Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany

Prince Leopold
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
Duke of Albany
Successor	Prince Charles Edward
Born	7 April 1853 Buckingham Palace, London
Died	28 March 1884 (aged 30) Cannes
Burial	St George's Chapel, Windsor
Spouse	Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Issue	Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Full name Leopold George Duncan Albert
House	Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father	Albert, Prince Consort
Mother	Queen Victoria

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, KG, KT, GCSI, GCMG, GCStJ (Leopold George Duncan Albert; 7 April 1853 – 28 March 1884) was the eighth child and youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold was later created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow. He had haemophilia, which led to his death at the age of 30.

Early life

Prince Leopold in 1868

Leopold was born on 7 April 1853 at Buckingham Palace, London. During labour, Queen Victoria chose to use chloroform and thus sanctioned the use of anesthesia in childbirth, recently developed by Professor James Young Simpson. The chloroform was administered by Dr. John Snow.^[1] As a son of the British sovereign, the newborn was styled His Royal Highness The Prince Leopold at birth. His parents named him Leopold after his grand-uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium.

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 suffered mildly from epilepsy,^[2] like his grand-nephew Prince John of the United Kingdom.

Education and career

The Prince's intellectual abilities were evident as a boy; Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and his friend, philosopher Dr James Martineau, were familiar with the Queen's children and had noted that Leopold, who had often "conversed with the eminent Dr. Martineau, was considered to be a young man of a very thoughtful mind, high aims, and quite remarkable acquirements".^[3]

Oxford University

In 1872, Prince Leopold entered Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied a variety of subjects and became president of the Oxford University Chess Club. On coming of age in 1874, he had been made a privy councillor and granted an annuity of £15,000.^[4] He left the university with an honorary doctorate in civil law (DCL) in 1876, then travelled in Europe. In 1880, he toured Canada and the United States with his sister, Princess Louise, whose husband John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, was Governor General of Canada. He was a prominent patron of chess, and the London 1883 chess tournament was held under his patronage.^[5] 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."^[6] Later he pursued vice-regal appointments in Canada and the Colony of Victoria, but his mother refused to appoint him, to his great unhappiness.

British Army

Despite his inability (through illness) to pursue an active military role, he had an honorary association with the 72nd Regiment, Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders, and from 1881 served as the first Colonel-in-Chief of the Seaforth Highlanders, when that regiment was formed through the merger of the 72nd regiment with the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot.^[7] A portrait of Prince Leopold in military uniform is held in the Royal Collection.^[8] The Seaforth Highlanders paraded at Prince Leopold's funeral, a fact recorded by William McGonagall in his poem "The Death of Prince Leopold".^[9]

Freemasonry

Prince Leopold was an active Freemason, being initiated in the Apollo University Lodge, Oxford, whilst resident at Christ Church. He was proposed for membership by his brother, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales,^[10] who was at the time the Worshipful Master of the Lodge,^[11] and was initiated in a joint ceremony with Robert Hawthorne Collins, his friend and tutor, who later became Comptroller of his Household.^[12] He served as Master of the Lodge from 1876-1877, and was later the Provincial Grand Master for Oxfordshire, still holding that office at the time of his death.^[13]

Duke of Albany

Prince Leopold was created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow on 24 May 1881.^[14][15]

Marriage

Prince Leopold, stifled by the desire of his mother, 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. Heiress Daisy Maynard was one of the women he considered as a possible bride. He was acquainted with Alice Liddell, the daughter of the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford for whom Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and was godfather of Alice's second son, who was named for 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 pall-bearer on 30 June 1876).^[16]

Leopold also considered his second cousin Princess Frederica of Hanover for a bride; they instead became lifelong friends and confidantes.^[17] Other aristocratic women he pursued included Victoria of Baden and Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.^[17]

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 Protestant families, Victoria suggested a meeting with Princess Helene Friederike, the daughter of Georg Viktor, reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, one of whose daughters had already married king William III of the Netherlands. On 27 April 1882, Leopold and Helena were married, at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, and his income was raised by parliament to £25,000.^[4] Leopold and Helena enjoyed a happy (although brief) marriage. In 1883, Leopold became a father when his wife gave birth to a daughter, Alice. He died shortly before the birth of his son, Charles Edward.

Illness and death

Prince Leopold had haemophilia, diagnosed in childhood and in early years had various physicians in permanent attendance, including Arnold Royle^[18] and John Wickham Legg. In February 1884, Leopold went to Cannes on doctor's orders: joint pain is a common symptom of haemophilia and the winter climate in the United Kingdom was always difficult for him. His wife, pregnant at the time, stayed at home but urged him to go. On 27 March, at his Cannes residence, the 'Villa Nevada', he slipped and fell, injuring his knee and hitting his head. He died in the early hours of the next morning, apparently from a cerebral haemorrhage. He was buried in the Albert Memorial Chapel at Windsor. The court observed official mourning from 30 March 1884 to 11 May 1884.^[19] His posthumous son, Prince Charles Edward, succeeded him as 2nd Duke of Albany upon birth four months later.

Having died six years after his older sister Alice, Leopold was the second of Queen Victoria's children to die. His mother outlived him by seventeen years, by which time she had also outlived a third child, Alfred.^[20]

Leopold's passing was lamented by the Scottish "poet and tragedian" William McGonagall in the poem "The Death of Prince Leopold".

In 1900, Leopold's son, Charles Edward, succeeded his uncle Alfred as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Through Charles Edward, Leopold was the great-grandfather of Carl XVI Gustaf, the current King of Sweden.

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.^[21]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Prince Leopold's coat of arms

Titles

• 7 April 1853 – 24 May 1881: His Royal Highness The Prince Leopold
• 24 May 1881 – 28 March 1884: His Royal Highness The Duke of Albany

Honours

• KG: Knight of the Order of the Garter (1869)^[22]
• KT: Knight of the Order of the Thistle (1871)
• PC: Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom (1874)^[23]
• GCSI: Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (25 January 1877)^[24]
• GCStJ: Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (1880)^[25]
• GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1880)^[26]

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.^[27]

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'; Leopold Charles Edward George Albert; later reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He married Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein on 11 October 1905. They had five children.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany

16. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld               8. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld                       17. Duchess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel               4. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha                             18. Heinrich XXIV, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf               9. Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf                       19. Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg               2. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha                                   20. Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg               10. Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg                       21. Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen               5. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg                             22. Frederick Francis I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg               11. Duchess Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin                       23. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg               1. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany                                         24. Frederick, Prince of Wales               12. George III of the United Kingdom                       25. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha               6. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn                             26. Charles Louis Frederick, Duke of Mecklenburg-Mirow               13. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz                       27. Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen               3. Victoria of the United Kingdom                                   28. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (= 16)               14. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (= 8)                       29. Duchess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (= 17)               7. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld                             30. Heinrich XXIV, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf (= 18)               15. Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf (= 9)                       31. Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg (= 19)

References

1. Queen Victoria: From her birth to the death of the Prince Consort by Cecil Woodham-Smith (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1972) pgs. 333-334
2. Nelson, Michael (2001). Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera. London: I B Tauris and Co Ltd. p. 38.
3. Greenwood, Grace. "Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood". Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood - Part 4 (out of 4). First published - 1883, Montreal, Dawson Bros. Retrieved Jan 21, 2014.
4.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Albany, Dukes of". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 488–489.
5. Winter, Edward (4 December 2005), "4044. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany", Chess Notes, retrieved 13 August 2012
6. "Topics of the Week". The Week : a Canadian journal of politics, literature, science and arts. 1 (18): 273. 3 Apr 1884. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
7. Colonels-in-Chief listed at this article.
8. Portrait of Prince Leopold Duke of Albany, 72nd Seaforth Highlanders at the Royal Collection.
9. Full text of poem available here.
10. "Apollo University Lodge No 357, History 1819 - 1969", privately published 1969, page 19.
11. "Apollo University Lodge No 357, History 1819 - 1969", privately published 1969, appendix page i.
12. "Apollo University Lodge No 357, History 1819 - 1969", privately published 1969, page 20.
13. The Oxfordshire Masonic Year Book, 2011-2012, (154th annual edition), privately published 2011, page 54.
14. The London Gazette: no. 24977. p. 2677. 24 May 1881.
15. "Yvonne's Royalty: Peerage". Mypage.uniserve.ca. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
16. "Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 233, 22 September 1876, P.4, quoting Home News, 1876". Retrieved 5 August 2010.
17. Zeepvat, Charlotte (1998). Prince Leopold: The Untold Story of Queen Victoria's Youngest Son. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-3791-2.
18. "LETTERS TO ARNOLD ROYLE, SURGEON IN ORDINARY TO HRH PRINCE LEOPOLD". Sothebys.
19. The London Gazette: no. 24411. p. 435. 29 March 1884. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
20. "boys clothing: British royalty Victoria-the children". Histclo.com. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
21. Russel, Peter; Hertz, Paul; McMillan, Beverly. Biology: The Dynamic Science. Belmon, CA: Brooks/Cole. p. 265.
22. The London Gazette: no. 23502. p. 3116. 1 June 1869.
23. The London Gazette: no. 24142. p. 4765. 20 October 1874.
24. The London Gazette: no. 24411. p. 435. 30 January 1877. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
25. Reference here.
26. The London Gazette: no. 24848. p. 3220. 28 May 1880.
27. Francois R. Velde. "Heraldica – British Royalty Cadency". Heraldica.org. Retrieved 12 August 2011.

External links

•  Rigg, James McMullen (1893). "Leopold George Duncan Albert". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co.