Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia

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 when her husband, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, served as the governor general from 1911 to 1916.

Princess Louise Margaret
Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn
Photograph by James Lafayette, 1907
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
Personal details
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
Issue
Full name
English: Louise Margaret Alexandra Victoria Agnes
German: Luise Margarete Alexandra Viktoria Agnes
HouseHohenzollern
FatherPrince Frederick Charles of Prussia
MotherPrincess Maria Anna of Anhalt-Dessau

Early life

Princess Luise Margarete was born at Marmorpalais (Marble Palace) near Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia. 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 Luise Margarete married Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn at St. George's Chapel Windsor.[1] Prince Arthur was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The couple received a great number of expensive gifts; the Queen's gift consisted of a diamond tiara, a pearl and diamond pendant.[1] Many members of England and Germany's royal families attended; these included the Prince and Princess of Wales.[1] After her marriage, Princess Louise was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn and her name was Anglicised as Louise Margaret.

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. 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

The Duchess of Connaught died of influenza and bronchitis at Clarence House. She became the first member of the British royal family to be cremated. This was done at Golders Green Crematorium. 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. Her ashes were eventually buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. The Duke of Connaught survived her by almost twenty-five years.

The maternity hospital adjacent to the Cambridge Military Hospital at Aldershot was named in her honour as the Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital.

Honours

Arms

Issue

ImageNameBirthDeathNotes
Princess Margaret of Connaught15 January 18821 May 1920married, 15 June 1905, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden; had issue
Prince Arthur of Connaught13 January 188312 September 1938married, 15 October 1913, Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife; had issue
Princess Patricia of Connaught17 March 188612 January 1974married, 27 February 1919, Captain Sir Alexander Ramsay, renouncing her title and becoming Lady Patricia Ramsay; had issue

Ancestry

References

  1. "Royal Marriage Bells" (PDF), The New York Times, London, 13 March 1879
  2. 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
The Countess Grey
Viceregal consort of Canada
1911–1916
Succeeded by
The Duchess of Devonshire
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