Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Card of the Day: H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught


Prince Arthur of Connaught in
His Garter Robes
Prince Arthur of Connaught was born in 1893 to Arthur, the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. As a grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Arthur was granted the style of His Royal Highness. Such styles and titles are very sensitive and complicated things which are subject to all sorts of regulations, so, it was a good thing for the Prince that he was allowed the honor of being a Royal Highness.

Arthur holds the distinction of being the first Royal Prince to be educated at Eton College. After this, he attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Seventh (Queen’s Own) Hussars with whom he endured active duty during the Second Boer War. The Boer Wars were a whole big kerfuffle which greatly grieved Queen Victoria. We’ll discuss those in greater detail at another time.

By 1920, Prince Arthur was elevated to Colonel in Chief of his regiment. During the First Wolrd War, he served as aide de camp to his cousin, the King, George V. By all accounts, the Prince balanced his military career with his personal life, marrying the Duchess of Fife in 1913. Their marriage produced one child, a son—Prince Alastair of Connaught.

For all of his military excellence, Prince Arthur most excelled at his charitable duties, acting as a patron to a variety of organizations. Most notable, his involvement as patron and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Middlesex Hospital. He died of stomach cancer in 1938—four years before the death of his celebrated father. Arthur’s son, Alastair (who was created Earl of MacDuff as a courtesy) would later succeed his grandfather as Second Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Earl of Sussex—an honor which his father never achieved.





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