A Young Widow

Helene Friederike Auguste was born in Arolsen, the capital of Waldeck, on 17 February 1861, and was the daughter of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and Helena of Nassau.

Along with her sisters, Emma and Pauline, Helen was originally considered as a suitable wife for William III of the Netherlands but he eventually chose Emma. Helen was then encouraged to meet Leopold, Duke of Albany, the youngest son of Queen Victoria, and they became engaged in November 1881.

On 27 April 1882, Leopold and Helen married in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and took up residence at Claremont House. Tragically, the couple’s marriage only lasted two years as Leopold suffered from haemophilia and took a fatal fall in Cannes while Helen was pregnant with their second child, Charles Edward.

After becoming a widow, Helen devoted herself to raising her children and her considerable charity work which engendered a great deal of respect from her mother-in-law. While in Germany, Helen’s father had made her superintendent of infant schools, responsible for devising the curriculum, and Helen was considered an intellectual who excelled at mathematics and philosophy. When Helen arrived in England, Leopold introduced her to his Oxford friends and they became lifelong acquaintances.

In 1899, Helen founded the Albany Institute which soon expanded into a community and performance centre with the theatre venue known as the Albany Empire. The theatre was destroyed in 1978 but a new one was opened in 1982 by Diana, Princess of Wales.

Helen and her children continued to live at Claremont House, however Charles Edward inherited the title of Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha upon the death of his uncle, Alfred, in 1899, and he left to take up residence there. During the outbreak of the First World War, Charles Edward fought on the side of Germany and was subsequently stripped of his British titles. Helen’s daughter, Alice, married Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, who was the brother of Queen Mary.

Helen died on 1 September 1922 of a heart attack in Hinterriss in Tyrol, Austria, while visiting her son. Through her son, Helen is the great-grandmother of Carl XVI Gustav, the current King of Sweden.