… Prince Henry of Battenburg. Named after her grandmother Queen Victoria of England, and her godmother Empress Eugenie of France, Victoria Eugenie had a casual relationship with her elders in private. She called Victoria “Gangan”.
Ena first met her future husband when she was 17. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was 19 when they met in 1905, during his tour of Europe in search of a bride, at a dinner gathering at Buckingham Palace.
It was rumored Alfonso had Victoria Eugenie’s cousin, Princess Patricia of Connaught, in mind, but that rumor went straight out the window when Alfonso set his eyes on Victoria Eugenie. This was no loss for Patricia since she made it evidently clear that she was not marrying the lustful Alfonso.
(photo: Ena on her father Henry’s lap)