Princess Helena Victoria (1870-1948) and
Princess Marie Louise (1872-1956) of Schleswig Holstein
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Helena Victoria was known in the family as Thora or as "Snipe" because of her long face and nose and severe features; she lived for many years with the hope of getting married some day. Her mother tried to attract her cousin, Prince George (future George V), towards her but she didn't get support on the Royal Family.
Alexandra, Princess of Wales, wrote about this to his son Prince George: "So the Christians have been following you about with their lovely Snipe! Well, it would be a pleasure to welcome that "beauty" as your bride. You see she is quite prepared to take you by storm by already offering you her contrafeit in a frame!". Despite the sarcasm of the Princess of Wales, Helena Victoria might indeed have been a good wife for George V since she was kind hearted and very intelligent. But her destiny was to serve as companion to her grandmother, Queen Victoria, and to spent her years in charitable works.
Princess Marie Louise had no better luck than her sister. In 1889, Marie Louise went to Berlin to attend the wedding of her cousin Victoria of Prussia. It was there where she met a tall and handsome prince: Aribert of Anhalt Dessau, who was the fourth son of Duke Leopold of Anhalt and Antoinette of Saxe Altenburg, and was a cavalry officer in the army. Marie Louise felt instantly in love with the the Pirnce. Aribert took her to Dessau in Anhalt, a beautiful and small principality located in the Harz Mountains.There she met Duke Leopold who owned 36 castels in the duchy.
Marie Louise and Aribert got married on July 6 1891 at Windsor Castle. The new couple spent part of their honeymoon in Bayreuth where Marie Louise met Cosima Wagner, widow of the composer, and became her firend. Cosima introduced Marie Louise into the her late husband's music. The couple established their home at Dessau where Marie Louise found life ruled by a severe etiquette. Fortunately for her, she and her husband did not live full time in Dessau because Aribert had a house in Berlin. But things in her marriage were not going well; for Aribert the marriage had being strictly for convenience. Soon it was clear to Marie Louise that her husband had no phisically interest in her. They only met at meals or it could pass many days without seeing each other. In 1900, after nine yaers of marriage, she decided she had to get away at least temporarily, so she went, without her husband permission, on a trip to United States and Canada. She visited President McKinley in the White House and stayed with Lord Minto (Canada's Governor General) in Ottawa. While staying there, she received a cable form her father in law, ordering her to return inmediately to Anhalt. An hour later she recieved a telegram from Queen Victoria: "Tell my granddaughter to come home to me. VR:"
When Marie Louise returned to Windsor, she was revealed the reasons for the urgency of comming back. Prince Aribert had wrote a letter saying that her wife had deserted her marital duties, so he was demanding the marriage to be proclaimed null and void as if it had never been contracted. Her father in law was the supreme law in Anhalt so he presented the justification that Marie Louise had not given his son any children, a proof for marriage invalidity in Anhalt
For the rest of her life, Marie Louise condsidered herself a married woman. Afterwards she got to know the real cause for her marriage anulment: Prince Aribert had been caught with another man.
Marie Louise and her sister Helena Victoria settled down to live together for the rest of their lifes. Marie Louise presided several hospital anc charity organizations as St. Giles Home for Lepers. She created the Girls' Club and Settlement in Bermonsday, where factory working girls could attend to have themselves classes, amusementgs and amenities. The Club brought Marie Louise in direct contact with the working class getting to know their joys and sorrows. She also helped to regenerate drunks and burglars.
Princess Marie Louise was who conceived the idea of creating a Doll's House for Queen Mary. She asked Sir Edwin Lutyens to design it and contacted several authors and artists to create miniature original books and paintings for the Dolls' House. Rudyard Kipling wrote his "If" in miniature specially for that purpose. Princess Marie Louise was also a great admirer of Napoleon Buonaparte and she had an interesting collection of many Napoleonic objects.