Love and a rebel royal
QUESTION Was there a British princess who gave up all her royal titles upon marriage, during the reign of King George V?
THIS was Princess Patricia, younger daughter of the Duke of Connaught (Queen Victoria’s third son) and his wife Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. Princess Patricia was born on March 17, 1886, and raised at Clarence House, London, and Bagshot Park, near Windsor.
Her father, being an army man, travelled extensively to his postings and his family followed him, eventually to Canada, where he became Governor General in 1911. Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry is named after the princess.
The question of Patricia’s marriage was the subject of much speculation in the Edwardian era, as she was considered one of the most beautiful and eligible royal princesses of her generation.
Despite efforts to marry her to King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Grand Duke Michael of Russia ( brother of Tsar Nicholas II), Patricia fell in love with her father’s aide-de-camp, Captain Alexander Ramsay, a younger son of the 13th Earl of Dalhousie, who was also a naval officer.
Her mother’s opposition to her marrying a man of lower rank deterred Patricia from accepting his proposals for more than ten years. Her mother’s sudden death in 1917 removed one obstacle, and two years later Princess Patricia was able to marry Captain (later Admiral) Ramsay due to the more relaxed attitude of King George V. The marriage took place at Westminster Abbey on February 27, 1919.
At her own request, Princess Patricia renounced her royal title, becoming known as Lady Patricia Ramsay. She then retired into private life.
The couple had one son, Alexander Ramsay of Mar, born on December 21, 1919. Lady Patricia Ramsay remained a member of the Royal Family, attending the 1937 and 1953 coronations, as well as other events, riding in the carriage processions.
Her attendance at royal garden parties and state visits was recorded in the Court Circular. Lady Patricia died on January 12, 1974, aged 87, leaving her cousin Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, as the only surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Coryne Hall, Royal biographer and contributor to Majesty magazine,
Whitehill, Hants.
QUESTION What is the origin of the name cady, the luxurious silk fabric used for Meghan Markle’s wedding dress?
CADY is generally defined as a two or three-ply, slightly fulled silk fabric used for couture and evening gowns. It has become popular in recent times with labels such as Marni, St. John, Armani, Stella McCartney and Gucci using this fabric in their lines.
It’s a revival of a fabric originally produced in the Languedoc region of Southern France, named after the River Cady, which flows from Cannigou to Villefranche-de-Conflent.
Southern France was once one of the most important silk producing areas in Europe. Both silkworm breeding and silk production seem to have started in the Cévennes in the Ardeche region by the end of the 13th century.
In 1466, King Louis XI ordered the development of a national silk industry centred in Lyon to reduce France’s trade deficit with the Italian states.
French production peaked in 1853, producing more than 5,000 tons of raw silk. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 saw a decline in production. A final blow was the appearance of synthetic fibres such as nylon in 1938.
Arran Knox, Eastbourne, Sussex.
QUESTION For D-Day, the Allies had a pipeline, Pluto, towed across the Channel to supply petrol to Normandy. What became of it?
FURTHER to the story of the vital Pluto pipeline, in the mid- Eighties I was involved in a scheme to discharge treated sewage into the centre of the Solent from a pumping station constructed in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
To this end, a trench was being dug by a dredger in the seabed to take the pipe. To our horror, the dredger brought up part of a pipe that nobody knew was there.
We were relieved to discover from subsequent enquires it was the first part of Pluto running from Gosport to Ryde. The pipe had then run overland to the pumping station disguised as an ice cream parlour.
At the opening on the completion of our scheme, a small section of the pipe mounted on a polished wooden base, bearing a plaque identifying it as part of Pluto, was presented to the official who conducted the ceremony.
Alan Brown, Worcester Park, Surrey.