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Maud of Wales
Queen of Norway from 1905 to 1938 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Maud of Wales (Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria; 26 November 1869 – 20 November 1938) was Queen of Norway as the wife of King Haakon VII. The youngest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom and a sister of King George V, she was known as Princess Maud of Wales before her marriage, as her father was the Prince of Wales at the time.
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A daughter of Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexandra of Denmark, Maud was the youngest of six children. She grew up in a warm and informal environment under the supervision of her mother, contrasting with the stricter upbringing of her older siblings. From an early age, Maud showed a spirited and lively nature, enjoying outdoor pursuits and sports; she was among the first British princesses to ride a bicycle and often spent time in the gardens and grounds of Sandringham House. Her education, was primarily conducted at home, under the supervision of private tutors.
In 1896, Maud married her first cousin Prince Carl of Denmark. Following the dissolution of the union with Sweden in November 1905, Prince Carl was elected king of Norway as Haakon VII of Norway, and Maud became the first queen consort of an independent Norway in more than five centuries. Stepping into her new role, she combined her British upbringing with her Norwegian duties: while keeping strong ties to Britain, Maud embraced Norwegian national life, supported charitable causes particularly those connected to children, women, and the arts and took part in outdoor pursuits such as skiing.
Despite her reserved public demeanour, Maud played a steady and stabilising role in the early 20th-century Norwegian monarchy, acting as a bridge between British and Norwegian royal traditions. She was widely admired for her dignity, charitable work, and quiet influence at court. Maud died in London on 20 November 1938, six days before her 69th birthday.
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Early life and education
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Maud was born at 12:20 am on 26 November 1869 at Marlborough House, London.[1] She was the third daughter and fifth child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and Alexandra, Princess of Wales. Albert Edward was the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and Alexandra was the eldest daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. Maud was christened "Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria" at Marlborough House by John Jackson, Bishop of London, on 24 December. Her godparents were her paternal uncle Prince Leopold, for whom the Duke of Cambridge stood proxy; Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel, for whom Prince Francis of Teck stood proxy; Count Gleichen; the Duchess of Nassau, for whom Princess Francis of Teck stood proxy; Charles XV of Sweden, for whom Swedish minister Baron Hochschild stood proxy; Princess Marie of Leiningen, for whom Princess Claudine of Teck stood proxy; her maternal aunt the Tsarevna of Russia for whom Baroness de Brunnow stood proxy; Crown Princess Louise of Denmark, for whom Madame de Bülow, wife of the Danish minister, stood proxy; and her great-great-aunt the Duchess of Inverness.
Growing up, Maud had a love for all outdoor sports. She was described as having a 'kind and cheerful disposition.'[2] Of the three Wales girls, she was the most attractive. 'She did look so pretty and fresh,' wrote the Empress Frederick of Maud in 1895, 'like a little rose, with her bright eyes and dear intelligent expression.'[2]
The tomboyish Maud was known as "Harry" to the royal family, after Edward VII's friend Admiral Henry Keppel, whose conduct in the Crimean War was considered particularly courageous at the time.[3][4] Maud took part in almost all the annual visits to the Princess of Wales's family gatherings in Denmark and later accompanied her mother and sisters on cruises to Norway and the Mediterranean. She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her paternal aunt Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg,[5] and at the wedding of her brother George to Mary of Teck in 1893.[6]
Maud, along with her sisters, Victoria and Louise, received the Imperial Order of the Crown of India from their grandmother Queen Victoria on 6 August 1887. Like her sisters, she also held the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (First Class) and was a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.
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Princess of Denmark
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Maud married relatively late, waiting until her late twenties to find a husband.[3] She had initially wanted to marry a distant cousin, Prince Francis of Teck, younger brother of her sister-in-law Mary. Despite being relatively impoverished from mounting gambling debts and being in a position to possibly benefit from Maud's status, he ignored her advances.[4]
There had been talk of Maud becoming a possible candidate as wife of Prince Christian of Denmark along with her sister, Victoria.[7] The idea petered out but in the following year, 1895, Prince Christian's younger brother, Prince Carl of Denmark, began paying court to Princess Maud. Carl and Maud had known each other all their lives. On the Princess of Wales's frequent visits to her father's court, her children and the children of her brother, the Crown Prince Frederik, had always played their boisterous games together. Prince Carl was twenty-two years of age; a tall, fair, slender, good-natured and level-headed young man. The Duchess of Teck considered him very good-looking. 'He seems charming!' she wrote, 'but looks fully three years younger than Maud, has no money.'[7] Nevertheless, during one of those Danish family gatherings at Fredensborg, Prince Carl proposed and Princess Maud accepted. The couple were officially engaged in October 1895, and the engagement caused much delight to Queen Victoria.[7]
On 22 July 1896, Maud married her first cousin, Prince Carl of Denmark, in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. Carl was the second son of Queen Alexandra's eldest brother, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, and Princess Louise of Sweden. The bride's father gave them Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a country residence for her frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple's only child, Prince Alexander, was born on 2 July 1903.[8]
While in Denmark, Maud was often homesick and preferred her native English accustoms, her talk, interests and pursuits were those of English county society, she was never happier than when gardening, riding, bicycling or driving a wagonette.[9] Although her Copenhagen home, a suite of twelve rooms in what was known as Bernstorff Mansion beside the Amalienborg Palace, was furnished 'to reflect English taste', she was still dissatisfied. However, she divided her time between her little mansion in Copenhagen, and Appleton House, her adored English country home. The responsibilities of marriage and motherhood had made very little difference to Maud's looks, personality or way of life. With her piled coiffure, her high collars and her small, slim-waisted figure, she was still like an echo of her mother.[9]
Carl served as an officer in the Royal Danish Navy, and he and his family lived mainly in Denmark until 1905. In June 1905 the Norwegian Storting dissolved Norway's 91-year-old union with Sweden and voted to offer the throne to Prince Carl of Denmark. Maud's membership in the British royal house played some part in why Carl was chosen. Following a plebiscite in November, Prince Carl accepted the Norwegian throne as King Haakon VII, while his young son was renamed Olav. King Haakon VII and Queen Maud were crowned at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 22 June 1906; there has not been a coronation in Scandinavia since.
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Queen of Norway
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Queen Maud quickly adapted to her new country and duties as a queen consort. A court was formed, and Marie Magdalena Rustad was appointed her principal lady-in-waiting. Maud played a strong and dominant role within the court and family, but a discreet role in public.[10]
During her first years in Norway, she and her husband were photographed in Norwegian folk costumes, and enjoying winter sports such as skiing, to give them a Norwegian appearance in the eyes of the public.[10] She disliked representation but performed her role as a queen with great care, and used clothes and jewellery to make a regal impression. She supported charitable causes, particularly those associated with children and animals, and gave encouragement to musicians and artists. Among her projects was Dronningens Hjelpekomité (the Queen's Relief Committee) during World War I. She supported the feminist Katti Anker Møller's home for unwed mothers (1906), which was regarded as radical, designed furniture for the benefit of the Barnets utstilling (Children's Exhibition) 1921, and sold photographs for charitable purposes.[10] An avid rider, Maud insisted that the stables of the royal palace in Oslo be upgraded. Maud supervised much of this project herself and was greatly inspired by the Royal Mews in London when the stables were expanded.[11]
Maud continued to regard Great Britain as her true home even after her arrival in Norway, and visited Great Britain every year.[10] She mostly stayed at her Appleton House, Sandringham, during her visits.[12] She did, however, also appreciate some aspects of Norway, such as the winter sports, and she supported bringing up her son as a Norwegian. She learned to ski and arranged for English gardens at Kongsseteren, the royal lodge overlooking Oslo, and at the summer residence at Bygdøy. She is described as reserved as a public person but energetic and with a taste for practical jokes as a private person.
Maud's last public appearance in Britain was at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937 at Westminster Abbey.[12] She sat in the royal pew at Westminster Abbey next to her sister-in-law Queen Mary and her niece Mary, Princess Royal, as part of the official royal party.[13]
Maud also acquired a reputation for dressing with fashionable chic. An exhibition of numerous items from her elegant wardrobe was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2005 and published in the catalogue Style and Splendour: Queen Maud of Norway's Wardrobe 1896–1938.
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Death and legacy
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Maud visited England in October 1938. Initially, she stayed at Sandringham, but then moved into a hotel in London's West End. She became ill and was taken to a nursing home at 18 Bentinck Street, Marylebone, London, where an abdominal operation was performed on 16 November 1938, where modern-day information suggests that she suffered from advanced cancer. King Haakon immediately travelled from Norway to her bedside. Although she survived the surgery, Maud died unexpectedly of coronary thrombosis on 20 November 1938,[12] six days before her 69th birthday and on the 13th anniversary of her mother's death. At the time of her death Maud was the last surviving child of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.[14][15] Norwegian newspapers were allowed to break the law forbidding publication on Sundays in order to notify the Norwegian public of her death.[16] King Haakon returned Appleton House to the British royal family.[8]
Her body was returned to Norway on board HMS Royal Oak, the flagship of the Second Battle Squadron of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet.[17] Her body was moved to a small church in Oslo before the burial.[17] Maud was buried in the royal mausoleum at Akershus Castle in Oslo.[12][18] Her will was sealed in London in 1939. Her estate in England and Wales was valued at £7,941 (or £362,400 in 2022 when adjusted for inflation).[19]
Queen Maud Land and Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica; Queen Maud Secondary School in Hong Kong; and Queen Maud Gulf (including Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary) in Nunavut, Canada, are named after Maud. The ship Maud, designed to the specifications of Roald Amundsen for service in the Arctic Ocean and launched in 1916 to traverse and explore the Northeast Passage, was christened in honour of Maud of Wales. The replenishment ship HNoMS Maud of the Royal Norwegian Navy has also been named for her.[20] The Queen Maud fromage (a sweet dessert) is named after her.
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Titles, styles, and arms
Titles and styles
Arms
Upon her marriage, Maud was granted the use of a personal coat of arms, being those of the kingdom, with an inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony, differenced with a label argent of five points, the outer pair and centre bearing hearts gules, the inner pair crosses gules.[24] The inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant in 1917.
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| Maud's coat of arms (granted 1896) until 1917 | Royal monogram as Queen of Norway |
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Ancestry
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References
External links
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