Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine was the sturdy, intellectual eldest daughter of a grand ducal family, her childhood shadowed by tragedy, including her mother's early death from diphtheria. She married the German-born Prince Louis of Battenberg, a naval officer, and became a steadfast support to him as his career in the British Royal Navy was upended by anti-German sentiment during World War I. It was through her children, however, that her influence quietly radiated across the century. Her daughter Alice became the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Another daughter, Louise, was the mother of Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. Victoria herself was a sharp-witted confidante and correspondent to her sister, the last Tsarina of Russia, and later a stabilizing presence for her grandson Philip. Her life was a bridge between the old European order and the modern British monarchy.