The most common type of diphtheria is the classic respiratory disease, and another type of infection, called cutaneous diphtheria, causes skin ulcers. Among the victims were Princess Alice (Alice Maud Mary), whose 1861 portrait appears as this month’s cover image, and her young daughter, Marie. Alice’s engagement in April 1861 to Prince Louis IV of Hesse no doubt helped dispel the gloom from that loss. After their wedding in 1862, Alice and Prince Louis moved to Germany. When Ernest heard the news, he proved devastated; accounts suggest that Alice comforted her son with a kiss that would prove deadly.

Source: New York Times April 20, 2023 14:31 UTC