Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
Prince Leopold | |||||
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Duke of Albany | |||||
Born | Buckingham Palace, London | 7 April 1853||||
Died | 28 March 1884 Cannes, France | (aged 30)||||
Burial | 5 April 1884 Royal Vault, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle; 23 June 1885 Albert Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel | ||||
Spouse | |||||
Issue | |||||
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House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
Father | Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
Mother | Queen Victoria | ||||
Signature | |||||
Education | Christ Church, Oxford |
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany,
Early life
Leopold was born on 7 April 1853 at
He was baptised in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace on 28 June 1853 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Bird Sumner. His godparents were his first cousin once removed, King George V of Hanover; his fourth cousin once removed, Princess William of Prussia; his first cousin once removed, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge; and his maternal uncle by marriage, Prince Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.
Leopold inherited the disease haemophilia from his mother, Queen Victoria, and was a delicate child. There was speculation during his life that Leopold also had mild epilepsy,[2] like his great-nephew Prince John.
Education and career
The Prince's intellectual abilities were evident as a boy;
Oxford University
Annuity to Prince Leopold Act 1874 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 7 August 1874 |
In 1872, Prince Leopold entered
Incapable of pursuing a military career because of his haemophilia and the need to avoid even minor injuries, Leopold instead became a patron of the arts and literature and served as an unofficial secretary to his mother. "Leopold was the favourite son, and through him her relations with the Government of the day were usually kept up."
British Army
Despite his inability to pursue an active military role, he had an honorary association with the
Freemasonry
Prince Leopold was an active
Leopold served as Master of the Lodge from 1876 to 1877, and was later the Provincial Grand Master for Oxfordshire, still holding that office at the time of his death.[16] In 1882 he laid the foundation stone of the Masonic Hall on Marlborough Street in Banbury.[17]
Marriage
Prince Leopold, stifled by the desire of Queen Victoria to keep him at home, saw marriage as his only hope of independence. Due to his haemophilia, he had difficulty finding a wife. He was acquainted with Alice Liddell, the daughter of Henry Liddell, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford for whom Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Leopold was the godfather of Alice's second son, who was named after him. It has been suggested that he considered marrying her, though others suggest that he preferred her sister Edith (for whom he later served as pallbearer on 30 June 1876).[18]
Leopold also considered his second cousin Princess Frederica of Hanover as a bride; they instead became lifelong friends and confidantes.[6] Other royal and aristocratic women he pursued included heiress Daisy Maynard, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel, Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Princess Stéphanie of Belgium and Princess Victoria of Baden.[6] Leopold was very fond of Mary Baring, daughter of Lord Ashburton, but though she was equally fond of him, at 19, she felt she was too young to marry.[6]
After rejection from these women, Victoria stepped in to bar what she saw as unsuitable possibilities. Insisting that the children of British monarchs should marry into other reigning
Illness and death
Prince Leopold had
Having died six years after his older sister
Another awful blow has fallen upon me & all of us today. My beloved Leopold, that bright, clever son, who had so many times recovered from such fearful illness, & from various small accidents, has been taken from us! To lose another dear child, far from me, & one who was so gifted, & such a help to me, is too dreadful![24]
The haemophilia gene is carried on the X chromosome, and is normally passed through female descent, as in the past few haemophiliac men survived to beget children. Any daughter of a haemophiliac is a carrier of the gene. Leopold's daughter Alice inherited the haemophilia gene, and passed it to her elder son Rupert.[25]
Leopold's posthumous son,
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
Prince Leopold was created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow on 24 May 1881.[26]
Honours
- British decorations[27]
- Royal Knight Companion of the Garter, 29 May 1869[28]
- Extra Knight of the Thistle, 24 May 1871[29]
- Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, 20 October 1874[30]
- Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India, 25 January 1877[31]
- Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George, 24 May 1880[32]
- Foreign decorations[27]
- Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, 1871[33]
- Empire of Brazil: Grand Cross of the Southern Cross, 11 July 1871
- Grand Duchy of Hesse:[34]
- Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 19 April 1875
- Grand Cross of the Merit Order of Philip the Magnanimous, 25 October 1878
- Kingdom of Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer, 12 July 1876
- Hanoverian Royal Family:
- Knight of St. George, 23 June 1878
- Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order, 23 June 1878
- Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (military), 20 October 1878[35]
- Kingdom of Prussia:
- Knight of the Black Eagle, with Collar, 31 March 1879
- Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, 31 March 1879
- Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 24 May 1881[36]
- Mecklenburg: Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore and Diamonds, 1 August 1881
- Waldeck and Pyrmont: Civil Merit Order, 1st Class, 26 April 1882
- Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 27 April 1882
- Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion, 24 November 1882
Arms
In 1856, at the age of three, Prince Leopold was granted a personal coat of arms – the arms of the kingdom, with an inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony (representing his father), and all differenced by a label argent of three points, the first and third bearing hearts gules, and the second a cross gules.[citation needed]
Prince Leopold's coat of arms |
Honorary degrees
On 30 January 1884, the University of Durham conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) upon Prince Leopold. The ceremony, held in Durham Cathedral Library, attracted many spectators. He later wrote to the university expressing a wish to become a member of University College.[37]
Issue
Image | Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Princess Alice of Albany | 25 February 1883 | 3 January 1981 | She married Prince Alexander of Teck on 10 February 1904. They had three children. | |
Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany | 19 July 1884 | 6 March 1954 | Born four months after his father's death; known as 'Charlie'; later the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He married Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein on 11 October 1905. They had five children.
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Ancestors
Ancestors of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References
- ISBN 9780394482453.
- ISBN 9781860646461.
- ^ Greenwood, Grace (1883). Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood. Montreal: Dawson Bros. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
- ^ Countess of Athlone, Princess Alice (1966). For My Grandchildren: Some Reminiscences of Her Royal Highness. London: Evans Brothers Ltd.
- ISBN 9781910198131. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
Even his tranquilly conducted education, at the hands of his private tutor, Canon Duckworth, was interrupted by long spells in bed.
- ^ ISBN 0-7509-3791-2.
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Albany, Dukes of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 488–489.
- ^ Winter, Edward (4 December 2005), "4044. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany", Chess Notes, retrieved 13 August 2012
{{citation}}
: Cite uses generic title (help) - ^ "Topics of the Week". The Week: A Canadian Journal of Politics, Literature, Science and Arts. 1 (18): 273. 3 April 1884. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Brown, Adam (20 January 2011). "The Colonels-in-Chief of the Seaforth Highlanders". The Scottish Military Research Group.
- Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 760302.
- ^ a b McGonagall, William (1884). "The Death of Prince Leopold". McGonagall Online.
- ^ "Apollo University Lodge No 357, History 1819 - 1969", privately published 1969, page 19.
- ^ "Apollo University Lodge No 357, History 1819 - 1969", privately published 1969, appendix page i.
- ^ "Apollo University Lodge No 357, History 1819 - 1969", privately published 1969, page 20.
- ^ The Oxfordshire Masonic Year Book, 2011-2012 (154th ed.). privately published. 2011. p. 54.
- ^ "Banbury: Introduction Pages 5-18 A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 10, Banbury Hundred. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1972". British History Online.
- ^ "Home News". Nelson Evening Mail. Vol. 11, no. 233. 22 September 1876. p. 4. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
- ^ "Letters to Arnold Royle, Surgeon in Ordinary to HRH Prince Leopold". Sothebys. 2013.
- ISBN 9780230610750. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- ^ "Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805". College of St George - Windsor Castle. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ "No. 24411". The London Gazette. 29 March 1884. p. 435.
- ^ "boys clothing: British royalty Victoria-the children". Histclo.com. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ Queen Victoria's Journals, Volume 79 (1st January 1884-31st July 1884), p. 77-81
- ^ Russel, Peter; Hertz, Paul; McMillan, Beverly (2011). Biology: The Dynamic Science. Belmon, CA: Brooks/Cole. pp. 265.
- ^ "No. 24977". The London Gazette. 24 May 1881. p. 2677.
- ^ a b "Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853–1884)". Archived from the original on 3 January 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
- ^ "No. 23502". The London Gazette. 1 June 1869. p. 3116.
- ^ Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 86
- ^ "No. 24142". The London Gazette. 20 October 1874. p. 4765.
- ^ "No. 24411". The London Gazette. 30 January 1877. p. 435.
- ^ "No. 24848". The London Gazette. 28 May 1880. p. 3220.
- ^ Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen (1880), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 26
- ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1883), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" pp. 14, 48
- ^ Almanach royal officiel: 1879. 1879. p. 51.
- ^ Sveriges statskalender (PDF) (in Swedish), 1884, p. 380, retrieved 8 March 2021 – via gupea.ub.gu.se
- ^ "The Special Convocation". Durham University Journal. 6 (1): 7–8. 25 February 1884 – via Google Books.
External links
- Rigg, James McMullen (1893). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Portraits of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany at the National Portrait Gallery, London