Imperial Requiem: Four Royal Women and the Fall of the Age of Empires

by Justin C. Vovk

  The visit by the Russian imperial family and the rest of 1909 may have gone smoothly, but 1910 became King Edward VII’s denouement. Even at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 1910, things did not augur well for the British royal family. They spent the holidays at Sandringham as they always did. Just before the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the king and queen had all their family and staff assemble outside so that the monarchs could be the first people to open the door of their home in the new year—a ceremony they called the “first footing.” Without noticing, David ran around back and ran through the garden door, flinging it open in triumph. Usually the epitome of jocularity, King Edward remarked gravely that David’s prank boded ill for the rest of the year. The king was not wrong. Within a few weeks, he was faced with a series of governmental crises ranging from the growing invidious relationship with Germany to an explosive struggle with Herbert Asquith, the Liberal prime minister. Among other things, Asquith demanded sweeping reforms of the House of Lords in the hopes of bolstering his minority government, something that never would have been considered during Queen Victoria’s lifetime. In the end, Edward and Asquith reached a compromise, but the hard-fought negotiations took a heavy toll on the sixty-eight-year-old king.

  Physically worn down and emotionally exhausted, the king took a curative holiday at Biarritz, on the Bay of Biscay in southwestern of France. The queen took the opportunity to visit her brother and his family in Greece. In April, King Edward suffered a violent attack of bronchitis, forcing him to cut short his trip and return to Buckingham Palace early in the evening on April 27. Witnesses commented that he looked worse than when he left for Biarritz. After holding a few audiences and attending the opera, Edward moved to Sandringham. A few days later, he returned to Buckingham Palace, unalleviated by the Norfolk air. Within four days, his condition had deteriorated so badly that Queen Alexandra returned from Corfu. When she arrived at Victoria Station, George, May, David, and Bertie met her. This was a sign of just how serious the king’s illness was, since he had never missed greeting the queen himself. At the beginning of May, Edward collapsed in his apartment, having suffered a series of heart attacks. This prompted a concerned May to write, “We felt very much worried about Papa.”597

  On Friday, May 6, Edward realized his end was near. He “had himself fully and formally dressed in a frock coat and propped up in a chair, where as king and head of the family he could receive relations and friends for a final good-bye.”598 Efforts by the doctors to stabilize the king with oxygen and hypodermic injections of strychnine, tyramine, and ether were unsuccessful. Princess May kept a constant vigil along with her husband and his family. She was in the next room when King Edward VII died at Buckingham Palace later that night, at 11:45 p.m. In a move that showcased Queen Alexandra’s magnanimous nature, she gave orders that Edward’s longtime mistress, Alice Keppel, should be sent for immediately to grieve alongside the queen. “What a loss to the Nation & to us all,” May wrote tearfully.599 Her timid and mild-mannered husband was heartbroken over the loss. Edward once told a staff member that he and his son were more like brothers. George confided the following in his diary that night:

  At 11:45 beloved Papa passed peacefully away, & I have lost my best friend & the best of fathers. I never had a [cross] word with him in his life. I am heartbroken & overwhelmed with grief, but God will help me in my great responsibilities & darling May will be my comfort as she always has been. May God give me strength & guidance in the heavy task which has fallen on me. I sent telegrams to the Lord Mayor & the Prime Minister. Left Motherdear & Toria & drove back to M[arlborough] H[ouse] with darling May. I am quite stunned by this awful blow. Bed at 1.0.600

  The general public was first made aware of the king’s death early Saturday morning when they saw the Royal Standard above Buckingham Palace flying at half-mast. At Marlborough House that morning, May and George summoned their children downstairs to break the news to them. “My father’s face was grey with fatigue, and he cried as he told us that Grandpapa was dead,” David later recalled.601 At 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 9, May’s husband was proclaimed King George V on the balcony of the Friary Court at Saint James’s Palace. From Russia, Tsarina Alexandra’s heart went out to her cousin George. She sent the new king a letter of condolence.

  Only a few words to tell you how very much we think of you in your great grief. Besides your heart being full of sorrow after the great loss you have entertained, now come the new & heavy responsibilities crowding upon you. From all my heart I pray that God may give you strength & wisdom to govern your country.… I think so much of you, as Nicky & I began our married life under similar trying circumstances.

  Thank God we saw yr. dear Pap still last summer—one cannot realise that he is gone.602

  Nicholas II wrote his cousin George a heartfelt message, but now that they were both rulers, he could not help but comment on the development of stronger Anglo-Russian ties.

  Just a few lines to tell you how deeply I feel for you the terrible loss you and England have sustained. I know alas! by experience what it costs me. There you are with your heart bleeding and aching, but at the same time duty imposes itself and people & affairs come up and tear you away from your sorrow. It is difficult to realize that your beloved Father has been taken away. The awful rapidity with which it all happened! How I would have liked to have come now & be near you!

  I beg you dearest Georgie to continue your old friendship and to show my country the same interest as your dear Father did from the day he came to the throne. No one did so much in trying to bring our two countries closer together than Him. The first steps have brought good results. Let us strive and work in the same direction. From our talks in days past & from your letters I remember your opinion was the same. I assure you that the sad death of your Father has provoked throughout the whole of Russia a feeling of sincere grief & of warmest sympathy toward your people. God bless you my dear old Georgie! My thoughts are always near you.

  With much love to you & dearest May,

  ever your devoted friend,

  Nicky.603

  With her husband’s accession, May was now Queen Consort of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Empress of India.604 She was the first English-born queen consort since Henry VIII married Catherine Parr in 1543. There was a conscientious discussion about the name of the new queen. All her life, May was formally known as Victoria Mary, but her husband asked her to choose a single name for herself. Victoria was immediately ruled out as a possibility for obvious reasons. The only option was to go with simple Mary. “I hope you approve of my new name Mary,” she wrote to Aunt Augusta. “George dislikes double names & I could not be Victoria, but it strikes me as curious to be rechristened at the age of 43.”605

  After four days of lying in state in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace, Edward VII’s large oak coffin was ceremoniously taken to Westminster Hall for the funeral. Held on May 20, 1910, the funeral for King Edward VII brought together the largest group of royals in history up until that time.606 One of the first people to arrive in Britain was the widowed Queen Alexandra’s sister Empress Marie Feodorovna. Attending the funeral was the new king, along with eight other reigning monarchs, all of whom were directly related to Edward in some way. There was his nephew Emperor Wilhelm II; his brothers-in-law the kings Frederick VIII of Denmark and George I of Greece; his nephew and son-in-law King Haakon VII of Norway; King Alfonso XIII of Spain, a nephew by marriage; and his second cousins the kings Ferdinand I of the Bulgarians, Manoel II of Portugal, and Albert I of the Belgians. Beyond these nine reigning monarchs were also seven queens, seven crown princes, thirty princes and heirs, and royals representing Turkey, Austria, Japan, Russia, Italy, Romania, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Montenegro, Serbia, France, Egypt, and Siam. According to one historian, “who, seeing this self-confident parade of royalty through the streets of the world’s greatest metropolis on the occasion of Edward VII’s funeral, could imagine that their future was anyth
ing but assured.”607

  The funeral was a pageant lifted from the pages of history. England had never seen a funeral on such a scale before, and it would not see anything like it again until the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. The procession made its way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. More than two million hushed onlookers watched the awe-inspiring sight of the nine reigning monarchs, dressed in gold-braided uniforms with plumed hats and resplendent medals, riding three by three behind the funeral cortege. Behind this grand display “came five heirs apparent, forty more imperial or royal highnesses, seven queens—four dowager and three regnant—and a scattering of special ambassadors from uncrowned countries.”608 Writing to Nicholas II, Minnie said the funeral was “beautifully arranged, all in perfect order, very touching and solemn. Poor Aunt Alix [Queen Alexandra] bore up wonderfully to the last. Georgie, too, behaved so well and with such calm.”609

  The legacy of King Edward VII was a profound one. The echoes of his reign would carry Europe forward as it marched headlong toward the summer of 1914. Thanks to Edward VII’s efforts, Queen Mary and King George now occupied a throne that was stronger than it had been at Queen Victoria’s death and was more respected than ever. Edward was also a talented diplomat. His easygoing, gregarious nature won over even his staunchest of critics. The Italian foreign minister remarked that he had been the most powerful personal factor in world diplomacy. Not only did he forge alliances with France and Russia, he also strengthened the ties between the British crown and its counterparts among the continent’s royals through their shared bonds of family.

  Edward … was often called the “Uncle of Europe,” a title which, insofar as Europe’s ruling houses were meant, could be taken literally. He was the uncle not only of Kaiser Wilhelm but also, through his wife’s sister, the Dowager Empress Marie of Russia, of Czar Nicholas II. His own niece Alix was the Czarina; his daughter Maud was Queen of Norway; another niece, Ena, was Queen of Spain; a third niece, Marie, was soon to be Queen of Rumania. The Danish family of his wife, besides occupying the throne of Denmark, had mothered the Czar of Russia and supplied kings to Greece and Norway. Other relatives, the progeny at various removes of Queen Victoria’s nine sons and daughters, were scattered in abundance throughout the courts of Europe.610

  This far-reaching influence was what King Edward VII bequeathed his son and daughter-in-law upon his deathbed. It was now up to King George V and Queen Mary to carry the torch that Edward VII had lit during his lifetime into the twentieth century.

  Once the funeral was over, it did not take long for discord to seize the royal family. To Mary’s disappointment, George’s sister Toria was becoming possessive of the king and critical of her. “Do try to talk to May at dinner,” Toria told a guest during a party, “though one knows she is deadly dull.”611 The real struggle, though, was with her mother-in-law, Alexandra, the queen dowager, who at first refused to relinquish her position as first lady of the land and “quibbled about questions of precedence.”612 In a total break with tradition, Alexandra demanded precedence over Mary, which she only gave after being harangued by her mother-in-law for weeks. “I am now very tired after the strain of the past weeks & now as you know come all the disagreeables,” Mary wrote to Aunt Augusta, “so much to arrange, so much that must be changed, most awkward & unpleasant for both sides, if only things can be managed without having rows, but it is difficult to get a certain person [Alexandra] to see things in their right light.” Alexandra had to be practically forced to vacate Buckingham Palace and return to her old home, Marlborough House. She was unwilling to give up many of the crown jewels that were now rightfully Mary’s. “The odd part,” Mary wrote to Augusta, “is that the person causing the delay and trouble remains supremely unconscious to the inconvenience it is causing, such a funny state of things & everyone seems afraid to speak.”613

  There were undeniable shadows of the tumultuous relationship between Alexandra of Russia and the fiery, stubborn Marie Feodorovna. As Mary’s lifelong supporter, Grand Duchess Augusta placed the blame for this rift between Mary and Alexandra squarely on Minnie’s shoulders, a woman who had become used to remaining in the public image during her widowhood. One of the dowager empress’s biographers felt the problem was that, since Alexander III’s death, she became “used to the prestige and influence of a Dowager Empress and she could not (or would not) understand that in England things were very different. Alix was now expected to give way to the new Queen Consort but Dagmar [Minnie], viewing things from her own experience, encouraged her sister to claim precedence.”614 Alexandra had always been known for her graciousness and civility, so Grand Duchess Augusta believed she was being egged on by her imperious sister. “May that pernicious influence soon depart!” Augusta wrote to Queen Mary with her usual dramatic flair.615

  Mary’s quarrel with Queen Alexandra took a backseat to an even more personal family episode involving her brother Prince Frank of Teck. After retiring from the army and refusing to leave England in 1901, Frank had been living a carefree bachelor life in London paid for by credit. Following the debacle he caused by giving the Cambridge family jewels to his mistress, Mary did not speak to him for years. In the last few years, Frank showed glimpses of redemption, working assiduously to raise money for the Middlesex Hospital, a cause the queen found honorable and respectable, thus paving the way for a reconciliation between her and her prodigal brother. In the summer of 1910, Frank Teck underwent a minor nasal operation. He was prematurely released from hospital, after which Mary invited him to join her at Balmoral in the hopes of furthering their reconciliation. Within days, pleurisy set in, and Frank was dead.

  Mary was heartbroken. She wrote to her husband, “Indeed you were more than feeling & kind to me about dear Frank, whose death is a great sorrow & blow to me, for we were so very intimate in the old days until alas the ‘rift’ came. I am so thankful I still had that nice week with him at Balmoral when he was quite like his old self & seemed to be so happy with us & our children.”616 The funeral was held in Saint George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The queen, who rarely showed emotion in public, broke down sobbing. Writing to Aunt Augusta, she was relieved at her brother’s final resting place: “Dear Frank’s coffin lies with that of dear Mama. I think she would have wished this as she was especially devoted to him.”617

  The Hessian children with Queen Victoria in mourning for their mother, 1879. Left to right: Ella, Victoria, Queen Victoria, Ernie, Irene, and Alix.

  Princess May with her mother, the Duchess of Teck, and her brothers Dolly, Frank, and Alge, c. 1880.

  Princess May of Teck, 1893.

  Princess Alix and Tsarevitch Nicholas in a formal engagement photograph, 1894.

  The Prussian royal family in 1896. Standing, left to right: Crown Prince Willy, Victoria Louise, Dona, and Adalbert. Seated, left to right: Augustus Wilhelm, Joachim, Wilhelm II (with Oscar seated in front), and Eitel-Frederick.

  The Hessian princesses, 1906. Left to right: Alexandra, Victoria, Ella, and Irene.

  Dona and Wilhelm looking stately and dignified in a formal portrait, 1910.

  Tsarina Alexandra in formal Russian court regalia.

  Dona and her daughter, Princess Victoria Louise, riding through the streets of Berlin, 1911.

  Zita and Charles on their wedding day, October 21, 1911.

  The Russian imperial family in 1913. Left to right: Marie, Alexandra (with Alexei seated in front of her), Olga, Tatiana, Nicholas II, and Anastasia.

  Mary, queen of England and empress of India, c. 1913.

  Augusta Victoria, German empress and queen of Prussia, 1913.

  Tsar Nicholas II and King George V, 1913.

  Queen Mary with her daughter, Princess Mary, as a nurse during World War I.

  Zita in her coronation robes as queen of Hungary, 1916.

  Emperor Charles I of Austria, king of Hungary, 1917.

  Dona in exile at Amerongen, 1921.

  Queen Mary, c. 1930.