Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay

Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay GCVO KCB DSO, (29 May 1881 – 8 October 1972) was a member of the British Royal Family, he was also a British naval officer who was the husband of Princess Patricia of Connaught, the youngest child of the Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria. He served with distinction during the First World War. During the 1920s and 1930s, he held several important Naval Aviation commands.

Early life and career

Born in London as the third son of John William Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie and his wife, Lady Ida Louisa Bennet, entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in HMS "Britannia" in 1894 and later went to sea on HMS "Majestic", the flagship of Admiral Sir Walter Kerr in the Channel Sqaudron. In October 1911, he became a naval aide-de-camp to the Duke of Connaught, then Governor General of Canada. He returned to active naval duty in 1913 as the gunnery officer of the battlecruiser "Indefatigable" in the Mediterranean.

Ramsay took part in several important naval operations of the First World War. He took part in the first phase of the bombardment of the Dardanelles forts in November 1914 and later at Gallipoli. He received the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) for his conduct there. Ramsay rose to the rank of Commander in late 1914 and became flag commander of the Second Squadron in 1916. He gained promotion to Captain in 1919 and served as the naval attaché in Paris for the next three years.

Marriage into the Royal Family

On 27 February 1919, the then-Captain Ramsay married Princess Patricia of Connaught at Westminster Abbey, in the presence of the entire British Royal Family. On the day of the wedding, Princess Patricia voluntarily relinquished the title of "Princess of Great Britain and Ireland" and the style "Royal Highness", and assumed by Royal Warrant the style "Lady Patricia Ramsay" with precedence before the Marchionesses of England. Despite his wife's relinquishment of her royal title, however the couple remained members of the British Royal Family and attended major royal events for the next forty years. They had one son, Alexander Ramsay of Mar.

Aviation Commands and Flag Rank

In 1928, Ramsay assumed command of the aircraft carrier HMS "Furious" in the Atlantic Fleet. He gained promotion to rear admiral in 1933 and for the next five years commanded the aircraft carriers in the fleet. King George V made him a Companion of the Order of the Bath (C.B.) in the 1934 New Year's Honours. He subsequently advanced to the rank of Knight Commander in that order.

Ramsay served as Commander in Chief, East Indies Station from 1936 to 1938 and then became Fifth Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Air Services. Ramsay held this post until the outbreak of World War II. He was promoted to Admiral and retired at his own request in 1942. King George VI knighted him on 18 February 1938, and invested him with the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (G.C.V.O.) on 6 July that year.

Admiral Ramsay died at Ribsden Holt, Windlesham, Surrey in 1972. He was buried at Frogmore Royal Burial Ground.

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