Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (25 May 1846 – 9 June 1923) was the fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She was educated by private tutors chosen by her father and his close friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar. Her childhood was spent with her parents, travelling between royal residences in Britain. In 1866 she married the impoverished German Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. She was the most active member of the royal family, carrying out an extensive programme of royal engagements at a time when royalty was not expected to appear often in public. An active patron of charities, she was one of the founding members of the British Red Cross. She was founding president of the Royal School of Needlework, and president of the Workhouse Infirmary Nursing Association. As president of the Royal British Nurses' Association, she was a strong supporter of nurse registration against the advice of Florence Nightingale.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Helena_of_the_United_Kingdom

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1644:

Ming general Wu Sangui let the invading Manchus pass through the Great Wall of China, allowing them to capture Beijing, leading to the foundation of the Qing dynasty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China

1738:

King George II of Great Britain negotiated a cease-fire between the British colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania, ending Cresap's War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cresap%27s_War

1816:

The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge published one of his most famous poems, "Kubla Khan". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubla_Khan

1979:

Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school in New York City, and later became one of the first missing children to have his picture featured on milk cartons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Etan_Patz

2013:

Naxalite insurgents of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) attacked a convoy of Indian National Congress leaders in the state of Chhattisgarh, causing at least 27 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Naxal_attack_in_Darbha_valley

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

overthrow: 1. (transitive, now rare) To throw down to the ground, to overturn. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overthrow

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It will never make any difference to a hero what the laws are. His greatness will shine and accomplish itself unto the end, whether they second him or not. If he have earned his bread by drudgery, and in the narrow and crooked ways which were all an evil law had left him, he will make it at least honorable by his expenditure. Of the past he will take no heed; for its wrongs he will not hold himself responsible: he will say, All the meanness of my progenitors shall not bereave me of the power to make this hour and company fair and fortunate. Whatsoever streams of power and commodity flow to me, shall of me acquire healing virtue, and become fountains of safety. Cannot I too descend a Redeemer into nature? Whosoever hereafter shall name my name, shall not record a malefactor, but a benefactor in the earth. If there be power in good intention, in fidelity, and in toil, the north wind shall be purer, the stars in heaven shall glow with a kindlier beam, that I have lived. I am primarily engaged to myself to be a public servant of all the gods, to demonstrate to all men that there is intelligence and good will at the heart of things, and ever higher and yet higher leadings. These are my engagements; how can your law further or hinder me in what I shall do to men? On the other hand, these dispositions establish their relations to me. Wherever there is worth, I shall be greeted. Wherever there are men, are the objects of my study and love. Sooner of later all men will be my friends, and will testify in all methods the energy of their regard. I cannot thank your law for my protection. I protect it. It is not in its power to protect me. It is my business to make myself revered. I depend on my honor, my labor, and my dispositions for my place in the affections of mankind, and not on any conventions or parchments of yours.   --Ralph Waldo Emerson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson