Showing posts with label Princess Alice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Princess Alice. Show all posts

Friday, May 19, 2023

Prince Philip's Mother : The Strange, Exciting Life of Princess Alice | Documentary | Reupload

Apr 9, 2021 | …A great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Prince Philip's mother married into the Greek royal family – only to see the Greek monarchy overthrown by revolution. Fleeing into exile, she suffered a severe nervous breakdown. She was locked away in mental hospitals and subjected to experimental treatments by psychiatrists - including Sigmund Freud himself.

The trauma had a shattering effect on Princess Alice’s marriage and led to a fractured childhood for her only son Prince Philip.

Philip’s mother eventually fought her way back from mental illness and became an unlikely hero of World War Two - risking her life to hide a Jewish family from the Nazis.

When her son married the future Queen Elizabeth in 1948, Alice turned down the option of a cosy royal life. Instead, she chose to dedicate herself to working with the poor in Greece, gave away all her possessions and even founded her own religious order.

Featuring exclusive interviews with family members and previously unseen archive footage, this film sheds new light on one of the royal family's most remarkable but little known personalities.


Monday, November 29, 2021

The Fascinating Life of Prince Philip's Mother: Princess Alice, the Queen's Mother-In-Law | Absolute History

Jun 8, 2019 • We all know about the late Queen Mum – one of Britain’s most instantly recognisable figures. But few have even heard of the Queen’s mother-in-law, Princess Alice. And yet, the life-story of Prince Philip’s mother almost defies belief.

A great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Prince Philip’s mother married into the Greek royal family – only to see the Greek monarchy overthrown by revolution. Fleeing into exile, she suffered a severe nervous breakdown. She was locked away in mental hospitals and subjected to experimental treatments by psychiatrists – including Sigmund Freud himself. The trauma had a shattering effect on Princess Alice’s marriage and led to a fractured childhood for her only son Prince Philip.

Prince Philip’s mother eventually fought her way back from mental illness, and became an unlikely hero of World War Two, risking her life to hide a Jewish family from the Nazis. When her son married the future Queen Elizabeth in 1948, Alice turned down the option of a cosy royal life. Instead she chose to dedicate herself to working with the poor in Greece. She gave away all her possessions and even founded her own religious order.

Featuring exclusive interviews with family members and previously unseen archive footage, this film sheds new light on one of the royal family’s most remarkable, but little known, personalities.


Sunday, December 01, 2019

The Queen’s Mother in Law – Documentary


How Princess Alice Saved an Entire Family from the Nazis


THE OBSERVER: Prince Philip’s mother remembered for sheltering Jews in wartime Athens

At the foot of the Mount of Olives, opposite the eastern wall of the old city of Jerusalem, lies the grave of one of the most eccentric – if sometimes overlooked – British royals.

Princess Alice, Prince Philip’s mother, and also a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, is remembered for many things. Born deaf at Windsor Castle, she lived a life of regal glamour – married to a Greek prince – but also extreme frugality, and spent two years at a Swiss asylum after a schizophrenia diagnosis. Later in her life, the “Princess of Battenberg” established an order of nuns, giving away all her possessions before dying on 5 December 1969.

The 50th anniversary of that date will come on Thursday amid a resurgence in interest thanks to Netflix’s The Crown. In the third series, the royal is seen during her final years as a chain-smoking nun seeking funds for the poor. But a key episode of her life, for which she is lovingly remembered in Israel and among many Jewish people, is overlooked by the TV drama. During the second world war, Princess Alice sheltered the persecuted Cohen family from the Nazis and their sympathisers, including some of her own children. » | Oliver Holmes | Sunday, December 1, 2019