| Prince Leopold | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke of Albany | |||||
 Portrait byAlexander Bassano,c. 1882 | |||||
| Born | (1853-04-07)7 April 1853 Buckingham Palace, London, England | ||||
| Died | 28 March 1884(1884-03-28) (aged 30) Cannes, France | ||||
| Burial | 5 April 1884 Royal Vault,St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle; 23 June 1885 Albert Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
| |||||
| House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
| Father | Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
| Mother | Queen Victoria | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
| Education | Christ Church, Oxford | ||||
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (Leopold George Duncan Albert; 7 April 1853 – 28 March 1884), was the eighth child and youngest son ofQueen Victoria andPrince Albert. Leopold was later createdDuke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow. He hadhaemophilia, which contributed to his death following a fall at the age of 30.
Leopold was born on 7 April 1853 atBuckingham Palace,London, the eighth child and youngest son ofQueen Victoria of the United Kingdom andPrince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. During labour, Queen Victoria chose to usechloroform and thereby encouraged the use ofanesthesia in childbirth, recently developed by ProfessorJames Young Simpson. The chloroform was administered byJohn Snow.[1] As a son of the British sovereign, the newborn was styledHis Royal Highness The Prince Leopold at birth. His parents named him Leopold after their common uncle,King Leopold I of Belgium.
He was baptised in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace on 28 June 1853 by theArchbishop 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.
Leopoldinherited the disease haemophilia from his mother, Queen Victoria, and was a delicate child. There was speculation during his life that Leopold also had mildepilepsy,[2] like his great-nephewPrince John. Archibald Anderson "Archie" Brown,John Brown's younger brother, became personal valet to Leopold.[3]
The Prince's intellectual abilities were evident as a boy;Poet Laureate,Alfred, Lord Tennyson and his friend, philosopherJames 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".[4] His daughter,Princess Alice, wrote in her memoirs that his "literary and artistic inclinations were encouraged and developed by his beloved tutor, Robert Collins".[5] He was also tutored byCanon Duckworth[6] and for two years before that, by a young Eton master called Mr. Shuldam.[7]
| Annuity to Prince Leopold Act 1874 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to enable Her Majesty to provide for the Support and Maintenance of His Royal Highness Prince Leopold George Duncan Albert on his coming of age. |
| Citation | 37 & 38 Vict. c. 65 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 7 August 1874 |
In 1872, Leopold enteredChrist Church, Oxford, where he studied a variety of subjects and becamepresident of theOxford University Chess Club. Oncoming of age in 1874, he was made aprivy councillor and granted anannuity of £15,000.[8] He left the university in 1876 with an honorary doctorate in civil law (DCL), and then travelled in Europe. In 1880, he touredCanada and theUnited States with his sister,Princess Louise, whose husbandJohn Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, wasGovernor General of Canada. Leopold was a prominent patron of chess, and theLondon 1883 chess tournament was held under his patronage.[9]
Incapable of pursuing a military career because of hishaemophilia 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."[10] Later he pursuedvice-regal appointments in Canada and theColony of Victoria, but his mother refused to appoint him, to his great unhappiness.
Despite his inability to pursue an active military role, he had an honorary association with the72nd Regiment, Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders, and from 1881 served as the firstColonel-in-Chief of theSeaforth Highlanders, when that regiment was formed through the merger of the 72nd regiment with the78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot.[11] A portrait of Leopold in military uniform is held in theRoyal Collection.[12] The Seaforth Highlanders paraded at Leopold's funeral, a fact recorded byWilliam McGonagall in his poem "The Death of Prince Leopold".[13]
Leopold was an activeFreemason, being initiated in theApollo University Lodge, Oxford, whilst resident at Christ Church. He was proposed for membership by his brother,Albert Edward, Prince of Wales,[14] who was at the time the Worshipful Master of the Lodge,[15] and was initiated in a joint ceremony with Robert Hawthorne Collins, his friend and tutor, who later becameComptroller of his Household.[16]
Leopold served as Master of the Lodge from 1876 to 1877, and was later theProvincial Grand Master for Oxfordshire, still holding that office at the time of his death.[17] In 1882 he laid the foundation stone of the Masonic Hall on Marlborough Street inBanbury.[18]
Leopold, stifled by the desire of 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. He was acquainted withAlice Liddell, the daughter ofHenry Liddell, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford for whomLewis Carroll wroteAlice's Adventures in Wonderland. Leopold was the godfather of Alice's second son, who was named after him. It has been suggested that he considered marrying her, though others suggest that he preferred her sister Edith (for whom he later served aspallbearer on 30 June 1876).[19]
Leopold also considered his second cousinPrincess Frederica of Hanover as a bride; they instead became lifelong friends and confidants.[7] Other royal and aristocratic women he pursued included heiressDaisy Maynard,Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel,Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg,Princess Stéphanie of Belgium andPrincess Victoria of Baden.[7] Leopold was very fond of Mary Baring, daughter ofLord Ashburton, but though she was equally fond of him, at 19, she felt she was too young to marry.[7]
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 reigningProtestant families, Victoria suggested a meeting withPrincess Helen Frederica, the daughter ofGeorge Victor, reigning Prince ofWaldeck-Pyrmont, one of whose daughters had already married KingWilliam III of the Netherlands. On 27 April 1882, Leopold and Helen were married atSt George's Chapel atWindsor Castle, and his income was raised by parliament to £25,000.[8] They enjoyed a happy, albeit brief marriage. In 1883, Leopold became a father when his wife gave birth to a daughter,Alice. However, he did not live to see the birth of his son,Charles Edward.
Leopold had haemophilia diagnosed in childhood, and in early years had various physicians in permanent attendance, including Arnold Royle[20] andJohn Wickham Legg. In February 1884, Leopold went toCannes 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 acerebral haemorrhage.[21] His remains were interred in the Royal Vault and later buried in the Albert Memorial Chapel atWindsor.[22] The court observed official mourning from 30 March 1884 to 11 May 1884.[23]
Having died six years after his older sisterAlice, Leopold was the second, but the youngest of Queen Victoria's children to die, being only 30 years old at the time of his death. His mother outlived him by seventeen years, by which time she had also outlived a third child,Alfred.[24] Leopold's passing was lamented by the Scottish "poet and tragedian"William McGonagall in the poem "The Death of Prince Leopold".[13] Queen Victoria wrote in her journal:
Another awful blow has fallen upon me & all of us today. My beloved Leopold, that bright, clever son, who had so many times recovered from such fearful illness, & from various small accidents, has been taken from us! To lose another dear child, far from me, & one who was so gifted, & such a help to me, is too dreadful![25]
The haemophilia gene is carried on theX 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 sonRupert.[26]
Leopold's posthumous son,Prince Charles Edward, succeeded him as the 2ndDuke of Albany upon his birth four months later. Charles Edward succeeded his uncleAlfred asDuke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1900.
Leopold was createdDuke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and BaronArklow on 24 May 1881.[27]
Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of theSaxe-Ernestine House Order,1871[34]
Empire of Brazil:Grand Cross of the Southern Cross,11 July 1871
Grand Duchy of Hesse:[35]
Kingdom of Greece:Grand Cross of the Redeemer,12 July 1876
Hanoverian Royal Family:
Belgium: Grand Cordon of theOrder of Leopold (military),20 October 1878[36]
Kingdom of Prussia:
Sweden-Norway:Knight of the Seraphim,24 May 1881[37]
Mecklenburg:Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore and Diamonds,1 August 1881
Waldeck and Pyrmont: Civil Merit Order, 1st Class,26 April 1882
Württemberg:Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown,27 April 1882
Netherlands:Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion,24 November 1882In 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.[citation needed]
On 30 January 1884, theUniversity of Durham conferred the honorary degree ofDoctor of Civil Law (DCL) upon Prince Leopold. The ceremony, held inDurham Cathedral Library, attracted many spectators. He later wrote to the university expressing a wish to become a member ofUniversity College.[38]
| Image | Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Princess Alice of Albany | 25 February 1883 | 3 January 1981 | She marriedPrince 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'; later the reigningDuke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He marriedPrincess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein on 11 October 1905. They had five children. |
Even his tranquilly conducted education, at the hands of his private tutor, Canon Duckworth, was interrupted by long spells in bed.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Albany, Dukes of".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 488–489.
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany Cadet branch of theHouse of Wettin Born: 7 April 1853 Died: 28 March 1884 | ||
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New creation | Duke of Albany (creation of 1881) 1881–1884 | Vacant Title next held by Prince Charles Edward |