Princess Patricia of Connaught (1886-1974)

Naval Wife

Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth was born on 17 March 1886 at Buckingham Palace, and was the youngest daughter of Arthur, Duke of Connaught, and Louise Margaret of Prussia.

Patricia was baptised at St Anne’s Church in Bagshot on 1 May 1886 and her godparents were Queen Victoria (paternal grandmother); Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (her paternal granduncle); the Elisabeth Anna of Prussia (her maternal aunt); Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (her first cousin); Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (her paternal aunt); and Prince Albert of Prussia (her mother’s cousin). 

Since her father was in the army, Patricia and her siblings travelled extensively and spent two years in India before her father was appointed Governor General in 1911. Patricia lived with her parents in Canada and became extremely popular. On 22 February 1918, she was named Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, the last private regiment ever raised in the British empire and she designed the badge and colours herself.

As one of the most eligible princesses in Europe, the prospects of Patricia’s future marriage was a hot topic in Europe and she was linked to princes in the royal houses of Portugal, Spain and Russia, however she chose a commoner. Patricia married naval Commander The Hon. Alexander Ramsay, one of her father’s aides-de-camp, at Westminster Abbey on 27 February 1919. Afterwards, she relinquished her royal titles and became known as Lady Patricia Ramsay, although she remained in the line of succession and was an active member of the royal household.

Patricia died in Surrey on 12 January 1974, and was the younger of only two surviving female grandchildren of Queen Victoria at that time. The other being, Alice of Albany, the daughter of Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria.