Alfred: Queen Victoria's Second Son

by John Van der Kiste

Overview

Prince Alfred, who was created Duke of Edinburgh in 1866 and became Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in 1893, was the second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A patron of the arts, pioneer philatelist and amateur violinist, he joined the Royal Navy as a boy and rose to become Admiral of the Fleet. At the age of 18 he was elected King of Greece by overwhelming popular vote in a plebiscite, although political agreements between the Great Powers of Europe prevented him from accepting the vacant crown. The most widely travelled member of his family, he had visited all five continents by the age of 27, and while on a tour of Australia in 1868 he narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of a Fenian sympathiser. Married to Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Tsar Alexander II, at one stage he had to face the possibility that he might be required to fight on behalf of the British empire against that of his father-in-law. His last years were overshadowed by marital difficulties, alcoholism and ill-health, and the suicide of his only son and heir.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940148348726
Publisher:	Fonthill Media LLC
Publication date:	01/07/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	107,198
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

John Van der Kiste read Librarianship at Ealing Technical College, where he edited the student librarian journal Stamp Out. The author of over fifty books, including historical and royal biography, popular music, true crime, local history, plays and fiction, he has also contributed articles to and reviewed books and records for local and national publications, was a consultant to the BBC documentary 'The King, the Kaiser and the Tsar', and is a contributor to 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' and 'Guinness Rockopaedia'. He lives in Devon. His latest title 'Helena: Queen Victoria's third daughter' was published in August 2013, and 'Alfred', a revised edition of 'Dearest Affie', is due later in the year. He is currently working on a book on Plymouth during the two World Wars, due for publication in 2014.