Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught & Strathearn

His Excellency His Royal Highness The Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert, Duke of Connaught & Strathearn , Earl of Sussex KG, KT, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GCVO, GBE,VD, TD. Governor General & Commander-in-Chief of Canada

The 10^th Governor General of Canada since the Canadian Confederation was H.R.H. The Prince Arthur, seventh child and third son of H.M. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. Until World War One he head a number of German titles that were dropped on the orders of the Monarch due to anti-German feelings of the time. The name of the Royal House was also changed to Windsor.

Prince Arthur was born on the 1^st May 1850 and was educated during his early years by private tutors as was normal for members of the Royal Family at the time. He was then educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich at the age of 16. Upon graduation he was commissioned as a Lt. in the British army where he served for 40 years taking an active part in operations throughout the British Empire.

In 1911 on the advice of the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom HM King George V appointed him as the 10^th Governor General & Canadian Commander-in-Chief serving in the Vice Regal office until he was replace in 1916 by His Grace The Duke of Devonshire.  

Prince Arthur was sworn into the Vice Regal office in the government building in Quebec and became the first governor general of Canada to be a member of the Royal Family. During his time in office he travelled across the country a number of times with both his wife and daughter with the latter becoming very popular with Canadians of every walk of life. He carried out official duties such as the State Opening of Parliament at which he wear his uniform of a Field Marshall of the British Army and laid the cornerstone of the new government buildings in Ottawa as well as taking part in an official visit to the United States of America at the request of President Taft. During the First World War he was extremely active in supporting the training of recruits and visiting military hospitals as well as donning his Field Marshalls uniform and without informing his ministers went to the training grounds to personally. 

Prince Arthur’s achievement of arms were adopted in 1874 and are blazoned as Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant in pale or 2nd or a lion rampant gules within a double tressure flory counterflory gules 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent.  His supporters are: Dexter a lion rampant gardant or imperially crowned proper, sinister a unicorn argent, armed, crined and unguled or, gorged with a coronet or composed of crosses patée and fleurs de lis a chain affixed thereto passing between the forelegs and reflexed over the back also or. Overall an inescutcheon of Saxony (for his father) and differenced by a label of three points argent, the central point charged with a George Cross, the points dexter and sinister charged with a Fleur-de-Lis azure.

Prince Arthur was granted a coat of arms with his dukedom, consisting of the escutcheon of thearms of the sovereign in right of the United Kingdom, with a difference of a label argent, of three points, the first and third bearing fleurs-de-lis azure, and the central a cross gules and an inescutcheon of Saxony. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant from King George V.

After leaving the Vice Regal office being replaced by the Duke of Devonshire he returned to England and was not appointed to any further significant offices. He did however carry out a significant number of official duties and Royal Visits including one to India where he officially opened the Central Legislative Assembly, Council of State and Chamber of Princes.

Upon the outbreak of the Second World War Prince Arthur returned to military service in the position of Field Marshall where he was seen by the young recruits as a type of grandfather figure and was looked up to by all. He died at the age of 91 at Bagshot Park making him jointly the longest lived of all the children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with his sister Princess Louise, Dowager Duchess of Argyll.

During his life Prince Arthur was the Colonel-in-Chief of 7 regiments; Hon Colonel of 9 regiments; Colonel of the Regiment of 2 regiments; Personal aide-de-camps for four Monarch’s; awarded two long-service medals; two campaign medals; 16 British honors and 30 foreign honors.