Princess Patricia of Connaught, Lady Patricia Ramsay

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Princess Patricia of Connaught; Credit – Wikipedia

Known as Patsy in the family, Princess Patricia of Connaught was born on March 17, 1886, at Buckingham Palace in London, England.  She was the youngest of the three children of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. Patricia had an elder sister and brother:

On May 1, 1886, the infant princess was christened at St. Anne’s Church near her parent’s home Bagshot Park in Bagshot, England.  She was given the names Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth, after her three godmothers: her grandmother Queen Victoria, her paternal aunt Princess Helena, and her maternal aunt, born Princess Elisabeth Anna of Prussia, and St. Patrick, the saint of her birthday.

Princess Patricia spent two years in India while her father the Duke of Connaught, who served in the British Army, was posted there.  In 1911, the Duke of Connaught was appointed Governor-General of Canada and Patricia accompanied her parents there.  She became popular with the Canadian people during the five-year period she lived in Canada.  In 1917, her picture appeared on the Dominion of Canada one-dollar note.

In 1914, at the start of World War I, Canada had insufficient military forces, and Captain Andrew Hamilton Gault offered the Canadian government $100,000 to help raise and equip an infantry battalion.  Lieutenant-Colonel Francis D. Farquhar, Military Secretary to Canada’s Governor-General, then the Duke of Connaught, asked the Duke of Connaught for permission to name the regiment after his daughter.  Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry was formed and Princess Patricia was named Colonel-in-Chief on February 22, 1918, and held that appointment until her death in 1974.  She personally designed the badge and colors for the regiment and the regiment attended and played their march at her wedding in 1919.  Besides World War I, the regiment has served in World War II, the Korean War, and the War in Afghanistan, as well as in numerous NATO operations and United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Princess Patricia inspecting the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in 1919; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

There was much speculation about whom Princess Patricia would marry and she was matched with a number of foreign royals, but ultimately she chose a commoner, albeit the son of a peer, The Honorable Alexander Ramsay, then a Captain in the Royal Navy and the third son of John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie, and his wife, Lady Ida Bennet, daughter of Charles Bennet, 6th Earl of Tankerville.  Alexander had been a naval aide-de-camp to the Duke of Connaught in his early years as Governor-General of Canada.  The marriage proposal occurred at the fishing lodge of J. K. L. Ross, a Canadian businessman, sportsman, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder, and philanthropist, on St. Anns Bay in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The wedding was held at Westminster Abbey on February 27, 1919.  This was the first major royal event after World War I and the first royal wedding at Westminster Abbey since the 1382 wedding of King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. The bridal party consisted of eight bridesmaids and two train-bearers:

Photo Credit – Bain News Service – Library of Congress

Upon her marriage Princess Patricia, voluntarily relinquished the style of Royal Highness and the title of Princess of Great Britain and Ireland and assumed the style of Lady Patricia Ramsay. She was not obligated to renounce her royal title but she wished to have a social status and rank closer to that of her husband. The decision was made with the agreement of her father The Duke of Connaught and her first cousin King George V.  Lady Patricia remained a member of the British Royal Family, remained in the line of succession, and attended all major royal events including weddings, funerals, and coronations.

The couple had one child:

Lady Patricia and her son; Photo Credit – Wikipedia, Bain News Service – Library of Congress

Lady Patricia was an accomplished watercolor artist and was made an honorary member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours.

At the age of 91, Alexander Ramsay died at his home Ribsden Holt in Windlesham, Surrey, England on October 8, 1972, and was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, in Windsor, England. Fourteen months later, on January 12, 1974, Lady Patricia died at Ribsden Holt at the age of 87 and was buried alongside her husband.

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