The Hated Queen Of Spain

Although she remained cool and collected in times of peril, Princess Victoria Eugenie had demons nipping at her heels.

Narrated by: James

[jamellfoster]

She and her older cousin, Czarina Alexandra of Russia lived similar sad lives. Both suffered serious illnesses/injuries as kids, both lost parents as children, both had issues with their surviving parent, both had issues with their mothers in law, both had hemophilliac sons. I just realized the multiple similarities they shared. Both were also arguably 2 of Queen Victoria's favorite grandchildren.

[kellmac]

It's not just James' accent that makes his narration great. It's his professional delivery.

[ricardollorcacomposer]

She was not hated at all. Maybe only by her husband. You don´t mention that Queen Victoria Eugenia returned to Spain in 1968 to be the godmother of Felipe (the actual king of Spain). She returned after many years of exile and the population greeted her in the streets. I was a kid but remember the crowds and the cheerings and her own crying for a warm welcome that she was not expecting. It was very touching. Among many things she is the founder of the spanish Red Cross and did lots of good to Spain. Her returning success and her conversations with General Franco was a key factor that made Franco decide that Spain would be a monarchy again.

[floraaficianado]

High marks to this exceptional narration! Well done!

[davidmcleod]

I can't help but feel very sorry for this poor woman, luck was not on her side, God rest her soul.

[vickyabramowitz]

Victoria Eugenie's worst enemies were her mother-in-law and her husband. I have to admire her for sticking it out as long as she did.

[Bizzk]

The narration was excellent. Even I lived the era through the distinct oratory skills of James. Thanks for taking us through the historical biography of Queen Victoria Eugena.

[Curlyblonde]

Queen Victoria having married her first cousin eventually through her numerous children and grandchildren, populated most of the Royal Houses of Europe with genetically ill, physically compromised and mentally deficit royal descendants, which ultimately caused the downfall of many monarchies. Recognizing that the gene pool was limited and that cousin and other closely related family members marriages couldn't continue without further adding physical degeneracy to future children, it became acceptable for royalty to marry commoners to reinvigorate their future family issues.

[kevinmarsh]

Queen Ena was not hated by the Spanish. She wasn’t seen as a wicked person. It was said that her natural English reserve was misinterpreted as coldness by the royal Spanish court but she did a number of things to help ordinary Spanish people, such as promoting the work of the Red Cross in a Spain. She was warmly welcomed back to Spain with great acclaim by many ordinary Spaniards in 1968, after 36 years of exile, which moved her greatly.

[nanachamps]

Sarah Ferguson, has a great admiration for Queen Victoria. An admiration and love of history she shared with QE2. Daughters Beatrice and Eugenia are named after QV daughter and grand daughter .I often wondered why she chose old traditional names. I learned this information in a documentary .

[DulceN]

As a Spaniard, I will say that the only people that hated queen Victoria Eugenia (as she was called in Spain) were her husband and mother in law, the sour-faced Maria Cristina. Victoria Eugenia was a good looking and elegant lady that had the misfortune of marrying Alfonso, a known womanizer and lover of porn (he had a private viewing room in the Royal Palace and wrote and produced several of those films, a no-no in the Catholic Spain of the time). Going into exile was liberating for the queen as it allowed her to live separatedly from the king, who died only 10 years later.

[captainsensiblejr.]

What a prick Alfonso was, pissing off to Marseille, and leaving Victoria Eugenie and her children to face hostile crowds.

[kathleenmcconaha]

Something goes wrong in a marriage; blame the wife and mother, never the ever so perfect husband

[jmj]

Alfonso romanced Ena throughout their long-distance courtship. He was enchanted by her loveliness and white-blonde hair, and was “over the moon” excited about marrying her. While he knew of the possibility of hemophilia, he simply thought that Ena was too beautiful to be a carrier of the disease.

As mentioned in the documentary, it was ostensibly the discovery of their firstborn’s hemophilia that triggered King Alfonso’s resentment and infidelity. Ena was devastated, first by her son’s diagnosis, and then by her husband’s rejection and humiliating infidelity. The king had at least five known illegitimate children.

Queen Ena remained faithful to Spain and to her distant and serially cheating husband year after year, tragedy after tragedy: attempted assassination via bomb detonation on her wedding day; hemophilia striking Infante Alfonso and Infante Gonzalo, who both died as young adults due to the disease; acquired deafness of Infante Jaime; stillbirth of Infante Fernando; WWI; outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and loss of the throne, then being unwelcome in Britain when displaced. Ena consistently fulfilled her responsibilities, modelling the “decision to love” to which every Christian is called.

Along with Princess Alice (mother of Prince Philip), Ena is a very much overlooked historical figure and descendant of Queen Victoria. These two extraordinary women would make excellent subjects for feature-length films.

[JJFrance]

Victoria's children all seem to have suffered from horrific tragedies.

[fred]

Thanks, James for another great video!

[WildWestGal]

My God, the disgusting, horrifying, and devasting experiences that poor girl had to endure.

[lynnpurcell]

I like your accent and the videos. I'm a huge history fan so thank you for this and others.

[Biloxicharles]

😊 didn't know anything about this Queen. Fascinating and tragic. Have subscribed.

[theravagedgrapefruit]

Beatrice was so close to Queen Victoria that she picked out the necklace and rings Victoria wore in her casket. Victoria put it in her will that only Beatrice could do this.