View source for Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk

{{Short description|Granddaughter of King Edward VII (1893-1945)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name= Princess Maud
| title = [[Earl of Southesk|Countess of Southesk]]
| image        = Princess Maud of Fife as an adult.jpg
| caption      = Lady Southesk in the 1920s
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Charles Carnegie, 11th Earl of Southesk]]|13 November 1923}}
| issue        = [[James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife]]
| father       = [[Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife]]
| mother       = [[Louise, Princess Royal]]
| birth_name   = Lady Maud Alexandra Victoria Georgina Bertha Duff 
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1893|4|3|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[East Sheen Lodge]], [[Richmond-upon-Thames]], [[Surrey]], England
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1945|12|14|1893|4|3|df=y}}
| death_place  = London, England
| burial_date  = 18 December 1945
| burial_place = [[Kinnaird Castle, Brechin]], Scotland
}}
'''Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36064/page/|title=Page 2827 {{!}} Issue 36064, 22 June 1943 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> (born '''Lady Maud Alexandra Victoria Georgina Bertha Duff'''; 3 April 1893 – 14 December 1945), titled '''Princess Maud''' from 1905 to 1923, was a granddaughter of [[Edward VII]]. Maud and her elder sister, [[Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife|Alexandra]], had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of ''Princess'' and the style of ''Highness''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27852 |date=9 November 1905 |page=7495 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>The distinction lies in being granted the styles of both Princess and Highness. Other female-line descendants of a British sovereign, such as the children of Prince and Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and of Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg, had been granted the style of Highness, but not that of Prince or Princess, presumably because they derived a princely style from their fathers, which was not the case of Princess Maud and Princess Alexandra. Their cousin Princess Victoria Eugénie of Battenberg was born "Highness" by virtue of an 1885 warrant of Queen Victoria and was created "Royal Highness" by Edward VII immediately prior to her 1906 marriage to the King of Spain: {{London Gazette |issue=27901 |date=4 April 1906 |page=2421 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref>

Although Princess Maud did not otherwise carry out royal engagements, because of her position in the Commonwealth's [[order of succession]] she served as a [[Counsellor of State]] between 1942 and 1945.

==Early life==
Maud was born on 3 April 1893 at [[East Sheen Lodge]], [[Richmond-upon-Thames]], [[Surrey]], the daughter of [[Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife]], and [[Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife|Princess Louise of Wales]]. Her father had been elevated from [[Earl of Fife|Earl]] to [[Duke of Fife]] following his marriage to Princess Louise, who was the third child and eldest daughter of the future King [[Edward VII]] and [[Queen Alexandra]].<ref name="burke" />

Maud was christened on 22 June 1893 in the [[Chapel Royal]] of [[St James's Palace]].

Maud and her sister were unique in sharing descent from both King [[William IV]] (through his mistress, [[Dorothea Jordan]]), and William IV's niece, [[Queen Victoria]], who succeeded him because he left no legitimate issue.<ref name="burke"/>

==Princess==
[[File:Maud of Fife.jpg|thumbnail|Princess Maud as a teenager]]
In 1900, [[Queen Victoria]] granted Maud's father a second dukedom of Fife in the [[peerage of the United Kingdom]] with a special remainder providing for the succession of the duke's daughters and their male-line descendants to the title, in default of a male heir. Maud became second in line to the dukedom, after her elder sister [[Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife|Alexandra]], and her descendants would eventually succeed to the peerage.

As a [[cognatic]] great-granddaughter of a British monarch (Queen Victoria), Maud was not entitled to the title of a [[British princess|Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] nor to the attribute ''[[Royal Highness]]''. Instead she was [[Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom#Courtesy prefix of "Lady"|styled]] ''Lady Maud Duff'', as the daughter of a [[duke]].<ref name="burke"/> She was fifth in the [[line of succession to the British throne]] at the time of her birth.

On 9 November 1905, King Edward VII (on his birthday) gave Maud's mother the title of [[Princess Royal]]. He further ordered [[Garter King of Arms]] to [[gazette#Gazette as a verb|gazette]] Maud and her sister with the style and attribute of ''[[Highness]]'' and the style of Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names, with precedence immediately after all members of the [[British royal family]] bearing the style of ''Royal Highness''.<ref name="burke">Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (editor). ''Burke's Guide to the Royal Family'', Burke's Peerage, London, 1973, p. 306. {{ISBN|0-220-66222-3}}</ref>

She took part in the carriage procession for members of the royal family when she attended the [[Death and state funeral of Edward VII|state funeral of Edward VII]] in 1910 (she was styled in the ''London Gazette'' as "Her Highness Princess Maud" and her sister "Her Highness Princess Alexandra", both without the territorial designation "of Fife").<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28401 |date=26 July 1910 |page=5475 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref> She attended the [[Coronation of George V and Mary|coronation of her uncle, George V]], on 22 June 1911 with the royal family, styled as "Her Highness Princess Maud" (again without territorial designation).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28535 |date=27 September 1911 |page=7079 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref>

Maud's uncle, King [[George V]], in [[letters patent]] dated 20 November 1917, restructured the styles and titles of the royal family by restricting the titles of Prince or Princess and the style of [[Royal Highness]] to the children of the sovereign, the children of the sovereign's sons, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the [[Prince of Wales]]. The Letters Patent also stated that "the titles of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness, and the titular dignity of Prince and Princess shall cease except those titles already granted and remaining unrevoked". This had no direct effect on Maud and her sister, whose rank and style derived from the specific promotions granted to them by their grandfather, Edward VII, and George V took no further action to retract the royal warrant conferring the princely title and attribute upon them. Maud therefore continued to use her princely title until her 1923 marriage.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65050557 | title=The Next Royal Marriage: Princess Maud and Lord Carnegie | newspaper=Register | date=6 November 1923 }}</ref> Upon her marriage to [[Charles Carnegie, 11th Earl of Southesk|Charles, Lord Carnegie]], however, she chose to be known as ''Lady Maud Carnegie'' (or, from 1941, ''the Countess of Southesk''), dropping her princely title however remained legally a [[British princess]] until her death.

She rode in the carriage procession with members of the royal family at the [[Death and state funeral of George V|funeral of George V]] in 1936; on this occasion she was styled in the ''London Gazette'' as "Lady Maud Carnegie".<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34279 |date=29 April 1936 |page=2773 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref> She also attended the [[Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth|coronation of her first cousin]] [[George VI]] in May 1937, taking part in the procession of members of the royal family, and was officially styled as Lady Maud Carnegie.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34453 |date=10 November 1937 |page=7037 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref>

==Marriage==
On 13 November 1923, Maud married [[Charles Carnegie, 11th Earl of Southesk|Charles, Lord Carnegie]] (23 September 1893 – 16 February 1992) at the [[Royal Military Chapel]], [[Wellington Barracks, London]].<ref name="burke"/> 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 and her husband operated a [[model farm]] from [[Elsick House]], in Kincardineshire, Scotland. They had one child, [[James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife|James]] (23 September 1929 – 22 June 2015).<ref name="burke"/>

==Girl Guides==
Maud was a devoted supporter of the [[Girl Guides]] movement. She was a County Commissioner in Angus and Aberdeenshire and a member of the executive committee in Scotland. She was a recipient of the [[Silver Fish Award]], Girl Guiding's highest adult honour, in 1937.<ref>{{cite news |date=1937-08-06 |work=Aberdeen Press and Journal  |title=Honour to the Countess of Southesk |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19370614/060/0005 |page=5 |location=Aberdeen, Scotland}}</ref>

==Later life, illness and death==
[[File:Braemar, Mar Lodge Estate, St Ninian's Chapel - wall stone 02.JPG|thumb|[[St Ninian's Chapel, Braemar]] - inscription commemorating Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk (1893–1945)]]
Maud consistently appeared at the [[Court of St. James's]] among the royal family, although she did not undertake official or public duties. During George VI's absence in Africa in 1943, she 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 James, Lord Carnegie, succeeded his aunt as [[James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife|3rd Duke of Fife]] in 1959.<ref name="burke"/> Upon his father's death, James succeeded to his titles in 1992. Her last public engagement was to act as president for the concert held in aid for the [[South London Hospital]] in November 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/832239980/?match=1&terms=Maud%20Carnegie|title=Obituary THE COUNTESS OF SOUTHESK|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=25 September 2025|date=15 December 1945}}</ref>

Maud died at a London nursing home on 14 December 1945 after a bout of [[acute bronchitis]]. Her will was sealed in [[Llandudno]] in 1946. Her estate was valued at £44,008 (or £1.2 million in 2022 when adjusted for inflation).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=Rob |last2=Pegg |first2=David |title=£187m of Windsor family wealth hidden in secret royal wills |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/18/187m-pounds-of-windsor-family-wealth-hidden-in-secret-royal-wills |website=The Guardian |access-date=19 July 2022 |language=en |date=18 July 2022}}</ref>

==Ancestry==
{{See also|Descendants of Christian IX of Denmark}}

{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Princess Maud'''
|2= 2. [[Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife]]
|3= 3. [[Louise, Princess Royal]]
|4= 4. [[James Duff, 5th Earl Fife]]
|5= 5. [[Agnes Duff, Countess Fife|Lady Agnes Hay]]
|6= 6. [[Edward VII]] of the United Kingdom
|7= 7. [[Alexandra of Denmark|Princess Alexandra of Denmark]]
|8= 8. [[Alexander Duff (British Army officer)|Sir Alexander Duff]]
|9= 9. Anne Stein
|10= 10. [[William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll]]
|11= 11. [[Elizabeth Hay, Countess of Erroll|Lady Elizabeth FitzClarence]]
|12= 12. [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|13= 13. [[Queen Victoria|Victoria of the United Kingdom]]
|14= 14. [[Christian IX of Denmark]]
|15= 15. [[Louise of Hesse-Kassel|Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel]]
}}

==References and notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk}}
*{{NPG name|name=Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk}}

{{British princesses}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southesk, Maud Carnegie, Countess of}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:People from East Sheen]]
[[Category:People from Richmond, London]]
[[Category:British princesses]]
[[Category:Scottish countesses by marriage|Southesk]]
[[Category:Daughters of British dukes]]
[[Category:Edwardian era]]
[[Category:Deaths from bronchitis]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in England]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Silver Fish Award]]
[[Category:Wives of knights]]
[[Category:Heirs presumptive]]
[[Category:Duff family]]
[[Category:Carnegie family|Maud]]