Princess Helena was the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. On 5 July 1866, Helena married the impoverished German Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. She was thereafter known as Princess Christian.

She was an active patron of charities; one of the founding members of the Red Cross and president of the Royal British Nurses' Association.

During the Boer War, Princess Christian launched an appeal saying "I consider it a disgrace that any soldier or sailor of the Queen should be driven to ask relief, or obliged to end his days in the workhouse." The appeal resulted in H.R.H. Princess Christian's Homes for Disabled Soldiers & Sailors. In 1900 the Royal Navy & Military Bazaar, held in Olympia from 19-21 June, raised funds for the appeal.

Royal Naval & Military Bazaar

Princess Christian Home & Workshops, 1911

The homes were built between 1900 and 1902 and were given as a gift by the Building Trades Federation. The homes were officially opened in 1902 by Princess Christian.

During the First World War, it acted as an overflow for patients from the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

The home closed in 1999; it was taken over in 2005 by Nellsar Homes Ltd and rebuilt into what is now a private care home, the Princess Christian Care Centre.