Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

Infobox British Royalty|highness
name =Prince Alastair
title =Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
predecessor =Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught
full name =Alastair Arthur
titles ="His Grace" The Duke of Connaught
Earl of Macduff
"HH" Prince Alastair of Connaught
royal house =House of Windsor
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
father =Prince Arthur of Connaught
mother =Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife
date of birth =birth date|1914|8|9|df=y
place of birth =Mayfair, London
place of christening =Mayfair, London
date of death =death date and age|1943|4|26|1914|8|9|df=y
place of death =Ottawa, Canada
place of burial =Braemar, Aberdeenshire
occupation =Military|

Alastair Arthur Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (formerly HH Prince Alastair of Connaught; 9 August 1914 – 26 April 1943) was a member of the British Royal Family, a great-grandson of Queen Victoria. Prince Alastair was denied the title of a British prince and the style "His Highness" in 1917. After this, he used his mother's courtesy title, Earl of Macduff, and later, upon inheriting his grandfather's dukedom, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.

Early life

Alastair was born on 9 August 1914 at his parents' home at 54 Mount Street, Mayfair, London (now the Brazilian Embassy). His father was Prince Arthur of Connaught, the only son of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Princess Luise Margarete of Prussia. His mother was Princess Arthur of Connaught (before her marriage Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife), the eldest daughter of Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife and The Princess Louise, Princess Royal. As a great grandchild of Queen Victoria through the male line, Alastair was styled "His Highness Prince Alastair of Connaught" from birth.

The Prince was baptised at his parents' home and his godparents were George V, Queen Alexandra, The King of Spain (for whom Lord Farquhar stood proxy), the future The Princess Royal Mary, his first cousin once removed through his mother Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife and niece of George V, The Duke of Connaught and The Duchess of Argyll.

House of Windsor

Shortly after Alastair was born, World War I broke out, prompting strong anti-German feelings in the United Kingdom. George V responded to this by changing the name of the Royal House from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor and relinquishing all Germanic titles belonging to royals who were British citizens. In Letters Patent dated 20 November 1917, George V undertook further restructuring of the royal styles and titles by restricting the titles of Prince or Princess and the style of Royal Highness to the children of the sovereign, the children of the sovereign's sons, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. It further stated all titles of "the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes." [At that point, the three year-old became known as "Alastair Arthur Windsor, Earl of Macduff". Although second in line to the dukedom of Connaught and Strathearn as well as earldom of Sussex at the time of his birth, heir of his father who was the heir apparent, he was the heir apparent to his mother's dukedom of Fife. Therefore, he used his mother's secondary peerage as a courtesy title.]

Army service

Alastair received his education at Bryanston and at Sandhurst. In January 1935, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Scot Greys (2nd Dragoon), the same regiment in which his father served. He was posted to Egypt in 1936 and remained there until his transfer to Canada in 1939. He received a promotion to lieutenant in July 1939. Alastair served as an aide-de-camp to Earl of Athlone, then the Governor General of Canada. His father, Prince Arthur of Connaught, died on 12 September 1938. Therefore, when his grandfather died on 26 January 1942, he succeeded as 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex.

Later life

Alastair died at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, where he had been a guest of the Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone. The circumstances of his death were somewhat unusual: he apparently fell asleep or passed out in front of an open window and perished from hypothermia during the night. His ashes were interred at Mar Lodge Chapel, Braemar, Aberdeenshire. Upon his death, the Dukedom of Connaught and Strathearn became extinct. His first cousin, James Carnegie (23 September 1929-), succeeded as 3rd Duke of Fife and Earl of Macduff, upon Princess Alexandra's death on 26 February 1959.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

*9 August 1914–20 November 1917: "His Highness" Prince Alastair of Connaught
*20 November 1917–26 January 1942: Earl of Macduff
*26 January 1942–26 April 1943: "His Grace" The Duke of Connaught

Arms

In 1942, on the inheritance of his grandfather's dukedom, he was granted arms, being, quarterly, first and fourth his grandfather's arms (being the royal arms, difference with a three-point label argent, the first and third points bearing fleurs-de-lys azure, the second a cross gules), Fife and Duff

Ancestry

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1= 1. Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
2= 2. Prince Arthur of Connaught
3= 3. Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife
4= 4. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
5= 5. Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia
6= 6. Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife
7= 7. Louise, Princess Royal
8= 8. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
9= 9. Victoria of the United Kingdom
10= 10. Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia
11= 11. Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt
12= 12. James Duff, 5th Earl Fife
13= 13. Agnes Hay
14= 14. Edward VII of the United Kingdom
15= 15. Princess Alexandra of Denmark
16= 16. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
17= 17. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
18= 18. Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
19= 19. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
20= 20. Prince Charles of Prussia
21= 21. Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar
22= 22. Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau
23= 23. Princess Friederike of Prussia
24= 24. Alexander Duff
25= 25. Anne Stein
26= 26. William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll
27= 27. Elizabeth Fitz-Clarence
28= 28. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (= 8)
29= 29. Victoria of the United Kingdom (= 9)
30= 30. Christian IX of Denmark
31= 31. Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)

References