Auction Catalogue

8 December 2016

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 142

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8 December 2016

Hammer Price:
£440

The St. John Ambulance Association Re-examination Cross awarded to H.R.H. Princess Christian of Schleswig Holstein, daughter of H.M. Queen Victoria, and President of the Royal British Nurses’ Association

St. John Ambulance Association Re-examination Cross, silver, reverse engraved ‘No. 3465 Her Royal Highness Princess Christian of Schleswig Holstein’, good very fine and a rare item of insignia to the Royal Family £200-300

Her Royal Highness Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, was born Princess Helena Augusta Victoria on 25 May 1846, the third daughter of H.M. Queen Victoria and H.R.H. Prince Albert. She married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein at Windsor castle on 5 July 1866. The match was particularly awkward, given the recent history of Schleswig-Holstein, and horrified the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra, daughter of H.M. King Christian IX of Denmark), who declared ‘The Duchies belong to Papa.’

Princess Christian was the most active member of the royal family, carrying out an extensive programme of royal engagements at a time when royalty was not expected to appear often in public. She was also an active patron of charities, and was one of the founding members of the Red Cross. She was made a Dame Chevaliere of the Order of St. John on 23 June 1881; when the Order was made a Royal Order of Chivalry by H.M. Queen Victoria on 14 May 1888, the grade changed its title to Lady of Justice, and Princess Christian is inscribed in the Register of the Order as the 3rd ever Lady of Justice (after H.M. Queen Victoria and H.R.H. the Princess of Wales). Appointed President of the British Nurses' Association upon its foundation in 1887 (with the organisation receiving its Royal prefix in 1891), she was a strong supporter of nurse registration, an issue that was opposed by both Florence Nightingale and leading public figures. In a speech made in 1893, she made clear that the R.B.N.A. was working towards "improving the education and status of those devoted and self-sacrificing women whose whole lives have been devoted to tending the sick, the suffering, and the dying". In 1897 she established the Princess Christian’s Army Nursing Service Reserve.
Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the new Queen, Alexandra, who had never forgiven Princess Christian for taking the name Schleswig-Holstein, insisted on replacing her as President of the Army Nursing Service.
This gave rise to a further breach between the royal ladies, with the King caught in the middle between his sister and his wife. In accordance with rank, Princess Christian agreed to resign in the Queen's favour, but retained the presidency of the Army Nursing Service Reserve. She was also an active figure in other nursing organisations, and was president of the Isle of Wight, Windsor and Great Western Railway branches of the Order of St. John. In this position, she personally signed and presented many thousands of certificates of proficiency in nursing.

Prince and Princess Christian had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood, with the eldest son, Prince Christian Victor, dying of centric fever whilst serving in South Africa during the Boer War. Princess Christian died at Schomberg House, London, on 9 June 1923, and is buried in the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore, Windsor.