Background
Arthur was born at Buckingham Palace on 1 May 1850, the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The prince was baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Bird Sumner, on 22 June in the palace's private chapel.
Arthur was born at Buckingham Palace on 1 May 1850, the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The prince was baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Bird Sumner, on 22 June in the palace's private chapel.
He entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1866 and was then commissioned in the army, becoming a lieutenant colonel in 1876.
In 1866 and did well in the army, becoming full general in 1893 and field marshal in 1902. He served in Egypt in 1882, commanding the 1st Guards Brigade at Tel el Kebir. He then went to India and held the Bombay command from 1886 to 1890. Returning to England, the duke held various military appointments, notably commander in chief in Ireland (1900–04), inspector general to the forces (1904–07), and commander in chief in the Mediterranean (1907–09). As governor-general of Canada (1911–16) he aroused controversy by attempting to intervene in Canadian military affairs. Thereafter he presided over various state functions over the years and finally withdrew from public life in 1928.
He died in 1942 at Bagshot Park, at the age of 91 years, 8 months and 15 days, the same age to the day as his elder sister, Louise, Duchess of Argyll, who had died three years before.
He was a member of the Royal Family.
At St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, on 13 March 1879, Arthur married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, the daughter of Prince Frederick Charles and a great-niece of the German Emperor, Arthur's godfather, Wilhelm I. The couple bore three children: Princess Margaret Victoria Charlotte Augusta Norah, Prince Arthur Frederick Patrick Albert, and Princess Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth, who were all raised at the Connaughts' country home, Bagshot Park, in Surrey, and after 1900 at Clarence House, the Connaughts' London residence.
