Princess Beatrice (1857–1944) was a member of the British Royal Family.
She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As Beatrice's elder sisters
married and left their royal mother, Victoria came to rely on the
company of her youngest daughter. Beatrice, who was brought up to stay
with her mother always, soon resigned herself to her fate. Victoria was
set against her youngest daughter marrying and refused to discuss the
possibility. Nevertheless, many suitors were put forward, including
Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial, the son of the exiled Emperor
Napoleon III of France, and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, the widower
of Beatrice's older sister Alice. Although she was attracted to the
Prince Imperial, and there was talk of a possible marriage, he was
killed in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. Beatrice fell in love with Prince
Henry of Battenberg. After a year of persuasion, Victoria agreed to the
marriage, which took place at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, on 23
July 1885. Victoria consented on condition that Beatrice and Henry make
their home with her and that Beatrice continue her duties as the
Queen's unofficial secretary. Ten years into their marriage, on 20
January 1896, Prince Henry died of malaria while fighting in the
Anglo-Asante War. Beatrice remained at her mother's side until Victoria
died. Beatrice devoted the next thirty years to editing Queen
Victoria's journals as her designated literary executor. She continued
to make public appearances after her mother's death and died at the age
of eighty-seven.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Beatrice_of_the_United_Kingdom>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1556:
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer , one of the founders of
Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England for heresy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer>
1800:
After being elected as a compromise candidate after several months of
stalemate, Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal
tiara made of papier-mâché.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_VII>
1804:
The Napoleonic code, the French civil code established under Napoleon,
entered into force, eventually strongly influencing the law of many
other countries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_code>
1937:
A police squad, acting under orders from Governor of Puerto Rico
Blanton Winship, opened fire on demonstrators protesting the arrest of
Puerto Rican Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, killing 17 and
injuring over 200 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponce_massacre>
1980:
The United States announced the boycott of the Summer Olympics in
Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics_boycott>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
armigerous (adj):
Entitled to bear a coat of arms
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/armigerous>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The creative process lies not in imitating, but in paralleling nature —
translating the impulse received from nature into the medium of
expression, thus vitalizing this medium. The picture should be alive,
the statue should be alive, and every work of art should be alive.
--Hans Hofmann
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hans_Hofmann>