Finding the grave of Queen Victoria’s half-sister Feodora

Queen Victoria’s half-sister Feodora of Leiningen died on 23 September 1872 in Villa Hohenlohe am Michaelsberg in Baden-Baden after a long sickbed. Queen Victoria had last visited her sister in March of that year when Victoria came to Baden-Baden. Victoria and Feodora said goodbye for the final time on 6 April 1872, and just one day later, Feodora wrote, “My beloved Victoria – the parting from you was very painful.¹ It would be the last time the sisters would meet. Unfortunately, Feodora was already ill by then.

Following her death in September, a letter was found among Feodora’s papers to be given to Queen Victoria after Feodora’s death. It contained this passage, “I can never thank you enough for all you have done for me, for your great love and tender affection. These feelings cannot die; they must and will live on with my soul – till we meet again, never more to be separated – and you will not forget. Your own loving sister, Feodora.”²

Feodora left Villa Hohenlohe to Queen Victoria, who made a private visit there for three days in September 1873. She also visited Feodora’s grave and approved the final design for the monument created by Feodora’s son Victor. The angel on the tomb looks directly to the villa across the valley, although the villa no longer exists as Feodora would have known it.

Feodora’s grave still stands on the Hauptfriedhof of Baden-Baden and can be visited.³

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1. Queen Victoria’s sister by Harold A. Albert p.234
2. Queen Victoria’s sister by Harold A. Albert p.239
3. Exact coordinates