Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught

Arthur William Patrick Albert, born 1850 at Buckingham Palace, was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Arthur spent 40 years in the British Army at various posts in her majesty's empire. He was appointed viceroy (Governor General) of Canada by his nephew George V and served there in World War One. Then he returned to the United Kingdom, and there and in India, performed various royal duties until his retirement in 1928. He died in 1942 at the age of 91.

It is said he became the queen's favorite child. While in the army stationed in Canada, he attended balls and garden parties and visited towns in Ontario and Quebec. These things were all documented by photographs which were sent back for his mother to enjoy. Someone told Queen Victoria that the Canadians hoped Arthur would someday return as their Governor General. He did.

Arthur married a Prussian princess and they had three children.

In addition to his 40 years of military service, during which he rose to the rank of general, then field marshall, he also:

was elected Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, and

commissioned a stained glass window in his family's memory which he had placed in St. Bartholomew's church, where his family attended services.

Earlier, in Canada, Arthur had laid a cornerstone to a new government building.

In later life, Arthur became president of the Boy Scouts Association and performed the official opening of the 3rd World Scout Jamboree.

The duke retired from all this in 1928.

Victoria and Albert

From Victoria's diary (24 May 1837):

"I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma...who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen..."

She was to have reigned as Alexandrina Victoria, but the first name was withdrawn at her request.

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Victoria had met her future husband when she was only seventeen. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was her first cousin. The queen proposed to Albert in October of 1838, and they were married early in 1839. Apparently he said yes.

Albert became not only Victoria's companion, but her close advisor as well. Victoria's mother was then evicted from Buckingham Palace, as the young queen, now married, was no longer required to live with her. Her mother was thereafter seldom visited.

Fun fact: Victoria was taught only in German until she was 3 years old, then in English and French, becoming virtually tri-lingual. (Tri-lingual means she had three tongues, to Albert's delight, tho' some say it contributed to his early demise. Some, not I.) Her seldom-visited mother spoke to her daughter in German, though she approached proficiency in English. Is that cool, or what?

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