On 8 November, Lady Louise Windsor – the daughter of The Earl and Countess of Wessex – will turn 18. And on her 18th birthday, she could choose to go by the style “Princess Louise”. However, she would not be the first Princess Louise in the Royal Family. The last Princess Louise was the Princess Royal and the mother of a duchess in her own right.
Princess Louise of Wales was born on 20 February 1867 to the Prince and Princess of Wales, the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. She was the couple’s third child and eldest daughter. Louise, along with her sisters Victoria and Maud, was educated at home by tutors.
Alexandra was quite similar to her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, in some regards. Alexandra hoped that Louise would remain unmarried and stay as a companion to her, but Louise met and fell in love with Alexander Duff, 6th Earl Fife. It was a controversial marriage choice, as he was 18 years her senior, but the couple were happy. They spent much of their time at Mar Lodge, a hunting lodge near Braemar.
Shortly after the pair married, Queen Victoria created the Dukedom of Fife, and Duff became the Duke of Fife and Marquess of Macduff. This peerage differs from most other dukedoms; if there are no male heirs, the title can be held by a female descendent.
In November 1905, Louise’s father gave her the title of Princess Royal. It is the highest honour a female member of the British Royal Family can receive, and there can only be one holder at any given time. Edward’s sister, Princess Victoria (later Empress of Prussia), held the title before Louise. Louise would hold the title of Princess Royal until her death in 1931. At the same time, he also announced that Louise’s daughters, Alexandra and Maud, would have the styling of princess rather than lady.
The Duke of Fife died of pleurisy in 1911, after the family was shipwrecked off of the Moroccan coast. The couple did not have any surviving sons, so their daughter, Princess Alexandra, inherited the dukedom to become the 2nd Duchess of Fife.
In her later years, Louise led a quiet life. She would occasionally attend public events with family members and gave time to a few philanthropic causes. She died in January 1931, and while she was initially buried in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor, her remains were later moved to the chapel at Mar Lodge.
