Louise of Great Britain, the Scottish Marchioness

Louise of Great Britain and Ireland, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, became the first British princess since Mary Tudor in 1515, to marry a subject when she married John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll (then Marquess of Lorne) in 1871. This marriage ruffled several European royal feathers (as the marriages in Victoria's family were wont to do (Battenbergs anyone?) and not a few European royals (even the liberal Queen Sophie of the Netherlands and Empress Augusta of Germany) weren't quite sure what to make of it.

So, here's my question: William Alexander Louis Stephen Hamilton, was the son and heir to the 11th duke of Hamilton, who included amongst his litany of titles duke of Chatellerault and duke of Brandon, and three years older than Louise, from one of the most ancient families in Scotland (the Hamiltons and the Douglases), at his father's death, the Hamilton fortune was estimated at £140,000 (probably not the same as the Campbells (I can't seem to find a valuation of their estate), but hardly chump change in those days, and best of all, his mother was the Princess Marie Amelie of Baden - aunt to the King of Romania and the queen of Saxony, cousin to the French emperor and the Swedish royal family (amongst others). He was still unmarried when Louise married her Scots' marquess, so why didn't Victoria go for someone at least quasi-(Bonapartist-)royal? I mean, her excuse that the royal houses of Europe were inbred doesn't really hold water when one looks that the closest relative that Louise might've shared with William, would've been (and I could be wrong) way back in James II of Scots' daughter, Mary.

Anyone explain this idiosyncrasy?
 
Basically: Louise preferred John Campbell to William Douglas-Hamilton. That's the onl reason it happened.
 
Basically: Louise preferred John Campbell to William Douglas-Hamilton. That's the onl reason it happened.

Okay. Interesting.

That said, say Louise HAD married Lord Douglas (William's courtesy title was Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale), and they had had children. Would that match of Louise have been considered as equal and her children as equal rank spouses if they had married back onto the continent? Or would they only be regarded as equal in Britain, like the Tecks, Battenbergs and several other domesticated princes?
 
To be fair - Louise herself was very independent of mind and had no great desire to marry a foreigner who she barely knew - also the Queen's insistence that her younger daughter's remain close played a significant part in Victoria's willingness for her family to make matches that would have been considered impossible among most European Royal Families. Louise was apparently enamored of Lorne and it would be far more popular domestically - The Queen was well aware of how the public regarded the obscure german princelings who would have been the obvious choice and another Prussian or Danish match would have caused even more problems within the family. I don't believe a Hamilton match would have been viewed as much more appropriate by continental royals to be honest - Marie of Baden might have been semi-royal (her mother was only really royal through adoption and in reality she had been just a french aristocrat by birth - her Baden marriage was purely a political act) From memory Victoria didn't approve of some of the company Marie or her son William kept in and around the late 1860s being friends of the sort she warned the Prince of Wales about a lot so that might have caused a problem at this period.
 
Okay. Interesting.

That said, say Louise HAD married Lord Douglas (William's courtesy title was Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale), and they had had children. Would that match of Louise have been considered as equal and her children as equal rank spouses if they had married back onto the continent? Or would they only be regarded as equal in Britain, like the Tecks, Battenbergs and several other domesticated princes?

I doubt they would have been either way - Victoria had a problem when she recommended Princess May of Teck to several European royals before she decided to marry her to Albert Victor. And May of Teck had a British Princess for a mother and a morganatic German father. Afonso XIII had to overcome his mother's significant objections to marrying Victoria of Battenberg despite her religion and non-royal status
 
I doubt they would have been either way - Victoria had a problem when she recommended Princess May of Teck to several European royals before she decided to marry her to Albert Victor. And May of Teck had a British Princess for a mother and a morganatic German father. Afonso XIII had to overcome his mother's significant objections to marrying Victoria of Battenberg despite her religion and non-royal status

To be fair, ICR when this was, but Victoria also pushed the sonless Wilhelm II of Württemberg to accept the Tecks as equally born so that they could succeed to the kingdom when Wilhelm died. When the king refused, Victoria regarded it as snobbery on his part rather attempting to comprehend the German notion of a morganatic marriage
 
To be fair, ICR when this was, but Victoria also pushed the sonless Wilhelm II of Württemberg to accept the Tecks as equally born so that they could succeed to the kingdom when Wilhelm died. When the king refused, Victoria regarded it as snobbery on his part rather attempting to comprehend the German notion of a morganatic marriage

Yes it was when Princess Mary and her husband were suffering financial troubles again and Victoria thought the problem would be overcome if he was granted rights in Wurttemburg (which had difficulties due to Wilhelm II's lack of an heir and the fact his nearest heir male would have belonged to a catholic branch of the family)
 
Yes it was when Princess Mary and her husband were suffering financial troubles again and Victoria thought the problem would be overcome if he was granted rights in Wurttemburg (which had difficulties due to Wilhelm II's lack of an heir and the fact his nearest heir male would have belonged to a catholic branch of the family)


Which I always found sort of weird, since the Catholic branch was related to Victoria by blood whereas the Tecks were only by marriage PLUS Victoria didn't really like Fat Mary due to fact that Mary was more popular with the public (that she didn't owe money to) than she was. I guess Vicky thought that she would be killing two birds with one stone, 1) get the Tecks money to settle their debts and 2) get rid of Mary as a "rival". Or something, IDK.
 
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