Princess Holstein-Augustenbourg

A carte-de-visite portrait of Adelaide, the daughter of Queen Victoria’s beloved half-sister, Feodora von Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Born on 20 July 1835, she died on 25 January 1900. She was married on 11 September 1856 to Duke Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustengurg, known as Fritz Holstein within the family. A close friend of Vicky and Friedrich, the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, her husband played a central, but ultimately unfortunate, role in the Schleswig-Holstein crisis of 1864. Lord Palmerston later wrote ‘Only three men ever understood the question of Schleswig-Holstein. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third, and I have forgotten all about it.’

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 21 November 1860.