Born Countess Feodora Georgina Maud von Gleichen, she was the eldest daughter of
Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (a British naval officer and sculptor and half-nephew of
Queen Victoria) and his
morganatic wife,
Laura Seymour (daughter of
Admiral Sir George Seymour, a remote nephew of Henry VIII's Queen
Jane Seymour). Within her family she was called
Feo. Her father having been largely disinherited at the time of his marriage, he initially adopted his wife's morganatic comital title. The family was taken in by the Queen and given
grace and favour accommodation at
St. James's Palace. Her brother,
Lord Edward Gleichen, became a career military officer and author. Her sister,
Lady Helena Gleichen, became a portrait painter. On 15 December 1885, the
Court Circular announced the Queen's permission for Feodora's mother to share her father's
rank at the
Court of St. James, and henceforth they were known as
TSH Prince and Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. But the queen did not extend that privilege to their four children, although she confirmed use of their German style as count and countesses. In 1889 Feodora and her sisters Valda and Helena were bridesmaids to
Louise, Princess Royal, and the
Earl of Fife. On 12 June 1913, Feodora and her sisters were granted
precedence before the daughters of
dukes in the
peerage of England by
George V. ==Education==