Queen Victoria's Sons

King Edward VII and Princes Alfred, Arthur, and Leopold

Oct 1, 2009

Queen Victoria of Great Britain and her husband Prince Albert had four sons - King Edward VII, Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, Prince Arthur of Connaught, and Prince Leopold.

Queen Victoria of Great Britain and her husband Prince Albert had nine children, four sons and five daughters. Their eldest son Bertie became King Edward VII, and their other three sons were granted dukedoms, their second eldest son even becoming the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Each parent had a favorite son, but tragically neither one got along particularly well with the heir Bertie. Nevertheless, each son made important contributions to Great Britain, and their descendants live on as British royals and commoners and in other European royal families.

King Edward VII of Great Britain (1841–1910)

King Edward VII, known as “Bertie,” had a sadly strained relationship with his parents, who both thought him irresponsible and untrustworthy. Bertie entered the army in the hopes that discipline would straighten him out. When that didn’t work his parents encouraged his marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark, a happy union that produced six children but that Bertie sadly tainted with his philandering.

Queen Victoria did not trust her heir to help her run the government, so he instead proved useful by traveling on her behalf to other parts of the realm. Although he was not particularly intelligent, his tact and charm made him an excellent statesman. After a lifetime of waiting, he finally inherited the throne in 1901, but died a mere nine years later.

The present British royal family is descended from King Edward VII through his second son King George V. The Norwegian royal family is also descended from him through his daughter Princess Maud.

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1866–1900)

Prince Alfred of Edinburgh was his father’s favorite son and heir to his childless uncle’s Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Queen Victoria thought that her son had a selfish and difficult character, but he may have just been shy and introverted. His one great passion was for the sea, and he entered the navy where he served well for many years before he had to give it up upon inheriting Coburg.

He made an unpopular marriage to Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, and his wife preferred to live in the German court of Coburg. It was here that their five children were raised, making them almost more German than they were English. Tragically, Alfred and Marie’s son committed suicide, and not only did this destroy their already fragile marriage but it also left Prince Alfred without an heir, and the Duchy eventually passed to his nephew Prince Charles Edward. The Edinburgh’s four daughters, however, had spectacular lives, with one becoming Queen Marie of Romania and another becoming Grand Duchess Victoria Melita of Russia, from whom the present Russian pretender is descended.

Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850–1942)

Named after his godfather Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, Prince Arthur of Connaught was his mother’s favorite son. He was honorable, decent, and devoted to duty. He loved the army and served well in it, advancing in his career and serving the British Empire as a good military commander. He loved Britain and the military so much that he even refused inheriting the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha because he didn’t want to move to Germany. In 1911, after he retired from the military, he was made governor-general of Canada, a post in which he was quite popular.

He made a happy marriage to Princess Louise of Prussia. They had three children whose descendants are still alive today. Of particular royal importance was the marriage of their daughter Princess Margaret to the future King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, a union from which the present Swedish royal family is descended.

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853–1884)

Named after his great-uncle, King Leopold I of the Belgians, Prince Leopold of Albany was Queen Victoria’s intellectual son. He was the only one of her sons to inherit hemophilia; his weakened health prevented him from going into the military, so instead he attended Oxford University, the only one of Queen Victoria’s children to go to college. Because of his time at Oxford he made some small intellectual and artistic contributions to Great Britain. Beginning in 1877, he also served as Queen Victoria’s confidential secretary, giving him more access to state secrets and the running of the government than even the heir to the throne had.

He had a happy but tragically short marriage to Princess Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont, dying just two years after they wed. His early death due to a hemorrhage sustained after a fall meant that he never met his posthumous son, Prince Charles Edward, who later inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from his uncle Alfred, and from whom the present Swedish royal family is descended.

Source:

Eilers, Marlene A. Queen Victoria’s Descendants. Falkoping, Sweden: Rosvall Royal Books, 1997.

The copyright of the article Queen Victoria's Sons in Georgian/Victorian Britain is owned by Emily Chauviere. Permission to republish Queen Victoria's Sons in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.