Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

gigatos | December 28, 2021

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Summary

Arthur William Patrician Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (London, 1 May 1850 – Bagshot Park, 16 January 1942) was a prince of the United Kingdom and Duke of Connaught and Strathearn; he was the seventh son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

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Childhood

Arthur was born in Buckingham Palace on May 1, 1850, seventh son and third male of Queen Victoria and Prince Consort Albert. He was baptized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Bird Sumner, on June 22, in the private chapel of the palace and his godparents were Prince William of Prussia, his paternal great-aunt Princess Ida of Saxony-Meiningen (on behalf of whom attended his grandmother, the Duchess of Kent) and the Duke of Wellington.

Arturo, sources say, was an obedient and quiet child who looked very much like his father. He was Vittoria”s favorite male child.

Although he and his brothers received a strict upbringing, they were still allowed to play freely. At Osborne House, the royal family”s summer residence, they gave free rein to their vivacity. Their playmate was their affectionate father Albert, who sometimes built them toys.

Military career

From an early age, Arthur developed a great interest in a military career and in 1866, following his natural inclinations, he was enrolled in the Royal Military College in Woolwich, where he graduated two years later and obtained the rank of lieutenant in the corps of Royal Engineers from 18th June 1868. Transferred to the Royal Regiment of Artillery on November 2, 1868, on August 2, 1869 he joined the Rifle Brigade, his father”s regiment, with which he traveled to South Africa, Canada in 1869, Ireland, Egypt in 1882 and India from 1886 to 1890.

In Canada, Arturo, as an officer of the Montreal detachment of the Rifle Brigade, spent a year training and was involved in the defense of the Dominion from Fenian raids; initially the prince was kept on the sidelines, as it was believed that the Fenian, supported by the United States, would target him in the conflict, but it was later decided that his military skills came first. Immediately after his arrival in Halifax, Arturo visited Canada for eight weeks and in January 1870 he also went to Washington, where he met the President of the United States, Ulysses Simpson Grant. During his service in Canada he took part in the investiture ceremonies in Montréal, being invited to dances and garden parties, as well as attending the opening of parliament in Ottawa (the first member of the royal family to attend this event). All these acts were duly documented photographically and then sent to Queen Victoria. In addition to the social events, the prince took part in the Battle of Eccles Hill on May 25, 1870, defeating the Fenian forces and receiving the medal for the corresponding campaign.

Arthur positively impressed many Canadians. On October 1, 1869, he received the title of Chief of the Six Nations from the Iroquois of the Grand River Reserve in Ontario and the name Kavakoudge (meaning “the sun that flies from east to west under the guidance of the Great Spirit”), which allowed him to sit on tribal councils and vote on matters of tribal government. His appointment as Chief of the Six Nations also broke with the age-old tradition of the maximum number of 50 chiefs allowed, as he was the fifty-first. Of the prince, Lady Lisgar, wife of Canada”s next Governor General Lord Lisgar, said in a letter to Queen Victoria how much Canadians would like him back as Governor General someday.

Arthur was promoted to the honorary rank of colonel on June 14, 1871, to the actual rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1876, and to the actual rank of service colonel on May 29, 1880. Thirteen years later, on April 19, 1893, he was appointed general. The prince had hoped to succeed his mother”s cousin, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, as commander-in-chief of the British Army, after the latter had been forced to retire in 1895. This wish was not fulfilled, but Arthur was given command of the southern district of Aldershot in 1896. On 1 May 1900, on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, he was promoted by his mother to field marshal, and went on to hold other positions of great importance such as Commander-in-Chief of Ireland (1900-1904) and Inspector General of the Forces (1904-1907).

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Representative appointments and the contested marriage

On his mother”s birthday in 1874, Arthur was created a peer of the United Kingdom with the titles Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex. In 1899 Arthur became first in line to the throne of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, following the death of his nephew Alfred of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the only male child of his older brother Alfred. However, he decided a few days later to renounce his rights of succession to the duchy in favor of his nephew, Charles Edward, posthumous son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.

Arturo was a womanizer, but he had brought only one big displeasure to his mother: he was engaged to a princess that Vittoria did not like. It was Luisa Margherita of Prussia, daughter of the extravagant cousin of Frederick Charles of Prussia and niece of the German emperor William I. She was a girl with an unregal aspect and a face not at all beautiful; beyond the physical aspect, the mole of the girl was the separation of her parents, a rather scandalous situation. Vittoria was sorry that her favorite son had to throw to the wind any chance of prestige by marrying a girl of very inferior tone, even if she was a member of one of the most powerful families in Europe. At the end the marriage was celebrated anyway, in the Chapel of Saint George of Windsor castle, on March 13, 1879.

For many years, Arthur had an affair with Lady Leonie Leslie, sister of Lady Randolph Churchill, though he remained forever devoted to his wife.

In addition to his military career, he continued his official duties by touring Canada again with his wife in 1890 and stopping in all the major cities of the country, while in 1895 he returned to India for a few weeks. In 1910 the Duke traveled aboard the Balmoral Castle of the Union-Castle Line to South Africa, to open the first session of the newly formed Parliament of the Union, and then stopped in Johannesburg on November 30, where he laid the foundation stone of the “Rand Regiments Memorial”, dedicated to British soldiers who died during the Second Boer War.

When his older brother ascended to the throne in 1901 as Edward VII, Prince Arthur held the position of Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England and was re-elected 37 more times.

Governor General of Canada

On March 6, 1911 it was announced that King George V, assisted by a commission chaired by Canadian officials, had decided to appoint the Duke of Connaught as the new Governor General of Canada, the first member of the British royal family to hold this post.

In Canada, Arthur brought with him his wife and youngest daughter, who became extremely popular figures among Canadians. The Governor General traveled with his family throughout the country, attending many ceremonies, such as the opening of Parliament in 1911 (at which Arthur appeared in his field marshal”s dress uniform, while his wife wore the dress used the previous year for the king”s coronation) and, in 1917, he attended the reconstruction of the Centre Block of Parliament Hill by laying the same inaugural stone that his brother Edward had laid on September 1, 1860 when the structure was first being erected. The family traveled to the United States in 1912, where Arthur had the opportunity to meet a new president, William Howard Taft.

Back in Ottawa, the Duke of Connaught”s life was punctuated by his presence four days a week at his office on Parliament Hill, where he received dignitaries and politicians. The duke took the opportunity to learn ice skating, throwing lavish themed parties at the viceregal residence Rideau Hall, which he had renovated and expanded. The family also took up outdoor sports, such as hunting and fishing.

In 1914 World War I broke out and Canadians were called to arms against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prince Arthur maintained a secondary role in the forces of the British Empire, serving as Colonel-in-Chief of the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment, but remaining in Canada after the start of the world conflict, believing that Canadians needed better preparation before leaving for war. During this time he also founded the Connaught Cup for the Royal Northwest Mounted Police to encourage local soldiers. He was also particularly active in auxiliary and charitable services and visited many wartime hospitals.

Arthur”s work as a force recruiter, however, was viewed not favorably by such figures as Undersecretary of State for War Edward Stanton, who wrote that “the duke worked under the handicap of his position as a member of the royal family and had failed to take into account his limitations as governor general.” At the same time, the Duchess of Connaught worked for the Red Cross and numerous other support organizations. She also served as Colonel-in-Chief of the Duchess of Connaught”s Own Irish Canadian Rangers Battalion, one of the Canadian Expeditionary Force regiments in Europe. After the war, Arthur commissioned a stained glass window in memory of the fallen of the Great War, which stands today in St. Bartholomew”s Church, near Rideau Hall.

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Death

After his service in Canada, the Duke of Connaught received no further public office. In 1921 he traveled to India, where he officially opened the new Central Legislative Assembly, Council of State and House of Princes. As president of the Boy Scouts Association and also being one of Lord Baden-Powell”s most ardent friends and supporters, he attended the opening of the venue for the 3rd World Scouting Jamboree at Arrowe Park.The duke, though very old, also served in the military during World War II, where he was seen as the “elder spirit” of the recruits. The duchess his wife, who had become ill in the preceding years, had died in March 1917. One of the last ceremonies Prince Arthur attended was the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937.

Prince Arthur died in Bagshot Park in 1942 at the age of 91 and was buried on the Royal Burial Ground in Windsor. He was the last male child of Queen Victoria to die.

From the marriage between Arthur and Louise Margaret of Prussia were born three children:

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Foreign honors

Sources