Alice Maud Mary Saxe-Coburg (1843-1878)

British Royalty. Grand Duchess of Hesse. Born Alice Maud Mary, she was the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She was a happy, artistic girl who grew into a serious-minded woman, loyal and dependable. She single-handedly nursed her father during his fatal bout of typhoid in 1861. Alice married grand duke Ludwig of Hesse on July 1, 1862 at Osborne House, the royal family's estate on the Isle of Wight. Though the couple had many happy times, it became apparent that they shared little in common, and the marriage became a disappointment. They had seven children; their son Friedrich (a haemophiliac) would die tragically in a fall from a window at the age of 3. Alice dedicated herself to helping others, regardless of their station in life, and founded the Alice-Frauerverin, or Women's Union, for the proper training of nurses and auxiliary workers during the Austro-Prussian War. Diptheria struck the family in 1878, and her husband and all but one of her children became ill. Alice tirelessly nursed each one of them, and as a result became ill herself. She died of diptheria on the anniversary of her father's death at the age of 35. Her daughter Alix would later become Tsarina Alexandra of Russia.

Bio by: Kristen Conrad