Victoria Melita Saxe-Coburg Romanova (1876-1936)

Royalty. She was Princess of Edinburgh, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Grand Duchess of Hesse, and Grand Duchess of Russia. Born in Malta while her father was serving in the Royal Navy, she was the daughter of Alfred, Duke of Ediburgh and Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was known as "Ducky" to her family. Her father became Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1889, and the family moved to Coburg. In 1891 while visiting Russia with her mother, Victoria met Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovitch, her first cousin. The two were immediately attracted to one another and began a romance. Her mother was reluctant for her to marry into the Russian royal family, so another husband was sought for her. Her parents and grandmother wished her to marry her cousin, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, and she relented. The two were married on April 9, 1894. The marriage was an unhappy one from the start, and they had only two children, neither of which survived to adulthood. While in Russia for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II, the romance between her and Kyril was rekindled, and her marriage to Ernst ended in 1897. The Supreme Court of Hesse officially dissolved the marriage in 1901, causing a royal scandal which reached all the way to Kyril in Russia, who was exiled. On October 8, 1905, Victoria and Kyril were married, and settled in Paris where they had three children. Eventually Tsar Nicholas was forced to reinstate Kyril's place in the succession, and the couple moved to Russia, where Victoria took the name Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna. They fled after the Revolution, and settled in Finland, Coburg, and finally France, where Victoria died at the age of 59.

Bio by: Kristen Conrad