Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena of Battenberg (24 October 1887 – 15 April 1969) was Queen of Spain from 31 May 1906 to 14 April 1931 as the wife of King Alfonso XIII of Spain.
Biography[]
Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena von Battenberg was born at Balmoral Castle in Scotland in 1887, the daughter of Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, making her a maternal granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Victoria Eugenie was raised in England, where her mother Beatrice had agreed to serve as her mother Victoria's full-time personal secretary in exchange for permission to marry. Victoria Eugenie was close with her grandmother, and, after Victoria's death in 1901, Victoria Eugenie and her family moved into Kensington Palace in London. In 1905, the visiting King Alfonso XIII of Spain began a courtship with Victoria Eugenie, and Victoria Eugenie officially converted to Catholicism from Anglicanism on 5 March 1906 and married Alfonso on 7 May 1906. The couple's wedding ceremony was ruined by an assassination attempt by the anarchist bomb-thrower Mateu Morral, during which Victoria Eugenie narrowly escaped death as she turned her head to look at a church which Alfonso was showing her. Victoria Eugenie was initially unpopular, but, after the birth of her son Alfonso of Spain, Prince of Asturias in 1907 led to her gaining popularity in Spain. The couple would have five sons and two daughters, but Alfonso's frequent affairs led to the deterioration of the marriage. Nevertheless, Victoria Eugenie became active in the Spanish Red Cross, poor relief, and education initiatives. On 14 April 1931, the Spanish royal family went into exile after the Second Spanish Republic was declared, and, while the couple lived in France and Italy, they later separated, with Victoria Eugenie dividing her time between England and Switzerland. In 1942, she was exiled from fascist Italy due to her support for the Allied Powers during World War II, and she died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1969, exactly 38 years after she had gone into exile.