Time for some gossip and, of course, a Smethwick connection.
Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein was a grandson of Queen Victoria. His mother was her fifth daughter Princess Helena. When she married she became known as Princess Christian and took a deep interest in the medical care of soldiers serving in the Boer War. She had a hand in the creation of the first hospital train in history which was used during the Boer War and named after her. The carriages for the train were made in SMETHWICK.
Princess Helena got married after her brother Bertie (later Edward VII) and his wife, Princess Alexandria, opposed the wedding because Schleswig-Holstein had pinched a bit of Denmark in an earlier dust up. These days Princess Alexandria is remembered for her interest in nursing and it is said this interest arose from a desire to outdo her sister-in-law when her opposition to the wedding failed. In this she succeeded because Princess Helena/Christian is now largely forgotten – which is sad because by all accounts she was a thoroughly good egg.
Before going up to Oxford Prince Christian Victor went to Wellington College and was the first of Queen Victoria’s grand-children to go to school rather than being educated at home by private tutors. At Wellington & Oxford he proved himself to be a top class cricketer. The choice of Wellington chuffed Granny no end because Prince Albert had a hand in establishing Wellington College. When she learnt of his death she wrote the following in her journal:
"I went upstairs, Thora came in & in a faltering voice said ‘He is gone’. I could not believe it, it seemed too dreadful & heart breaking, & this dear excellent, gallant Boy, beloved by all, such a good, as well as brave & capable officer, gone! To think that he had gone through the Indian campaign, Ashanti, the Soudan & now again in S. Africa had passed through endless hardship, & dangers, without being ill, or getting a scratch, — to fall a victim to this horrid fever, just on the eve of his return home, — oh! it is really too piteous."
