Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll her privacy, and enjoyed not being recognised. Louise and her sisters had another disagreement after the death of the queen's close friend, Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill. Determined not to put her mother through more misery, Louise wanted the news to be broken to the queen gradually. When this was not done, Louise voiced her sharp criticism of Helena and Beatrice. One month later, on 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. In her will, the queen bequeathed Kent House, on the Osborne Estate, to Louise as a country residence, and gave Osborne Cottage
Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont 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 The Princess Beatrice and Princess Marie-Louise to avoid the not-uncommon problem of conflicting (and sometimes misguided) Royal war-work projects. After Leopold's death, Helena and her two children, Alice and Charles Edward, continued to reside at Claremont House. After the death of The Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1899, Helena's sixteen-year-old son, The Duke of Albany, was selected as the new heir