Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, was born on 1 May 1850, the 7th child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He shared the same birthday as Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, one of his godfathers, and after whom he was named. He was given a military education from the age of 8, and after two years at RMA Woolwich served as an officer in the Royal Engineers, then the Royal Artillery before serving in the Rifle Brigade from 1869. He was promoted to captain in 1871 and transferred to the 7th Hussars in 1874. His first appointment as Colonel-in-Chief was to the Rifle Brigade in May 1880 with the rank of major-general. He held many honorary Colonelcies in UK regiments as well as Canada, where he served as Governor for 5 years.
He was given a peerage as Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and Earl of Sussex, in 1874, and posted to India in the 1880s, holding the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army from 1886 to 1890. In 1883 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 13th Bengal Lancers, the 7th Bengal Infantry, and the 29th Bombay Infantry (2nd Baluchs). He was appointed Colonel of the 1st Bombay Lancers on 12 August 1891 and became Colonel-in-Chief of all four Indian regiments on 13 May 1904 by which time the numbering had changed for the two Bombay regiments.
In 1902 the Duke of Connaught was promoted to Field Marshal, but the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Army, held by Lord Roberts up until then, was abolished so he had to be content with Inspector of the Forces and President of the Selection Board. The Duke was a reformer but not a radical. He pushed for the change to khaki uniform after he had commanded the Guards Brigade in Egypt in 1882. He was not permitted to serve in the Boer War, being sent instead to command the army in Ireland.
He was married in St George’s Chapel on 13 Mar 1879, to Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia and they had three children, 2 daughters, Princesses Margaret and Patricia, and a son, Prince Arthur who died in 1948. The family lived at Bagshot Park and Clarence House. The Duke also had a mistress, Leonie, Lady Leslie. He died on 16 Jan 1942 at the age of 91. The funeral was in St George’s Chapel and he was buried in the Royal Burial Ground next to Victoria and Albert’s mausoleum at Frogmore.
