You’ve probably heard of the British Royal Family’s complicated ties to Germany. It's a whole thing. But nestled right in the middle of that web of history and drama is a woman most people completely overlook: Princess Christina of Hesse. Honestly, her life feels like something straight out of a high-stakes period drama, only without the glossy Netflix filter. She was the first cousin of King Charles III and a niece that Prince Philip was reportedly quite fond of, yet she managed to live a life that was both remarkably royal and surprisingly messy.
Christina—or "Krista" as the family called her—was born in January 1933. Bad timing, right? That was the same year the Nazi party took over Germany. Her birthplace was Friedrichshof Castle, a massive, imposing estate near Kronberg. It wasn't just any house; it was built for Empress Victoria of Germany, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. So, Christina was essentially born into the absolute heart of European royalty.
The Weight of the Hesse Name
Being a Princess Christina of Hesse wasn't just about tiaras and tea. It carried a heavy, often dark, political burden. Her father was Prince Christoph of Hesse, a man who didn't just live in Nazi Germany but was actually a high-ranking member of the SS. He was also a Luftwaffe pilot. When Christina was only ten, his plane went down in the Apennine Mountains in Italy. He was killed instantly. Just like that, her world shifted.
Her mother was Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark. If that sounds familiar, it should. Sophie was the youngest sister of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. This meant that while Christina’s father was serving the Third Reich, her uncle Philip was fighting for the Royal Navy against the Axis powers. Imagine those family reunions. Or, more accurately, imagine the total lack of them during the war.
By the time the dust settled in 1945, Christina was a teenager in a shattered country. Her mother eventually remarried Prince George William of Hanover, which added even more royal layers to her life. But the scars of the war and the complicated reputation of the House of Hesse followed her everywhere.
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That 1953 Coronation Moment
If you look closely at the footage of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, you might spot a young, elegant woman in the procession. That was Christina. She was invited despite the lingering "German problem" that kept some of Philip's other sisters away from his wedding just a few years earlier.
She wasn't just a guest; she was family. She spent the mid-50s living in London with her cousin, Princess Beatrix of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. They were the "it girls" of the royal fringe. They didn't just sit around, though. Christina was actually pretty artistic. She studied the restoration of paintings under Anthony Blunt. Yeah, that Anthony Blunt—the famous art historian who was later outed as a Soviet spy. Talk about being adjacent to drama.
The Yugoslavia Marriage and the Scandal
In 1956, she married Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia. He was the youngest son of King Alexander I. On paper, it was a perfect match—royal blood meeting royal blood. They had two kids:
- Princess Maria Tatiana (born 1957)
- Prince Christopher (born 1960)
But here's where things get real. The marriage was a disaster. They tried to run a commercial farm in Kent called "The Hollands," but they were terrible at it. They lost money. Andrew ended up working a regular job in import/export and then as a bank executive. The royal dream was fading fast.
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Then came the kicker. In 1961, Christina basically walked away. She fell in love with a Dutch abstract artist named Robert Floris van Eyck. This wasn't a quiet separation. Andrew sued for divorce on the grounds of adultery. Back then, that was a massive scandal. Even crazier? The court gave Andrew custody of the children. For a royal mother in the 60s, that was a devastating blow.
A Second Life in the Shadows
She married Robert van Eyck just months after the divorce was finalized in 1962. Robert was an interesting guy—the son of a famous poet and brother to a legendary architect. They had two more children, Helen and Mark.
Christina spent the rest of her life floating between London, the south of France, and Switzerland. She wasn't chasing the spotlight anymore. People who knew her said she was a "housewife with a title," focusing on her second family while eventually mending fences with her older children. Her son Christopher actually moved back to live with her in London after his father moved to Portugal.
Sadly, tragedy wasn't finished with her. Her son Christopher died in a cycling accident in 1994 when he was only 34. It was a brutal hit for a woman who had already seen so much loss.
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Why Princess Christina of Hesse Matters Now
Why should we care about a German princess who died in 2011? Because she represents the human side of the royal machine. She wasn't a porcelain doll; she was a woman who made mistakes, dealt with the fallout of a world war, and chose love over duty in a way that nearly cost her everything.
She lived her final years in Gersau, Switzerland, staying with her sister Dorothea. She died there at age 78, largely forgotten by the tabloids but deeply respected by the family members who knew the "real" Krista.
Takeaways from her story
- The Power of Resilience: She survived the total collapse of her family’s status after WWII and built a new life from the wreckage.
- The Complexity of History: Her story reminds us that "royal" doesn't mean "perfect." The Hesse family’s Nazi ties are a dark chapter that she had to navigate personally.
- Private vs. Public: Christina proved you could be a first cousin to a King and still live a relatively quiet, private life after the scandals died down.
If you’re researching the House of Hesse or the extended family of the Windsors, look beyond the main players. It’s in the lives of people like Christina that you find the true, messy, human history of Europe’s ruling houses. To understand more about this era, you should look into the memoirs of her mother, Princess Sophie, which offer a much more intimate look at the family's survival during the transition from the Third Reich to modern Europe.
Check out the archives of the Royal Musings blog or the works of historian Marlene Eilers Koenig if you want to see the specific genealogical records of her children. Those sources give the best breakdown of how the Hesse-Yugoslavia-Hanover branches still interact today.