HER LATE ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS LOUISE (Hansard, 5 December 1939)

§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (EARL STANHOPE)
My Lords, I beg to move that an humble Address be presented to His Majesty to express the deep concern of this House at the loss which His Majesty has sustained by the death of Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise; and to condole with His Majesty on this melancholy occasion; and to assure His Majesty that this House will ever participate with the most affectionate and dutiful attachment in whatever may concern the feelings and interests of His Majesty.
Your Lordships will have read with deep regret of the death of Her Royal Highness Princess Louise. A daughter of Queen Victoria, she made history in several ways. She was, I believe, the first member of the Royal Family for a very long period to marry outside the royal circle, and she was also the first member of the Royal Family to give service to the Empire by accompanying her husband, the Marquess of Lorne as he then was, when he became Governor-General of Canada some sixty years ago. I say advisedly "give service to the Empire," for the five happy years which Her Royal Highness spent in that great country increased the attachment of Canada to the Crown, an attachment which has grown with each similar appointment of members of the Royal House with advantages of which in these days we are deeply conscious. The Province of Alberta and Lake Louisa, I suppose one of the most beautiful spots in the world, commemorate her stay in the Dominion. Princess Louise had great artistic gifts, and, apart from her works in painting and sculpture which are so well known, her encouragement to the artistic and literary world have been of no small value to the country, and she spent herself throughout her long life in support of charitable objects. The House will, I know, desire unanimously to 86 express its condolences with His Majesty and the Royal House in the bereavement they have sustained.

§ LORD SNELL
My Lords, on behalf of my noble friends and myself I beg to support the Motion which has been moved by the Leader of the House. The passing of a distinguished lady who had lived for more than ninety years would at any time be an event of special significance. We cannot, with her weight of years, grieve that the days of Princess Louise were not prolonged, but we do regret the breaking of yet another of the few remaining links between our time and generations long past. Her name recalls the days of one's own youth—also now, alas! a long time away—when it was prominent before the nation in all kinds of commendable ways. As the Marchioness of Lorne and as the Duchess of Argyll, Princess Louise took her part in the public duties connected with her high station. She was devoted to the arts and she had a forward-looking mind. In the long repose of her later years, my Lords, We may hope that the memories of those useful services may have brought to her both comfort and satisfaction.

THE MARQUESS OF CREWE
My Lords, may I add a word to what has fallen from the two noble Lords who have spoken? Those whose recollection goes back to the days when her Royal Highness Princess Louise was young preserve a memory of her great personal charm and beauty, of her keen enjoyment of life, and of her artistic sense, which expressed itself in work of no small merit. One of my reminiscences is connected with an important body, the Girls' Public Day School Trust, of which her Royal Highness was the esteemed and loved patron. I recall that on more than one 87 occasion of important school gatherings she attended and received the warmest possible welcome and made delightful speeches to the girls of the school and to those who were present. We all I am sure desire, knowing what a bond of affection unites all the members of the Royal House, to offer our sympathy to Their Majesties the King and Queen and to the other members of the Royal Family, but most of all, I think, to their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Connaught and Princess Beatrice, who, happily, are still here to remind us of the great traditions of the reign of Queen Victoria.

THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
My Lords, may I, as representing the Spiritual Peers in your Lordships' House, associate myself very briefly with what has been already so admirably said. It is sad to think that there are now only two survivors of the family of Queen Victoria, and that, by the death of Princess Louise, another link has been broken in the ties which still bind us with that great Queen and with the age to which she gave her name. But we cannot mourn for her now, for she had lived to a great age, and she is set free from the restraints which the burden of years had laid upon her. All who had the privilege of knowing Her Royal Highness will always remember the grace of her person, the width of her interests, and the charm of her conversation. Although perhaps she did not take the same part in public functions as some other members of her family, she had a place of her own in our national life, not only as the wife of a Governor-General of Canada, whose people still cherish the memory of her time among them, but also as one who very specially brought the Royal House into contact with the world of literature and art. She was herself, as has already been mentioned, an accomplished artist, and many of her works of sculpture will remain. In this she was following the tradition of her very able father. Now she passes from us leaving the memory of a singularly gifted and gracious personality.