Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife

• Navn/titel: Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prinsesse af United Kingdom
• As a result of her marriage, Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom was styled as Duchess of Fife on 27 July 1889.
• Lady to the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (V.A.).
• Commander-in-Chief of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards.
• Decorated with the award of Imperial Order of the Crown of India (C.I.).
• HRH Princess Royal Louise of the United Kingdom on 9 November 1905.
• Also went by the nick-name of Lulu.

Links:

• The Peerage
• Geneall
• Johann the Younger #1890 + #1946
• Wikipedia

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Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife was the third child and the eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra; she was a younger sister of King George V. In 1905, her father gave her the title of Princess Royal, which is usually bestowed on the eldest daughter of the British monarch.

Princess Louise was born at Marlborough House, the London residence of her parents, then the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King 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 limited formal education.

She was baptised at Marlborough House on 10 May 1867 by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury.

She and her sisters, Maud and Victoria, were bridesmaids at the wedding of their paternal aunt Princess Beatrice, to Prince Henry of Battenberg.

On Saturday 27 July 1889, Princess Louise married Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, at the Private Chapel in Buckingham Palace. 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 heirs male of the body lawfully begotten. However, it 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 and Duchess of Fife had three children: Alastair Duff, Marquess of Macduff, stillborn 16 June 1890 Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife (Alexandra Victoria Alberta Edwina Louise; 17 May 1891 – 26 February 1959), married her first cousin once removed, Prince Arthur of Connaught (13 January 1883 – 12 September 1938), and had issue. Her Highness Princess Maud of Fife (Maud Alexandra Victoria Georgina Bertha; 3 April 1893 – 14 December 1945) married the 11th Earl of Southesk, and had issue. Princess Royal[edit] On 9 November 1905, King Edward VII created Princess 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 precedence immediately after all members of the royal family bearing the style of "Royal Highness".

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. Princess Alexandra later married Prince Arthur of Connaught, a first cousin of Princess Louise.

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 Cross (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.

In the autumn of 1929 at Mar Lodge she was taken ill with gastric hemorrhage and was brought back to London. The Princess Royal died fifteen months later 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, Braemar, Aberdeenshire.