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Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia

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Princess Louise Margaret
Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn
Photograph by James Lafayette, 1907
Born(1860-07-25)25 July 1860
Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia
Died14 March 1917(1917-03-14) (aged 56)
Clarence House, London
Burial19 March 1917
Spouse
(m. 1879)
Issue
Names
English: Louise Margaret Alexandra Victoria Agnes
Template:Lang-de
HouseHohenzollern
FatherPrince Frederick Charles of Prussia
MotherPrincess Maria Anna of Anhalt-Dessau
Viceregal consort of Canada
In role
13 October 1911 – 11 November 1916
MonarchGeorge V
Governor GeneralThe Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Preceded byThe Countess Grey
Succeeded byThe Duchess of Devonshire

Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (Louise Margaret Alexandra Victoria Agnes; 25 July 1860 – 14 March 1917), later Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn, was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and of the British royal family. She served as the viceregal consort of Canada while her husband, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, served as the governor general, from 1911 to 1916.

Early life

Princess Louise Margaret was born at Marmorpalais (Marble Palace) near Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia.[1] Her father was Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (1828–1885), the son of Karl of Prussia (1801–1883) and his wife Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877). Her mother was Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt (1837–1906), daughter of Leopold IV of Anhalt-Dessau. Her father, a nephew of the German Emperor Wilhelm I, distinguished himself as a field commander during the Battle of Metz and the campaigns west of Paris in the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. Her father was a double cousin of the German Emperor Friedrich III, the husband of her sister-in-law, Victoria, Princess Royal.

Marriage

On 13 March 1879, Princess Louise Margaret married Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn at St. George's Chapel Windsor.[2] Prince Arthur was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.[3] An account cited that it was a love match, with the princess also keen to get away from royal residence in Berlin and from her father's bullying.[4]

The wedding was described as grand and the couple received a great number of expensive gifts; the Queen's gift consisted of a diamond tiara, a pearl and diamond pendant.[2] Many members of England and Germany's royal families attended; these included the Prince and Princess of Wales.[2] Queen Victoria herself was wearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond and a long white veil.[4] After her marriage, Princess Louise was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn and her name was Anglicised as Louise Margaret.

The couple had three children: Princess Margaret (1882–1920), Prince Arthur (1883–1938), and Princess Patricia (1886–1974). Princess Margaret married Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and was the grandmother of King Carl XVI of Sweden, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.[5] Prince Arthur served as the governor-general of South Africa.[5]

Duchess of Connaught

Louise, Duchess of Connaught, John Singer Sargent, 1908

The Duchess of Connaught spent the first twenty years of her marriage accompanying her husband on his various deployments throughout the British Empire. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught acquired Bagshot Park in Surrey as their country home and after 1900 used Clarence House as their London residence. She accompanied her husband to Canada in 1911, when he began his term as governor-general. In 1916, she became colonel-in-chief of the 199th Canadian (Overseas) Infantry Battalion (The Duchess of Connaught's Own Irish-Canadian Rangers), CEF after Harry Trihey, the regiment's principal organizer and first commanding officer during World War I, secured her as patron.[6] In 1885, she became chief of the 64th (8th Brandenburg) Regiment of Infantry "Field Marshal General Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia", Prussian Army.

Death and legacy

Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia Duchess of Connaught died of influenza and bronchitis on 14 March 1917 aged 56 at Clarence House London, [1] She became the first member of the British royal family to be cremated, This was done at Golders Green Crematorium.[7] The procedure of burying ashes in an urn was still unfamiliar at the time, and her urn was transported in an ordinary coffin during the funeral ceremonies. King George V still ordered four weeks of mourning dress and a military guard of honor during the funeral.[7] Her ashes were eventually buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.[1] her husband Arthur Duke of Connaught survived her by almost twenty five years dying on 16 January 1942 aged 91 at bagshot park surrey.

The maternity hospital adjacent to the Cambridge Military Hospital at Aldershot was named in her honor as the Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital. She laid the foundation stone of this hospital, which was constructed for the wives and children of the Aldershot Garrison.[8]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

  • 25 July 1860 – 13 March 1879: Her Royal Highness Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia[9]
  • 13 March 1879 – 14 March 1917: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn[10]

Honours

Arms

Coat of arms of Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, Duchess of Connaught

Issue

Image Name Birth Death Notes
Princess Margaret of Connaught 15 January 1882 1 May 1920 married, 15 June 1905, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden; had issue
Prince Arthur of Connaught 13 January 1883 12 September 1938 married, 15 October 1913, Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife; had issue
Princess Patricia of Connaught 17 March 1886 12 January 1974 married, 27 February 1919, Captain Sir Alexander Ramsay, renouncing her title and becoming Lady Patricia Ramsay; had issue

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ a b c Weir, Alison (2011). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. New York: Random House. p. 311. ISBN 978-1-4464-4911-0.
  2. ^ a b c "Royal Marriage Bells" (PDF), The New York Times, London, 13 March 1879
  3. ^ Todd, Herbert George (2016). Armory and Lineages of Canada. The Armorial Register Limited. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-9568157-9-8.
  4. ^ a b Rappaport, Helen (2003). Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 45. ISBN 1-85109-355-9.
  5. ^ a b Panton, James (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-8108-7497-8.
  6. ^ Bunbury, Turtle (2014). The Glorious Madness – Tales of the Irish and the Great War: First-hand accounts of Irish men and women in the First World War. Gill & Macmillan Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7171-6614-5.
  7. ^ a b Mates, Lewis H. (2005). Encyclopedia of Cremation. New York: Routledge. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-754-63773-8.
  8. ^ Vickers, Paul H. (2012). Aldershot Through Time. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2648-2.
  9. ^ "The London Gazette, Issue 24743, Page 4467". 15 July 1879.
  10. ^ "The London Gazette, Issue 26947, Page 1696". 14 March 1898.
  11. ^ 刑部芳則 (2017). 明治時代の勲章外交儀礼 (PDF) (in Japanese). 明治聖徳記念学会紀要. p. 157.
Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia
Born: 25 July 1860 Died: 14 March 1917
Honorary titles
Preceded by Viceregal consort of Canada
1911–1916
Succeeded by