Page "Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" Paragraph 17

From left to right sitting: Princess Irene, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Victoria Melita, Grand Duke Sergei.

Standing: Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Princess Victoria and Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig, Darmstadt, 1894 After her divorce, Victoria went to live with her mother at Coburg and at her house in the French Riviera.

She and Ernst shared custody of Elisabeth, who spent six months of each year with each parent.

Elisabeth blamed Victoria for the divorce and Victoria had a difficult time reconnecting with her daughter.

Ernst wrote in his memoirs that Elisabeth hid under a sofa, crying, before one visit to her mother.

Ernst assured the child that her mother loved her too.

Elisabeth responded, " Mama says she loves me, but you do love me.

" Ernst remained silent and didn't correct the child's impression.

Elisabeth died at age eight and a half of typhoid fever during a November 1903 visit to Tsar Nicholas II and his family at their Polish hunting lodge.

The doctor advised the Tsar's family to notify the child's mother of her illness, but the Tsarina delayed in sending a telegram.

Victoria received the final telegram notifying her of the child's death just as she was preparing to travel to Poland to be at her bedside.

At Elisabeth's funeral, Victoria removed her Hessian Order, a medallion, and placed it on her daughter's coffin as a final gesture " that she had made a final break with her old home.