Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 1848-1939

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, VA, CI, GCVO, GBE, RRC, GCStJ (Louisa Caroline Alberta; 18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939) was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In her public life, she was a strong proponent of the arts and higher education and of the feminist cause. Her early life was spent moving among the various royal residences in the company of her family. When her father, the prince consort, died on 14 December 1861, the court went into a long period of mourning, to which with time Louise became unsympathetic. Louise was an able sculptor and artist, and several of her sculptures remain today. She was also a supporter of the feminist movement, corresponding with Josephine Butler, and visiting Elizabeth Garrett.

Before her marriage, from 1866 to 1871, Louise served as an unofficial secretary to her mother, the Queen. The question of Louise's marriage was discussed in the late 1860s. Suitors from the royal houses of Prussia and Denmark were suggested, but Victoria did not want her to marry a foreign prince, and therefore suggested a high-ranking member of the British aristocracy. Despite opposition from members of the royal family, Louise fell in love with John, Marquess of Lorne, the heir of the Duke of Argyll. Victoria consented to the marriage, which took place on 21 March 1871. After a happy beginning, the two drifted apart, possibly because of their childlessness and the queen's constraints on their activities.

In 1878, Lorne was appointed Governor General of Canada, a post he held 1878–1884. Louise was viceregal consort, starting a lasting interest in Canada. Her names were used to name many features in Canada.

Following Victoria's death in 1901, Louise entered the social circle established by her elder brother, the new king, Edward VII. Louise's marriage survived thanks to long periods of separation; the couple reconciled in 1911 and she was devastated by her husband's death in 1914. After the end of the First World War in 1918, at the age of 70, she began to retire from public life, undertaking few public duties outside Kensington Palace, where she died at the age of 91.

Louise was born on 18 March 1848 at Buckingham Palace, London. She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her birth coincided with revolutions which swept across Europe, prompting the queen to remark that Louise would turn out to be "something peculiar". The queen's labour with Louise was the first to be aided with chloroform.

Albert and Victoria chose the names Louisa Caroline Alberta. She was baptized on 13 May 1848 in Buckingham Palace's private chapel by John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Though she was christened Louisa at the service, she was invariably known as Louise throughout her life. Her godparents were Duke Gustav of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (her paternal great-great-uncle, for whom Prince Albert stood proxy); the Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen (for whom her great-aunt Queen Adelaide stood proxy); and the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (her first cousin once-removed, for whom the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy). During the ceremony, the Duchess of Gloucester, one of the few children of King George III who was 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 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 a talented and intelligent child, and her artistic talents were quickly recognised. On his visit to Osborne House in 1863, Hallam Tennyson, the son of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, remarked that Louise could "draw beautifully". Because of her royal rank, an artistic career was not considered. However, the queen first allowed her to attend art school under the tutelage of the sculptor Mary Thornycroft, and later (1863) allowed her to study at the National Art Training School, now The Royal College of Art. South Kensington. Louise also became an able dancer, and 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, with her inquisitive nature earning her the nickname "Little Miss Why" from other members of the royal family.

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 in 1865, 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, and her boredom with the mundane routine of travelling between the different royal residences at set times irritated her mother, who considered Louise to be indiscreet and argumentative.

The queen comforted herself by rigidly continuing with Prince Albert's plans for their children. Princess Alice was married to Prince Louis, the future Grand Duke of Hesse, at Osborne on 1 June 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, a position which Louise filled in 1866, despite the queen's concern that she was indiscreet.

Louise, however, 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, the Reverend Robinson Duckworth (14 years her senior), between 1866 and 1870, the queen reacted by dismissing Duckworth in 1870. He later became Canon of Westminster Abbey.

Louise was bored at court, and by fulfilling her duties, which were little more than minor secretarial tasks, such as writing letters on the queen's behalf; dealing with political correspondence; and providing the queen with company, she had more responsibilities. She also undertook her share of public and philanthropic duties, for example inaugurating the new North Eastern Hospital for Children in 1867 and launching the ship HMS Druid in 1869.

Louise became engaged to the Marquess of Lorne on 3 October 1870 while they were visiting Balmoral. Lorne was invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and accompanied Louise, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hatherley and Queen Victoria's lady-in-waiting Lady Ely on a drive. Later that day, Louise returned and announced to the queen that Lorne had "spoken of his devotion" to Louise, and she accepted his proposal in the knowledge of the queen's approval. The queen later gave Lady Ely a bracelet to mark the occasion.

The Queen found it difficult to let go of her daughter, confiding in 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".

Victoria settled an annuity on Louise shortly before her marriage. The ceremony was conducted at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on 21 March 1871, and 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, 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, but still a subject – 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. Among their wedding gifts was a maplewood desk from Queen Victoria, now at Inveraray Castle.

Following her marriage, Louise continued her charitable and artistic interests. In 1871, the Ladies Work Society was founded in South Audley Street, promoting the making and sale of needlework and embroidery for poverty relief: Louise became its president, and designed some of their products.

In 1878, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli chose Lorne to be Canada's Governor General, and he was duly appointed by Queen Victoria. Louise thus became his viceregal consort. As viceregal consort, she used her position to support the arts and higher education and the cause of female equality, although she said "the subject of Domestic Economy lies at the root of the – highest life of every true woman." But her stay in Canada was unhappy as a result of homesickness, dislike of Ottawa and a bad sleighing accident.

Louise returned to Britain, from Quebec, with her husband on 27 October 1883, and landed at Liverpool. Queen Victoria had prepared apartments at Kensington Palace, and the couple took up official residence there. Louise retained those apartments until her death there 56 years later. Louise resumed public duties in Britain, for example, opening St George's Gardens, Bloomsbury on 1 July 1884.

Lorne resumed his political career, campaigning unsuccessfully for the Hampstead seat in 1885. In 1896, he won the South Manchester seat, entering parliament as a Liberal. Louise, unlike Lorne and his father, was in favour of Irish Home Rule, and disappointed when he defected from Gladstonian Liberalism to the Liberal Unionists. Relations between Louise and Lorne were strained, and, despite the queen's attempts to keep them under one roof, they often went their separate ways. Even when he accompanied Louise, he was not always received with favour at court, and the prince of Wales did not take 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.

Louise's relationship with the two sisters closest to the queen, Beatrice and Helena, was strained at best. Beatrice had married the tall and handsome Prince Henry of Battenberg in a love match in 1885, and they had four children. Louise, who had a jealous nature, had grown accustomed to treating Beatrice with pity on account of the queen's constant need for her. Beatrice's biographer, Matthew Dennison, claims that in contrast to Beatrice, Louise remained strikingly good looking throughout her forties. Louise and her husband were no longer close, and rumours spread about Lorne's alleged homosexuality. Thus, Beatrice was enjoying a satisfying sexual relationship with her popular husband, which Louise was not. Louise may have considered Prince Henry a more appropriate husband for herself. Certainly, 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". In addition, Louise attempted to champion her late brother-in-law by announcing that she was his confidante and that Beatrice, a mere cipher, meant nothing to him.

Further rumours spread that Louise was having an affair with Arthur Bigge, later Lord Stamfordham, the queen's assistant private secretary. Beatrice mentioned the rumours to the queen's physician, calling it a "scandal", and Prince Henry claimed to have seen Bigge drinking to Louise's health at dinner. Louise denied the rumour, claiming that it was started by Beatrice and Helena to undermine her position at court. However, on Henry's death, relations between the sisters sporadically improved, and it was Louise, rather than the queen, who was the first to arrive at Cimiez to be with the widowed Beatrice. Nevertheless, Louise's jealousy 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 surround only Bigge. In 1890, the sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm died in Louise's presence at his studio in London, leading to rumours that the two were having an affair. Boehm's assistant, Alfred Gilbert, who played a central role in comforting Louise after Boehm's death, and supervised the destruction of Boehm's private papers, was rapidly promoted as a royal sculptor. Louise was also romantically linked to fellow artist Edwin Lutyens; her equerry, Colonel William Probert; and an unnamed music master. However, Jehanne Wake, Louise's biographer, argues that there is no substantial evidence to suggest that Louise had sexual relationships with anyone other than her husband.

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 programmes. Louise, like her eldest sister Victoria, was more liberally minded, and supported the suffragist movement, completely contrary to the queen's views. Louise privately visited Elizabeth Garrett, the first British woman openly to qualify as a physician. Queen Victoria deplored the idea of women joining professions, especially medicine, and described the training of female physicians as a "repulsive subject".

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 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 the woman said that she would have thought so, but was admittedly unsure, 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 and 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 gradually. 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 bequeathed Kent House, on the Osborne Estate, to Louise as a country residence, and gave Osborne Cottage to Louise's youngest sister, Beatrice. Louise and Beatrice were now neighbours both at Kensington Palace and Osborne.

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: "Never mind, 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, and she frequently visited Scotland with her husband. Financial pressures did not disappear when Lorne became Duke, and Louise avoided inviting the King to Inveraray, Argyll's ancestral home, because the couple were economising. When Queen Victoria had visited the house before Lorne became Duke of Argyll, there were seventy servants and seventy-four dogs. By the time of Edward VII'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 spring 1914 Louise stayed at Kensington Palace while her husband remained on the Isle of Wight.

He developed bronchial problems followed by double pneumonia. Louise was summoned on 28 April 1914, and he died on 2 May. 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!"

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 his wife, Queen Mary, at Kensington Town Hall during their Silver Jubilee celebrations, and was made an Honorary 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 11 December 1936. In December 1936, Louise wrote to the British 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 was confined to Kensington Palace, affectionately called the "Auntie Palace" by Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. 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 which was sent to Neville Chamberlain, reading "Guide our Ministers of State and all who are in authority over us ... "

Louise died at Kensington Palace on the morning of 3 December 1939 at the age of 91, wearing the wedding veil she had worn almost 70 years earlier. Following a simple funeral, owing to the war, her remains were cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 8 December. Her ashes were quietly placed in the Royal Crypt at St. George's Chapel on 12 December, with many members of the Royal and Argyll families present. Her ashes were moved to the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore near Windsor, on 13 March 1940. Louise's will stated that if she died in Scotland she should be buried at the Campbell mausoleum in Kilmun next to her husband; if in England, at Frogmore near her parents. Her coffin was borne by eight NCOs of her own regiment, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Her estate was probated as £239,260, 18 shillings and sixpence, with her debts including 15 shillings for cigarettes.

Louise bestowed her name on four Canadian regiments: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) in Hamilton, Ontario; the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards in Ottawa, Ontario (inactive since 1965); the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) in Moncton, New Brunswick; and the Princess Louise Fusiliers in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Queen Elizabeth II later recalled that Louise and her sister Beatrice would talk until they stunned their audience with their output of words.

The province of Alberta in Canada is named after her. Although the name "Louise" was originally planned, the princess wished to honour her dead father, so the last of her given names was chosen. Lake Louise in Alberta is also named after her, as is Mount Alberta. Although her time in Canada was not always happy, she liked the Canadian people and retained close links with her Canadian regiments. Back at home, she gained a reputation for paying unscheduled visits to hospitals, especially during her later years. 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. Of all her siblings, she was closest to Prince Leopold, later Duke of Albany, and she was devastated by his death in 1884.

Among the younger generations of the family, Louise's favourite relatives were the Duke and Duchess of Kent, her grandnephew and his wife. At the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937, Louise lent the Duchess the train that she designed and wore for the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902.

A war hospital in Erskine, Scotland, is named after Louise. It took her name as she was the first patron of the unit. It was originally called Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers. The name changed over the years to Erskine Hospital and then just Erskine. The charity is close to its centenary year and has grown to become the biggest ex-service establishment in the country.

Louise had artistic training from childhood, first with Susan Durant from 1864, then Mary Thornycroft from 1867, and further lessons with Edgar Boehm. She also then attended National Art Training School, or NATS, which marks the first time a member of the British royal family attended a public education institution. Like many women artists in the nineteenth century, Louise had to make do with training intended for industrial designers and art teachers rather than fine artists. There was no training from the nude model, as there was for male art students.

Louise held an account with the London artists’ colourman Charles Roberson & Co. from April 1872 until February 1931, buying materials for oil and watercolour painting including numerous sketchbooks.

Louise was the most artistically talented of Queen Victoria's daughters. As well as being an able actress, pianist and dancer, she was a prolific artist and sculptor. 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. The claim was denied by Louise's friends, who asserted her effort and independence. The work was intended to be exhibited in 1887, but production was delayed until 1893. 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, as well as the statue of Queen Victoria on the north side of Lichfield Cathedral.