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Princess Beatrice (1857–1944) was a member of the British Royal Family. She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As Beatrice's elder sisters married and left their royal mother, Victoria came to rely on the company of her youngest daughter. Beatrice, who was brought up to stay with her mother always, soon resigned herself to her fate. Victoria was set against her youngest daughter marrying and refused to discuss the possibility. Nevertheless, many suitors were put forward, including Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial, the son of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France, and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, the widower of Beatrice's older sister Alice. Although she was attracted to the Prince Imperial, and there was talk of a possible marriage, he was killed in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. Beatrice fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg. After a year of persuasion, Victoria agreed to the marriage, which took place at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, on 23 July 1885. Victoria consented on condition that Beatrice and Henry make their home with her and that Beatrice continue her duties as the Queen's unofficial secretary. Ten years into their marriage, on 20 January 1896, Prince Henry died of malaria while fighting in the Anglo-Asante War. Beatrice remained at her mother's side until Victoria died. (more...)

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• The estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music Entertainment sign the largest recording deal in history, which includes the distribution rights to unreleased material.
• The first Millennium Prize is awarded to Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman for his proof of the Poincaré conjecture.
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March 21: Independence Day in Namibia (1990); Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í calendar; Benito Juárez Day in Mexico; World Poetry Day

• 1556 – Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (pictured), one of the founders of Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for heresy.
• 1800 – After being elected as a compromise candidate after several months of stalemate, Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
• 1804 – The Napoleonic code, the French civil code established under Napoleon, entered into force, eventually strongly influencing the law of many other countries.
• 1937 – A police squad, acting under orders from Governor of Puerto Rico Blanton Winship, opened fire on demonstrators protesting the arrest of Puerto Rican Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, killing 17 people and injuring over 200 others.
• 1980 – The United States announced the boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

More anniversaries: March 20 – March 21 – March 22