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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

armigerous (adj): Entitled to bear a coat of arms http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/armigerous

___________________________ 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