Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
| Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg | |||||
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| Queen consort of Spain | |||||
| Tenure | 31 May 1906 – 14 April 1931 | ||||
| Born |
24 October 1887 Balmoral Castle, Scotland |
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| Died | 15 April 1969 (aged 81) Lausanne, Switzerland |
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| Burial | El Escorial | ||||
| Spouse |
Alfonso XIII of Spain (m. 1906–41; his death) |
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| Issue | |||||
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| House | Battenberg | ||||
| Father | Prince Henry of Battenberg | ||||
| Mother | Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom | ||||
| Religion |
Roman Catholicism prev. Church of England |
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| Full name | |
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| Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena |
Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena; 24 October 1887 – 15 April 1969) was Queen of Spain as the wife of King Alfonso XIII.
Victoria Eugenie was born on 24 October 1887 at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland. Her father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the fourth child and third son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine by his morganatic wife Countess Julia Hauke, and her mother was Princess Beatrice, the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
As Prince Henry was the product of a morganatic marriage, he took his style of Prince of Battenberg from his mother, who had been created Princess of Battenberg in her own right. As such, Henry's children would normally have been born with the style "Serene Highness"; however, Queen Victoria had issued a Royal Warrant on 4 December 1886 granting the higher style of "Highness" to all sons and daughters of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice, thus she was born Her Highness Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. She was named for her grandmother, and for her godmother, Empress Eugénie of the French, the Spanish-born widow of the former Emperor of the French Napoleon III, who lived in exile in the United Kingdom. To her family, and the British general public, she was known by the last of her names, as Ena.
Victoria Eugenie grew up in Queen Victoria's household, as the British monarch had reluctantly allowed Beatrice to marry on the condition that she remain her mother's full-time companion and personal secretary. Therefore, she spent her childhood at Windsor Castle, Balmoral, and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousins, the Duke (later King George V) and Duchess of York on 6 July 1893.
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