 Despite her pregnancy, she performed the royal duties expected of her sex and station, making bandages for troops and preparing hospitals.On 11 July, she gave birth to Princess Irene; Prussian troops were on the verge of entering Darmstadt, she begged the Grand Duke to surrender on Prussia's terms.This provoked fury from the fiercely anti-Prussian Prince Alexander, but Alice realised that the conquered German states would likely form a union which she, like her sister Victoria, supported.