Princess Feodora of Leiningen

Princess Feodora of Leiningen was born on 7th December 1807 to Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Saalfeld.

She had an elder brother, and together they grew up in Amorbach.
Feodora was described as a charming little clown, who shows grace in every movement of her small body.

Feodora’s father would die in 1814, and her life would change in 1818, when her mother married Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of George III.

By 1819 the household would move to England, as the new Duchess of Kent was pregnant, and they wanted to have the potential heir to the throne on English soil.

Feodora’s half-sister Victoria, was born on 24th May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London.

Feodora’s new stepfather would not see his daughter grow up, as he died on 23rd January 1820.
Feodora was also living at Kensington Palace by then, where she received an education from private tutors.

Feodora was not very happy at Kensington Palace, however, the bond with her little sister Victoria, was a close one.

Like Victoria, Feodora resented being isolated at Kensington Palace during her youth by the widowed Duchess of Kent and her financial advisor John Conroy.

She encouraged Victoria’s efforts to assume a greater independence from their mother’s control, as she grew older.

On 18th February 1828, Feodora married a man she had only met twice before, Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.
He was 13 years her senior and Feodora considered him to be kind and handsome.

Victoria acted as a bridesmaid for her sister and Feodora later wrote,

“I always see you, dearest, little girl, as you were, dressed in white ~ which precious lace dress I possess now ~ going round with the basket presenting favours.”

Feodora would continue to write to her sister, and even received an allowance whenever she wished to visit England.

Victoria missed her sister terribly and sent many letters, sending news of her dolls and pouring out her feelings.

Feodora would have six children with her husband, all of which survived to adulthood, but her eldest daughter Elise would die at the age of 19.

As the mother of six, Feodora frequently advised Victoria on parenting and reassured her about those times when “children are very difficult to manage.”

Feodora’s husband died in 1860, and Queen Victoria’s husband Albert, died the next year.

Victoria hoped they might live together as widows in Britain, and share in their grief.
Feodora visited her sister in 1863, but found Victoria’s grief unbearable.

Feodora died on 23rd September 1872, aged 64.
The cause of death was, believed by the attending physician, cancer.

Feodora and Victoria had last seen each other earlier that year when Feodora was already terminally ill.

As always, Victoria turned to her diary to write down her feelings and heartaches –

“Can I write it?
My own darling, only sister, my dear excellent, and noble Feodora is no more!

This was to have been and is still a day of rejoicing
for all the good Balmoral people, on account of
dear Bertie’s first return after his illness – and I am
here in sorrow and grief, unable to join in the
welcome.

God’s will be done, but the loss to me is too
dreadful!
I stand so alone now, no near and dear one near my
own age, or older, to whom I could look up to, left!
All, all gone!

She was my last near relative on an equality with me,
the last link to my childhood and youth.
My dear children, so kind and affectionate, but no
one can really help me.”