Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife

Infobox British Royalty|royal
name =Princess Louise
title =Princess Royal, Duchess of Fife


imgw =258
spouse =Alexander, Duke of Fife
issue =Alastair, Marquess of Macduff
Alexandra, Duchess of Fife
Princess Maud of Fife
full name =Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar
titles ="HRH" The Princess Royal
"HRH" The Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife
"HRH" Princess Louise, Countess Fife
"HRH" Princess Louise of Wales
royal house =House of Windsor
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
father =Edward VII
mother =Alexandra of Denmark
date of birth =birth date|1867|2|20|df=y
place of birth =Marlborough House, London
date of christening =10 May 1867
place of christening =Marlborough House, London
date of death =death date and age|1931|1|4|1867|2|20|df=y
place of death =Portman Sq, London
place of burial =St George's Chapel, Windsor|Infobox British Nobility Styles


royal name=The Princess Royal
dipstyle=Her Royal Highness
offstyle=Your Royal Highness
altstyle=Ma'am|

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 Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. She was the younger sister of George V and the fifth daughter of a British monarch to be styled Princess Royal.

Early life

The princess was born Princess Louise of Wales at Marlborough House, the London residence of her parents, then The Prince and Princess of Wales (later 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.

She was christened at Marlborough House on 10 May 1867 by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury. [Her godparents were her paternal aunts – Alice, Princess Louis of Hesse, Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll; her paternal uncle (by marriage), Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia; her first cousin once-removed – Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; her maternal great-uncle – Elector Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel); her maternal grandmother: Queen Louise of Denmark – for whom she was named; her children, Louise's uncle, George I of Greece; and aunt, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna of Russia; Duke Charles of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg; and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.]

Marriage

On Saturday 27 July 1889, Princess Louise married the 6th Earl Fife (11 October 1849 – 29 December 1912), at the Private Chapel in Buckingham Palace [Her bridesmaids were The Princesses Maud and Victoria of Wales, Victoria Mary of Teck, Marie Louise and Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein and The Countesses Feodora, Helena and Victoria Gleichen] . He was eighteen years her senior. 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 of Fife and Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife had three children:

*Alastair Duff, Marquess of Macduff (stillborn 16 June 1890).
*Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife (17 May 1891 – 26 February 1959) m. her first cousin once removed Prince Arthur of Connaught (13 January 1883 – 12 September 1938), and had issue.
*Princess Maud of Fife (3 April 1893 – 14 December 1945) m. the 11th Earl of Southesk, and had issue.

Princess Royal

On 9 November 1905, Edward VII declared Princess Louise the 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 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. It should be noted that 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, the third son of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise is the maternal grandmother of the 3rd Duke of Fife.

Later life

Princess Louise of Wales received the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert 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 Gross (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.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

*20 February 1867 – 27 June 1889: "Her Royal Highness" Princess Louise of Wales
*27 – 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, Duchess of Fife

Arms

Upon her marriage, Princess Louise was granted a coat of arms, being those of the kingdom with an inescutcheon for Saxony, all differenced with a label argent of five points, the outer pair and centre bearing crosses gules, and the inner pair bearing thistles proper [ [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/cadency.htm Heraldica – British Royal Cadency] ] . The inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant in 1917.

Ancestors

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1= 1. Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife
2= 2. Edward VII of the United Kingdom
3= 3. Alexandra of Denmark
4= 4. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
5= 5. Victoria of the United Kingdom
6= 6. Christian IX of Denmark
7= 7. Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
8= 8. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
9= 9. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
10= 10. Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
11= 11. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
12= 12. Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
13= 13. Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
14= 14. Prince William of Hesse
15= 15. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark
16= 16. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
17= 17. Princess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf
18= 18. Emil, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
19= 19. Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
20= 20. George III of the United Kingdom
21= 21. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
22= 22. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (= 16)
23= 23. Princess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf (= 17)
24= 24. Frederick Charles Louis, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck
25= 25. Countess Friederike von Schlieben
26= 26. Charles of Hesse
27= 27. Princess Louise of Denmark and Norway
28= 28. Prince Frederick of Hesse
29= 29. Caroline of Nassau-Usingen
30= 30. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway
31= 31. Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Notes

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