The last surviving sister of Prince Philip has passed away at the age of 87 in a Bavarian nursing home. Princess George of Hanover was little known to the people of England as her German war-time connections meant her integration into the ranks of British royalty was a slow process. However, although the Princess subsequently maintained a low public profile, she was close to the royal family.
The twice-married Princess’ first husband, Prince Christoph of Hesse, to whom she was engaged at 15 and whom she married the following year, was a navigator in the Luftwaffe during WWII. Although he flew bombing missions over the rest of Europe and Russia, his family always asserted that he had never taken part in a mission against Britain.
Her second husband also had German connections. Prince George, the second son of the Duke of Brunswick, was a grandson of the Kaiser. He and the Princess were married in 1946, three years after Christoph was killed when his plane crashed in fog. At the time Princess George was pregnant with their fifth child. She and Prince George went on to have three children of their own.
Born Princess Sophie in Corfu, just before the beginning of the First World War, she was the youngest of Prince Andrew of Greece and Prince Alice of Battenberg’s four children. Prince Philip was seven years younger than his sister, and as a nine-year-old carried her train during her wedding to Christoph. The siblings remained close, with Princess George often spending holidays with the royal family in Scotland and attending the Windsor Horse Show.
In 1994, brother and sister visited Jerusalem together to attend a ceremony honouring their mother with the Yad Vashem Award of the Righteous which recognised her efforts in hiding a Jewish family in her home in Athens during the Second World War.
Princess George will be buried on Friday in the Bavarian town of Schliersee, close to the German-Austrian border.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
