Dronning Maud.

Princess Maud was born at Marlborough House on November 26, 1869, to the Prince and Princess of Wales, heirs to Queen Victoria. Her mother was a Danish princess, and Maud spent her youth touring palaces in England and visiting relatives across Europe, including in Denmark, Germany, Greece, and Russia.

Maud was pretty in her teens and had crushes on her cousin Crown Prince George of Russia and Prince Francis of Teck. She felt distressed when her younger cousins, including Sophie of Prussia and Alix of Hesse, married heirs to European thrones.

At age 25, during a family biking tour with Danish relatives, her first cousin Prince Carl of Denmark proposed. Maud accepted, and they married on July 22, 1896, in England. Her father gave them a house in England, but they later moved to Denmark.

In 1905, Norway dissolved its union with Sweden, and Prince Carl was elected King, taking the name Haakon VII. Maud became Queen of Norway, though she remained thoroughly English, keeping the name Maud. Their reign was challenging: World War I began less than ten years later, and the interwar period brought further difficulties. Maud died in 1938, just before World War II erupted.

Maud never enjoyed her life in Denmark. She found the winter weather extreme and longed for England, but could not complain to her mother, a Danish princess. She and Charles lived in an apartment in Copenhagen for several years before the birth of their only child, Prince Alexander, in 1904. The boy later reigned as King Olav V of Norway.

Queen Maud’s legacy continues through her descendants. She was the grandmother of King Harald V of Norway and the great-grandmother of Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Martha Louise. Her honors included the Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, the Decoration of the Royal Red Cross, and the Royal Family Order of King Edward VII. Today she is remembered as the British princess who became queen of Norway, mother of King Olav V.