Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (Louisa Caroline Alberta; 18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939) was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Despite opposition from members of the royal family, Louise fell in love with John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, the heir of the Duke of Argyll.

[4] She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

[5] Like her siblings, Louise was brought up with the strict programme of education devised by her father, Prince Albert, and his friend and confidant, Baron Stockmar.

Her request was refused, and her boredom with the mundane routine of travelling between the different royal residences at set times irritated her mother, who considered Louise to be indiscreet and argumentative.

[15] She also undertook her share of public and philanthropic duties, for example inaugurating the new North Eastern Hospital for Children in 1867[16] and launching the ship HMS Druid in 1869.

William, Prince of Orange, was also considered a suitor, but because of his extravagant lifestyle in Paris, where he lived openly with a lover, the queen quickly vetoed the idea.

[20] Louise viewed marriage to any prince as undesirable, and announced that she wished to marry John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, heir to the Dukedom of Argyll.

No marriage between a daughter of a monarch and a British subject had been given official recognition since 1515, when Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, married King Henry VIII's sister Mary.

[21] Furthermore, Lorne's father, George Campbell, was an ardent supporter of William Ewart Gladstone, and the Prince of Wales was worried that he would drag the royal family into political disputes.

[27] The ceremony was conducted at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on 21 March 1871,[2][28] and the crowd outside was so large that, for the first time, policemen had to form chain barriers to keep control.

[29] Louise wore a wedding veil of Honiton lace that she designed herself, and was escorted into the chapel by her mother, and her two eldest brothers, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh.

On this occasion, the usually severe black of the queen's mourning dress was relieved by the crimson rubies and blues of the Garter star.

In 1871, the Ladies Work Society was founded in South Audley Street, promoting the making and sale of needlework and embroidery for poverty relief: Louise became its president, and designed some of their products.

[33] In 1878, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli nominated Lorne to be Canada's Governor General, and he was duly appointed by Queen Victoria.

As viceregal consort, she used her position to support the arts and higher education and the cause of female equality, although she said "the subject of Domestic Economy lies at the root of the – highest life of every true woman.

[38] Relations with the press further deteriorated when Lorne's private secretary, Francis de Winton, threw four journalists off the royal train.

Eventually the worries of a rigid court at Rideau Hall and the "feeble undercurrent of criticism" turned out to be unfounded as the royal couple proved to be more relaxed than their predecessors.

[41] Louise's first few months in Canada were tinged with sadness as her favourite sister Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, died on 14 December 1878.

Louise was knocked unconscious when she hit her head on the iron bar supporting the roof, and Lorne was trapped underneath her, expecting "the sides of the carriage to give way at any moment".

[50] For example, one New Zealand newspaper reported, "Excepting immediately after the blow, the princess was perfectly sensible during the whole time..."[48] Knowledge of Louise's true condition might have elicited sympathy from the Canadian people.

She played a major role in the development of the nascent tourism industry of the colony of Bermuda, 770 nautical miles (1,430 km) south-east of Nova Scotia.

[60] Queen Victoria had allocated them apartments at Kensington Palace, and the couple took up official residence in the suite that was to remain Louise's home for the rest of her life.

Louise resumed public duties in Britain, for example, opening St George's Gardens, Bloomsbury on 1 July 1884,[61] and Lorne his political career, campaigning unsuccessfully for the Hampstead seat in 1885.

Officially, this was to protect the family from Fenian threats, but it was whispered by members of high society that Louise had fallen pregnant by Walter Stirling, the tutor of her brother Leopold.

Beatrice mentioned the rumours to the queen's physician, calling it a "scandal",[66] and Prince Henry claimed to have seen Bigge drinking Louise's health at dinner.

[77] Louise was also romantically linked to fellow artist Edwin Lutyens; her equerry, Colonel William Probert; and an unnamed music master.

[86] Upon Queen Victoria's death, Louise entered the social circle of her brother, the new King Edward VII, with whom she had much in common, including smoking.

Financial pressures did not disappear when Lorne became Duke, and Louise avoided inviting the King to Inveraray, Argyll's ancestral home, because the couple were economising.

When Louise sculpted a statue of the queen, portraying her in Coronation robes, the press claimed that her tutor, Sir Edgar Boehm, was the true creator of the work.