Page 111 - They Also Served

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Prince Maurice of Battenberg 1911.
Born in Balmoral Castle on 3rd October 1891, Prince Maurice
Victor Donald of Battenberg was the son of Prince Henry of
Battenberg and Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest
child. The youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria – and a great
favourite of the aged monarch – he was the first prince to be
christened in Scotland for 300 years. In 1895, his father, bored of
court life, persuaded the Queen to allow him to accompany the
expedition to deal with Ashanti rebels. However, he contracted
malaria and died, leaving Beatrice to bring up their four children. Educated at Wellington College, he was commissioned from Sandhurst into the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1911.
One of the most eligible young bachelors in the land, Maurice had a penchant for fast cars, which led to several brushes with the law, including two speeding fines – one for travelling at 34 mph on Hampton Court Road. When war was declared, his regiment was one of the first to travel to France on 12th August 1914. Heavily involved in the retreat from Mons, he had a lucky escape on 7th October when a German bullet passed through the peak of his cap, and, later, the men on either side of him were killed. For his service in the early weeks of the war, the prince was MiD.
Prince Maurice’s luck ran out three weeks later during the First Battle of Ypres. Leading his men in another charge, he was hit by shrapnel and died soon afterwards. The king, on hearing the news of the death of his cousin, and Queen Mary drove to Kensington Palace
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