Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece (1885-1969), was the wife of Prince Andrew of Greece and the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. She was born Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie of Battenberg at Windsor Castle, England, on Feb. 25, 1885.
Princess Alice, as she was best known, was the oldest child of Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse. She was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, who was present at her birth. In 1917, Prince Louis renounced his German title, took the name Mountbatten, and became the first Marquess of Milford Haven. Princess Alice had a sister and two brothers, including Prince Louis, later Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Princess Alice was brought up mostly in London. Though born deaf, she learned to speak and lip-read in several languages. In 1903, she married Prince Andrew of Greece (1882-1944), a professional soldier in the Greek army. They settled in Greece and had four daughters, all granted the title of princess: Margarita (1905-1981), Theodora (1906-1969), Cecilie (1911-1937), and Sophia (1914-2001). Princess Alice devoted herself to charity work and handicrafts. During the Balkan war of 1912, she served with the Red Cross. In 1917, at the height of World War I, she was expelled from Greece along with Prince Andrew and most of the Greek royal family. She spent the next three years in Switzerland.
In 1920, Princess Alice returned to Greece and settled with her husband and children on the island of Corfu, where Prince Philip (1921-2021) was born. Prince Andrew helped to command the Greek army during the disastrous 1922 war against Turkey, in which Greece was defeated. Although several Greek generals were executed, Prince Andrew escaped the death penalty for treason and was instead exiled to St.-Cloud, near Paris. There, Princess Alice continued her charity work, helping the sick and needy and assisting Greek refugees. She became deeply religious and joined the Eastern Orthodox Churches in 1928. The princess and her husband gradually drifted apart, and Princess Alice returned alone to Athens in 1938. Princess Alice remained in German-occupied Greece throughout World War II (1939-1945), working with the Swedish and Swiss Red Cross. In 1949, she founded the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary. She spent her last years in London and died at Buckingham Palace on Dec. 5, 1969.
See also Philip, Prince .
