Not only survived 17 pregnancies but Elisabeth lived to 74, a feet in those days for either men or women. Outlived a number of her adult kids.
July 11, 1866 birth of Princess Irene of Hesse and by the Rhine.
Irene was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her mother was Princess Alice of Great Britain, the third child and second daughter of Victoria and Albert. Her father was Prince Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine. Her parents had seven children of whom he was third born.
siblings:
-Victoria: Married Prince Louis of Battenberg later Marques of Milford Haven. Had four children. She was the grandmother of Prince Philip through her daughter Alice. Her others were Louis Mountbatten, Queen Louise of Sweden and George who succeeded his father as Marques of Milford Haven. Victoria helped raise Philip after his mother was hospitalized, along with her sons.
-Elisabeth: Married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, an Uncle of Nicholas II. Murdered in a mine during the Russian revolution (her husband had died years before). Is buried in Jerusalem and was canonized as a martyr. Her niece Alice requested to be buried next to her.
-Ernest Louis: her first younger sibling, and only son of her parents to reach adulthood. Succeeded his father as grand duke. He married Victoria Melita (cousin, she was the daughter of Alfred) and had a daughter who died at 8 and a stillborn son. With his second wife Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich he had two sons. His eldest son George Donatus was the husband of Philip's sister Cecilia and died in an airplane crash. His line died out with his son Louis, and the title passed to his distant relative Philip, Landgrave of Hesse. Philip was the grandfather of the current head of the house, Donatus.
-Friedrich: had hemophilia and died when he was three.
-Alix: married Nicholas II of Russia (nephew of her sister Elisabeth's husband). She and her husband and five children were executed during the Russian Revolution.
-Marie Victoria: died at the age of four from diptheria
Irene's name came from the Greek word for peace. She was named because she was born at the end of the Austro-Prussian war. Her full name was Irene Luise Marie Anne. Her middle names may have been a nod to two of her great grandmothers. Her father's maternal grandmother Landgravine Maria Anna of Hesse-Homburg. And her mother's paternal grandmother Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.
Unlike her sister, Irene was no great beauty, her mother wrote to her sister saying that she was not a pretty child. But she had a pleasant disposition. Her mother raised them quite humbly, and employed an English nanny. They ate plain food and they were made to learn how to do household work like cooking and cleaning. Alice believed greatly in helping the poor and often took her daughters on visits to the poor and hospitals from early on.
In 1873 her brother Friedrich died after falling out a window. The family made regular trips to his grave to pray. In 1878 the family fell ill with diptheria including her father. Her sister Marie died from it. Alice grew ill nursing her children and she died in December 1878. Victoria made a vow to watch over her Hessian grandchildren from then on. Irene and her siblings would make regular holidays to England to stay with their grandmother. Victoria also over saw their education and even their clothing when they were home in Hesse. Irene served as a bridesmaid when her Aunt Beatrice was married to Henry of Battenberg.
May 24 1888 she was married at 22 to Prince Henry of Prussia. Henry was the third child and second son of German Emperor Frederick III. He was her first cousin, as his mother was Alice's sister Vicky. They were married at the chapel in Charlottenberg palace in Berlin. Her husband's siblings included Emperor Wilhelm II and Queen Sophia of Greece.The marriage did not please her grandmother as Victoria had not been told of the courtship of the couple until after the engagement was already agreed on.
At the time of the wedding her father in law/Uncle by marriage was dying from throat cancer. He died less then a month after their wedding, and Henry's brother Wilhelm succeeded as Kaiser.
Her Aunt Empress Victoria was extremely fond of her niece. But she was shocked that Irene would never wear a shawl to hide her pregnancy. And appalled that her son and his wife never read the paper, had any interest in politics like she always had.
She bore her husband three sons. Sadly two suffered hemophilia through her, the oldest and youngest.
-Prince Waldemar: He married Princess Calixta of Lippe. His health was never good and the couple never had children. Unfortunately he died because of a lack of blood transfusions. The couple had fled the Russian army and settled in Tutzing Bavaria. When the US troops came in they diverted medical supplies and he wasn't able to get the required blood. He died May 5, 1945 and was buried in Erbach, Hesse. His widow out lived him by 35 years and died in Erbach in 1982.
-Sigismund: the only son not to suffer from hemophilia. He married Charlotte, daughter of Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. They had two children. Their daughter Princess Barbara married Duke Christian Louis of Mecklenburg. His granddaughter Duchess Donata is the senior member of the house of House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Due to Salic law she has no claim to the headship (only has a sister).
-Heinrich: died at the age of four.
She worried about her eldest son's health from an early age. She was devastated when Heinrich died after falling and bumping his head. He died six months before her nephew Alexei was born to her sister Alix. Irene, Alix and their cousins Victoria Eugenie and Alice, Countess of Althone all bore sons with hemophilia.
Raised in a very proper Victorian style, she was easily shocked by what she called immorality. She was not pleased when her sisters Elisabeth and Alix converted to Russian orthodox on their marriages. She remained closed with all of her siblings despite her disagreeing with her sisters converting.
During WWI she and her siblings were on opposite sides of the war. She was devastated to learn later that both Alix and Elisabeth were killed. While her husband's family no longer ruled Germany after the war, her and Henry were able to retain their home at Hemmelmark.
Irene would be introduced to Anna Anderson who she did not believe at all. She was so upset by the woman, that Henry ordered Anna's name was not to be mentioned in their presence.
Her husband who she had a happy marriage with died in April 1929, from throat cancer like his father. When her son Sigismund moved to Costa Rica in the 30s, and later refused to return to Germany after WWII, she named her granddaughter Barbara as her heir.
Irene died November 11, 1953 at her and Henry's home at the age of 87. She had out lived all of her siblings, Victoria who died in 1950 was her last sibling to pass.
