| | | EMPEROR FREDERICK, = VICTORIA, PRINCESS KING EDWARD VII, 1831-1888. | ROYAL, 1841-1910. | 1840-1901. | | KING GEORGE V. | +--------+--------+----------+-+----+------+------+---------+ | | | | | | | | EMPEROR | HENRY, | VICTORIA, | SOPHIA, | WILLIAM II, | _b._ 1862. | _b._ 1866;. | _b._ 1870;. | _b._ 1859. | _m._ Princess | _m._ Prince | Queen of the | | | Irene of Hesse, | Adolphus of | Hellenes. | Six sons and | his first cousin. | Schaumburg | | | | | | -Lippe. | | | one daughter. | | | | Three sons and | | Three sons. | | two daughters. | | | | | CHARLOTTE, SIGISMUND, WALDEMAR, MARGARET, _b._ 1860;. 1864-1866. 1868-1879 _b._ 1872;. _m._ Prince _m._ Prince Bernhard of Frederick Charles Saxe-Meiningen. of Hesse-Cassel. | | One daughter. Six sons. THE EMPRESS FREDERICK CHAPTER I CHILDHOOD AND GIRLHOOD Before the birth of the Princess Royal in November 1840, no direct heir had been born to a reigning British Sovereign for nearly eighty years. The Prince Regent, afterwards George IV, was born in 1762, two years after his father's accession, and the death in childbirth of the Prince Regent's daughter, Princess Charlotte, when she was only twenty, was still vividly remembered. Queen Victoria was now but little older than Princess Charlotte, and the birth of her first child was regarded with a certain anxiety by the nation. It might prove to be the only child, and in that event much would hang on the preservation of its life. Those members of the "Old Royal Family" who were next in succession were not popular, and the little Princess Royal may truly be described as having been the child of many prayers.