Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife
Encyclopedia
The Princess Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife (Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar; 20 February 1867 – 4 January 1931) was the third child and the eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark
. She was the younger sister of George V
and the fifth daughter of a British monarch to be styled Princess Royal
.
, the London
residence of her parents, then The Prince
and Princess of Wales
(later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). She spent much of her childhood at Sandringham House
, her parents' country estate in Norfolk. Like her sisters, Princesses Maud
and Victoria
, she received a limited formal education. Her paternal grandmother was Queen Victoria, while her maternal grandfather was King Christian IX of Denmark
She was christened at Marlborough House on 10 May 1867 by Charles Longley
, Archbishop of Canterbury
.
(11 October 1849 – 12 January 1912), at the Private Chapel in Buckingham Palace
. He was eighteen years her senior, but her third cousin in descent from George III
. Two days after the wedding, Queen Victoria created him Duke of Fife
and Marquess of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
. The Letters Patent creating this dukedom contained the standard remainder to "male heirs of the body lawfully begotten." However, it eventually became apparent that the Duke and Duchess would not have a son. Therefore, on 24 April 1900, Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent creating a second Dukedom of Fife, along with the Earldom of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom with a special remainder: in default of a male heir, these peerages would pass to the daughters of the 1st Duke and then to their male descendants.
The Duke and Duchess of Fife had three children:
, the highest honour bestowed on a female member of the Royal Family. Thereafter, she was styled HRH The Princess Royal. At the same time, the King declared that the two daughters of the Princess Royal would have the titular dignity of Princess of Great Britain and Ireland
and the style of Highness
, with precedence immediately after all members of the Royal Family
holding the style of Royal Highness. From that point onward, the Princess Royal's daughters, styled Her Highness Princess Alexandra of Fife and Her Highness Princess Maud of Fife, no longer took their rank from their father, but rather from the will of the Sovereign.
In December 1911, while sailing to Egypt
, the Princess Royal and her family were shipwrecked off the coast of Morocco
. Although they escaped unharmed, the Duke of Fife fell ill with pleurisy
, probably contracted as a result of the shipwreck. He died at Assuan, Egypt in January 1912, and Princess Alexandra succeeded to his dukedom, becoming Duchess of Fife in her own right. Princess Alexandra of Fife later married Prince Arthur of Connaught
, a first cousin of Princess Louise. Alexandra, therefore, became known as HRH Princess Arthur of Connaught. She adopted the style of her husband, a Royal Highness
, since he was the son of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
, the third son of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise is the maternal grandmother of the 3rd Duke of Fife
.
in 1885 and the Imperial Order of the Crown of India
in 1887. She became a Lady of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem
(LJStJ) in 1888 and a Dame Grand Cross (GCStJ) of that order in 1929. She became colonel-in-chief of the 7th Dragoon Guards (the Princess Royal's Own) in 1914. She later served as colonel-in-chief of the 4th and 7th Dragoon Guards when it was formed in 1921.
The Princess Royal died in January 1931, at her home in Portman Square, London and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
. Her remains were later removed to the Private Chapel, Mar Lodge Mausoleum, Braemar, Aberdeenshire.
, all differenced with a label argent of five points, the outer pair and centre bearing crosses gules, and the inner pair bearing thistles proper. The inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant in 1917.
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
. She was the younger sister of George V
George V
George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
and the fifth daughter of a British monarch to be styled Princess Royal
Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a style customarily awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter. The style is held for life, so a princess cannot be given the style during the lifetime of another Princess Royal...
.
Early life
The princess was born Princess Louise of Wales at Marlborough HouseMarlborough House
Marlborough House is a mansion in Westminster, London, in Pall Mall just east of St James's Palace. It was built for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. The Duchess wanted her new house to be "strong, plain and convenient and good"...
, the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
residence of her parents, then The Prince
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
and Princess of Wales
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
(later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). She spent much of her childhood at Sandringham House
Sandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...
, her parents' country estate in Norfolk. Like her sisters, Princesses Maud
Maud of Wales
Princess Maud of Wales was Queen of Norway as spouse of King Haakon VII. She was a member of the British Royal Family as the youngest daughter of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark and granddaughter of Queen Victoria and also of Christian IX of Denmark. She was the younger sister of George V...
and Victoria
Princess Victoria Alexandra of the United Kingdom
-Titles and styles:*6 July 1868 – 22 January 1901: Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Wales*22 January 1901 – 3 December 1935: Her Royal Highness The Princess Victoria-Honours:*Imperial Order of the Crown of India, 6 August 1887...
, she received a limited formal education. Her paternal grandmother was Queen Victoria, while her maternal grandfather was King Christian IX of Denmark
Christian IX of Denmark
Christian IX was King of Denmark from 16 November 1863 to 29 January 1906.Growing up as a prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a junior branch of the House of Oldenburg which had ruled Denmark since 1448, Christian was originally not in the immediate line of succession to the Danish...
She was christened at Marlborough House on 10 May 1867 by Charles Longley
Charles Thomas Longley
Charles Thomas Longley was a bishop in the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Ripon, Bishop of Durham, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1862 until his death.-Life:...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
.
Marriage
On Saturday 27 July 1889, Princess Louise married the 6th Earl FifeAlexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife
Alexander William George Duff, 1st Duke of Fife KG, KT, GCVO, PC, VD , styled Viscount Macduff between 1857 and 1879 and known as The Earl Fife between 1879 and 1889, was a British Peer who married Princess Louise of Wales, the third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Alexandra of...
(11 October 1849 – 12 January 1912), at the Private Chapel in Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. He was eighteen years her senior, but her third cousin in descent from George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
. Two days after the wedding, Queen Victoria created him Duke of Fife
Duke of Fife
Duke of Fife is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, named after Fife in Scotland. There have been two creations of the title, the first in 1889 and the second in 1900, both in favour of Alexander Duff, 6th Earl Fife in the Peerage of Ireland and 1st Earl of Fife in the Peerage of the...
and Marquess of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
. The Letters Patent creating this dukedom contained the standard remainder to "male heirs of the body lawfully begotten." However, it eventually became apparent that the Duke and Duchess would not have a son. Therefore, on 24 April 1900, Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent creating a second Dukedom of Fife, along with the Earldom of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom with a special remainder: in default of a male heir, these peerages would pass to the daughters of the 1st Duke and then to their male descendants.
The Duke and Duchess of Fife had three children:
- Alastair Duff, Marquess of Macduff (stillborn 16 June 1890).
- HH Princess Alexandra of FifePrincess Alexandra, Duchess of FifePrincess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife was a member of the British Royal Family, a granddaughter of King Edward VII...
(17 May 1891 – 26 February 1959) married her first cousin once removedCousin chartIn kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
, Prince Arthur of ConnaughtPrince Arthur of ConnaughtPrince Arthur of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria. Prince Arthur held the title of a British prince with the style His Royal Highness...
(13 January 1883 – 12 September 1938), and had issue. - HH Princess Maud of Fife (3 April 1893 – 14 December 1945) married the 11th Earl of SoutheskCharles Carnegie, 11th Earl of SoutheskSir Charles Alexander Bannerman Carnegie of Kinnaird and of Pitcarrow, 8th Baronet, 11th Earl of Southesk, 11th Baron Carnegie of Kinnaird, 11th Baron Carnegie, of Kinnaird and Leuchards, and 3rd Baron Balinhard, of Farnell in the County of Forfar, KCVO , styled The Hon...
, and had issue.
Princess Royal
On 9 November 1905, Edward VII declared Princess Louise the Princess RoyalPrincess Royal
Princess Royal is a style customarily awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter. The style is held for life, so a princess cannot be given the style during the lifetime of another Princess Royal...
, the highest honour bestowed on a female member of the Royal Family. Thereafter, she was styled HRH The Princess Royal. At the same time, the King declared that the two daughters of the Princess Royal would have the titular dignity of Princess of Great Britain and Ireland
British princess
This is a list of British princesses from the accession of King George I in 1714. This article deals with both princesses of the blood royal and women who become princesses upon marriage....
and the style of Highness
Highness
Highness, often used with a possessive adjective , is an attribute referring to the rank of the dynasty in an address...
, with precedence immediately after all members of the Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
holding the style of Royal Highness. From that point onward, the Princess Royal's daughters, styled Her Highness Princess Alexandra of Fife and Her Highness Princess Maud of Fife, no longer took their rank from their father, but rather from the will of the Sovereign.
In December 1911, while sailing to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, the Princess Royal and her family were shipwrecked off the coast of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. Although they escaped unharmed, the Duke of Fife fell ill with pleurisy
Pleurisy
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
, probably contracted as a result of the shipwreck. He died at Assuan, Egypt in January 1912, and Princess Alexandra succeeded to his dukedom, becoming Duchess of Fife in her own right. Princess Alexandra of Fife later married Prince Arthur of Connaught
Prince Arthur of Connaught
Prince Arthur of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria. Prince Arthur held the title of a British prince with the style His Royal Highness...
, a first cousin of Princess Louise. Alexandra, therefore, became known as HRH Princess Arthur of Connaught. She adopted the style of her husband, a Royal Highness
Royal Highness
Royal Highness is a style ; plural Royal Highnesses...
, since he was the son of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...
, the third son of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise is the maternal grandmother of the 3rd Duke of Fife
James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife
James George Alexander Bannerman Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife is a great grandson of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and a member of the extended British Royal Family, in the line of succession to the British Throne...
.
Later life
Princess Louise of Wales received the Royal Order of Victoria and AlbertRoyal Order of Victoria and Albert
The Royal Order of Victoria and Albert was a British Royal Family Order instituted in on 10 February 1862 by Queen Victoria, and enlarged on 10 October 1864; 15 November 1865; and 15 March 1880. No awards were made after the death of Queen Victoria....
in 1885 and the Imperial Order of the Crown of India
Order of the Crown of India
The Imperial Order of the Crown of India is an order in the British honours system.The Order was established by Queen Victoria in 1878, when she became Empress of India. The Order is open only to women; no new appointments have been made after the Partition of India in 1947...
in 1887. She became a Lady of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
(LJStJ) in 1888 and a Dame Grand Cross (GCStJ) of that order in 1929. She became colonel-in-chief of the 7th Dragoon Guards (the Princess Royal's Own) in 1914. She later served as colonel-in-chief of the 4th and 7th Dragoon Guards when it was formed in 1921.
The Princess Royal died in January 1931, at her home in Portman Square, London and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
. Her remains were later removed to the Private Chapel, Mar Lodge Mausoleum, Braemar, Aberdeenshire.
Titles and styles
- 20 February 1867 – 27 June 1889: Her Royal Highness Princess Louise of Wales
- 27 June 1889 – 29 June 1889: Her Royal Highness Princess Louise, Countess Fife
- 29 June 1889 – 22 January 1901: Her Royal Highness Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife
- 22 January 1901 – 9 November 1905: Her Royal Highness The Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife
- 9 November 1905 – 4 January 1931: Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal
Arms
Upon her marriage, Princess Louise was granted a coat of arms, being those of the kingdom with an inescutcheon for SaxonySaxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, all differenced with a label argent of five points, the outer pair and centre bearing crosses gules, and the inner pair bearing thistles proper. The inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant in 1917.