The heirs of 1914: Spain

The heir to the throne of Spain in 1914 was a man who would never wear his country's crown.  Alfonso Pio Cristino Eduardo Fracisco Guillermo Carlos Enrique Eugenoio Fernando Antonio Venancio, Prince of Asturias had been first in line to his country's throne since his birth in 1907.  At the age of 11, he was in the middle of his education as a king in waiting and although his father, Alfonso XIII, had already encountered several difficult periods in a reign that had started at the moment of his own birth, there was a general expectation that his own little Alfonso would one day reign in Spain as the fourteenth monarch of that name.

Alfonso, Prince of Asturias as a child.  He was born to rule Spain but died in exile

There were concerns over Prince Alfonso's health as he had inherited haemophilia from his mother's side of the family and he was well protected to avoid injuries that might lead to bleeding.  But in 1914, his life was a straightforward tale of a young boy born to be king learning how to be a king.  Just 17 years later, his father would lose his throne and the whole family would flee into exile.  Alfonso would give up his dynastic rights to marry a commoner in 1933.  By the time he died, as a result of heavy bleeding from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1938, he had divorced and remarried and even if the throne to which he has been born had returned from exile, Alfonso would not have been eligible to inherit it.  This heir of 1914 would never inherit his country's crown.

The consorts of 1914

The monarchies of today share five queen consorts between them with the remaining crowns of modern Europe being worn by queen regnants with long serving princes, one officially called a consort, at their sides.  A century ago, the split was six to one in favour of the female consorts.  Three of the consorts were British, four were German.  And all of them had a far more important and influential role in the way their royal houses developed and grew, at a crucial time of social change, than history has given them credit for.

Elisabeth, Queen of the Belgians, in a typical pose for consorts in the early part of the 20th century.  They were usually shown with their families, focusing attention on their role as wife and mother, but their influence was far greater.

Of all the queens of 1914, perhaps Ena of Spain kept most closely to the traditional perception of a consort. Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena was born in Scotland in 1887, the youngest granddaughter of Queen Victoria and one of five of her grandchildren to become a consort.  She had married Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, in 1906 when she was 19 years old and while her reign started and ended with drama, most of it followed the pattern of a typical queen consort's destiny.

Victoria Eugenie, Queen of Spain, in 1922

Within an hour of her wedding, Ena had survived an assassination attempt when a bomb was thrown at the newlyweds' carriage as they made their way to the Royal Palace in Madrid for their reception. In 1931, her time as queen consort came to an end when she was forced to flee into exile with her husband and their children after the establishment of the Second Republic.  The 25 years in between, however, were mostly filled with child bearing and rearing. By the end of 1914, Alfonso and Ena had a family of four sons and two daughters.  Their fourth child, Fernando, had been stillborn.  King Alfonso is said to have resented his wife for being a carrier of haemophilia which was passed on to their first and last sons.  The couple lived largely separate lives and Queen Ena focused on work with charities helping poorer people as well as hospitals and campaigns to improve education for all.  Her role in shaping the family side of the Spanish monarchy was already evident in 1914 though and was much needed - Alfonso had acceded on the day of his birth and the image of the royals had been royal rather than family from that moment.

Queen Ena of Spain only returned to the country once after her exile in 1931 when she stood as godmother to Felipe, son of Juan Carlos and Sofia, after his birth in 1968

In contrast, another of Queen Victoria's granddaughters who was a European queen consort in 1914 had a far more radical and modern role as monarch of her country.  That's perhaps down to the way that Maud became a queen.  Unexpected and unlooked for, her route to queenship was the most modern and unusual of all the women who wore a consort's crown a century ago.

Queen Maud of Norway with her husband and son in a photograph early on in their life as the new Norwegian royal family

Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria was the youngest daughter of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales - later Edward VII.  Born in London in 1869 she married the second son of the heir to the Danish throne when she was 26 and settled down to life on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk while her husband, Carl, continued his naval career.  Until she was 35 there was little sign of a crown in Maud's life.  And then the country's parliament asked her husband to be king of Norway.

Maud of Wales became a Princess of Denmark and then Queen of Norway after marrying a naval officer with no hope of a crown in 1896.

The decision of Christian Frederik Carl George Valdemar Axel of Denmark to become Haakon VII of Norway, after the proposal was approved by a referendum in the country, led to a huge change in his wife's life that she didn't necessarily relish but which she embraced wholeheartedly.  By 1914, Maud of Wales had been Queen of Norway for nine years and was already a popular figure in her adopted country.  Her only son, now known as Olav, was eleven years old and the king, queen and heir were often seen publicly supporting typical Norwegian activities, like skiing.  But Maud liked the slightly less traditional as well.  Around a year after becoming queen, she lent her support to work to help unmarried mothers set up by feminist Katti Anker Moller and promoted charities concerned with children and animal welfare.  Then there was her enthusiasm for newer technologies, like photography, and her reputation for designing furniture. While Maud's royal blood helped the Norwegian parliament choose her husband as the country's new king, the consort's enthusiastic participation in the country's sporting and cultural life helped cement the new monarchy.  The queen of Norway in 1914 was working endlessly to make the new royal family work.  And succeeding.

The coronation photograph of King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway - a year before it was taken they had no idea they would end up ruling a new monarchy

And making the image of a royal family work was also the task facing the Queen of the Belgians in 1914. But the reputation of her adopted family needed a lot of help - her king, Albert I, had succeeded a grandfather, Leopold II, who had seen scandal and allegations of cruelty attached to his name.  Elisabeth Gabriele Valerie Marie was only the third queen consort of this still new Belgian monarchy but, thanks to her, it found a stability and popularity that were just beginning to take root in 1914.

Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians helped make her adopted country's monarchy into one of the most popular royal families in Europe

She had been born in Bavaria in 1876 and named after that most romantic of 19th century royals, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known to her namesake as aunt Sisi. At the age of 24 she married the heir to the throne of the Belgians and their three children were born in the following six years.  Elisabeth's great advantage as a queen consort in 1914 was her experience of ordinary life.  At a time of great social change across Europe, the Belgian queen had knowledge of what working life was like thanks to her father's career in medicine.  And thanks to Elisabeth's time spent helping her father in his work, she also had a better understanding of the problems of getting good healthcare that faced many.

Elisabeth with her only daughter, Marie-Jose, briefly Queen of Italy

Elisabeth and her family's great triumph began in 1914 as World War One dawned.  During the Great War, they lived a life so wound up in the war that they became symbols of their country's fight.  In the Second World War, the now dowager queen helped with the evacuation of Jewish children from her country.  But that was all still to come a century ago.  In the years until 1914, Elisabeth had already displayed a great interest in helping poorer people in her adopted country and in establishing better health care.  Her love of the arts was also already obvious.  Elisabeth's work in changing her country's monarchy was only just beginning in 1914 but the seeds of a successful queenship had already been sewn.  

Elisabeth of the Belgians as a young woman - she would become one of the most popular consorts in the country's history and has given her name to the future queen regnant of the country, the present Duchess of Brabant

An understanding of life outside palace walls also helped the consort of Great Britain to successfully change her dynasty's image and secure foundations for her throne that would be tested far sooner than she could ever have imagined.  Mary, consort of George V, began 1914 as a queen and empress but ended it as a woman determined to lead her family in supporting the war effort in a country just starting on the path of a conflict that would change it forever.

Mary, queen consort of Great Britain, photographed in 1914

By 1914, Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes of Teck had been queen consort of Great Britain for four years.  Despite her German title, she had been born in London in 1867 and brought up in Britain before being hand picked as future queen consort by the great queen regnant herself, Victoria.  When her first fiance, Albert Victor, died Mary famously spent some time deciding whether she could marry the new heir in waiting, the future George V, and became his wife in 1893 when she was 26 years old.  By 1914, her destiny as queen had found her and Mary was the consort of her country with five sons and a daughter in her royal nursery.  She had completed a successful tour of India, the country of which she was empress, and was supporting her husband in his role as king. But that devotion to duty shown when she moved seamlessly from prospective wife of one future king to another was about to turn Mary into a royal powerhouse.

Another portrait of Mary of Teck as Queen of England in 1914

Mary and her husband inherited a monarchy that was old fashioned and fashioned by the old.  Victoria's shadow, in her familiar mourning garb, continued to loom large over the British royals thirteen years after her death and the short reign of her eldest son as Edward VII had only served as a last hurrah for the soon to be lost world of aristocratic supremacy.  Mary and George were the heads of a dusty institution that might claim to rule half the world but came from a world that few understood.

George V and Queen Mary in one of their typical serious faced poses

In 1914, all that began to change and the revolution was driven by the consort.  As the First World War began to expand, the queen began to take her family out into the wider world and make sure their fellow citizens knew that they were all in this together.  Mary visited hospitals to comfort injured and dying servicemen and began to trim back budgets at Buckingham Palace.  Perhaps because she had been a poor relation - her parents had several spells of financial difficulties as she was growing up - Mary understood what it was to worry about where the money was going to come from and this helped inform her relationship with those who had those worries.  Her public facing role, begun in earnest in 1914, would irrevocably alter the image of the British royals.

Queen Mary as a young woman - her early life was affected by her parents' financial difficulties and when war hit her country in 1914, the queen began an austerity drive that won popular support

Queen Alexandrine of Denmark would also be called on to redefine the role of royalty in her country but in 1914 the process was still several years away.  But like Mary, Alexandrine took over a monarchy still based around the legend of a legendary 19th century monarch.  The Danish queen's work to bring her crown into the 20th century and out of the shadow of Christian IX was just as integral to her role as consort as Mary's changes from the time of Victoria and the legacy has been just as long lasting.

Queen Alexandrine of Denmark has been her country's consort for two years by 1914

Alexandrine Auguste was born in 1879 in Schwerin, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  She married Prince Christian of Denmark in 1898 in Cannes and gave birth to two sons within two years.  She had been Queen of Denmark for two years by 1914 and was already known for her love of gardening and music and the arts.  But Queen Alexandrine's most important role was in supporting her husband as he tussled with the idea of giving up royal powers.  King Christian X wasn't that keen to abandon many of the prerogatives that came with kingship but understood the importance of people power.  Through his reign he would oversee the loss of much of what had made the Danish monarchy important for hundreds of years while rebuilding its role in society.  And Alexandrine was right at his side through all of that.  The couple were just beginning the process in 1914 but their willingness to change and be seen to change revitalised their country's crown.  

King Christian X of Denmark and his consort, Alexandrine

The lack of interest in change defined the early part of the queenship of Sweden's consort of 1914.  Victoria liked the old ways better than the prospect of change but her strong opinions in some ways helped to define opposition to them.  The queen might have dug her heels in but she was wise enough to let them be dug out when popular power demanded it.

Victoria, Queen of Sweden in 1910 when she had been consort of her country for three years

Sophie Marie Viktoria was born in Baden in 1862, the great granddaughter of King Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden, and she married her distant cousin, Gustaf of Sweden and Norway, in 1881 when she was 24 years old.  The couple quickly had three sons to inherit the double crown that was still to come to their father but by the time Gustaf and Victoria ascended the throne, Norway had separated from the union and they became King and Queen of only Sweden in 1907.  By 1914, Victoria had been consort for seven years and had shown she wasn't going to sit quietly on the sidelines while her husband got on with the job of ruling.

Victoria of Baden with Gustaf of Sweden and Norway early on in their lives together

The Swedish queen was deeply interested in politics and her natural allegiances lay with her German relations.  In 1914 this started to prove problematic as Europe was engulfed by World War One.  The influence of Victoria is often cited as one of the reasons that King Gustaf V was seen as having pro German tendencies through the conflict.  But the years of the war also presented the king with the biggest challenges to the idea of royal powers and by the end of World War One Gustaf had overseen a rapid rise in total democracy.  Victoria's influence in this is debateable as she spent much of her time overseas.  But there is little doubt that the consort was an all pervading figure at the Swedish court in 1914 and that changes would have to get past her before they got into the system.  

Gustaf and Victoria of Sweden - the couple weren't close on a personal level but as a unit of monarchy they functioned together on a widespread scale

The links between another consort and their German relatives also raised questions in 1914 as World War One got underway.  Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the only consort to a queen regnant in the continent in 1914 but his role was perhaps the most marginal after that of Ena of Spain.  He was the uncle of Queen Alexandrine of Denmark - her father, Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was the (much older) half brother of Heinrich - and like his niece, focused on modern causes in his role as right hand royal to a regnant.

Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin became Prince Consort of the Netherlands in 1901

By 1914, Heinrich Wladimir Albrecht Ernst had been the consort of the Dutch queen for thirteen years and this era of their marriage didn't prove any luckier for them than earlier or later times.  The couple weren't happy together and, while the remained committed to the upbringing of their only child, they led largely separate existences.  But together their diverse interests helped reshape a monarchy which needed rejuvenation.  While his queen worked on state matters and politics, the consort developed many social causes and became high profile in walking and scouting movements.  This focus on education and activity for younger people was perhaps the most modern cause adopted by Europe's consorts of 1914.  The end of World War One saw a far greater focus than ever before on youth and learning and Prince Heinrich's support for these areas became, in time, forward thinking.

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her consort, Heinrich, on their wedding day in The Hague in 1901

Heinrich, like the women who also ruled as consorts, found their traditional role of companion and dynasty founder challenged as Europe headed to the greatest social change it had known in centuries.  The success of these seven consorts in redefining how a royal family should behave - and be seen to be behaving - is just one of the reasons that their countries' crowns are still worn on the continent today.

Their Majesties of a century gone

In his New Year's Eve speech, King Harald of Norway spoke about his grandfather, Haakon, the first king of modern Norway and his work on the country's constitution which has given the country ongoing freedom and stability.  In one hundred years, the crown of his country has only moved on two generations but that piece of paper that the first Norwegian king worked on still stands strong, despite many threats in that century.  It shows the transience of kingship and the permanence of the society in which it now sits.  Which is perhaps precisely what Haakon of Norway wanted to achieve.

King Harald of Norway, flanked by Queen Sonia and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, at the state opening of the Norwegian parliament in 2013.  His New Year message focused on the role of his country's constitution in bringing stability to Norway

Most of Europe's monarchs are just two generations on from those who ruled a century ago.  Elizabeth II of Great Britain is the granddaughter of the man who wore the crown in 1914.  George V was never meant to be king, just as Elizabeth was never meant to be queen.  He had been the second son of the heir of Queen Victoria who only became an heir when his older brother, Albert Victor, died in 1892 at the age of 27. But his devotion to the duty placed upon him became legendary and his interest in constitutional matters and the peaceful settling of issues that affected his whole kingdom - and the wider Empire as it then was - occupied him far more than it had any monarch for centuries.  In many ways, Elizabeth II is very similar to the grandfather she eventually followed on the throne.

George V was king of Great Britain in 1914 - this photograph shows him in 1893, about a year after he became the heir of his father, the future Edward VII

Another monarch of 1914 was also deeply interested in the development of constitutional powers in the hands of a democratically elected parliament but unlike George V, King Gustaf V of Sweden saw much of his power as a monarch taken away during his long reign.  That process, arguably, began in 1914 when the approach of World War One led to the king exercising his powers and placing his own preferred candidate as Prime Minister, Hjalmar Hammarskjold, at the head of the government until 1918.  But the reaction to this and Gustaf's subsequent acceptance of the government chosen by his people at the end of World War One led to the Swedish monarchy losing many of its powers.  Gustaf V oversaw a massive period of social change, including votes for women, but his role in World War Two is still the issue of hot debate.  His great grandson, Carl XVI Gustaf, now holds the throne of Sweden and has his own place in democratic history as he has overseen the creation of a new constitution for the country which officially abolished all the monarchy's prerogatives.  

King Gustaf V of Sweden in the centre of an historic photograph of the three Scandinavian kings of 1914.   Haakon VII of Norway is on the left and Christian X of Denmark on the right.  They met in Malmo in December 1914

The man who ruled Denmark in 1914 had a slightly more topsy turvy relationship with the idea of the changing nature of monarchical powers in the early 20th century.  Christian X had only become king of Denmark in 1912 but by the beginning of World War One he had shown that he was determined to hang on to the considerable influence his country's laws gave him.  But after his decision to install his preferred cabinet caused widespread criticism and fears for the future of Europe's oldest monarchy became very real, Christian backed down and allowed the democratically elected representatives to take power.  His relationship with his people in World War Two changed his image forever and played a large part in his becoming one of the most popular Danish monarchs of all.  He became a symbol for resistance to Nazism and later revelations that he had funded the escape of many Jewish citizens saw the man who had started as authoritarian turn into an image for modern democracy.  The reign of his granddaughter, Margrethe II, which stated in 1972 has only exercised nominal powers and had focused on integrating the royal family fully into the social and cultural lives of Denmark.

King Christian X of Denmark rode, every day, through the streets of Copenhagen following the arrival of Nazis at the start of World War Two.  His appearances were hugely popular and became a sign of Danish nationality

In contrast, the attitude towards democracy shown by the Spanish king of 1914 and the man who sits on his throne a century later is very different.  Alfonso XIII had become monarch of Spain at the moment of his birth - his mother, Maria Christina, had been about three months pregnant when his father, Alfonso XII, died at the age of 27 in 1885.  His rule was marked by instability and dictatorship under the premiership of Miguel Primo de Rivera.  His decision to flee the country in 1931 as the Second Republic began left the monarchy in limbo and his decision to abdicate in favour of his only son with any remaining dynastic rights, Juan of Barcelona, in 1941 was a futile gesture as the family was in exile and Franco was all but in control of Spain which had been left devastated after the Civil War which had formally ended in 1939.  In contrast, his grandson, Juan Carlos I, inherited a dictatorship from Franco but quickly set about restoring democracy and is widely credited with playing a large role in bringing his country back to modern style government.  But, like his grandfather, he sees his throne rocked by criticisms.  And, like the grandfather he never knew, he has a love of football - Alfonso was responsible for several football clubs acquiring the tag 'Real' or royal in the early part of the 20th century.

Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, ruled his country from birth but fled into exile and eventually abdicated after years of dictatorial government led to revolts.  His grandson, Juan Carlos I, is widely credited with a large role in restoring democracy to Spain in the 1970s but sees his throne under criticism too but for very different reasons

The current king of the Netherlands is the great grandson of the monarch who ruled his country in 1914.  Queen Wilhelmina had been on her country's throne since 1890 and had already established a role which allowed her to express her opinions while her government continued with democratic rule.  A century ago, the monarch of the Netherlands was a free spirited, independent woman with an eye for money who eventually turned herself into a billionaire.   Her throne was perhaps the most stable in Europe, even if there were concerns that her small family - after several miscarriages, the queen had just one daughter to succeed her - might lead to absorption of the kingdom into the then German empire.  The end of that empire in the First World War and the continuing strong presence of Wilhelmina allowed the monarchy to develop into a deep rooted presence with a defined image of itself in the constitutional set up of the Netherlands.  A century on, a great grandson bearing the male version of her name has just begun his rule and in the eight months since Willem-Alexander became king, he has shown plenty of determination and strong presence of his own.

Wilhelmina was the Netherlands' first queen regnant and by 1914 she had established the pattern of her rule and also saw the succession guaranteed in her only child, Juliana, seen here with her mother

In Belgium, the king of a century ago had only been on the throne for five years but had already done a huge amount to improve the image of the still young Belgian monarchy which had taken several knocks during the reign of his father, Leopold II.  By 1914, Albert was already well into a programme of reforms in how the Belgian Congo was run but it was his image as a family man who, along with his wife, enjoyed a simple life not that dissimilar from many well off Belgians that really cemented his popularity.  The family's famously courageous actions during World War One cemented Albert I as a much loved monarch.  His great grandson, Philippe, occupies the throne of the Belgians a century on and five months into his reign is still establishing the nature of his rule.   

Albert I, King of the Belgians, was already a popular monarch in 1914 but his conduct in World War One would turn him into a national hero

Another Albert was enacting changes to the constitution of his nation in the south of Europe.  Albert I had become the sovereign prince of Monaco in 1889 and by 1914 had brought the country its first constitution even though it changed not that much at all about the way the country was governed.  One hundred years one, his is the only country with a sovereign of the same name on its throne.  And the two men share one thing - complicated romantic histories - with the first Albert marrying twice while the second Albert has admitted to illegitimate children born before his own marriage to Charlene Wittstock in 2011.

Albert I, sovereign prince of Monaco, brought in a constitution but was as well known for his complicated romantic life

Of course, there are many thrones that existed in 1914 which no longer rule today.  But those that survive all share a deeper involvement in the establishment of constitutional democracy and an erosion of monarchical powers - their ability to adapt to changing times is perhaps the main reason they all still exist.