Q: Rabasse - Paris, France
Could you tell me what happened to Princess Beatrice after the death of her mother, Queen Victoria? Is there a biography of her?
Princess Beatrice was born on 14 April 1857 and was the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her father died when she was just four years old and she and Queen Victoria remained extremely close until Queen Victoria's death in 1901, during which time she effectively acted as her mother's secretary.
In 1885, she married Prince Henry of Battenberg and, at her mother's insistence, the couple made their home with her. The marriage produced four children, but Prince Henry died in 1896.
After her mother's death, Princess Beatrice went to live in Osborne Cottage and fulfilled her duties as Governor of the Isle of Wight, a position inherited from her husband. She later lived in Carisbrooke Castle and used Kensington Palace as a base when in London.
She spent the best part of thirty years editing Queen Victoria's journals. The old queen had instructed her youngest child to remove anything that might cause any pain and Beatrice faithfully did so. She copied the journals by her own hand and burned the originals. There are 111 volumes of the edited journals, which are now housed in the Royal Archives, Windsor.
Princess Beatrice died in 1944 and was only survived by two of her children, Prince Alexander and Princess Victoria Eugenie.
Q: Anita - New Zealand
Where do all the members of the Royal Family spend Christmas?
In recent years, members of the Royal Family have all spent Christmas and often New Year at Sandringham. The Royal Family always used to spend Christmas at Windsor Castle up until the mid-1960s. It was then felt that the ever-growing family would better be accommodated at Sandringham.
Q: M. Richardson - Georgia, USA
Who will now occupy The Princess of Wales' apartments at Kensington Palace and who will occupy Clarence House?
The apartment used by the Princess was an amalgamation of two previous apartments. Two floors of the second wing have been used for staff flats, with tenants paying rent at the usual 16.7% of their salary as set by the Treasury. The ground floor is being used as a temporary processing and storage area for the Royal Archives.
No decision has been taken over the use of the main rooms. When found, appropriate tenants will be paying rent at commercial levels to reimburse the Grant-in-aid (money provided from public funds to maintain the fabric of the Occupied Royal Palaces).
As announced last year, Clarence House is currently being refurbished for The Prince of Wales, who will use it as his London residence instead of St. James's Palace. The Prince's offices will also be based at Clarence House.
Q: Jane - Ontario, Canada
I've wondered about this for years. If you have had three Queen Elizabeths, why is the current Elizabeth called the second?
The Queen is Elizabeth II, as she is the second Elizabeth to hold the throne in her own right following Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603). The other Queen Elizabeth was Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was a queen and her name was Elizabeth, but she was a Queen Consort, rather than a Queen Regnant. She was never queen in her own birthright like Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II. Rather, she owed her title of 'Queen' to the fact that she was married to a King (King George VI).
Q: K. Chiang - CA, USA
You mentioned that as grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line, the offspring of Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh would not have been entitled to use HRH or Prince or Princess until their mother became Queen. However, wouldn't they still be entitled to use HRH or Prince or Princess through the Greek royal family?
In early 1947, Prince Philip of Greece became a naturalised British subject. His name appeared on a list of around 800 newly naturalised subjects, which included many foreign nationals, who, like Prince Philip, had fought in the British forces during the war.
On acquiring British citizenship, Philip ceased to be a prince of Greece. Thus at the engagement announcement later that year, he was referred to as 'Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, R.N., son of the late Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Andrew (Princess Alice of Battenberg).' He was created Duke of Edinburgh shortly before the wedding by King George VI, and in 1957 The Queen gave him once more the title of 'Prince'.
So, Prince Charles and Princess Anne could not style themselves HRH or Prince or Princess through their father, as by the time of their birth, he himself did not hold such titles.
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