View source for Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine

{{Short description|Marchioness of Milford Haven}}
{{Redirect|Victoria of Hesse|the spouse of Charles, Prince of Soubise|Princess Victoria of Hesse-Rotenburg}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Princess Victoria
| title        = Marchioness of Milford Haven
| image        = Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine.png
| caption      = Portrait by [[Alexander Bassano]], {{circa|1878}}
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven]]|30 April 1884|11 September 1921|end=d.}}
| issue        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Princess Alice of Battenberg|Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark]]
* [[Louise Mountbatten|Louise, Queen of Sweden]]
* [[George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven]]
* [[Lord Mountbatten|Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma]]}}
| father       = [[Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine]]
| mother       = [[Princess Alice of the United Kingdom]]
| full name    = Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1863|4|5|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Windsor Castle]], [[Windsor, Berkshire]], England
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1950|9|24|1863|4|5|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Kensington Palace]], London, England
| burial_date  = 28 September 1950
| burial_place = [[St Mildred's Church, Whippingham]], Isle of Wight
| house        = [[House of Hesse|Hesse-Darmstadt]]
}}

'''Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine''', then '''Princess Louis of Battenberg''', later '''Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven''' (5 April 1863 – 24 September 1950), was the eldest daughter of [[Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine]], and [[Princess Alice of the United Kingdom]], daughter of [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]].

Born in [[Windsor Castle]] in the presence of her maternal grandmother, Princess Victoria was raised in Germany and England. Her mother died while Victoria's brother and sisters were still young, which placed her in an early position of responsibility over her siblings. Over her father's disapproval, she married his [[morganatic]] first cousin [[Prince Louis of Battenberg]], an officer in the [[British Royal Navy]]. Victoria lived most of her married life in various parts of Europe at her husband's naval posts and visiting her many royal relations. She was perceived by her family as liberal in outlook, straightforward, practical and bright. The couple had four children: [[Princess Alice of Battenberg|Alice]], [[Louise Mountbatten|Louise]], [[George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven|George]], and [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Louis]].

During [[World War I]], Victoria and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the surname of [[Mountbatten]], which was an [[anglicised]] version of the German "Battenberg". Two of her sisters—[[Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine|Elisabeth]] and [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alix]], who had married into the [[Russian imperial family]]—were [[Murder of the Romanov family|murdered by communist revolutionaries]]. After [[World War II]], her daughter Louise became [[queen consort of Sweden]] and her son Louis was appointed the last [[viceroy of India]]. She was the maternal grandmother of [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]], consort of [[Queen Elizabeth II]]; and paternal great-grandmother of [[King Charles III]].

==Early life==
[[File:Princesses Irene, Victoria, Elisabeth and Alix of Hesse and by Rhine.jpg|left|thumb|Four of the Hesse sisters: (left to right) [[Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine|Irene]], Victoria, [[Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864–1918)|Elisabeth]], and [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alix]], 1885]]
Victoria was born on [[Easter Sunday]] at [[Windsor Castle]] in the presence of her maternal grandmother, [[Queen Victoria]]. She was christened in the [[Lutheran]] faith in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, in the arms of the Queen on 27 April.<ref>{{cite book|first=Richard|last=Hough|author-link=Richard Hough|title=Louis and Victoria: The Family History of the Mountbattens. Second edition|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|location=London|year=1984|isbn=0-297-78470-6|page=28}}</ref> Her godparents were Queen Victoria, [[Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge]], [[Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine]] (represented by [[Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine]]), the [[Edward VII|Prince of Wales]] and [[Prince Heinrich of Hesse and by Rhine]].<ref>Queen Victoria's Journals – ''Monday 27 April 1863''</ref>

Victoria's early life was spent at [[Bessungen]], a suburb of [[Darmstadt]], until the family moved to the [[:de:Neues Palais (Darmstadt)|New Palace in Darmstadt]] when she was three years old. There, she shared a room with her younger sister, [[Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864–1918)|Elisabeth]], until adulthood. She was privately educated to a high standard and was, throughout her life, an avid reader.<ref>Hough, p. 30</ref>

[[File:Princess Victoria of Hesse-Darmstadt, 1871.webp|thumb|Victoria in 1871]]
During the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] [[Austro-Prussian War|invasion of Hesse in June 1866]], Victoria and Elisabeth were sent to Britain to live with their grandmother until hostilities were ended by the absorption of [[Electorate of Hesse|Hesse-Kassel]] and parts of [[Grand Duchy of Hesse|Hesse-Darmstadt]] into Prussia.<ref>Hough, p. 29</ref> During the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870, military hospitals were set up in the palace grounds at Darmstadt, and she helped in the soup kitchens with her mother. She remembered the intense cold of the winter, and being burned on the arm by hot soup.<ref>Hough, p. 34</ref>

In 1872, Victoria's eighteen-month-old brother, [[Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine|Friedrich]], was diagnosed with [[haemophilia]]. The diagnosis came as a shock to the royal families of Europe; it had been twenty years since Queen Victoria had given birth to her haemophiliac son, [[Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany]], and it was the first indication that the bleeding disorder in the royal family was hereditary.<ref>Hough, p. 36</ref> The following year, Friedrich fell from a window onto stone steps and died. It was the first of many tragedies to beset the Hesse family.<ref name="dnb"/>
[[File:Victoria Hesse NPG 95941 crop.jpg|thumb|Photograph by [[Alexander Bassano]], c. 1878]]
In early November 1878, Victoria contracted [[diphtheria]]. Elisabeth was swiftly moved out of their room and was the only member of the family to escape the disease. For days, Victoria's mother nursed the sick, but she was unable to save her youngest daughter, [[Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (1874–1878)|Marie]], who died in mid-November. Just as the rest of the family seemed to have recovered, Princess Alice fell ill. She died on 14 December, the anniversary of the death of her father, [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Albert]].<ref>Hough, pp. 46–48</ref> As the eldest child, Victoria partly assumed the role of mother to the younger children and of companion to her father.<ref name="dnb">{{cite ODNB|first=Hugo |last=Vickers |author-link=Hugo Vickers |chapter=Mountbatten, Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie, marchioness of Milford Haven (1863–1950) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66334 |editor=Matthew, H. C. G.|editor-link=Colin Matthew|editor2=Harrison, Brian|editor2-link=Brian Harrison (historian)|year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-861411-1}}</ref> She later wrote, "My mother's death was an irreparable loss&nbsp;... My childhood ended with her death, for I became the eldest and most responsible".<ref>Hough, p. 50</ref>

==Marriage and family==
At family gatherings, Victoria had often met [[Prince Louis of Battenberg]], who was her [[first cousin once removed]] and a member of a [[Morganatic marriage|morganatic branch]] of the Hessian royal family. Prince Louis had adopted British nationality and was serving as an officer in the [[Royal Navy]]. In the winter of 1882, they met again at Darmstadt, and were engaged the following summer.<ref>Hough, p. 57</ref>

After a brief postponement because of the death of her maternal uncle [[Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany]],<ref>Hough, p. 114</ref> Victoria married Prince Louis on 30 April 1884 at Darmstadt. Her father did not approve of the match; in his view Prince Louis—his own first cousin—had little money and would deprive him of his daughter's company, as the couple would naturally live abroad in Britain. However, Victoria was of an independent mind and took little notice of her father's displeasure.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ziegler|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Ziegler|title=Mountbatten|publisher=Collins|location=London|year=1985|isbn=0-00-216543-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/mountbattenoffic00phil/page/24 24]|url=https://archive.org/details/mountbattenoffic00phil/page/24}}</ref> Remarkably, that same evening, Victoria's father secretly married his mistress, Countess Alexandrine von [[Czapski family|Hutten-Czapska]],<ref>{{cite book |first1=Michel|last1=Huberty |first2=F. Alain |last2=Giraud |first3=F. & B.|last3=Magdelaine |title=L'Allemagne Dynastique: Tome I Hesse-Reuss-Saxe |year=1976 |place=Le Perreu |page=345 |isbn=2-901138-01-2}}</ref> the former wife of Alexander von Kolemine, the Russian chargé d'affaires in Darmstadt. His marriage to a divorcee who was not of equal rank shocked the assembled royalty of Europe and through diplomatic and family pressure Victoria's father was forced to seek an annulment of his own marriage.<ref>Hough, pp. 117–122</ref>

Over the next sixteen years, Victoria and her husband had four children:

{| class="wikitable"
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Marriage
|-
|[[Princess Alice of Battenberg|Alice]]||25 February 1885||5 December 1969||Married 1903 [[Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark]]<br />Five children, including [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]]<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Philip |last=Ziegler|author-link=Philip Ziegler |chapter=Alice, Princess [Princess Alice of Battenberg; married name Princess Andrew of Greece] |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66337 |editor=Matthew, H. C. G.|editor-link=Colin Matthew|editor2=Harrison, Brian|editor2-link=Brian Harrison (historian)|year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-861411-1}}</ref>
|-
|[[Louise Mountbatten|Louise]]||13 July 1889||7 March 1965||Married 1923 King [[Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden]] (his second marriage)<br />One stillborn daughter
|-
|[[George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven|George]]||6 November 1892||8 April 1938||Married 1916 [[Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven|Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby]]<br />Two children<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Philip |last=Ziegler |chapter=Mountbatten, George Louis Victor Henry Sergius, second marquess of Milford Haven |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66662 |editor=Matthew, H. C. G. |editor2=Harrison, Brian |year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-861411-1}}</ref>
|-
|[[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Louis]]||25 June 1900||27 August 1979||Married 1922 [[Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley|Hon. Edwina Ashley]]<br />Two children<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Philip |last=Ziegler |chapter=Mountbatten, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas, first Earl Mountbatten of Burma |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31480 |editor=Matthew, H. C. G. |editor2=Harrison, Brian |year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-861411-1}}</ref>
|-
|}

[[File:Wedding guests of Victoria Melita and Ernest Louis of Hesse.jpg|thumb|Victoria (back row, second from right) at the marriage of her brother [[Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse|Ernest Louis]] (back row, right) to [[Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]] (seated, second from right), 1894. [[Nicholas II of Russia]] and his fiancé Alix are on the back row left, Irene and Elisabeth are seated front row left, and [[Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia]] (Elisabeth's husband) is seated right.]]
They lived in a succession of houses at [[Chichester, Sussex]], [[Walton-on-Thames]], and [[Schloss Heiligenberg (Jugenheim)|Schloss Heiligenberg]], [[Jugenheim]]. When Prince Louis was serving with the [[Mediterranean Fleet]], she spent some winters in [[Malta]].<ref name="dnb" /> In 1887, she contracted [[typhoid]] but, after being nursed through her illness by her husband, was sufficiently recovered by June to attend Queen Victoria's [[Golden Jubilee]] celebrations in London.<ref>Hough, pp. 158–159</ref> She was interested in science and drew a detailed geological map of Malta and also participated in archaeological digs both on the island and in Germany.<ref>Hough, p. 169</ref> In leather-bound volumes she kept meticulous records of books she had read, which reveal a wide range of interests, including socialist philosophy.<ref>Hough, pp. 213–214, 372 and 375</ref>

The family were present at Windsor for the funeral service of Queen Victoria at St George's Chapel. Under the terms of the late Queen's will, Victoria received a £2,000 increase in her annual income.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vickers |first=Hugo |title=Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |year=2000 |isbn=9780241136867 |page=50}}</ref>

She personally taught her own children and exposed them to new ideas and inventions.<ref>Hough, p. 177</ref> She gave lessons to her younger son, Louis, until he was ten years of age. He said of her in 1968 that she was "a walking encyclopedia. All through her life she stored up knowledge on all sorts of subjects, and she had the great gift of being able to make it all interesting when she taught it to me. She was completely methodical; we had time-tables for each subject, and I had to do preparation, and so forth. She taught me to enjoy working hard, and to be thorough. She was outspoken and open-minded to a degree quite unusual in members of the Royal Family. And she was also entirely free from prejudice about politics or colour and things of that kind."<ref>{{cite book|last=Terraine|first=John|author-link=John Terraine|title=The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten|author2=Foreword by Lord Mountbatten|publisher=Arrow Books Ltd|location=London|year=1980|isbn=0-09-922630-8|page=6}}</ref>

In 1906, she flew in a [[Zeppelin]] [[airship]], and even more daringly later flew in a [[biplane]] even though it was "not made to carry passengers, and we perched securely attached on a little stool holding on to the flyer's back".<ref>Victoria Milford Haven quoted in Hough, p. 215</ref> Up until 1914, Victoria regularly visited her relatives abroad in both Germany and Russia, including her two sisters who had married into the Russian imperial family: Elisabeth, who had married [[Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich]], and Alix, who had married [[Emperor Nicholas II]]. Victoria was one of the Empress's relatives who tried to persuade her away from the influence of [[Rasputin]].<ref>Hough, p. 264</ref> On the outbreak of [[World War I|war]] between Germany and Britain in 1914, Victoria and her daughter, Louise, were in Russia at [[Yekaterinburg]]. By train and steamer, they travelled to [[St Petersburg]] and from there through [[Tornio]] to [[Stockholm]]. They sailed from [[Bergen]], [[Norway]], on "the last ship" back to Britain.<ref>Hough, p. 289</ref>

==Later life==
[[File:A Good Riddance - George V of the United Kingdom cartoon in Punch, 1917.png|thumb|A 1917 ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' cartoon depicting King George V sweeping away the German titles held by members of his family]]
Prince Louis was forced to resign from the navy at the start of the war when his German origins became an embarrassment, and the couple retired for the war years to [[Kent House, Isle of Wight|Kent House]] on the [[Isle of Wight]], which Victoria had been given by her aunt [[Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll]].<ref>Hough, p. 274</ref> Victoria blamed her husband's forced resignation on the Government "who few greatly respect or trust".<ref>{{cite book|first=Hugo|last=Vickers|title=Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece|publisher=Hamish Hamilton|location=London|year=2000|isbn=0-241-13686-5|page=113}}</ref> She distrusted the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], [[Winston Churchill]], because she thought him unreliable—he had once borrowed a book and failed to return it.<ref>Terraine, p. 10</ref> Continued public hostility to Germany led King [[George V of the United Kingdom]] to renounce his German titles, and at the same time on 14 July 1917 Prince Louis and Victoria renounced theirs, assuming an anglicised version of Battenberg—Mountbatten—as their surname.<ref>{{cite book |first=Marlene A. |last=Eilers |title=Queen Victoria's Descendants |location=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Co |year=1987 |page=187|isbn=978-0-938311-04-1}}</ref> Four months later Louis was re-ennobled by the King as [[Marquess of Milford Haven]]. During the war, Victoria's two sisters, [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alix]] and [[Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864–1918)|Elisabeth]], were murdered in the [[October Revolution|Russian revolution]], and her brother, [[Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse]], was deposed. On her last visit to Russia in 1914, Victoria had driven past the very house in Yekaterinburg where Alix would be murdered.<ref>Hough, p. 288</ref> In January 1921, after a long and convoluted journey, Elisabeth's body was interred in [[Jerusalem]] in Victoria's presence. Alix's body was never recovered during Victoria's lifetime.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kerr|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Kerr (Royal Navy officer, born 1864)|title=Prince Louis of Battenberg|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co|location=London|year=1934|page=261}}</ref>

[[File:Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven.jpg|thumb|right|Victoria in 1932]]
Victoria's husband died in London in September 1921. After meeting her at the [[Naval and Military Club]] in [[Piccadilly]], he complained of feeling unwell and Victoria persuaded him to rest in a room they had booked in the club annexe. She called a doctor, who prescribed some medicine, and Victoria went out to fill the prescription at a nearby pharmacy. When she came back, Louis was dead.<ref>Hough, p. 333</ref> Upon her widowhood, Victoria moved into a [[grace-and-favour]] residence at Apartment 7, [[Kensington Palace]],<ref name="Fry2017LondonCage">{{cite book
 | last         = Fry
 | first        = Helen
 | title        = The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre
 | edition      = Unabridged
 | publisher    = Yale University Press
 | year         = 2017
 | isbn         = 9780300231229
 | pages        = 9–10
 | url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=X0QzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10
 | access-date  = 24 June 2025
}}</ref> and in the words of her biographer "became a central matriarchal figure in the lives of Europe's surviving royalty".<ref>Hough, p. 338</ref> In 1930, her eldest daughter, Alice, suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed as [[schizophrenic]].<ref>Vickers, pp. 200–205</ref> In the following decade Victoria was largely responsible for her grandson [[Prince Philip]]'s education and upbringing during his parents' separation and his mother's institutionalisation. Prince Philip recalled, "I liked my grandmother very much and she was always helpful. She was very good with children&nbsp;... she took the practical approach to them. She treated them in the right way—the right combination of the rational and the emotional."<ref>Prince Philip quoted in Hough, p. 354</ref>

In 1937, Victoria's brother, Ernest Louis, died and soon afterwards her widowed sister-in-law, nephew, granddaughter and two of her great-grandchildren all died in an [[Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash|air crash]] at [[Ostend]]. Victoria's granddaughter, [[Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark]], had married Victoria's nephew (Ernest Louis's son), [[Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse|George Donatus of Hesse]]. They and their two young sons, Louis and Alexander, were all killed. Cecilie's youngest child, [[Princess Johanna of Hesse and by Rhine|Johanna]], who was not on the plane, was adopted by her uncle [[Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine]], whose wedding the crash victims were en route to, but the little girl only survived her parents and older brothers by eighteen months, dying in 1939 of [[meningitis]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Duff|first=David|year=1967|title=Hessian Tapestry|publisher=Muller|location=London|oclc=565356978|pages=350–353}}</ref>

Further tragedy soon followed when Victoria's son, George, died of bone cancer the following year. Her granddaughter, [[Lady Pamela Hicks]], remembered her grandmother's tears.<ref>Hough, p. 365</ref> During [[World War II]] Victoria was bombed out of her Kensington Palace apartment in October 1940,<ref name="Fry2017LondonCage"/> and spent some time at Windsor Castle with King [[George VI]]. Her surviving son (Louis) and her two grandsons ([[David Mountbatten]] and Prince Philip) served in the Royal Navy, while her German relations fought with the opposing forces. She spent most of her time reading and worrying about her children; her daughter, Alice, remained in occupied Greece and was unable to communicate with her mother for four years at the height of the war.<ref>Hough, pp. 375 and 382</ref> After the Allied victory, her son, Louis, was made [[Viscount Mountbatten of Burma]]. He was offered the post of [[Viceroy of India]], but she was deeply opposed to his accepting, knowing that the position would be dangerous and difficult; he accepted anyway.<ref>Ziegler, p. 359</ref>

On 15 December 1948, the Dowager Marchioness attended the [[Infant baptism|christening]] of her great-grandson, [[Prince Charles]].  She was one of eight [[godparent|sponsors or godparents]], along with [[King George VI]], [[King Haakon VII of Norway]], [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]], [[Princess Margaret]], [[Prince George of Greece and Denmark]], [[Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma|Lady Brabourne]], and [[David Bowes-Lyon]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/hrh-the-prince-of-wales-an-exhibition-to-celebrate-his-sixtieth-0/the|title=The Christening of Prince Charles|publisher=Royal Collection Trust|access-date=18 February 2022|archive-date=17 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217142032/https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/hrh-the-prince-of-wales-an-exhibition-to-celebrate-his-sixtieth-0/the|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She fell ill with bronchitis (she had smoked since the age of sixteen<ref>Hough, p. 53</ref>) at Lord Mountbatten's home at [[Broadlands]], [[Hampshire]], in the summer of 1950. Saying "it is better to die at home",<ref>Ziegler, p. 506</ref> Victoria moved back to Kensington Palace, where she died on 24 September aged 87. She was buried four days later in the grounds of [[St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham]] on the [[Isle of Wight]].<ref name="dnb" />

[[File:Philip_de_László_-_Victoria_Mountbatten.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait by [[Philip de László]], 1937]]

==Legacy==
With the help of her [[lady-in-waiting]], [[Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden]], Victoria wrote a memoir, held in the Mountbatten archive at the [[University of Southampton]], which remains an interesting source for royal historians.<ref name="dnb"/><ref>The memoir is available [https://cdn.southampton.ac.uk/assets/imported/transforms/content-block/UsefulDownloads_Download/F419AA816BFC4674981B7BEA9538BD33/MB21_transcript.pdf online].</ref> A selection of Queen Victoria's letters to Victoria have been published with a commentary by [[Richard Hough]] and an introduction by Victoria's granddaughter, [[Patricia Mountbatten]].<ref>Victoria; edited by Hough, Richard (1975). ''Advice to a grand-daughter: letters from Queen Victoria to Princess Victoria of Hesse.'' London: Heinemann. {{ISBN|0-434-34861-9}}.</ref>

Lord Mountbatten remembered her fondly: "My mother was very quick on the uptake, very talkative, very aggressive and argumentative. With her marvellous brain she sharpened people's wits."<ref>Earl Mountbatten of Burma quoted in Hough, p. 339</ref> Her granddaughter thought her "formidable, but never intimidating&nbsp;... a supremely honest woman, full of commonsense and modesty".<ref>[[Lady Pamela Hicks]] quoted in Hough, p. 373</ref> Victoria wrote her own typically forthright epitaph at the end of her life in letters to and conversation with her son: "What will live in history is the good work done by the individual & that has nothing to do with rank or title&nbsp;... I never thought I would be known only as your mother. You're so well known now and no one knows about me, and I don't want them to."<ref>Quoted in Hough, p. 387</ref>

==Honours==
* {{flag|Grand Duchy of Hesse}}: Dame of the [[House Order of the Golden Lion (Hesse)|Order of the Golden Lion]], ''1 January 1883''<ref name="ordensliste">{{citation|title=Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste|chapter=Goldener Löwen-orden|page=1|lang=German|location=Darmstadt|year=1914|publisher=Staatsverlag|via=hathitrust.org}}</ref>
* {{flag|Kingdom of Prussia}}: [[Red Cross Medal (Prussia)|Red Cross Medal, 1st Class]]<ref name="handbuch">{{citation|title=Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogs Hessen|chapter=Genealogie|year=1904|page=2}}</ref>
* {{flag|Russian Empire}}: Dame Grand Cross of the [[Order of St. Catherine]]<ref name="handbuch"/>
* {{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}:<ref name="handbuch"/>
** [[Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Medal]], ''1887''
** [[Royal Order of Victoria and Albert]], 1st Class<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Whitaker|title=An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord ...|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TUMsAAAAMAAJ|year=1897|publisher=J. Whitaker|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TUMsAAAAMAAJ/page/n119 110]}}</ref>

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven'''
|2= 2. [[Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine]]<ref name=Weir>{{cite book|last=Weir|first=Alison|author-link=Alison Weir|year=1996|title=Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy|edition=Revised|publisher=Pimlico|location=London|isbn=0-7126-7448-9|pages=305–307}}</ref>
|3= 3. [[Princess Alice of the United Kingdom]]<ref name=Weir/>
|4= 4. [[Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine]]
|5= 5. [[Princess Elisabeth of Prussia]]
|6= 6. [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]<ref name=Weir/>
|7= 7. [[Victoria of the United Kingdom]]<ref name=Weir/>
|8= 8. [[Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Wilhelmine of Baden]]
|10= 10. [[Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1783–1851)|Prince Wilhelm of Prussia]]
|11= 11. [[Princess Maria Anna of Hesse-Homburg]]
|12= 12. [[Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]<ref name=Weir/>
|13= 13. [[Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]]<ref name=Weir/>
|14= 14. [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn]]<ref name=Weir/>
|15= 15. [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld]]<ref name=Weir/>
}}

==References==
{{House of Hesse and by Rhine|louis4}}
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book | last = Massie | first = Robert K.|author-link=Robert K. Massie | title = The Romanovs: The Final Chapter | publisher = Ballantine Books | location = New York | year = 1995 | isbn = 978-0-345-40640-8 }}
* {{cite book | last = Miller | first = Ilana D. | title = The Four Graces: Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters | publisher = Kensington House Books | location = East Richmond Heights, California | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0-9771961-9-7 }} A "sisters" biography of the four surviving daughters of Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, told from the point of view of Princess Victoria.
* Miller, Ilana (2024) ''Queen Victoria's Favourite Granddaughter: Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine the Most Consequential Royal You Never Knew'' Yorkshire: Pen & Sword History. ISBN 978-1-39906-626-6.
* {{cite book| last = Mountbatten | first = Victoria | title = Recollections of Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven | url = https://cdn.southampton.ac.uk/assets/imported/transforms/content-block/UsefulDownloads_Download/F419AA816BFC4674981B7BEA9538BD33/MB21_transcript.pdf}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven}}
*[http://www.iow.uk.com/whippingham-church/cyandg.htm St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525172512/http://www.iow.uk.com/whippingham-church/cyandg.htm |date=25 May 2011 }}
*[http://www.southampton.ac.uk/archives/cataloguedatabases/mbintro.html The Mountbatten Archive at the University of Southampton]
*{{NPG name|name=Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven}}

{{Princesses of Hesse and by Rhine}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria Of Hesse And By Rhine}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:British marchionesses|Milford Haven, Victoria]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham]]
[[Category:Battenberg family]]
[[Category:House of Hesse-Darmstadt]]
[[Category:Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert]]
[[Category:People from Windsor, Berkshire]]
[[Category:Daughters of dukes]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint Catherine]]