Alexander Duff, 1st Duke Of Fife

Alexander William George Duff, 1st Duke of Fife (10 November 1849 – 29 January 1912), was a Scottish nobleman and peer. He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Duff, who later became the 5th Earl Fife, and Lady Agnes Hay. His paternal grandfather was the 3rd Earl Fife, and his mother was the second daughter of the 18th Earl of Erroll and Elizabeth FitzClarence, an illegitimate daughter of King William IV.

Upon his father's succession to the earldom in 1857, he acquired the courtesy title Viscount Macduff. He was educated at Eton College from 1863 to 1866. In 1872, he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Elginshire in Scotland, a position he held for thirty years. From 1874 to 1879, he served as Member of Parliament for Elginshire and Nairnshire as a member of the Liberal Party.

On 7 August 1879, he succeeded his father as the 6th Earl Fife in the Peerage of Ireland and as the 2nd Baron Skene in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which granted him a seat in the House of Lords. He also inherited several Scottish feudal baronies, including MacDuff. During his career, he served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in the government of William Ewart Gladstone from May 1880 to January 1881 and participated in a diplomatic mission to Saxony in February 1882. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 1st Banffshire Artillery Volunteers in March 1884.

In 1885, Queen Victoria created him Earl of Fife in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was involved in the founding of the Chartered Company of South Africa and served as its vice president until the Jameson Raid of 1896. From February 1900 until his death, he was Lord Lieutenant of the County of London.

On 27 July 1889, he married Princess Louise of Wales, the eldest daughter of the then-Prince and Princess of Wales, at Buckingham Palace. The marriage was notable as the second marriage of a descendant of Queen Victoria to a British subject. Following the marriage, he was elevated to the title of Duke of Fife and Marquess of Macduff in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The wedding produced three children: Lady Alexandra Duff, Lady Maud Duff, and an earlier stillborn son named Alastair Duff.

In December 1911, while sailing to Egypt on the SS Delhi, the Duke and his family were shipwrecked off Morocco. They were rescued after spending time in the water and walking four miles to find shelter. The Duke contracted pleurisy from the incident and died at Aswan, Egypt, on 29 January 1912. His estate was valued at approximately £1 million at the time, equivalent to about £79.7 million in 2022, and he held 249,000 acres. His body was transported back to Great Britain, where it was interred initially in the Royal Vault at Windsor Castle, later transferred to St Ninian's Chapel at Mar Lodge, Braemar, Aberdeenshire.

He was a Knight of the Thistle, created in 1881, and an Extra Knight of the Garter, bestowed in 1911. He was also a Privy Counsellor from 1880. His honors included the Royal Victorian Order, the Royal Victorian Chain, and various foreign decorations, such as the Knight Grand Cross of the Norwegian Order of Saint Olav and the Saxon House Order of the Rue Crown.

His titles, including the 1889 dukedom, became extinct upon his death, except for his elder daughter, Princess Alexandra, who succeeded him as Duchess of Fife and Countess of Macduff.