Princess Maud of Wales was Queen of Norway as spouse of
King Haakon VIIHaakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
. She was a member of the
British Royal FamilyThe British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
as the youngest daughter of Edward VII and
Alexandra of DenmarkAlexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
and granddaughter of Queen Victoria and also of
Christian IX of DenmarkChristian IX was King of Denmark from 16 November 1863 to 29 January 1906.Growing up as a prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a junior branch of the House of Oldenburg which had ruled Denmark since 1448, Christian was originally not in the immediate line of succession to the Danish...
. She was the younger sister of
George VGeorge V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
. Queen Maud was the first queen consort of
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
since 1380Margaret I was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century. Although she acted as queen regnant, the laws of contemporary Danish succession denied her formal queenship. Her title in Denmark was derived from her...
who was not also queen consort of
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
or
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
Early life
Princess Maud of Wales was born at
Marlborough HouseMarlborough House is a mansion in Westminster, London, in Pall Mall just east of St James's Palace. It was built for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. The Duchess wanted her new house to be "strong, plain and convenient and good"...
,
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as the daughter of
Albert Edward, Prince of WalesEdward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and at that time heir apparent to the British throne. Her mother was
Princess Alexandra of DenmarkAlexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
.
Princess Maud was christened at Marlborough House by
John JacksonJohn Jackson was a British divine and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.-Career:Jackson was appointed rector of St James, Westminster, London in 1846....
,
Bishop of LondonThe Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
, on 24 December 1869. Her godparents were her paternal uncle
The Prince LeopoldThe Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany was the eighth child and fourth son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold was later created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow...
(for whom
The Duke of CambridgePrince George, Duke of Cambridge was a member of the British Royal Family, a male-line grandson of King George III. The Duke was an army officer and served as commander-in-chief of the British Army from 1856 to 1895...
stood proxy); Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel (represented by
Prince Francis of TeckFrancis, Duke of Teck , was a member of the German nobility, and later of the British Royal Family. He was the father of Queen Mary, the wife of King George V...
);
Count GleichenAdmiral Victor Ferdinand Franz Eugen Gustaf Adolf Constantin Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg GCB , also known as Count Gleichen, was an officer in the Royal Navy, and a sculptor.-Biography:...
;
the Duchess of NassauPrincess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau was a Princess of Anhalt-Dessau and member of the House of Ascania...
(for whom
Princess Francis of TeckPrincess Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth of Cambridge was a member of the British Royal Family, a granddaughter of George III, and great-grandmother of Elizabeth II. She held the title of Duchess of Teck through marriage.Mary Adelaide is remembered as the mother of Queen Mary, the consort of...
); the
King of Sweden and NorwayCharles XV & IV also Carl ; Swedish and Norwegian: Karl was King of Sweden and Norway from 1859 until his death....
(who was represented by Baron Hochschild, the Swedish minister); the Princess of Leiningen (represented by
Claudine Rhédey von Kis-RhédeCountess Claudine Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde was the wife of Duke Alexander of Württemberg. Her son, Francis, Duke of Teck was the father of Mary of Teck, Queen consort to George V of the United Kingdom....
); her maternal aunt the Tsarevna of Russia (represented by the Baroness
de BrunnowPhilipp Graf von Brunnow was a Russian diplomat. Brunnow represented Russia in several conferences, and held ambassadorial positions in London , Frankfurt , Berlin , and then returned to London ....
, the Russian ambassador's wife);
the Crown Princess of Denmark|align=right|Louise of Sweden was Queen of Denmark as the spouse of King Frederick VIII of Denmark. She was the only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and Louise of the Netherlands .-Early life:...
(represented by Madame de Bülow, the Danish Minister's wife); and
the Duchess of InvernessCecilia Underwood, 1st Duchess of Inverness was the second wife of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, sixth son of King George III. As their marriage was in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, it was considered legally void, and she could not be styled either as the Duchess of...
(widow of Queen Victoria's uncle the Duke of Sussex).
She was a high-spirited child, a quality that earned her the nickname Harry. Maud took part in almost all the annual visits to the Princess of Wales's family in Denmark and later accompanied her mother and her sisters on cruises to Norway and the Mediterranean. She, along with her sisters
Princess Victoria-Titles and styles:*6 July 1868 – 22 January 1901: Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Wales*22 January 1901 – 3 December 1935: Her Royal Highness The Princess Victoria-Honours:*Imperial Order of the Crown of India, 6 August 1887...
and
Princess LouiseThe Princess Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife was the third child and the eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark...
, received the Imperial Order of the Crown of India from Queen Victoria on 6 August 1887. Like her sisters, Princess Maud also held the First Class of the
Royal Order of Victoria and AlbertThe Royal Order of Victoria and Albert was a British Royal Family Order instituted in on 10 February 1862 by Queen Victoria, and enlarged on 10 October 1864; 15 November 1865; and 15 March 1880. No awards were made after the death of Queen Victoria....
and was a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.
Marriage
On 22 July 1896, Princess Maud married her first cousin,
Prince Carl of DenmarkHaakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
, in the private chapel at
Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. Prince Carl was the second son of
Crown Prince Frederick of DenmarkFrederick VIII was King of Denmark from 1906 to 1912.-Early life:Frederick was born on 3 June 1843 in the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen as Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a junior male line of the House of Oldenburg descended from Christian III of Denmark and who had...
, Queen Alexandra's elder brother, and Princess
Louise|align=right|Louise of Sweden was Queen of Denmark as the spouse of King Frederick VIII of Denmark. She was the only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and Louise of the Netherlands .-Early life:...
of Sweden. The bride's father, the Prince of Wales, gave her
Appleton HouseSandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...
on the Sandringham Estate, as a country residence for her frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple's only child,
Prince AlexanderOlav V was the king of Norway from 1957 until his death. A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Olav was born in the United Kingdom as the son of King Haakon VII of Norway and Queen Maud of Norway...
, was born on 2 July 1903.
Tor Bomann-LarsenTor Bomann-Larsen is a Norwegian illustrator, children's writer, non-fiction writer and novelist. He started his career as a satirical illustrator for various newspapers, including Friheten, Ny tid, Dagbladet, Nationen and Arbederbladet...
suggested that the birth of the couple's only child after seven years of marriage may have been the result of an early form of
artificial inseminationArtificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
.
Prince Carl was an officer in the Danish navy and he and his family lived mainly in Denmark until 1905. In June of that year, the Norwegian parliament,
Storting, dissolved Norway's ninety-one year-old union with Sweden and voted to offer the throne to Prince Carl. Following a plebiscite in November, Prince Carl accepted the Norwegian throne, taking the name of Haakon VII, while his young son took the name of Olav. King Haakon and Queen Maud were crowned at the
Nidaros CathedralNidaros Cathedral is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It was the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros from its establishment in 1152 until its abolition in 1537. Since the Reformation, it has been the cathedral of the...
in
TrondheimTrondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
on 22 June 1906, the last
coronationA coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of a Scandinavian monarch.
Royal life
Queen Maud never lost her love of Britain, but she quickly adapted to her new country and duties as a
queen consortA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
. She supported charitable causes, particularly those associated with children and animals, and gave encouragement to musicians and artists. She learned to
skiCross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
and arranged for an English garden at Kongsseteren, the Royal lodge overlooking the nation's capital
OsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. Queen Maud's last public appearance in Britain was the coronation of her nephew,
King George VIGeorge VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
, in May 1937. She sat in the royal box at
Westminster AbbeyThe Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
next to her sister-in-law
Queen MaryMary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
and her niece
Mary, Princess RoyalThe Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood was a member of the British Royal Family; she was the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the sixth holder of the title of Princess Royal...
.
Maud also acquired a reputation for dressing with fashionable
chicChic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion.-Etymology:Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s...
. An exhibition of numerous items from her elegant wardrobe was held at the
Victoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in 2005.
Later life
Maud died of heart failure in London on 20 November 1938, six days before her 69th birthday (and the thirteenth anniversary of her mother's death), three days after an operation. Her body was returned to Norway on board the HMS
Royal Oak, the flagship of Second Battle Squadron of the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's Home Fleet. Queen Maud was buried in the royal mausoleum at the Akershus Castle in Oslo. At her death, Queen Maud was the last surviving child of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 26 November 1869 – 22 July 1896: Her Royal Highness Princess Maud of Wales
- 22 July 1896 – 18 November 1905: Her Royal Highness Princess Carl of Denmark
- 18 November 1905 – 20 November 1938: Her Majesty The Queen of Norway
Honours
Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal Family Order of King Haakon VII Companion of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India First Class of the
Royal Order of Victoria and AlbertThe Royal Order of Victoria and Albert was a British Royal Family Order instituted in on 10 February 1862 by Queen Victoria, and enlarged on 10 October 1864; 15 November 1865; and 15 March 1880. No awards were made after the death of Queen Victoria....
Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Royal Family Order of King Edward VIIThe Royal Family Order of King Edward VII was a high honour bestowed as a mark of personal esteem on titled female members of the British Royal Family for personal service to King Edward VII...
Royal Family Order of King George VThe Royal Family Order of King George V was a high honour bestowed as a mark of personal esteem on titled female members of the British Royal Family for personal service to King George V.Queen Elizabeth II is the only surviving member of the Order....
Arms
Upon her marriage, Maud was granted the use of a personal
coat of armsA coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, being those of the kingdom, with an inescutcheon of the shield of
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, differenced with a label argent of five points, the outer pair and centre bearing hearts gules, the inner pair crosses gules. The inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant in 1917.
Ancestors
Legacy
Queen Maud LandQueen Maud Land is a c. 2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. The latitudinal...
and
Queen Maud MountainsThe Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the polar plateau in Antarctica...
in
Antarctica, and
Queen Maud Secondary SchoolHKMLC Queen Maud Secondary School is located in Hau Tak Estate, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong. It is a memorial school for Queen Maud of Norway. The school was found in 1950....
in
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
are named after her.
Queen Maud GulfQueen Maud Gulf lies between the northern coast of the mainland and the southeastern corner of Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. At its western end lies Cambridge Bay, leading to Dease Strait; to the east lies Simpson Strait; and to the north, Victoria Strait.It was named by the Norwegian...
in
NunavutNunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, is also named after her.
Maud's great-granddaughter,
Princess Märtha LouisePrincess Märtha Louise of Norway is the only daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja. She is fourth in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne, after her brother and his two children.-Early life:...
, named her
eldest daughterMaud Angelica Behn is the first-born child of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and husband Ari Behn , and the eldest grandchild of King Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonja of Norway...
after the queen.
External links
|-