Lady Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven / Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie; 5 April 1863 24 September 1950) was the eldest daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (18371892) and his first wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (18431878). Her mother died while her brother and sisters were still young, which placed her in an early position of responsibility over her siblings. She married her father's first cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, an officer in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, in a love match and lived most of her married life in various parts of Europe at her husband's naval posts and visiting her many royal relations. During World War I, she and her husband abandoned their German titles and adopted the British-sounding surname of Mountbatten, which was simply a translation into English of the German "Battenberg", and two of her sisters who had married into the Russian royal family were murdered by communist revolutionaries. She was perceived by her family as liberal in outlook, straightforward, practical and bright. She was the maternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who is the consort of Queen Elizabeth II.