Henry of Battenberg

1858 – 1896 · Generation XXXIV

Henry of Battenberg (1858–1896). Married Beatrice of the United Kingdom in 1885. Born in Milan to Prince Alexander of Hesse and Countess Julia von Hauke, whose unequal marriage barred their children from the Hessian succession, he was commissioned into a hussar regiment of the Prussian army. Soon after his brother Louis married a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, he became engaged to the queen’s youngest child, Beatrice, and Victoria agreed on condition that the couple make their home with her. Given the style of Royal Highness on the eve of the ceremony, he married Beatrice at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight in 1885, and they had four children. In 1889 he became governor of the island and of Carisbrooke Castle. In 1895 he persuaded the queen to let him join the Ashanti expedition in West Africa as military secretary, but he caught malaria on the march and died aboard HMS Blonde off Sierra Leone. He was buried where he had married.

Place in the family

Henry of Battenberg married Beatrice of the United Kingdom, a daughter of Queen Victoria.

Partners

Married Beatrice of the United Kingdom (1857 – 1944) in 1885

Life

1858 — Born
1885 — Married Beatrice of the United Kingdom
1896 — Died