It was requested we include Princess Alice in our series of Strong Women of the Monarchy. So let's take a look at her life. Born Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie on February 25, 1885, at Windsor Castle to Prince Louis of Battenberg & Princess Victoria of Hesse by the Rhine.

At age 8 Alice was diagnosed with congenital deafness. Her deafness would give her an understanding of those less fortunate. With the encouragement from her mother, Alice would learn how to lip-read in English & German. She would be homeschooled also study French and Greek.

At the Coronation of King Edward VII, Princess Alice would meet Prince Andrew of Greece & Denmark. The couple would fall in love, and be married on October 6, 1903 together would have five children. During the Balkan war Princess Alice would work as a nurse assisting during

surgery, and setting up field hospitals. King George V awarded her the Red Cross in 1913 for her work. During WWI, Princess Alice & her children were forced to shelter in palace cellars during the French bombardment. Due to the policy the King was following the royal family were

forced into exile and the King was to abdicate. The family moved outside of Paris, Princess Alice would immediately continue her charity work. During that time religion became very important and she would convert to Greek Orthodox in 1928. In 1930, Princess Alice would suffered

a nervous breakdown, and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. She was sent top a sanatorium run by Sigmund Freud who would work with her in both Berlin and Switzerland. After leaving the sanatorium, it would be a few years before she would be in contact with her family. It

was not until 1938 that she would be reunited with her family. Unfortunately for her daughter Cecilie funeral as she and her family were killed in a plane crash. In 1938 she returned to Greece & jump back into her work with the poor and underprivileged, at a soup kitchen, with

the Red Cross, even smuggle supplies into Greece from Sweden. In 1943, Princess Alice didn’t think twice when she risked her life to have a Jewish widow and her children live with her. When stopped by the Gestapo and questioned, Princess Alice would explain she didn't understand

due to her deafness. Because of her heroism the family would survive the war. April 1947, Princess Alice would return to the UK so she could proudly attend the wedding of her son Philip to Princess Elizabeth November of that year. In 1949 she founded a nursing order of Greek

Orthodox nuns, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary. Princess Alice would remain in Greece until it became unsafe for her to live there. Queen Elizabeth understanding the situation and concerned for her mother in law requested she move into Buckingham Palace. Dec 5, 1969,

Princess Alice passed away at Buckingham Palace. At the time of her death, she has no possessions. Everything she owned she gave to others as she felt they needed it more than she did. She was laid to rest at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on December 10, 1969. Before she

died she said it was her wish to be buried at the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. On August 3, 1988 she would be moved and have her last wish granted. October 31, 1994, Princess Alice would receive the highest honours from Yad

Vashem (Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem). She was named Righteous Among the Nations having risked her life to save the Cohen family during WWII. Prince Philip would attend the ceremony with one of his sisters. During a ceremony in Jerusalem honouring his mother, Prince Philip

said, "I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with deep religious faith and she would have considered it to be a totally human action to fellow human beings in distress." While visiting Israel recently, Prince William had

the chance to meet the descendants of the family his great grandmother saved. In 2010, she would receive another honour this time named a Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government. Thank you Princess Alice, for everything you have done.

Please take a look at a brief video about Princess Alice

Prince William meet the descendants of the family his great grandmother saved