Prince Henry of Prussia and Princess Irène of Hesse and by Rhine, circa 1888.
In the automn of 1886, Irène was due to visit Balmoral, and Prince Henry wanted to visit at the same time. The Queen refused to allow him to come. At one point, she extracted a promise from Irène that she wouldn't discuss marriage with Henry before he set off on a particularly prolonged naval voyage. But Irène, once so obliging, had become as headstrong as her elder sisters. She and Henry were engaged in early 1887 and the Queen was, for the third time, taken unaware, coming upon the story in a newspaper report. Irène had gone for her 'surprise tactic', and the Queen was incandescent.
'It is impossible for me to tell you what a shock your letter gave me!" she fumed in response to an emollient missive from Victoria. 'Indeed I felt quite ill - for I am so deeply hurt at Irène's conduct towards me... She assured me again and again that she would never do that ! How can I trust her again after such conduct?'
A month later, the Queen sniffed to Victoria 'I feel very deeply that my opinion and my advice are never listened to and that it is almost useless to give any.' Irène eventually weighed in herself with another of her muddled notes, assuring Grandmama that Henry was 'openhearted and true' : 'Harry is really the good angel here and go-between in all the difficulties I have already seen & felt that I scarcely deserve him too.' Just as he had defended Grand Duke Serge, the Princesses' good-hearted brother Ernie entered the ring, supporting Prince Henry in a letter to Victoria :'Darling Irène is so very happy with Henry and a more dear boy one really could never have seen.' | The lives & deaths of the Princesses of Hesse by Frances Welch
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