Birth of Louise, Princess Royal, Duchess of Fife
Princess Louise was the eldest daughter and third child of King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, and Alexandra of Denmark.
She was born on 20th February 1867 at Marlborough House, the London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Louise experienced a happy childhood on her parent’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, and spent annual holidays in Denmark.
None of Alexandra’s daughters inherited their mother’s beauty, and more resembled their father’s Hanoverian side of the family.
Louise developed into a very reserved young woman commonly referred to as “Her Royal Shyness”
She and her sisters were often referred to collectively as the ‘whispering Wales’.
Louise had two older brothers, Albert Victor Christian Edward, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, known as ‘Eddy’ and Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert of Wales, later King George V.
A third brother, Prince Alexander John of Wales had died soon after birth.
Her two younger sisters were Victoria known as “Toria” and Maud who became Queen of Norway.
Alexandra of Denmark was an indulgent mother who adored her children, although Louise’s grandmother Queen Victoria often disapproved of the behaviour of her Wales grandchildren.
On 27 July 1889, at the Private Chapel in Buckingham Palace, Louise married the extremely wealthy Alexander William George Duff – 6th Earl of Fife.
Louise and Alexander were third cousins, both being descended from King George III.
The couple’s first child Alastair Duff, Marquess of Macduff, was stillborn on 16th June 1890.
A daughter followed, Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife, born on 17th May 1891.
A second daughter Princess Maud, was born on 3rd April 1893.
When it eventually became obvious that the Duke and Duchess would not produce a surviving son, Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent creating a second Dukedom of Fife, 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.
Louise’s father succeeded Queen Victoria as King Edward VII in 1901, and on 9 November 1905, created Louise the Princess Royal, a title traditionally bestowed on the eldest daughter of the sovereign.
At the same time, her daughters Alexandra and Maud were created princesses and given the title of highness.
While sailing to Egypt in December 1911, where she intended to spend the winter for her health, Louise and her family were shipwrecked when the liner S.S. Delhi ran aground off the coast of Morocco in a storm.
Although the family escaped into a lifeboat, the survivors then had to walk four miles in driving rain to Cape Spartel Lighthouse.
Louise’s husband caught a chill that developed into pleurisy.
Alexander died at Assuan, Egypt in January 1912.
His eldest daughter Princess Alexandra succeeded to his dukedom, becoming Duchess of Fife in her own right.
Louise Princess Royal, became more reclusive after her husband’s death.
Known for her shy and quiet personality, Louise remained a low-key member of the royal family throughout her life.[
She was taken ill in the autumn of 1929 at Mar Lodge with a gastric haemorrhage, and was brought back to London.
Louise died fifteen months later at the age of sixty-three on 4th January 1931, at her London home.
Louise Princess Royal was buried in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Her remains were later reinterred at the Private Chapel, Mar Lodge Mausoleum, in Braemar, Aberdeenshire.
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