| Maud of Wales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
%2c_ca_1905_(1)_crop.jpg) Queen Maud in 1905 | |||||
| Queen consort of Norway | |||||
| Tenure | 18 November 1905 –20 November 1938 | ||||
| Coronation | 22 June 1906 | ||||
| Born | (1869-11-26)26 November 1869 Marlborough House,London, England | ||||
| Died | 20 November 1938(1938-11-20) (aged 68) Marylebone, London, England | ||||
| Burial | 8 December 1938 Akershus Castle,Oslo, Norway | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Olav V of Norway | ||||
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| House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
| Father | Edward VII | ||||
| Mother | Alexandra of Denmark | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
Maud of Wales (Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria; 26 November 1869 – 20 November 1938) wasQueen of Norway as the wife ofKing Haakon VII. The youngest daughter ofKing Edward VII andQueen Alexandra of the United Kingdom and a sister ofGeorge V, she was known as Princess Maud of Wales before her marriage, as her father was thePrince of Wales at the time.
A daughter ofEdward VII of the United Kingdom andAlexandra of Denmark, Maud was the youngest of six children. She grew up in a warm and informal environment under the supervision of her mother, contrasting with the stricter upbringing of her older siblings. From an early age, Maud showed a spirited and lively nature, enjoying outdoor pursuits and sports; she was among the firstBritish princesses to ride a bicycle and often spent time in the gardens and grounds ofSandringham House. Her education, was primarily conducted at home, under the supervision of private tutors.
In 1896, Maud married her first cousinPrince Carl of Denmark. Following the dissolution of theunion with Sweden in November 1905, Prince Carl was elected king of Norway asHaakon VII of Norway, and Maud became the first queen consort of an independent Norway in more than five centuries. Stepping into her new role, she combined her British upbringing with her Norwegian duties: while keeping strong ties to Britain, Maud embraced Norwegian national life, supportedcharitable causes particularly those connected to children, women, and the arts and took part in outdoor pursuits such asskiing.
Despite her reserved public demeanour, Maud played a steady and stabilising role in the early 20th-century Norwegian monarchy, acting as a bridge between British and Norwegian royal traditions. She was widely admired for her dignity, charitable work, and quiet influence at court. Maud died inLondon on 20 November 1938, six days before her 69th birthday.
Maud was born on 26 November 1869 atMarlborough House, London. She was the third daughter and fifth child ofAlbert Edward, Prince of Wales, andAlexandra, Princess of Wales. Albert Edward was the eldest son ofQueen Victoria, and Alexandra was the eldest daughter ofChristian IX of Denmark. Maud was christened "Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria" at Marlborough House byJohn Jackson,Bishop of London, on 24 December 1869.Her godparents were her paternal unclePrince Leopold, for whom theDuke of Cambridge stood proxy;Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel, for whomPrince Francis of Teck stood proxy;Count Gleichen; theDuchess of Nassau, for whomPrincess Francis of Teck stood proxy;Charles XV of Sweden, for whom Swedish ministerBaron Hochschild stood proxy;Princess Marie of Leiningen, for whomPrincess Claudine of Teck stood proxy; her maternal aunt theTsarevna of Russia for whomBaroness de Brunnow stood proxy;Crown Princess Louise of Denmark, for whom Madame de Bülow, wife of the Danish minister, stood proxy; and her great-great-aunt theDuchess of Inverness.
Growing up, Maud had a love for all outdoor sports. She was described as having a 'kind and cheerful disposition.'[1] Of the three Wales girls, she was the most attractive. 'She did look so pretty and fresh,' wrote theEmpress Frederick of Maud in 1895, 'like a little rose, with her bright eyes and dear intelligent expression.'[1]
The tomboyish Maud was known as "Harry" to the royal family, after Edward VII's friend AdmiralHenry Keppel, whose conduct in theCrimean War was considered particularly courageous at the time.[2][3] Maud took part in almost all the annual visits to the Princess of Wales's family gatherings in Denmark and later accompanied her mother and sisters on cruises to Norway and the Mediterranean. She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her paternal auntBeatrice toPrince Henry of Battenberg,[4] and at the wedding of her brotherGeorge toMary of Teck in 1893.[5]
Maud, along with her sisters,Victoria andLouise, received theImperial Order of the Crown of India from their grandmother Queen Victoria on 6 August 1887. Like her sisters, she also held theRoyal Order of Victoria and Albert (First Class) and was a Dame Grand Cross of theOrder of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.
Maud married relatively late, waiting until her late twenties to find a husband.[2] She had initially wanted to marry a distant cousin,Prince Francis of Teck, younger brother of her sister-in-lawMary. Despite being relatively impoverished from mounting gambling debts and being in a position to possibly benefit from Maud's status, he ignored her advances.[3]
There had been talk of Maud becoming a possible candidate as wife ofPrince Christian of Denmark along with her sister, Victoria.[6] The idea petered out but in the following year, 1895, Prince Christian's younger brother,Prince Carl of Denmark, began paying court to Princess Maud. Carl and Maud had known each other all their lives. On the Princess of Wales's frequent visits to her father's court, her children and the children of her brother, theCrown Prince Frederik, had always played their boisterous games together. Prince Carl was twenty-two years of age; a tall, fair, slender, good-natured and level-headed young man.The Duchess of Teck considered him very good-looking. 'He seems charming!' she wrote, 'but looks fully three years younger than Maud, has no money.'[6] Nevertheless, during one of thoseDanish family gatherings atFredensborg, Prince Carl proposed and Princess Maud accepted. The couple were officially engaged in October 1895, and the engagement caused much delight toQueen Victoria.[6]
On 22 July 1896, Maud married her first cousin,Prince Carl of Denmark, in the private chapel atBuckingham Palace. Carl was the second son of Queen Alexandra's eldest brother,Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, and PrincessLouise of Sweden. The bride's father gave themAppleton House on theSandringham Estate as a country residence for her frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple's only child,Prince Alexander, was born on 2 July 1903.[7]
While in Denmark, Maud was often homesick and preferred her native English accustoms, her talk, interests and pursuits were those of English county society, she was never happier than when gardening, riding, bicycling or driving a wagonette.[8] Although her Copenhagen home a suite of twelve rooms in what was known asBernstorff Mansion, beside theAmalienborg Palace was furnished 'to reflect English taste', she was still dissatisfied. However, she divided her time between her little mansion in Copenhagen, and Appleton House, her adored English country home. The responsibilities of marriage and motherhood had made very little difference to Maud's looks, personality or way of life. With her piled coiffure, her high collars and her small, slim-waisted figure, she was still like an echo of her mother.[8]
Carl served as an officer in theRoyal Danish Navy, and he and his family lived mainly in Denmark until 1905. In June 1905 the NorwegianStortingdissolvedNorway's 91-year-old union with Sweden and voted to offer the throne to Prince Carl of Denmark. Maud's membership in the British royal house played some part in why Carl was chosen. Following a plebiscite in November, Prince Carl accepted the Norwegian throne as King Haakon VII, while his young son was renamed Olav. King Haakon VII and Queen Maud werecrowned atNidaros Cathedral inTrondheim on 22 June 1906; there has not been a coronation inScandinavia since.
Queen Maud quickly adapted to her new country and duties as aqueen consort. A court was formed, andMarie Magdalena Rustad was appointed her principal lady-in-waiting. Maud played a strong and dominant role within the court and family, but a discreet role in public.[9]
During her first years in Norway, she and her husband were photographed inNorwegian folk costumes, and enjoying winter sports such as skiing, to give them a Norwegian appearance in the eyes of the public.[9] She disliked representation but performed her role as a queen with great care, and used clothes and jewellery to make a regal impression. She supported charitable causes, particularly those associated with children and animals, and gave encouragement to musicians and artists. Among her projects wasDronningens Hjelpekomité (the Queen's Relief Committee) during World War I. She supported the feministKatti Anker Møller's home for unwed mothers (1906), which was regarded as radical, designed furniture for the benefit of theBarnets utstilling (Children's Exhibition) 1921, and sold photographs for charitable purposes.[9] An avidrider, Maud insisted that thestables of theroyal palace in Oslo be upgraded. Maud supervised much of this project herself and was greatly inspired by theRoyal Mews in London when the stables were expanded.[10]
Maud continued to regard Great Britain as her true home even after her arrival in Norway, and visited Great Britain every year.[9] She mostly stayed at herAppleton House, Sandringham, during her visits.[11] She did, however, also appreciate some aspects of Norway, such as the winter sports, and she supported bringing up her son as a Norwegian. She learned toski and arranged forEnglish gardens atKongsseteren, the royal lodge overlooking Oslo, and at the summer residence atBygdøy. She is described as reserved as a public person but energetic and with a taste for practical jokes as a private person.
Maud's last public appearance in Britain was at thecoronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937 atWestminster Abbey.[11] She sat in the royal pew atWestminster Abbey next to her sister-in-lawQueen Mary and her nieceMary, Princess Royal, as part of the official royal party.[12]
Maud also acquired a reputation for dressing with fashionablechic. An exhibition of numerous items from her elegant wardrobe was held at theVictoria and Albert Museum in 2005 and published in the catalogueStyle and Splendour: Queen Maud of Norway's Wardrobe 1896–1938.
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Maud visited England in October 1938. Initially, she stayed at Sandringham, but then moved into a hotel in London's West End. She became ill and was taken to a nursing home at 18 Bentinck Street,Marylebone, London, where an abdominal operation was performed on 16 November 1938, where modern-day information suggests that she suffered from advancedcancer. King Haakon immediately travelled from Norway to her bedside. Although she survived the surgery, Maud died unexpectedly ofcoronary thrombosis on 20 November 1938,[11] six days before her 69th birthday and on the 13th anniversary of her mother's death. At the time of her death Maud was the last surviving child of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.[13][14] Norwegian newspapers were allowed to break the law forbidding publication on Sundays in order to notify the Norwegian public of her death.[15] King Haakon returned Appleton House to the British royal family.[7]
Her body was returned to Norway on boardHMS Royal Oak, the flagship of the Second Battle Squadron of theRoyal Navy's Home Fleet.[16] Her body was moved to a small church in Oslo before the burial.[16] Maud was buried in theroyal mausoleum atAkershus Castle in Oslo.[11][17] Her will was sealed in London in 1939. Her estate in England and Wales was valued at £7,941 (or £362,400 in 2022 when adjusted for inflation).[18]
Queen Maud Land andQueen Maud Mountains in Antarctica;Queen Maud Secondary School in Hong Kong; andQueen Maud Gulf (includingQueen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary) inNunavut,Canada, are named after Maud. The shipMaud, designed to the specifications ofRoald Amundsen for service in theArctic Ocean and launched in 1916 to traverse and explore theNortheast Passage, was christened in honour of Maud of Wales. Thereplenishment shipHNoMSMaud of theRoyal Norwegian Navy has also been named for her.[19] TheQueen Maud fromage (a sweet dessert) is named after her.
Upon her marriage, Maud was granted the use of a personalcoat of arms, being those of the kingdom, with aninescutcheon of the shield ofSaxony, differenced with a label argent of five points, the outer pair and centre bearing hearts gules, the inner pair crosses gules.[23] The inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant in 1917.
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| Maud's coat of arms (granted 1896) until 1917 | Royal monogram as Queen of Norway |
Princess Charles of Denmark, daughter of King Edward, gave birth to a son to-day at Appleton cottage
Maud of Wales Cadet branch of theHouse of Wettin Born: 26 November 1869 Died: 20 November 1938 | ||
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| Vacant Title last held by Sophia of Nassau | Queen consort of Norway 1905–1938 | Vacant Title next held by Sonja Haraldsen |
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*also a princess of Greece by marriage ^also a Danish princess by birth §title lost due to divorce and subsequent remarriage | ||
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