User:PeterSymonds/Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

Princess Louise
Duchess of Argyll
Princess Louise, c. 1901
Burial	Frogmore, Windsor
Spouse	John, Duke of Argyll
Names Louise Caroline Alberta
House	House of Windsor House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Father	Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Mother	Victoria

The Princess Louise, (Louise Caroline Alberta; later Marchioness of Lorne and Duchess of Argyll by marriage; 18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939) was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Princess Louise was born into the intimate family atmosphere of Victoria and Albert. Her early life was spent between the various royal residences in the company of her family. Her father, the Prince Consort, died on 14 December 1861, after which the court went into a period of intense mourning. Louise was unsympathetic to Victoria's prolonged mourning, and her dissatisfaction with the royal court led her to pursue artistic talents such as sculpture and painting. She was also a supporter of the women's movement, and was known to Josephine Butler and Elizabeth Garrett.

As an unmarried daughter of Victoria, Louise served as an unofficial secretary to her mother between 1866 and 1871. The question of Louise's marriage was discussed by the 1870s. Royal suitors from the royal houses of Prussia and Denmark were suggested by members of Queen Victoria's family, but Victoria wanted new blood in the British royal family, and therefore suggested a member of the British aristocracy. Despite opposition from members of the royal family, Louise fell in love with John, Marquess of Lorne, the heir to the Duke of Argyll, and Victoria consented to the marriage, which took place on 21 March 1871. Despite a happy beginning, the two drifted apart, possibly because of her childlesness and the Queen's constraints on their activities.

In 1878, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, appointed Lorne Governor General of Canada. Louise thus became Viceregal consort, but her stay was unhappy as a result of homesickliness and dislike of Ottawa, and she lost some popularity as a result.

Following Victoria's death on 22 January 1901, she entered the social circle established by her brother, the new King Edward VII. Louise and her husband reconciled in 1911, and she was devastated by his death in 1914. Following the end of the war in 1918, she became a gradual recluse, undertaking few public duties outside of Kensington Palace. She died at Kensington on 3 December 1939 at the age of ninety-one.

Early life

Victoria's daughters. A family photograph mourning the death of Prince Albert. Louise is on the bottom right

Louise was born 18 March 1848 at Buckingham Palace, London. She was the fourth daughter and seventh child of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her birth came at the time of the 1848 revolutions which swept across Europe, prompting the Queen to remark that Louise would turn out to be “something peculiar”. The queen's seventh pregnancy was the last to be unaided with the use of chloroform. Albert and Victoria chose the names Louise Caroline Alberta, and she was christened at Buckingham Palace's private chapel by John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury, on May 13 1848. Her godparents were Gustav of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (for whom Prince Albert stood proxy); Marie, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen; (for whom Queen Adelaide stood proxy); and The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (for whom The Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy). During the ceremony, Princess Mary, the Duchess of Gloucester, one of the few children of King George III who were still alive, forgot where she was, and suddenly got up in the middle of the service and knelt at the Queen's feet, much to the Queen's horror.

Like her other siblings, Louise was brought up with the strict programme of education devised by her father, Prince Albert, and his friend and confidant, Baron Stockmar. The young children were taught practical tasks, such as cooking, farming, household tasks and carpentry.

From her early years, Louise was an talented and intelligent child, and her artistic talents were quickly recognised. Hallam Tennyson, the son of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, remarked that Louise could “draw beautifully” on his visit to Osborne in 1863. Her inquisitive nature earned her the nickname “Little Miss Why” from other members of the royal family. Because of her royal rank, an artistic career was out of the question. However, in 1863, the Queen allowed her to attend art school under the tuition of the sculptress Mary Thornycroft. Louise also became an able dancer. Victoria wrote, after a dance, that Louise “danced the sword dance with more verve and accuracy than any of her sisters”. Her wit and intelligence made her a favourite with her father.

Death of Prince Albert

Princess Louise in the 1860s

Louise's father, Prince Albert, died at Windsor on 14 December 1861. The Queen was devastated, and ordered her household to move from Windsor to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The atmosphere of the royal court became gloomy and morbid in the wake of the Prince's death, and entertainments became dry and dull. Louise quickly became dissatisfied with her mother's prolonged mourning. For her seventeenth birthday, Louise requested the ballroom to be opened for a debutante dance, the like of which had not been performed since Prince Albert's death. Her request was refused. She soon got bored of the mundane routine of travelling between the different royal residences at set times, and her reaction irritated her mother, who considered Louise to be indiscreet and argumentative.

The Queen comforted herself by rigidly moving forward with Prince Albert's plans for their children. Princess Alice was married to Prince Louis, the future Grand Duke of Hesse, at Osborne on June 1 1862. In 1863, Edward, the Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The Queen made it a tradition that the eldest unmarried daughter would become her unofficial secretary, and Louise took up that role following Princess Helena's marriage to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein in 1866. Despite the Queen's concerns that Louise was indiscreet, she proved to be good at the job. Victoria wrote shortly afterwards: “She is (and who would some years ago have thought it?) a clever dear girl with a fine strong character, unselfish and affectionate.” However, when Louise fell in love with her brother Leopold's tutor, Reverend Robinson Duckworth, between 1866 and 1870, The Queen reacted by dismissing Duckworth in 1870. This was not the first time that the Queen had to remove romantic temptation from her daughters. In 1863, Princess Helena had a flirtation with Prince Albert's former librarian, Carl Ruland. He was promptly sent back to Germany and never lost the Queen's hostility.

Louise was bored by the court, and by fulfilling her duties–little more than minor secretarial tasks, such as writing letters on the Queen's behalf; helping with the large amount of daily personal and political correspondence; and providing the Queen with company when moving between the royal residences–as an unofficial secretary, she had more responsibility than she had before.

Marriage

Suitable suitors

As a daughter of the Queen, Louise was a desirable bride. This was further enhanced by the fact that she was Victoria's most beautiful daughter. However, her appearance was also the subject of negative press reports of alleged romantic affairs. This, coupled with her liberalism and feminism, prompted the Queen to find her a husband. The choice had to suit the Queen as well as Louise, and therefore her new husband would have to be prepared to live close to the Queen, as Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein had promised when he married Princess Helena. Various suitors were proposed by the leading royal houses of Europe. Princess Alexandra proposed her brother, the Crown Prince of Denmark, but the Queen was strongly opposed to another Danish marriage that could annoy Prussia. The Crown Princess of Prussia, Louise's eldest sister, proposed the tall and rich Prince Albrecht of Prussia. Queen Victoria disapproved of another Prussian marriage, which would have been unpopular in England. He was also reluctant to settle in England as required. William, Prince of Orange was also considered a suitor, but because of his lifestyle, the Queen vetoed the idea.

Princess Louise and the Marquess of Lorne. The official engagement photo (W & D Downey, 1870)

It was Louise herself who found marriage to a Prince undesirable, and announced that she wished to marry John Campbell, the Marquess of Lorne and heir to the Duke of Argyll. No British princess had married a commoner since Mary Tudor married Charles Brandon, the first Duke of Suffolk in 1515. Louise's brother, the Prince of Wales, was strongly against a marriage with a non-mediatized noble. Furthermore, Lorne's father, George Campbell, the eighth Duke of Argyll, was an ardent supporter of William Gladstone, and the Prince of Wales was worried that he may have dragged the royal family into political disputes. Nevertheless, the opposition was crushed by the Queen, who wrote to the Prince of Wales in 1869:

“ That which you object to [that Louise should marry a subject] I feel certain will be for Louise's happiness and for the peace and quiet of the family...Times have changed; great foreign alliances are looked on as causes of trouble and anxiety, and are of no good. What could be more painful than the position in which our family were placed during the wars with Denmark, and between Prussia and Austria?...You may not be aware, as I am, with what dislike the marriages of Princesses of the Royal Family with small German Princes (German beggars as they most insultingly were called)...As to position, I see no difficulty whatever; Louise remains what she is, and her husband keeps his rank...only being treated in the family as a relation when we are together... ”

The Queen went on to mention that Louise's marriage with a subject will strengthen the hold of the royal family, and bring “new blood”, while all Princes abroad were related to each other. The Queen was convinced that this new blood would strengthen the phone morally and physically.

Engagement and wedding

Princess Louise was engaged to the Marquess of Lorne on 3 October 1870. Lorne was invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and accompanied Louise, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hatherley and Queen Victoria's lady-in-waiting, Jane, Marchioness of Ely on a drive. Later that day, Louise returned and announced to the Queen that Lorne had “spoken of his devotion” to Louise, and his proposal was accepted knowing that the Queen would approve. The Queen found it difficult to let go of her daughters, confiding to her journal that she “felt painfully the thought of losing her”. The new breach in royal tradition caused surprise, especially in Germany, and Queen Victoria wrote to the Queen of Prussia that princes of small impoverished German houses were “very unpopular” in Britain and that Lord Lorne, a “person of distinction at home” with “an independent fortune” was “really no lower in rank than minor German Royalty.”

The ceremony was conducted at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on March 21 1871. The crowd outside was so large that, for the first time, policemen had to form chain barriers to keep control. Louise wore a wedding veil of Honiton lace that she designed herself, and was escorted into the Chapel by her mother, the Queen, and her two eldest brothers, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. On this occasion, the usually severe black of the Queen's mourning dress was relieved by the crimson rubies and blues of the Garter star. Following the ceremony, the Queen kissed Louise, and Lorne–now a member of the royal family–kissed the Queen's hand. The couple then journeyed to Claremont in Surrey for the honeymoon, but the presence of attendants on the journey, and at meal times, made it impossible for them to talk privately. The short four day visit did not pass without an interruption from the Queen, who was curious about her daughter's thoughts on married life.

Viceregal Consort of Canada

Inauspicious arrival

Princess Louise in Canada

In 1878, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, appointed Lorne Canada's new Governor General. Louise thus became his Viceregal Consort. On November 15 1878, the couple left Liverpool, and arrived officially in Halifax on November 25.

Princess Louise became the first royal to take up residence in Rideau Hall, officially the Queen's royal residence in Ottawa. However, the hall was far from the splendour of British royal residences, and was spare in décor. Louise, who put her artistic talents to work, hung many of her watercolour and oil paintings around the hall and installed her sculpted works. However, their arrival was not welcomed by the Canadian press, which complained about the imposition of royalty on the country's previously untainted democracy. Relations with the press further deteriorated when Lorne's private secretary, Francis de Winton, threw four journalists off the royal train without permission. Though the Lornes had no knowledge of de Winton's action, it was assumed that they did, and they earned an early reputation for haughtiness. Louise was horrified with the negative press, and when she heard about reports of “a nation of flunkies” at the Viceregal court, taking lessons in the “the backward walk”, Louise declared that she “wouldn't care if they came in blanket coats!”

Canadian entertainments

Louise's first few months in Canada were tinged with sadness, as her favourite sister, Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, died on December 14 1878. Homesickliness made the couple's first Christmas in Canada unhappy, but Louise soon grew accustomed to the winter climate. Sleighing and skating were two of Louise's favourite pastimes. In Canada, Lorne always took precedence over Louise, so at the Canadian State Opening of Parliament on 13 February 1879, Louise remained standing until Lorne as Governor General requested the attendants to be seated. In order for Lorne to meet every Canadian member of parliament, he held bi-weekly dinners for fifty people. However, some of the Canadian ladies responded negatively to the British party. One of Louise's ladies-in-waiting reported that some of them had a “‘I'm as good as you’ sort of manner when one begins a conversation.” Court entertainments were open house; anyone who could afford the clothing to attend viceregal functions were simply asked to sign the visitor's book. Louise's first state ball was given on February 19 1879, and she made a good impression on her guests when she ordered the silk corden, separating the viceregal party from the guests, be removed. However, the ball was also marred by various mishaps, including a drunken bandsman nearly starting a fire when he pulled a curtain over a gas lamp. The open house scenario was also criticised by guests who complained about the social status of other guests. One customer was horrified when they discovered that they were dancing in the same social set as their grocer.

The Marquess of Lorne opening the Canadian Parliament, accompanied by Princess Louise, in 1879

Louise and Lorne worked to found the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and enjoyed visiting Quebec, where they made their summer home, and Toronto. Lorne's father, the Duke of Argyll, arrived with two of his daughters in June, and in the presence of the family, Louise caught a twenty-eight pound salmon. The women's success at fishing prompted the Duke to remark that fishing in Canada required no skill.

Sleigh accident

Princess Louise, along with Lorne and two attendants, was the victim of a sleigh accident on February 14 1880. The winter was particularly bad, and the carriage they were travelling in overturned, throwing the coachman and footman off the sleigh. The horses then panicked, and dragged the overturned carriage 366 metres. Louise was temporarily knocked unconscious when she hit her head on the iron bar supporting the roof, and Lorne was trapped underneath her, expecting “the sides of the carriage to give way at any moment”. Eventually, the horses calmed themselves as they overtook the sleigh ahead, and the occupant, Princess Louise's aide-de-camp, ordered an empty carriage to convey the injured party back to Rideau Hall.

The doctors who attended Louise reported that she was severely concussed and in shock, and that “it was a wonder her skull was not fractured”. Louise's ear was injured when her earring caught on the side of the sleigh, tearing her ear lobe in two. The press played down the story under the instruction of Lorne's private secretary, an act that was criticised. Knowledge of Louise's true condition would have won sympathy from the Canadian people. As it was, one MP wrote: “Except the cut in the lower part of the ear I think there was no injury done worth mentioning.” Therefore, when Princess Louise cancelled her immediate engagements, the people thought she was malingering. News of the accident in Britain was also played down, as were letters home to the anxious Queen Victoria.

Victoria's last years

Family conflict

Louise returned to Britain, from Quebec, with her husband on October 27 1883, and landed at Liverpool, where the couple were greeted with cheering crowds. Queen Victoria had prepared apartments at Kensington Palace, and the couple took up official residence there. Louise would retain those apartments until her death there fifty-six years later. Lorne resumed his political career, and campaigned for, and losing, the Hampstead seat in 1885. In 1896, he won the South Manchester seat, entering parliament as a Liberal.

The Marquess of Lorne, Louise's husband

However, Louise's relationship with the two sisters closest to the Queen, Beatrice and Helena, was strained at best. In 1885, Beatrice married the tall and handsome Prince Henry of Battenberg. Despite the fact that middle age settled early over the plump Beatrice, she and Prince Henry were in love, and Beatrice produced four children. By contrast, the childless Louise remained strikingly good looking throughout her forties, but she and her husband were no longer close, and rumours spread about Lorne's alleged homosexuality. Following Prince Henry's death in 1896, Louise wrote that: “he [Henry] was almost the greatest friend I had–I, too, miss him more than I can say.” However, in addition, Louise attempted to champion her late brother-in-law by announcing that she was Prince Henry's confidante and that Beatrice, a mere cipher, meant nothing to him. Louise had a jealous nature, and had grown accustomed to treating Beatrice with pity on account of the Queen's constant need for her. Now, Beatrice had married and was enjoying a satisfying sexual relationship with her popular husband, which Louise was not. Louise may have also considered Prince Henry a more appropriate husband for herself.

Relations between Louise and Lorne were also strained, and they often went their own ways, despite the Queen's attempts to keep them under one roof. Lorne's relationship with the rest of the royal family was also strained. Even when he accompanied Louise, he was not always received with favour at court, and the Prince of Wales did not to him. Out of all the royal family, Lorne was the only one to be identified closely with a political party, having been a Gladstonian liberal in the House of Commons.

Rumours of affairs

Further rumours spread that Louise was having an affair with Arthur Bigge, later Lord Stamfordham, the Queen's assistant private secretary. When the affair was exposed, Prince Henry claimed to have seen Bigge drinking Louise's health at dinner. Louise denied the rumour, claiming that it was started by Beatrice and Helena to undermine her position at court. Relations between the royal sisters sporadically improved, and it was Louise, not the Queen, who was the first to arrive at Cimiez to be with the widowed Beatrice. Nevertheless, Louise's jealousy was did not evaporate completely. James Reid, the Queen's physician, wrote to his wife a few years later: “Louise is as usual much down on her sisters. Hope she won't stay long or she will do mischief!”

Rumours of affairs did not only surround Bigge. In 1890, the famous sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm died in Louise's presence at his studio in London, leading to rumours that the two were having a sexual affair. Boehm's assistant, Alfred Gilbert, played a central role in comforting Louise after Boehm's death, and he was rapidly promoted as a sculptor to royalty. Gilbert also supervised the destruction of Boehm's private papers.

During Victoria's last years, Louise carried out a range of public duties, such as opening public buildings, laying foundation stones, and officiating at special programs. Louise, like her eldest sister the Empress Frederick, was more liberal minded, and supported the suffragist movement, completely contrary to the Queen's views. Furthermore, Louise often visited Britain's first female doctor, Elizabeth Garrett. Queen Victoria deplored the idea of women joining professions, especially the medical profession, and described the training of female doctors as a “repulsive subject”.

Unconventional royal

Louise was determined to be seen as an ordinary person and not as a member of the court. When travelling abroad, she often used the alias “Mrs Campbell” Louise was known for her charity towards servants. On one occasion, the butler approached her and requested permission to dismiss the second footman, who was late getting out of bed. When she advised that the footman be given an alarm clock, the butler informed her that he already had one. She then went so far as to suggest a bed that would throw him out at a specified time, but she was told this was not feasible. Finally, she suggested that he might be ill, and when he was checked, he was found to be suffering from tuberculosis. The footman was therefore sent to New Zealand to recover. On another occasion, when she visited Bermuda, she was invited to a reception and chose to walk rather than be driven. She became thirsty along the way and stopped at a house, where she asked a Black woman named Mrs McCarthy for a glass of water. Owing to the scarcity of water, the woman had to go some distance to obtain it, but was reluctant because she had to finish her ironing. When Louise offered to continue the ironing, the woman refused, adding that she was in a great hurry to finish so that she could go and see Princess Louise. Realising that she had not been recognised, Louise enquired whether McCarthy would recognise her again. When she failed to do so, Louise replied: “Well take a good look at me now, so you can be sure to know me tomorrow at St. Georges.” The Princess clung to her privacy, and enjoyed not being recognised.

Louise had her sisters had another disagreement after the death of the Queen's close friend, Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill. Determined not to put her mother through more misery, Louise wanted the news to be broken to the Queen grandually. When this was not done, Louise voiced her sharp criticism of Helena and Beatrice. One month later, on 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. In her will, the Queen had bequeathed to Louise Kent House, on the Osborne Estate, as a country residence. She also gave Louise's youngest sister Beatrice Osborne Cottage. Both Louise and Beatrice were now neighbours both at Kensington Palace and Osborne.

Later life

1901–1914

Princess Louise, painted by the society portraitist Philip de László in 1915

Upon Queen Victoria's death, Louise entered the social circle of her brother, the new King Edward VII, with whom she had much in common, including smoking. She had an obsession with physical fitness, and if she was sneered at for this, she would retort by saying: “Nevermind I'll outlive you all.” Meanwhile, Louise's husband, 9th Duke of Argyll since 1900, took his seat in the House of Lords. The Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, offered him the office of Governor General of Australia that year, but the offer was declined. Louise continued her sculpture, and in 1902, designed a memorial to the Colonial Soldiers who died in the Boer War. In the same year, she began a nude study on a married woman suggested by the English painter Sir William Blake Richmond.

Louise spent much of her time at Kent House, near Osborne, which had been left to her by her mother. However, she frequently visited Scotland with her husband. Financial pressures did not disappear when Lorne succeeded as Duke of Argyll, and Louise refused avoided inviting the King to Inveraray, Argyll's ancestral home, because the couple were economizing. When Queen Victoria had visited the house before her husband became the Duke, there were seventy servants and seventy-four dogs. By the time of her brother's accession, there were four servants and two dogs.

The Duke of Argyll's health continued to deteriorate. He became increasingly senile, and Louise nursed him devotedly from 1911. In these years Louise and her husband were closer than they had been before. In the Spring of 1914, Louise stayed at Kensington Palace while her husband remained on the Isle of Wight. He developed bronchial problems followed by double pneumonia. His Duchess was sent for on 28 April 1914, and he died on May 2. Following his death, Louise had a nervous breakdown and suffered from intense loneliness, writing to a friend shortly afterwards: “My loneliness without the Duke is quite terrible. I wonder what he does now!”

Last years

Louise spent her last years at Kensington Palace, occupying rooms next to her sister Princess Beatrice. She made occasional public appearances with the royal family, such as at the Cenotaph at Whitehall on 11 November 1925. However, her health deteriorated. In 1935, She greeted her nephew King George V and Queen Mary at Kensington Town Hall during their Silver Jubilee celebrations, and was made an Honourary Freeman of the Borough of Kensington. Her last public appearance occurred in 1937, at the Home Arts and Industries Exhibition. Between these occasions, her great nephew, King Edward VIII, abdicated on December 11 1936. Louise's brother, the Duke of Connaught, wrote to her during the abdication crisis:

“ I can't bear the whole thing and much as I like D. [David, the family name for King Edward VIII] and would like to help and look up to him as our Sovereign, I feel, to my great sorrow, that I find it difficult to have the same respect for him now that I had. I am awfully sorry for him, for I feel that he must be having a terrible time just now. But what about all of us? ”

However, he later added: “Wrong headed as I think he was in his friendships, and in his loves, we must always remember that he was but human.”

Princess Louise's grave (centre) at the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore

In December, 1936, Louise wrote to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, sympathising with him about the crisis. Following the accession of Edward's brother King George VI, she became too ill to move around, and became known as the “Grand Lady of Kensington”. She developed neuritis in her arm; inflammation of the nerves between the ribs; fainting fits; and sciatica. Louise occupied herself by drafting prayers. One of was sent to Neville Chamberlain reading “Guide our Ministers of State and all who are in authority over us...”

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, died at Kensington Palace on the morning of 3 December 1939 at the age of ninety-one. Unusally for a member of the royal family, she was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on December 8. Following a simple funeral owing to the war, she was buried without the regal pomp and circumstance on December 12, with many members of the royal and Argyll families present. Although originally interred at St. George's Chapel, her ashes were later moved to the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore, near Windsor, on 13 March 1940.

Legacy

Princess Louise's will stated that if she died in Scotland, she should be buried at Kilmun next to her husband, and if she died in England, at Frogmore near her parents. However, owing to the Second World War, troops and submarines were stationed around the Holy Loch, making access impossible, so the Princess would have had to be buried at Windsor wherever she died. Her coffin was borne by her own regiment, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, whose current commander-in-chief, her great-great-niece Queen Elizabeth II, was among those at her funeral on December 12 1939. Queen Elizabeth later recalled that Louise and her sister Beatrice would talk until they stunned their audience with their output of words.

Louise was the most artistically talented of Queen Victoria's daughters. As well as being an able actor, pianist and dancer, she was a prolific artist and sculptress. When Louise sculpted a statue of the Queen, portraying her in Coronation robes, the Press claimed that her tutor, Sir Edgar Boehm, was the true creator of the work. This claim that was denied by Louise's friends, who asserted her effort and independence. A memorial to her brother-in-law, Prince Henry of Battenberg, and a memorial to the Colonial soldiers who fell during the Boer War, reside at Whippingham Church on the Isle of Wight, and another statue of Queen Victoria remains at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

The province of Alberta in Canada is named after Louise. Although the name “Louise” was originally planned, the Princess wished to honour her dead father, so her last name was chosen. Although her time in Canada was not always happy, she liked the Canadian people and retained close links with her Canadian regiment. Back at home, she gained a reputation for paying unscheduled visits to hospitals, especially during her later years.

Louise's statue of Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace

Her relationship with her family was generally close. Although at times she bickered with the Queen, and her sisters Helena and Beatrice, the relations did not remain strained for long. She retained a lifelong correspondence with her brother, Prince Arthur, and was one of King Edward VII's favourite sisters. Even Louise did not escape her kleptomaniac niece-in-law, Queen Mary. On one visit to Kensington Palace, she had to stop Queen Mary clearing a room of furniture, and on another, when she started to admire a clock, Louise said firmly that “the clock is here, and here it will stay”. At the coronation of King George VI in 1937, Louise was concerned about her great-niece, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, to whom she lent her train.

Many of the buildings with which Louise would have been familiar remain today. The main royal residences that she regularly occupied, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral Castle, are all standing, and Osborne House, her mother's favourite home, is accessible to the public. Inveraray, the Duke of Argyll's home, remains, as do Rideau Hall and La Citadelle, the Govenment House's of Canada. Rosneath, Louise's favourite Scottish home, was demolished, following her death, in 1940. At her death, Louise was the eldest of the three surviving children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

16. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

8. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

17. Duchess Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

4. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

18. Henry XXIV, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf

9. Princess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf

19. Countess Caroline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg

2. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

20. Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

10. Emil, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

21. Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen

5. Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

22. Frederick Francis I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

11. Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

23. Louise of Saxe-Gotha

1. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

24. Frederick, Prince of Wales

12. George III of the United Kingdom

25. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha

6. Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

26. Charles Louis Frederick, Duke of Mecklenburg-Mirow

13. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

27. Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen

3. Victoria of the United Kingdom

28. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (= 16)

14. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (= 8)

29. Duchess Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (= 17)

7. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

30. Henry XXIV, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf (= 18)

15. Princess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf (= 9)

31. Countess Caroline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg (= 19)

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 18 March 1848 – 21 March 1871: Her Royal Highness The Princess Louise
• 21 March 1871 – 24 April 1900: Her Royal Highness The Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne
• 24 April 1900 – 3 December 1939: Her Royal Highness The Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

Princess Louise's coat of arms

Honours

• 21 January 1865: Lady of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (first class)
• January 1 1878: Companion of the Order of the Crown of India
• August 7 1885: Member of the Royal Red Cross
• February 10 1904: Royal Family Order of King Edward VII (second class)
• June 3 1911: Royal Family Order of King George V (second class)
• June 3 1918: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
• June 12 1927: Dame Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of St. John
• May 11 1937: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

Arms

In 1858, Louise and the three younger of her sisters were granted use of the royal arms, with an inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony, and differenced by a label argent of three points. On Louise's arms, the outer points bore cantons gules, and the centre a rose gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant from George V.

References

• Benson, E. F. Queen Victoria's Daughters (Appleton & Company, 1938)
• Blake McDougall Edmonton, D. Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1988) accessed 24 Jan 2008
• Buckle, George Earle, Letters of Queen Victoria 1862–1878 (John Murray, London, 1926)
• Chomet, Seweryn, Helena: A princess reclaimed (Begell House, New York, 1999) ISBN 1-56700-145-9
• Dennison, Matthew, The Last Princess: The Devoted Life of Queen Victoria's Youngest Daughter (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007) ISBN 978-0-297-84794-6
• Jaffe, Deborah, Victoria: A Celebration (Carlton Books Limited, London, 2000) ISBN 1-84222-180-9
• Longford, Elizabeth, Victoria R. I. (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Second Edition 1987) ISBN 0-297-84142-4
  • Darling Loosy: Letters to Princess Louise 1856 to 1939 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1991) ISBN 0 297 81179 7
• Lutyens, Mary, Lady Lytton's Diary (Rupert Hart-Davies, London, 1961)
• Marshall, Dorothy, Victoria, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972)
• Stocker, Mark, ‘Louise, Princess, duchess of Argyll (1848–1939)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 23 Jan 2008
• Victoria, Queen, More Leaves from the Journal of a Life in the Highlands from 1862–1882 (Smith & Elder, London, 1884)
• Wake, Jehanne, Princess Louise: Queen Victoria's unconventional daughter (Collins, London, 1988)

External links

• Announcement of Princess Louise's engagement to the Marquess of Lorne (London Gazette), 1870
• Ceremonial to be observed at Princess Louise's wedding (London Gazette), 1871