A ‘dark glistening wave’ and 116 children buried alive: The true story of The Crown’s Aberfan disaster. “I was so sad to see you all go off,” she wrote to Philip on one of these occasions, “& I miss my talks with you. “Princess Alice heard of the family’s desperate situation and offered to shelter Rachel and her daughter, Tilde, at her home. A post shared by Clarence House (@clarencehouse) on Oct 3, 2016 at 7:48am PDT. The British Embassy passed him a message from her, which read that she was unafraid and following events closely: “I am well & terribly interested of course.” Philip in turn also sent further information to her, and the Palace soon decided that she should leave Athens and come to stay at Buckingham Palace. She “worked with the Swedish and Swiss Red Cross,” reported Yad Vashem, which added that she had sons-in-law who fought for the Germans during World War II. Princess Alice lived a simple life for the next decade, focused on charity and community work. Princess Alice of Battenberg endured some harrowing events. the official documentary made about the Windsors is also fiction. (CNN)Netflix's regal drama "The Crown" has shed light on the tragic, yet heroic, life of one of the lesser-known royals: Prince Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. Her grandson Prince Charles, 71, spoke of her and his father Prince Philip at a recent palace reception. How Prince Philip met the Apollo 11 astronauts, Netflix November 2019 new releases – new movies, TV shows and originals, The Crown: The real story behind the 1969 Royal Family documentary – and the reason why you can’t see it, The cast has changed, but this is still majestic television, The Crown: How Prince Philip met the Apollo 11 astronauts who landed on the moon. The princess was perceived as an outsider to the monarchy until her very last hours. In 1928, Princess Alice converted into Greek Orthodox Catholicism. Did the Queen visit Winston Churchill before his death – and attend his funeral? Freud was followed by a wealth of other medical professionals, including the physician treating King George V, Sir Maurice Craig, a psychiatrist specializing in shell-shock therapy, Thomas Ross, and Dr. Ernst Simmel.

Played by Jane Lapotaire, she flees Athens and is given sanctuary by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. More recently, Alice has become more celebrated for her role in helping save a Jewish family — and she is buried Jerusalem. Jane Lapotaire as Princess Alice of Greece in "The Crown," season 3. In 1930, she was taken forcibly to a Swiss sanatorium, where she was treated by Sigmund Freud. The Princess pleaded her sanity, but was kept in the sanatorium for over two years. “She is the unheralded star of the show,” says Robert Lacey, the historical consultant for the Netflix series. When the 1967 Colonels’ Coup began, an anxious Philip immediately inquired after his mother. As the episodes reveal, Prince Philip's mother was a humanitarian who sheltered Jewish refugees during WWII, and a devout Greek Orthodox Christian. By the time Athens was liberated in 1944, she was living off little but bread and butter. But they were later moved to be near her aunt Princess Elisabeth (a Russian orthodox saint) at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, in accordance with her final wishes. But as war descended on Europe a decade later, the family became entwined in political turmoil that strangled Greece. Despite being the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother in law of the newly crowned sovereign, little was known or spoken about her; she was, then, an enigma within an already closed-door family. The Germans invaded Athens and were trying to round up the Jews.

Freud, believing that her reported visions were the results of sexual frustration, recommended a course of treatment involving electro-shock treatment, and X-raying her ovaries to kill off her libido — bringing on early menopause. “She loved sitting and hearing the stories that her grandmother would tell about Victoria being present at Alice’s birth.”. RELATED: Fact-Checking The Crown: How Much of Season 3 Is True — and How Much Is Imagined? Princess Alice was largely estranged from her family until 1937, when her 26-year-old daughter Cecilie and son-in-law Georg Donatus, along with two of her grandchildren, were all killed in a plane crash. Needless to say, Season 3 of The Crown packed a punch. What's the real story. She eventually found solace in religion, and went on to found a Greek Orthodox nursing order in Athens, notes the Town & Country Magazine. Did people really think Prime Minister Harold Wilson was a Soviet agent? In a 2018 visit to Israel, Prince William met Philippe Cohen, one of the family's descendants. Wikimedia Commons/Getty Princess Alice, the mother of Prince Philip. What's more, she also lost two of her close family members, Alix, Empress of Russia and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna during the Bolshevik Revolution. (According to Biography.com, Philip was born “on the island of Corfu in Greece, on June 10, 1921.” He grew up in France, Germany, and Great Britain.). Princess Alice of Battenberg was the mother of Britain’s Prince Philip.

Though they returned two years later, their reprieve was short-lived. She married into the Greek royal family by … Enjoy a family photography shoot for just £25! Her health challenges saw famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud being consulted — although he did not treat her as the show recounts, the biographer points out. I am so grateful that my health permitted me to travel to England & have such a wonderful time with you in consequence.”.

The princess wasn’t as isolated in England as she appears to be in The Crown. Just like 'The Crown' Depicts, Prince Philip's Mother Received Therapy From Sigmund Freud By Leila Kozma. How similar do the new cast of The Crown look to the actual royals? In fact, she was far from a recluse. She also wrote to Philip, calling him “Dear Bubby-kins”: “You do not know how happy you have made me this summer & I am so sad it was over so quickly.”. In this photo, Britain’s Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Honorary Life Member, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) smiles during his vist to open the new Warner Stand at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London on May 3, 2017. Powered by. According to the JC, her mental health issues started when the family was exiled in Paris. By 1935, the Greek monarchy was back on the throne, and they were allowed to return. If you would like to opt out of browser push notifications, please refer to the following instructions specific to your device and browser: this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, considers Princess Alice one of the righteous among the nations for her actions protecting a Jewish family during the Holocaust. Bemused by her daughter's decision, Alice's mother Princess Victoria famously said, "What can you say of a nun who smokes and plays canasta?". Thanks! In 1993, Princess Alice was posthumously given the "Righteous Gentile" award by Israel Holocaust memorial institution, Yad Vashem, for her efforts to keep the Cohens safe. After suffering what was referred to as a 'nervous breakdown' in 1930, Princess Alice was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was committed, against her will, to a Swiss sanitarium. ", In 1947, Princess Alice briefly returned to Britain for her son's wedding to Princess Elizabeth, heir to the British throne. Married to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, she spent a considerable chunk of her adulthood in Athens. (Sophie, for example, had wed Prince Christophe of Hesse who became a senior member of the Nazi SS. Actually, Alice had arrived at Buckingham Palace in 1967 – and was already safely installed by 1968, when filming for the Royal Family documentary began. She was reunited with them at the funeral of her youngest daughter Cecile, who died in a plane crash in 1937. In the late 1960s, her health deteriorating, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II invited her to live with them permanently at Buckingham Palace.

During her time in the institution, Princess Alice was subjected to a host of (often barbaric) experimental treatments, some at the direction of the Austrian neurologist and renowned psychotherapist, Sigmund Freud. Two years later, Princess Alice started a religious order called the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, dedicated to caring for the sick. This means Philip and Queen Elizabeth are third cousins. And the scene of her interview-bombing (to granddaughter Princess Anne’s enjoyment!) She was initially interred in the royal vault, but in 1988 she was finally buried in Jerusalem, according to her wishes. Her niece, Countess Mountbatten, told the documentary The Queen’s Mother in Law that Princess Alice was raised to cope with her disability on her own, forced to find ways to overcome it. In 2018, Prince Williams visited her grave at the Mount of Olives. She was congenitally deaf from birth but learned to read lips, reportedly in multiple languages. Here's the true story. In 1917, their oldest son Louis Alexander became an admiral in the British Navy and marquess of Milford Haven, and, at the request of King George V, all of the family members in England renounced their German titles and name and became Mountbattens instead, Brittanica reports. Updated 6 months ago.

The princess spent two years at Dr. Ludwig Binswanger's sanatorium in Switzerland, which bore a negative impact on her marriage with Prince Andrew. Here’s what you need to know about the real-life history behind The Crown season three. The years of upheaval took its toll on the Princess. Her daughters — Prince Philip's siblings — were snubbed from the event, due to their husbands' ties to or involvement in the Nazi party. Season 2 of The Crown has already touched on the difficult topic of Prince Philip's upbringing. Philip appeared healthy, although at age 95, his longevity is always a concern. Alice funded the nunnery with her own jewels, although she still gifted some diamonds from her tiara to Philip, who used them in his engagement ring for the future Queen Elizabeth II. She asked to be buried in Jerusalem. Was the Queen’s art adviser Anthony Blunt really a Soviet Spy? More, behind The Crown: A ‘dark glistening wave’ and 116 children buried alive: The true story of The Crown’s Aberfan disaster. As Prince Philip's mother and Queen Elizabeth II's mother-in-law, the latter invited the elderly princess to live in London to be closer to the family after she struggled in Greece. She sought solace in religion and converted to the Greek Orthodox church.