Figure 1.--This is Princess Irene on her 70th birthday about 1936. We are not sure who the boiys were. Irenae had two grandchildren, Sigismund's boys. Sigismund had taken his family to Costa Rica, so we are not sure.

Irene was the third child and third daughter. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Elizabeth of Prussia. Her first name was the Greek word for 'peace' because she was born at the end of the Austro-Prussian War (1866). Like her younger sister, the Tsarina, Irene was a carrier of the hemophilia gene. Her mother had considered Irene an unattractive child and wrote to her sister Victoria that Irene was 'not pretty'. Though perhaps not as pretty as her sister Elizabeth, she was not unattractive. She had a pleasant, even disposition and most importantly managed to avoid the Russians. Irene married the Kaiser's brother Prince Henry (1888). Henry was a much more mellow individual than Wilhelm, making for a more tranquil marriage. Prince Henry was dominated by Wilhelm, especially after his brother became kaiser. Wilhelm was also her first cousin. Prince Henry persued a naval career. They had three children: Waldemar (1889), Sigismund (1896), and Henry Victor Louis (1900). Two of the children carried the hemolphilaia gene and died from it, Henry in childhood and Waldemar at tge end of World War II. (American military authorities diverted meddical resources to treat nearby concentration camp victims. The needed transfussion was not made.) Sigismund produced the only grandchildren, two sons but he emigrated to Costa Rica (1927). The SS Prinzessin Irene, a liner of the North German Lloyd was named after her. She lived in tumultuous times: German unification, World War I, fall of the monarchy, rise of the NAZIS, and World War II. Irene would lose her sisters Alix and Elisabeth in Russia to the Bolsheviks. She would survive and out live all her siblings.

Created: 2:31 AM 9/10/2020
Last updated: 2:31 AM 9/10/2020