Old Photograph Countess Of Southeask Flower Festival Dundee Scotland

Old photograph of the Countess Of Southeask opening the flower show in Dundee, Scotland. Princess Maud Alexandra Victoria Georgina Bertha of Fife, born 3 April 1893, died 14 December 1945, later Countess of Southesk, was a granddaughter of the British king Edward VII. Maud and her elder sister, Alexandra, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign granted the title of Princess of Great Britain and Ireland. Although Princess Maud did not normally carry out royal engagements, she served as a Counsellor of State between 1942 and 1945. Maud was born at East Sheen Lodge, Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey, England, on 3 April 1893. Her father was Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife born 1840, died 1912). He was created Duke of Fife following marriage to Maud's mother, Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of the future King Edward VII. On 13 November 1923, Maud married Lord Carnegie, born 23 September 1893, died 16 February 1992, at the Royal Military Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London. Lord Carnegie was the eldest son of Charles Noel Carnegie, 10th Earl of Southesk and inherited the title of Earl of Southesk on his father's death on 10 November 1941.

Maud's uncle, King George V, was displeased with his predecessor's decision to raise Maud and Alexandra to royal status and instructed to Maud to stop using her title and style upon marriage, however Maud remained British Princess until her death. She thus became known as Lady Carnegie, and later as Countess of Southesk. Since Maud had no official role in the royal family, this was able to be passed off as modesty. In some official documents, though, she was still styled Princess Maud. Maud and her husband operated a model farm at Elsick, in Kincardineshire, Scotland. They had one child, James, born 23 September 1929.

Maud was considered a member of the British Royal Family, although she did not undertake official and public duties. She attended the coronations of her uncle, George V, in June 1911 and her first cousin, King George VI in May 1937. During George VI's absence in Africa in 1943, Maud served as a Counsellor of State. At the time of her death in 1945, she was thirteenth in line to the British throne and heir presumptive to the dukedom of Fife, since her sister's only son, Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, had died in 1943. Maud's only son, Lord Carnegie, succeeded his aunt as 3rd Duke of Fife in 1959. He succeeded to his father's titles in 1992. Maud died in a London nursing home in December 1945 after a bout of acute bronchitis.



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