Four sisters - photographs of the daughters of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh

Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, later Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was the second son of Queen Victoria. The duchess, the former Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, was the only daughter of Alexander II of Russia. The couple's first born, Alfred, died a suicide at the age of twenty-four. But they had four daughters: Marie "Missy" (29 October 1875 - 18 July 1938), later Queen of Romania; Victoria Melita "Ducky" (25 November 1876 - 2 March 1936), later Grand Duchess of Hessen und bei Rhein and, after that, Grand Duchess Kirill of Russia; Alexandra "Sandra" (1 September 1878 - 16 April 1942), later Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenberg; and Beatrice "Baby Bee" (20 April 1884 - 13 July 1966), later Infanta of Spain. The sisters were very close, the first three more so; they were only a year and two years apart in age. Beatrice was six year younger than her closest sibling and doesn't always appear in these group portraits.

Victoria Melita, Alexandra, Marie.

Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra. Though second born, Victoria Melita was always dominant among the sisters.

Alexandra, Victoria Melita, Marie.

Victoria Melita, Alexandra, Marie.

Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra.

Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra.

Beatrice, Victoria Melita, Alexandra, Marie.

Victoria Melita, Marie, Alexandra, Beatrice. Victoria Melita and Marie had by far the closest bond among the four.

Alexandra, Beatrice, Victoria Melita, Marie.

Beatrice, Marie, Alexandra, Victoria Melita. From a portrait by Friedrich August von Kaulbach, circa 1900.

Beatrice, Marie, Victoria Melita.

Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra.

Alexandra, Marie, Beatrice, Victoria Melita.

*

Addendum 4/5/2021:

Kaulbach's portrait of the four sisters, seen above in a reproduction from a vintage postcard, originally hung in the dining room of the Edinburgh Palace in Coburg. Unseen for many decades, it was thought that it might actually be lost. Only recently has it been confirmed as being safely held in the private collection of a family descendant.

Princess Feodora and her daughters, by Sir William Ross

Watercolor on ivory laid on card - approx. 8 x 5.5 inches - 1838

Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 December 1807, Amorbach - 23 September 1872, Baden-Baden), born Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhelmine of Leiningen, was the elder half-sister of Queen Victoria. In 1828 she married Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, with whom she had three sons and three daughters.

 *

Watercolor on ivory laid on card - approx. 3.5 x 3 inches - 1840.

Princess Elise Adelheid Viktoria Amalie of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (8 November 1830, Langenburg - 27 February 1850, Venice). Princess Elise died of tuberculosis at the age of 19; Queen Victoria sent the girl's grieving mother a copy of this miniature.

*

Watercolor on ivory laid on card - approx. 3.5 x 3 inches - 1840.

Princess Adelheid Viktoria Amalie Luise Marie Konstanze of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (20 July 1835, Langenburg - 25 January 1900, Dresden). In 1856 Adelheid married the future Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. They had seven children; their daughter Auguste Viktoria would grow up to be the consort of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany.

 *

Watercolor on ivory laid on card - approx. 3.5 x 3 inches - 1857.

Princess Feodora Viktoria Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langeburg (7 July 1839, Stuttgart - 10 February 1872, Meiningen). In 1858 she married the future Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. They had three children - the youngest died three days after his birth - and Feodora, herself, died of scarlet fever in 1872 at the the age of thirty-two.

Ross' portrait of Princess Feodora, the youngest of the girls, was done seventeen years after those of her sisters'; she was only one year old in 1840.

*

(All of these miniatures are in the Royal Collection.)