Maud, 11th Countess of Southesk: King Edward 7th's Granddaughter

Lady Maud Duff, or Her Highness Princess Maud

Maud Carnegie, 11th Countess of Southesk, was born into the British royal family in 1893 and yet she barely gets mentioned in the biographies of her better-known relations.

Lady Maud Alexandra Victoria Georgina Bertha Duff was born on 3rd April 1893, at East Sheen Lodge, Richmond. Her christening was held in the Chapel Royal, St. James' Palace, London, on 22nd June 1893.

Maud was sixth in line to the British throne. Her parents were Princess Louise and Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife. She was a grandchild of the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

She was also descended from King William IV and his actress-mistress Dorothea (Dora) Jordan. Elizabeth FitzClarence, one of their illegitimate children, was Maud's paternal great-grandmother.

Despite her impressive ancestry, Maud was known as Lady Maud Duff until 1905. She wasn't entitled to be a princess or a royal highness because she was from a female line of descent. It was not until 1905 that King Edward VII made Princess Louise the Princess Royal, and Maud and her older sister Alexandra, born in 1891, were elevated in status to highnesses and princesses as the granddaughters of the reigning monarch. Sadly, Alexander and Louise's only son, Alastair, was stillborn in 1890.

Legally a Princess: Lady Maud Carnegie

Maud's younger years were spent either at Mar Lodge in Scotland, near to Balmoral Castle, East Sheen Lodge, Richmond or travelling. She was lively, enjoyed outdoor activities, was an excellent shot, and she excelled at languages.

In 1910, Her Highness Princess Maud was in the carriage procession at Edward VII's funeral, and the following year, she attended her uncle George V's coronation.

As the duke, princess-duchess, and their daughters travelled by ship to Egypt in December 1911, they found themselves in the midst of a violent storm, and their lifeboat sank. They were rescued, but the duke contracted pleurisy, and he passed away on 12th January 1912.

Louise, Princess Royal, led a largely private life after his death. Alexandra became the 2nd Duchess of Fife when he died. She and Maud lived with Louise at Mar Lodge and 15 Portman Square, London, until they married. Louise died in 1931.

When George V changed the styles and titles of his relatives in 1917 to reduce anti-German sentiments, he chose not to reduce Princess Maud to Lady Maud, although he didn't agree with his father's 1905 gift. Her sister Alexandra was married to Prince Arthur of Connaught in 1913, so she was a princess by marriage and Edward VII's gift.

When Maud married Lord Charles Carnegie, the heir to the 10th Earl of Southesk at Wellington Barracks, London, on 13th November 1923, she asked to be addressed thereafter as Lady Maud Carnegie, although legally she was still a princess.

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Farmer, Royal Family Member and Counsellor of State

Lord Charles and Lady Maud Carnegie ran a model farm at Elsick House near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, then in Kincardineshire. Before her marriage, Charles' mother, Ethel, was a Bannerman. Since the 14th century, Clan Bannerman members have lived at Elsick House. Today, it is owned by the Duke of Fife, Earl of Southesk. (See below).

Maud gave birth to the couple's only child, James George Alexander Bannerman Carnegie, on 23rd September 1929 in London. Queen Mary, George V's wife, attended James's third birthday party at Elsick House.

While Maud didn't carry out official royal duties as a "working royal," she was often present at family and royal functions held at St. James's Palace. In 1943, she was appointed a Counsellor of State; this title allowed her to act on behalf of George VI while he was in Africa.

In 1936, Maud and Charles were in the procession at George V's state funeral, and they sat in the royal gallery in Westminster Abbey for the service. They also sat in the royal gallery at the 1937 coronation of George VI after they processed from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in a cavalcade of royal relations. (Source: The London Gazette, issues 34279 and 34453 supplements).

In 1941, Charles's father died, and they became the 11th Earl and Countess of Southesk. Kinnaird Castle, the ancestral seat of the earls of Southesk, was (is) set in 7000 acres of land in Brechin, Angus (southwest of Elsick House) on the banks of the River Southesk.

James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife, 12th Earl of Southesk

On 14th December 1945, 52-year-old Lady Maud Carnegie, then 13th in line to the throne, passed away in a London nursing home during a deadly attack of bronchitis. This date marked the 84th anniversary of her great-grandfather Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's death, and it was her cousin King George VI's 50th birthday.

Maud was buried at Kinnaird Castle. Her widower survived her by 47 years. He married Evelyn FitzGerald-Campbell in 1952. They both passed away in 1992.

James succeeded to the title of 12th Earl of Southesk on 16th February 1992, and from 26th February 1959 until his 22nd June 2015 death, he held the dukedom of Fife that he inherited from his widowed aunt Princess Alexandra of Fife, Princess Arthur of Connaught.

James and Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's sister, were frequently seen together, and there was speculation that they would marry. When James married in 1958, Margaret was not his bride, it was the Honourable Caroline Dewar. They had two surviving children and then divorced in 1966. Princess Margaret's marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960 also resulted in two children and a divorce.

Present Day

Maud's grandson David Charles Carnegie, born in 1961, is the 4th Duke of Fife with the subsidiary title 13th Earl of Southesk. At the time of writing he's 81st in the line of succession to the British throne. His eldest son, Charles Duff Carnegie, uses the Southesk title. He's 34 and 82nd in the line of succession. (Source: Britroyals).

In 2022 the Guardian newspaper estimated that Maud's estate when she died was worth £44, 008 or, with inflation to 2022 values factored in, £1.2 million. The same article gave exiled King Edward VIII an estate worth less than £8000 or, with inflation £75000 at the time of his death.

Maud is barely remembered as a royal figure, but she played her part in the complex history of Britain's royalty and aristocracy.

Sources

• The Glamorous Marriage of a Guardsman and a Princess, A Hundred Years Later
  
• Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk - Academic Kids
  
• Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk | Unofficial Royalty
  

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2023 Joanne Hayle