Louise, Princess Royal, a shy and withdrawn princess

Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar was born on  February  20, 1867 at Marlborough House, the London home of her parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. She spent much of her childhood at Sandringham House, the family’s country home in Norfolk, and she would join her family on occasional summer holidays in Denmark, her mother’s homeland.  Louise, together with her younger sisters Victoria and Maud, was educated under the supervision of tutors.


Described as a very withdrawn girl, Louise and her sisters lived very isolated lives, smothered by their mother who did not wish to see her children away from her side. Despite attempts on the part of the Princess of Wales to keep Louise unmarried, she nevertheless married Alexander Duff, 6th Earl Fife on Saturday, July 27, 1889 at the Private Chapel in Buckingham Palace. The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated the service. The groom was 18 years her senior.

The couple had three children: Alastair Duff, Marquess of Macduff (stillborn June 16, 1890); Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife (May 17, 1891 – February 26, 1959); and Princess Maud (April 3,1893 – December 14, 1945). The couple resided at Mar Lodge, a sporting lodge built for them by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie.

Two days after the wedding, Queen Victoria elevated  Earl Fife's title and created him Duke of Fife and Marquess of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The letters patent creating this dukedom provided that the titles would pass to a male heir lawfully begotton.  However, on April 24, 1900 (by now it was impossible for the princess to bear a son and heir to her husband’s title) Queen Victoria signed letters patent creating a second Dukedom of Fife, along with the Earldom of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. A special remainder allowed the daughters of the 1st Duke, and then to their male descendants, to inherit his titles, in the absence of a male heir.

Princess Louise in 1901. Image from Wikipedia, colourised by Royal Splendor blog.

The Duke and Duchess of Fife, c1889. Image from Wikipedia, colourised by Royal Splendor Blog.

Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife with her daughters Princess Maud of Fife and Princess Alexandra of Fife, ca 1911. Image from Library of Congress via Wikipedia.

On November 9, 1905, Edward VII created Louise the Princess Royal, the highest honour bestowed on a female member of the royal family. At the same time, the King declared that the two daughters of the Princess Royal would be styled as princesses, with the style and attribute of "Highness" and with precedence immediately after all members of the royal family bearing the style of "Royal Highness".

In December 1911, the Princess Royal and her family survived a shipwreck while sailing aboard SS Delhi to Egypt. Although they survived unharmed, the Duke of Fife contracted pleurisy and died at Assuan, Egypt, in January 1912. After her husband’s death, Princess Louise withdrew from whatever limited participation she had both in royal life and in society, although she would sometimes accompany her mother and sister Victoria to public events. She eventually suffered from heart disease. In October 1929 she suffered from gastric hemorrhage while at Mar Lodge and had to be rushed back to London. She died in her sleep   in January 1931, a month before her 64th birthday, at her home in Portman Square, London, with her two daughters at her bedside. She was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Her remains were later removed to the Private Chapel, Mar Lodge, Braemar, Aberdeenshire.

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