Margaret Meets Her Match: The Courtship of Princesses Margaret and Patricia of Connaught (Part 4)

After three weeks traveling across the Mediterranean, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and their daughters arrived in Egypt, where true love was waiting

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working our way across Europe with the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, retracing the visits they made on their 1905 tour of the Mediterranean with their daughters, Princess Margaret and Princess Patricia. The Duke was traveling in his role as Inspector General of the Armed Forces, reviewing British troops abroad, while his daughters were meeting with potential future spouses. After striking out in Portugal and Spain, an unexpected match was waiting in Egypt: an eligible Scandinavian prince.

The grand liner SS Hohenzollern was steaming merrily through the Mediterranean toward the harbor of Alexandria on January 16, 1905, when, quite suddenly, its crew found themselves struggling to navigate the port’s shallow, sandy waters. The ship ran aground at the entrance to the harbor, causing minor damage to the vessel and significant embarrassment to her captain. After all, there was a future King sailing aboard the ship, bound for an Egyptian adventure that would end up changing the course of his entire life.

Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, ca. 1906 (National Library of Norway)

Prince Gustaf Adolf, the 22-year-old grandson of King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, would have felt a jolt as the ship made contact with the shallow land below the surface of the Mediterranean waters. Second in line to the Swedish and Norwegian thrones, the young prince was one of the most eligible men in Europe. He had been traveling along the French Riviera with his younger brother, Prince Wilhelm, before heading off to join in the winter social whirl happening in Egypt. Gustaf’s name was mentioned in the papers with a glittering roster of royals, aristocrats, and millionaires who were spending sunny January days in Cairo, including Empress Eugenie of France, the Duke of Brunswick, Prince Leopold of Battenberg, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Lord and Lady Howe, and Sir Ernest Cassel.

The Prince was saved from the Hohenzollern’s awkward arrival by the Khedive of Egypt, Abbas II, who reigned in a delicate dance with the region’s British occupiers. The Khedive dispatched his personal saloon carriage to ferry Gustaf from the harbor to Cairo, where he was welcomed as a breath of fresh Scandinavian air in the capital. He quickly settled in at Shepheard's Hotel, then one of the grandest in the world. This was the Prince’s first visit to Egypt, and the prospect of getting to experience one of his pet interests—archaeology—up close and personal must have been thrilling.

While many visitors were primarily interested in the social scene and warm weather in Egypt, Gustaf, who was described by one reporter as “splendidly educated,” was keen to seek out its ancient secrets. Everyone, it seems, clocked the fact that he was not precisely like the other princes of his generation. “Prince Gustavus Adolphus, the eldest son of the Crown Prince of Sweden, is one of the most interesting of the visitors to Cairo. He has the frank unconventional manners characteristic of the descendants of the great Bernadotte,” wrote one London paper.

Though he hungered to be on a dig site, the Prince also understood that there were certain expectations of a monarch-to-be when visiting a new place. Shortly after arriving in Egypt, he accepted an invitation to be present at a lavish state ball given by the Khedive. It was a particularly grand moment, per the World’s correspondent on the ground in Cairo: “The ball given by the Khedive at the Abdeen Palace last week was a great success, and a very large number of guests were present. The State apartments were thrown open, and the Palace was prettily decorated. The scene when the ball was at its height was very brilliant and interesting. Almost every nationality was represented, and the many different uniforms, and great show of orders and decorations of every description, added to the effect.”

Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, ca. 1907 (Bain Collection/Library of Congress)

The Prince, with his neatly-combed dark hair and mustache, was always an impressive sight in uniform, and tongues were constantly wagging about the possibilities of matchmaking in his future. European papers had zeroed in on one candidate in particular: Princess Olga of Hanover, a daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland and a granddaughter of the King of Denmark. Meanwhile, American outlets published constant rumors at the start of 1905 that Gustaf would marry the eligible (and often outrageous) Alice Roosevelt, the eldest daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. When reached for comment, a Swedish minister in Paris called the rumors “extremely improbable,” adding, “In European courts such a marriage is never thought of. Nothing is known as to the Prince becoming engaged to anyone.”

Ten days after Gustaf’s arrival in Cairo, however, the prospects of the Prince’s engagement suddenly became much more imminent.

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On Thursday, January 26, 1905, a hot-off-the-press copy of the Truth continued to track the rumors of royal betrothals where 23-year-old Princess Margaret and 18-year-old Princess Patricia, daughters of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, were concerned. The British paper’s “Entre Nous” columnist wrote,

Several of my contemporaries are feverishly anxious to see Princess Margaret of Connaught married. The Princess has been betrothed by the press during the last few months to numerous Princes, including the King of Spain, the Crown Prince of Portugal, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Prince George of Hanover. The latest report on the subject is that a marriage is to be arranged between Princess Margaret and Prince Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Norway, eldest son of the Crown Prince. The couple with whose names such liberties are taken have never yet met.

“Yet” was the operative word.