Arthur, The Only British Prince To Serve As Governor General Of Canada
Public DomainPrince Arthur was an Army lieutenant and Governor General of Canada.
On May 1, 1850, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s seventh child and third son, Prince Arthur, was born. Like his older brother Alfred, Arthur joined the military as a teenager. He served as a lieutenant in the British Army for 40 years.
While serving in Canada in 1869, he so impressed the Iroquois people that he was named “Chief of the Six Nations.” Other Canadian citizens reportedly expressed hope that Arthur would one day return to their country as governor general — and he did in 1911, holding the position until 1916.
In 1879, Arthur married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, and they had three children.
Public DomainPrince Arthur with his older brothers, Edward and Alfred, in 1893.
King Edward VIII described Arthur in his 1951 memoir as a man with an “unflawed sense of duty.” He wrote, “His family life had not been without sadness. As a younger brother and later the uncle and great-uncle of successive Sovereigns he had always had to play second fiddle in the affairs of the Royal Family. Yet, he never shirked the onerous demands made upon his services.”
Prince Arthur was Queen Victoria’s last surviving son, dying in 1942 at age 91.
