Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife

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This article is about the Scottish peer. For information about the Scottish missionary to India, see Alexander Duff.

Alexander William George Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, KG, KT, GCB, GCVO, PC (10 November 1849–12 January 1912), styled Viscount Macduff between 1857 and 1879 and The Earl Fife between 1879 and 1889, was a Scottish peer who married Princess Louise of Wales, the third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Queen Alexandra.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Marriage 3 Titles and honours 4 Later life 5 Shorthand styles from birth to death

[edit] Early life

He was born in Edinburgh, the son of the 5th Earl Fife, and his wife, the former Lady Agnes Hay, the daughter of the 18th Earl of Erroll. When his father inherited the earldom in 1857, he held the courtesy title Viscount Macduff.

Lord Macduff attended Eton from 1863 to 1866 and served as a Member of Parliament for the Elginshire and Nairnshire constituency, in Scotland, from 1873 to 1879. On 7 August 1879, he succeeded his father as 6th Earl Fife in the Peerage of Ireland. He served as Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Elgin from 1872 to 1902, captain of the Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms from 1880 to 1881, and served on a special diplomatic mission to the King of Saxony in 1882. In 1885, Queen Victoria created him Earl of Fife in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He helped found the Chartered Company of South Africa, and served as one of its vice presidents until the 1896 Jameson Raid.

[edit] Marriage

On 27 June 1889, Lord Fife married Princess Louise of Wales, the eldest daughter of the then-Prince and Princess of Wales, at the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace. The wedding marked the second time a descendant of Queen Victoria married a British subject (the first being the marriage of The Princess Louise, the Queen's fourth daughter, to Lord Lorne). Two days after the wedding, the Queen elevated Lord Fife to the further dignity of Duke of Fife and Marquess of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

The marriage of the Duke of Fife and Princess Louise produced three children:

• Alastair Duff, Marquess of Macduff (stillborn 1890).
• Lady Alexandra Duff, later Princess Alexandra of Fife (17 May 1891-26 February 1959) m. her first cousin once removed Prince Arthur of Connaught (13 January 1883-12 September 1938), and had issue.
• Lady Maud Duff, later Princess Maud of Fife (3 April 1893-14 December 1945) m. the 11th Earl of Southesk, and had issue.

[edit] Titles and honours

The Duke of Fife received a fresh patent as Duke of Fife and Earl of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in April 1900, with special remainder to his daughters by Princess Louise and their male issue. The result was that he held two Dukedoms of Fife; the 1889 creation (with the subsidiary Marquessate of Macduff) would become extinct in the absence of a son and the 1900 creation (with the subsidiary Earldom of Macduff) would devolve upon his elder daughter in the absence of a son. In November 1905, his father-in-law, now King Edward VII, bestowed the title Princess Royal on the Duchess of Fife and declared that Lady Alexandra Duff and Lady Maud Duff should henceforth hold the title of Princess of Great Britain and Ireland with the style Highness.

Queen Victoria created the future Duke of Fife a Knight of the Thistle in 1881. He received the Royal Victorian Chain in 1902. His brother-in-law, King George V created him an Extra Knight of the Garter. He was also a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and a Privy Counsellor. At the coronation of his father-in-law, King Edward VII, in August 1902, and again at the coronation of George V in June 1911, the Duke of Fife acted as Lord High Constable. In addition to his London residence, 15 Portman Square, the Duke owned two estates in Scotland: Mar Lodge, Aberdeenshire and Mountcoffer House, Banff.

[edit] Later life

In December 1911, while sailing to Egypt, the Duke and his family were shipwrecked off the coast of Morocco. Although they escaped unharmed, the Duke fell ill with pleurisy, probably contracted as a result of the shipwreck. He died at Aswan, Egypt in January 1912, and his elder daughter, Princess Alexandra, succeeded to his dukedom, becoming the Duchess of Fife and Countess of Macduff in her own right. The Duke's other titles, including the 1889 creation of the Dukedom of Fife, became extinct. The Duke was buried in the Private Chapel, Mar Lodge Mausoleum, Braemar, Aberdeenshire.

[edit] Shorthand styles from birth to death

• Mr. Alexander Duff (1849-1857)
• Viscount Macduff (1857-1879)
• The Rt. Hon. The Earl Fife (1879-1889)
• His Grace The Duke of Fife (1889-1912)

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Coventry	Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms 1880–1881	Succeeded by The Marquess of Huntly
Honorary Titles
Preceded by George Skene Duff	Lord Lieutenant of Elginshire 1872–1902	Succeeded by Earl of March and Kinrara
Preceded by The Duke of Westminster	Lord Lieutenant of the County of London 1900–1912	Succeeded by The Marquess of Crewe
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Duke of Fife 1900–1912	Succeeded by Princess Alexandra
Preceded by New Creation	Duke of Fife 1889–1912	Succeeded by Extinct
Preceded by New Creation	Earl of Fife 1885–1912
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by James Duff	Earl Fife 1879–1912	Succeeded by Extinct