Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights:#1 The Hesse sisters were daughters of Princess Alice, and they all married well. The youngest, Alix, was the most beautiful and was married to the Duke of Hesse. Darmstadt, the capital of Hesse, was considered the dullest town in Germany.#2 Princess Alice of Hesse was married to the Duke of Teck in 1858. She had been raised in a liberal environment, but she was soon disappointed by the conservative atmosphere at the Hessian court. She began philanthropic activities, including regular hospital visiting and the promotion of women’s health.#3 The house of Hesse was far from wealthy, and Alice knew the pinch of poverty. But she created a warm home-from-home for her family, furnished with chintz fabrics and unremarkable pieces sent from England. She did not spoil her children, and allowed them only a shilling a week pocket money until their confirmation.#4 The family’s happiness at Darmstadt was over when Alice’s second son Frittie, at the age of two, showed the first signs of haemophilia in 1872. The loss of one of her pretty pair of boys opened up a four-year gap between the only other son, Ernie, and his next sibling, Alix.