Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife

Alexander William George Duff, 1st Duke of Fife KG, KT, GCVO, PC ( born November 10, 1849 in Edinburgh, † January 12, 1912 in Aswan ) was a Scottish nobleman. He was the husband of Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

Life

Duff was the eldest son of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife, and his wife Agnes, daughter of William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll, who was born in Edinburgh. Duff attended Eton College and was from 1873 to 1879 member of the House of Commons for the Scottish constituency Elginshire and Nairnshire. From 1872 to 1902 he was Lord Lieutenant of the County of Elgin. In 1879 he inherited from his father the title of Earl Fife, was allocated to the Peerage of Ireland. In 1880/81 he was captain of the Gentlemen at Arms. In the aftermath of the Earl of Queen Victoria was charged with diplomatic missions. For his services he was awarded in 1885 by the Queen of the title of Earl of Fife in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, was connected unlike the previous title, automatically a seat in the House of Lords with the.

On July 27, 1889, the Earl Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of the then Prince of Wales married in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace. Queen Victoria made ​​him then to the Duke of Fife and Marquess of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. From this marriage came three children:

• Alastair Duff, Marquess of Macduff ( stillborn 1890)
• Lady Alexandra Duff (1891-1959)
• Lady Maud Duff (1893-1945)

The family lived in London and the Scottish estates of the Duke Mar Lodge, Aberdeenshire, and Mountcoffer House, Banff. The 1889 loaned securities could, as usual, just go to male physical Abkommlinge. As evident was that the couple will have no corresponding titles heirs, gave Queen Victoria to the Duke in 1900 the Dukedom again with the subordinate title Earl of Macduff, now with the determination that he go to the eldest daughter and her male physical descendants could. Both at the coronation of the father on August 9, 1902 as well as in that of the brother in law George V on June 22, 1911 the Duke acted as Lord High Constable.

In 1905, the Duchess of the title Princess Royal from her father, now King Edward VII was awarded. It is the highest honor that can receive a non- reigning female member of the British Royal Family. At the same time the two daughters were different from the general rules according to which this privilege is only payable to children of sons of the monarch, made ​​Princesses of Great Britain and Ireland, she received the title of nobility Highness ( Highness ) awarded; in the log Aryan hierarchy they followed immediately after the strict royal family above all other nobles.

On a trip to Egypt, the Duke and his family suffered in December 1911 off the coast of Morocco shipwreck. Although no one was directly injured, diseased Duke, may therefore, in Egypt pleurisy. He died in January 1912 in Aswan. The Dukedom was the daughter Alexandra on that so that was titled in its own right.

Titles and orders

Title from birth until death

• Mr. Alexander Duff (1849-1857)
• Viscount Macduff (1857-1879)
• Earl Fife (1879-1889)
• Duke of Fife (1889-1912)

Order

• Knight of the Thistle Order ( 1881)
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (1901 )
• Carrier of the Royal Victorian Chain ( 1902)
• Knights of the Garter (1911 )