Princess Louise Margaret, Duchess of Connaught
Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (Luise Margarete Alexandra Victoria Agnes) (25 July 1860 - 14 July 1917) was a German princess, and later a member of the British Royal Family, the wife of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. She also served as the Viceregal Consort of Canada when her husband served as the Governor General of Canada from 1911 to 1916.
Early life
Princess Luise Margarete was born at Marmorpalais (Marble Palace) near Potsdam, Germany. Her father was Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (1828-1888), the son of Karl of Prussia (1801-1883) and his wife Marie Louise of Saxe-Weimar (1808-1877). Her mother was Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt (1837-1906), daughter of Leopold IV of Anhalt-Dessau. Her father, a nephew of the German Emperor Wilhelm I, distinguished himself as a field commander during the Battle of Metz and the campaigns west of Paris in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War.
Marriage
On 13 March 1879, Princess Luise Margarete married Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught at St. George's Chapel Windsor. Prince Arthur was the 7th child and 3rd son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. After her marriage she was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Connaught and her name was anglicized as Louise Margaret.
The Duke and Duchess of Connaught had three children:
- Princess Margaret of Connaught (15 January 1882 - 1 May 1920); married 15 June 1905 then-Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden (11 November 1882 - 15 September 1973); and had issue.
- Prince Arthur of Connaught (13 January 1883 - 12 September 1938); married 15 October 1913 his cousin once removed Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife (17 May 1891 - 26 February 1959; and had issue.
- Princess Patricia of Connaught (17 March 1886 - 12 January 1974); married 27 February 1919 Sir Alexander Ramsay (29 May 1881 - 8 October 1972; and had issue.
Duchess of Connaught
| Styles of The Duchess of Connaught |
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| Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
The Duchess of Connaught spent the first twenty years of her marriage accompanying her husband on his various deployments throughout the British empire. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught acquired Bagshot Park in Surrey as their country home and after 1900 used Clarence House as their London residence. She accompanied her husband to Canada in 1911, when he began his term as governor general. In 1916, she became colonel-in-chief of the 199th Canadian (Overseas) Infantry Battalion (The Duchess of Connaught's Own Irish-Canadian Rangers), CEF. In 1885, she became chief of the 64th (8th Brandenburg) Regiment of Infantry "Field Marshal General Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia", Prussian Army.
The maternity wing attached to Aldershot's former military hospital, the Cambridge Military hospital was also named in her honor as the Louise Margaret Maternity Hospital.
Queen Victoria invested the Duchess of Connaught with the Order of Victoria and Albert (first class) and appointed her a Lady of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India in March 1879. The Duchess became a member of the Royal Red Cross in 1883 and was invested as a Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem in 1888.
The Duchess of Connaught died of influenza and bronchitis at Clarence House, a casualty of the 1917-18 influenza epidemic. She was buried in the Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore, Windsor. The Duke of Connaught survived her by almost twenty-five years.
