Alexander Ramsay (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay GCVO KCB DSO RN (29 May 1881 – 8 October 1972) was a British Royal Navy officer. He was the husband of Princess Patricia of Connaught, the youngest child of The Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria. He served with distinction during the First World War. During the 1920s and 1930s, he held several important Naval Aviation commands.

Early life and career
Born in London as the third son of John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie, and his wife, Lady Ida Louisa Bennet, he entered the Royal Navy as a cadet on HMS Britannia in 1894 and later went to sea on HMS Majestic (1895), the flagship of Admiral Sir Walter Kerr in the Channel Squadron. In October 1911, he became a naval aide-de-camp to the Duke of Connaught, then Governor General of Canada. He returned to active naval duty in 1913 as the gunnery officer of the battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable (1909) in the Mediterranean.

Ramsay took part in several important naval operations of the First World War. He took part in the first phase of the bombardment of the Dardanelles forts in November 1914 and later at Gallipoli. He received the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) for his conduct there. Ramsay rose to the rank of Commander in late 1914 and became flag commander of the Second Squadron in 1916. He gained promotion to Captain in 1919 and served as the naval attaché in Paris for the next three years.

Marriage into the Royal Family
On 27 February 1919, the then-Captain Ramsay married Princess Patricia of Connaught at Westminster Abbey, in the presence of the entire British Royal Family. He had proposed to her while staying with J. K. L. Ross at his fishing lodge on the bay of St. Anns, Nova Scotia.

On the day of the wedding, Princess Patricia voluntarily relinquished the title of "Princess of Great Britain and Ireland" and the style "Royal Highness", and assumed by Royal Warrant the style "Lady Patricia Ramsay" with precedence before the Marchionesses of England. Despite his wife's relinquishment of her royal title, the couple remained members of the British Royal Family. They attended major royal events for the next forty years, including the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

They had one son, Alexander Ramsay of Mar.

Aviation commands and flag rank
In 1928, Ramsay assumed command of the aircraft carrier HMS Furious (47) in the Atlantic Fleet. He gained promotion to rear admiral in 1933 and for the next five years commanded the aircraft carriers in the fleet. George V made him a Companion of the Order of the Bath (C.B.) in the 1934 New Year's Honours. He subsequently advanced to the rank of Knight Commander in that order.

Ramsay served as Commander in Chief, East Indies Station, from 1936 to 1938, and then became Fifth Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Air Services. Ramsay held this post until the outbreak of World War II. He was promoted to Admiral and retired at his own request in 1942. George VI knighted him on 18 February 1938, and invested him with the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) on 6 July that year.

Ramsay died at Ribsden Holt, Windlesham, Surrey, on 8 October 1972. He is buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.

Titles and styles

 * 29 May 1881: The Hon Alexander Ramsay
 * late 1914: Cdr The Hon Alexander Ramsay
 * 1916: Cdr The Hon Alexander Ramsay DSO
 * before 27 February 1919: Capt The Hon Alexander Ramsay DSO
 * 1929: Cdre The Hon Alexander Ramsay DSO
 * 1933: RAdm The Hon Alexander Ramsay DSO
 * New Year 1934: RAdm The Hon Alexander Ramsay CB DSO
 * 1936: VAdm The Hon Alexander Ramsay CB DSO
 * 18 February 1938: VAdm The Hon Sir Alexander Ramsay KCB DSO
 * 6 July 1938: VAdm The Hon Sir Alexander Ramsay GCVO KCB DSO
 * 1938: Adm The Hon Sir Alexander Ramsay GCVO KCB DSO
 * 1942: The Hon Sir Alexander Ramsay GCVO KCB DSO Admiral RN (Retd)