this proved to be a false rumour also as he married her cousin Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906. It was at their wedding that Beatrice met a cousin of King Alfonso, Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain, 5th Duke of Galliera. The Spanish government objected to an infante's proposed match with a British Princess who, unlike Queen Victoria Eugenie, had not agreed to convert to Roman Catholicism: the King was obliged to make clear that, should the wedding take place, the couple would have to live in exile. Nonetheless, Beatrice and Alfonso married in a Roman Catholic and Lutheran ceremony at Coburg on 15 July 1909. The couple settled in Coburg, until, in 1912, Alfonso and Beatrice were allowed to return to Spain, and his rank of Infante was restored. In August 1913 Beatrice was received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Item Date:  1907

Stock No:  38602      £675

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