Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess Of Fife

Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife (full name Alexandra Victoria Alberta Edwina Louise Duff), was born on 17 May 1891 and died on 26 February 1959. She was born as Lady Alexandra Duff in East Sheen Lodge, Richmond, Surrey, England. She was the eldest surviving grandchild of King Edward VII and a first cousin of Kings Edward VIII and George VI.

Her father was Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife. He succeeded his father as the 6th Earl Fife and was later created Duke of Fife and Marquess of Macduff in 1889 upon his marriage to Princess Louise of Wales, the eldest daughter of the future King Edward VII. The Titles of Duke of Fife and Earl of Macduff were granted in such a way to pass through female lines, with a special remainder, allowing them to be inherited by Alexandra after her father's death in 1912.

Alexandra's maternal lineage included Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra, her maternal grandmother, making her a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was baptized on 29 June 1891 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, with Queen Victoria and the Prince and Princess of Wales as her godparents.

In 1905, King Edward VII declared her the Princess Royal, and she was granted the style and rank of "Her Highness" and "Princess" with precedence immediately after the British royal family members bearing the style of Royal Highness.

In her early years, Alexandra was known as Lady Alexandra Duff. She was briefly engaged to Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark in 1910, but the engagement was broken off due to parental disapproval. On 15 October 1913, she married her first cousin once removed, Prince Arthur of Connaught, at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, London. Following her marriage, she was styled as Her Royal Highness Princess Arthur of Connaught, Duchess of Fife.

The couple initially resided at 54 Mount Street, Mayfair. Later they moved to other addresses in London, including 17 Hill Street, 42 Upper Grosvenor Street, and 41 Belgrave Square, where she lived until her husband's death in 1938. In 1938, Princess Alexandra purchased a house at 64 Avenue Road, St John's Wood, London, where she resided until her death.

Throughout her life, Alexandra pursued a career in nursing. During World War I, she worked at St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, beginning as a full-time nurse in 1915, and became a state-registered nurse in 1919. She received a first prize for a paper on eclampsia and later practiced at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, specializing in gynecology. Her nursing skills were recognized with the award of the Royal Red Cross in July 1925.

In 1920, she accompanied her husband when he was appointed governor-general of South Africa, where she was engaged in hospital, child welfare, and maternity work. After returning to London in 1923, she continued her nursing career at University College Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital, focusing on surgical nursing and working as a theatre sister.

She was awarded the Royal Red Cross, First Class, in 1925. During World War II, she served as sister-in-charge of a casualty clearing station during the Dunkirk evacuation and established the Fife Nursing Home in London in 1939, which she managed until 1949. Her only child, Alastair, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, died unexpectedly in 1943 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

In 1949, her rheumatoid arthritis led to her being bedbound and the closure of her nursing home. She spent her later years at her London residence and wrote autobiographical works, including "A Nurse's Story" (1955) and "Egypt and Khartoum" (1956). She died from pneumonia on 26 February 1959 at the age of 67. She was cremated, and her ashes were interred at St Ninian's Chapel, Braemar, next to her parents and son.

Her estate was valued at £86,217 (approximately £1.4 million in 2022). Throughout her life, she held various honors, including the Royal Red Cross, Dame Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of St John, and others. She held honorary military appointments, such as Colonel-in-chief of the Royal Army Pay Corps.