Duchess of Connaught

A carte-de-visite portrait of Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn.

Born Princess Luise Margarete near Potsdam on 25 July 1860, her father was Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, a nephew of King Wilhelm I of Prussia (later Emperor of Germany). On 13 March 1879 she married Prince Arthur, the 7th child and 3rd son of Queen Victoria. After her marriage she was styled ‘Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Connaught’ and her name was anglicized as Louise Margaret. She spent the first twenty years of her marriage accompanying her husband on his various deployments throughout the British empire. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught acquired Bagshot Park in Surrey as their country home and after 1900 used Clarence House as their London residence. She accompanied her husband to Canada in 1911, when he began his term as governor general.

The Duchess of Connaught died of influenza and bronchitis at Clarence House. She was buried in the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore. The Duke of Connaught survived her by almost twenty-five years.

Photographed by William and Daniel Downey of London and Newcastle.