Lady Helena Gleichen

Lady Helena Emily Gleichen OBE DStJ (1 February 1873 – 28 January 1947) was a British painter of landscapes, flowers, and animals, with a particular passion for horses. During World War I, she served as an ambulance driver and radiographer in France and Italy, where she was given the rank of major in the army.

Family and early life Her brother, Lord Edward Gleichen (1863–1937), a professional soldier, wrote several books. Her sister, Lady Feodora Gleichen (1861–1922) was a sculptor. They were the children of Count Victor von Gleichen aka Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a half-nephew of Queen Victoria and himself a sculptor and naval officer, and his morganatic wife Laura Williamina Seymour, a daughter of Admiral Sir George Seymour.

On 15 December 1885, the Court Circular announced the Queen's permission for Helena's mother to share her father's rank at the Court of St James's, and henceforth they were known as TSH Prince and Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. But the Queen did not extend that privilege to their children, although she confirmed use of their German style as count and countesses. On 12 June 1913 Helena and her sisters, the Countesses Feodora and Valda Gleichen, were granted precedence before the daughters of dukes in the peerage of England.

Gleichen was educated privately, then studied in Rollshoven and at Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting. She helped with illustrations for the Younghusband Expedition to Tibet in 1904.

While her father encouraged his daughters to seek out education and build careers for themselves, her mother was more hesitant. As Lady Helena's father died when she was 18, it took two or three years of convincing before her mother allowed her to go study art at Westminster School.

World War I When World War I began, Gleichen volunteered as an ambulance driver and translator at a British hospital in France in 1915. After being rebuffed by the British and French War Offices, they went to Italy under the Duca d’Aosta,

Later life and death Gleichen worked from her father's former studio in St James's Palace opposite Friary Court. In 1934 Lady Helena and Nina Hollings purchased Hellens Manor at Much Marcle in Herefordshire, which was used during World War II by the Tate Gallery for the safe storage of art works. They would live here for 9 years, their discovery of the house is described by Lady Helena in her autobiography Contacts and Contrasts. During the war, Gleichen organised her estate staff of some 80 men into a private army, whom she taught military tactics and shooting.

Her memoir, Contacts and Contrasts, illustrated with reproductions of her paintings, was published in 1940.

Ancestry