Personality and Social Work
According to the memoirs of Helena's daughter, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, Helena was very intelligent, had an extremely strong sense of duty, and a genuine love of welfare work. Queen Victoria, initially worried that Helena might turn out to be a stereotypically-remote German Princess, remarked in a letter to her eldest daughter Vicky (German Empress, Queen of Prussia and Princess Royal) that she was pleased Helena liked 'to go among the people.' The Queen soon came to regard her young daughter-in-law with great respect and affection, notwithstanding her initial concerns upon hearing from the match-making Vicky that Helena was an "intellectual", being unusually well-educated for a Princess. Before her marriage, Helena's father had made her Superintendent of the infant schools in his principality, and in this position the Princess had devised the pupils' educational curriculum. Helena particularly enjoyed solving mathematical problems and reading philosophy: during their tragically brief marriage, Prince Leopold proudly introduced his wife to the circle of academics he'd befriended at Oxford University. Helena maintained these friendships for the rest of her life.
In 1894, Helena was one of the founders of the Deptford Fund. Originally dedicated to helping find alternative work for women and girls employed in the dangerous cattle slaughter business, the Fund soon expanded, with many projects instigated to help the local community. In 1899 Helena opened the Albany Institute. This later expanded into a combined community/performance centre with the theatre venue known as the Albany Empire. A centre of 1970s anti-fascist activity and Rock Against Racism, the Empire and Institute buildings were destroyed in an arson attack in 1978. A new Albany Theatre was opened by the HRH The Princess of Wales in 1982 and the Deptford Fund continues to this day.
Helena was also involved in several hospital charities and with those dedicated to ending human trafficking. During World War I, she organised much of her charity work along with that of her sister-in-law Princess Beatrice, in order to avoid the not-uncommon problem of conflicting and occasionally misguided Royal war-work projects.
Read more about this topic: Princess Helena Of Waldeck And Pyrmont
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