Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein

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Prince Christian Victor
Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein

Full name
Christian Victor Albert Ludwig Ernst Anton
Detail Titles and styles
HH Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein
Royal house	House of Oldenburg
Father	Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
Mother	Princess Helena of the United Kingdom
Born	14 April 1867(1867-04-14) Windsor Castle, Berkshire
Died	29 October 1900 (aged 33) Pretoria, South Africa
Burial	1 November 1900 Pretoria, South Africa
Occupation	British Army officer

Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein (Christian Victor Albert Ludwig Ernst Anton; 14 April 1867 – 29 October 1900) was a member of the British Royal Family. He was the eldest son of Princess Helena, third daughter of Queen Victoria.

1 Early life
2 Education
3 Military career
4 Later life
5 Trivia
6 Titles, styles, honours and arms
- 6.1 Titles
- 6.2 Honours
7 Ancestry
8 References

[edit] Early life

Prince Christian was born on 14 April 1867, at Windsor Castle. His father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, the third son of Christian, Duke of Augustenborg and Countess Louise of Danneskjold-Samsøe. His mother was The Princess Helena, the fifth child and third daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His parents resided in the United Kingdom, and the Prince was considered a member of the British Royal Family. Under letters patent of 1866, he was styled His Highness Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein.

[edit] Education

The Prince, who was educated at Wellington College, Magdalen College, Oxford and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was commissioned in the 60th King's Royal Rifles in 1888 and served later in the 4th King's Royal Rifle Corps. He served at Hazara 1891, Mirzanai 1891, Ashanti 1895 and Nile 1898.

Styles of Prince Christian Victor

Reference style	His Highness
Spoken style	Your Highness
Alternative style	Sir

"Christle", as the Prince was known in the family, was the first member of the Royal Family to attend school instead of being educated by a tutor at home. That he studied at Wellington College made Queen Victoria very happy, as Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had helped to establish the institution many years before. At Wellington he played for the college First Eleven in 1883 and was captain of the cricket team in 1885. He was also captain of the cricket team while at Magdalen College and at Sandhurst, and made a single first-class appearance, for I Zingari against Gentlemen of England in 1887, scoring 35 and 0. He remains the only member of the British royal family to play cricket at such a high level.^[1]

[edit] Military career

"Christle" became an British Army officer in the 60th King's Royal Rifles in 1888. He fought under Lord Kitchener in 1898 when the British troops defeated the Dervishes at Omdurman near Khartoum and recovered the Sudan. He participated also in the Ashanti Expedition to Ghana. In 1900 he served in the Boer War under Lord Roberts.

[edit] Later life

In October of that year, while in Pretoria, he came down with malaria, and died of enteric fever, on 29 October, aged 33, after receiving the Holy Communion in the presence of Lord Roberts and Prince Francis of Teck. He was interred in the Pretoria cemetery on 1 November 1900. During his funeral, a Boer woman commented: "They are burying their Prince in British soil; the English intend to remain in this land". His grave is marked with a granite cross and a cast iron railing.

[edit] Trivia

Prince Christian Victor was the favourite grandson of Queen Victoria.

Prince Christian Victor has a dedicated monument (who served with distinction under General Sir Redvers Buller) It also serves as a monument to the fallen officers, NCO's and Soldiers of the Devonshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire Regiment who lost their lives in the Boer War. The Monument is located on Plymouth Hoe in Plymouth Outside the enterance of the Royal Citadel.

It was a gift to the City of from Alfred Mosely who was a merchant in South Africa but chose Plymouth as the location for the memorial because of family ties with Devon. He had been responsible for setting up a field hospital at Natal during the campaign and it was there that Prince Christian Victor had died of injuries sustained during the War. [1]