The life of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany

On 7th April 1853, Queen Victoria gave birth to her penultimate child, Prince Leopold, at Buckingham Palace. The birth was the first royal birth to be aided “that blessed Chloroform”, which Queen Victoria described as ‘soothing, quieting & delightful beyond measure.’

Over two months later, on 28th June, the baby was baptised with the names Leopold George Duncan Albert in the palaces Private Chapel. His godparents included: King George V of Hanover; Prince William of Prussia; Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge; and Prince Ernst of Hohenhohe-Langenburg.

Early on it was clear that Queen Victoria hadn’t got much of a maternal connection towards Leopold. Compared to her angelic drawings of her eight other children, the Queen often depicted Leopold as if he was disfigured. Her disapproval of Leopold’s appearance wasn’t just limited to her drawings. In several letters and journal entries she would describe him negatively and on one occasion she described him as ‘the ugliest and least pleasing of the whole family’. As the excerpt continues she adds how ‘he walks shockingly and his manners are displaying; as well as his speech, which is quite dreadful.’ However, in reality Leopold looked much like a younger version of the Queen herself!

While the Queen’s observations may seem harsh, she was right in thinking Leopold was different from his siblings. From birth he struggled with his digestion and quickly became much thinner than his siblings. He also yelled out as if he was in excruciating pain. By the time he began walking, the Prince began bruising extremely easily, suggesting that something was wrong.

When he was five years old, Leopold was diagnosed with the blood clotting disease, haemophilia, which he inherited from his mother. The life-limiting diagnosis immediately changed the Queens opinion of her dear ‘little Leo’. She went from mocking him to doing everything she could to shield her ‘child of anxiety’ from danger. As a result, he was banned from playing sports with his siblings and, whether he was recovering from a bout of illness or not, he spent most of his time alone with his tutors. Whenever he was well enough to leave his room, many people kept their distance from the Prince out of fear that they would accidentally injure him. Unfortunately for Leopold, this meant that most people refused to play piano duets with him despite him being a talented player.

Although Queen Victoria tried to protect Leopold’s from the outside world, she continued to punish him just as harshly as she would her other children and would often hit him for his wrongdoings. On several occasions she took the punishment too far to the point where Prince Albert and the Duchess of Kent pleaded with Victoria to stop.

Things got worse for Leopold’s in 1861 when both Albert and the Duchess passed away. Victoria suddenly lost all interest in the welfare of her children, instead only focusing on her own grief. Soon she hired Archibald Brown, brother of John Brown, to take care of the sickly Prince. The Brown brothers were well known for their rude and overbearing personalities and unfortunately Leopold fell brunt of Archibald’s abuse. He would often refuse to help the Prince to the toilet during bouts of illness and banish his pets and siblings from his room for long periods of time. In top of that, Archibald would tap spoons on the princes head as a form of entertainment – this, of course, could have triggered a fatal haemorrhage. Luckily Leopold wasn’t completely alone and he had developed a close relationship with his sister Louise, who tried to sit with him as often as she could.

In 1872, Leopold joined Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied a variety of subjects and became president of the Oxford University Chess Club. He left the university in 1876 with an honorary doctorate in civil law. In 1880, alongside Louise and her husband, John Campbell, Leopold toured Canada and the United States. 

Due to his haemophilia, Leopold couldn’t join the military like his older brothers had. however he was given an honorary association with the 72nd Regiment, Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders, and from 1881 served as the first Colonel-in-Chief of the Seaforth Highlanders.  He also became a patron of the arts and literature and preformed the role of unofficial secretary to his mother. 

Like his siblings, Leopold saw marriage as the only way to get away from Victoria’s control. Several suitors were put forward but his haemophilia made it difficult to find a wife. After being rejected by at least eight women, Victoria suggested a meeting with Princess Helena Frederica of Waldeck-Pyrmont. The two immediately got on and got married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 27th April 1882. Less than a year after their wedding, on 25th February 1883, Helena gave birth to the couple’s first child, Princess Alice. 

For years Leopold had been spending winter at his French residence, Villa Nevada, to avoid the cold winter climate of England and the joint pain he suffered as a result. In winter 1883-1884, Leoplold had been reluctant to travel and leave his pregnant wife behind. However, in February 1884, both doctors and Helena insisted that he should go for just a few weeks. However, on 27th March, he slipped and fell, injuring his knee and hitting his head. In the early hours of the 28th he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died soon after, aged just 30. He was the second of Queen Victoria’s children to die. 

Leopold was buried in the Royal Vault at St, George’s Chapel, Windsor on 5th April 1884. His body was later moved to the Albert Memorial Chapel at St George’s Chapel, on 23rd June 1885. His wife Princess Helena gave birth to their second child, Prince Charles Edward, just four months later.

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