In 1890 after the delivery of a still born son, the RF was forced, by 'alarmist' speculation to release a counter offensive bulletin stating that Louise was recovering.
Her recovery from the births of Alexandra and Maud was unexceptional, if a little protracted! Through Court circulars I have established that until 1899 her health seems to have been fine, then she missed Young Affie's memorial due to 'indisposition.' This was followed by statements in September and November 1900 about her improved health. 1901 seems to have been a good year for Louise health wise, but in 1902 she was taken ill in October and was unable to travel back to London from Mar Lodge until the latter half of November. Thereafter until 1906 her health is of no concern. Then, she missed the Braemar gathering and had an operation on the 10th September, returned to London on the 13th November, and had a second operation in the first week of December. Thereafter I can find no reference to real indisposition of even a bout of 'influenza' or cold, until she suffered the gastric haemorrhage in 1925. Subsequently, I tend to believe that though her constitution was not robust, Louise was hardly languishing during this nineteen year period. In 1907 she and Macduff began their annual migration to the south of Europe for the benefit of her health. On February 1st 1907 they and the girls left for Gibraltar aboard the SS Moldavia and remained there for nearly two months,staying at the Governor's cottage, Europa Point, with trips to Tangier and Malaga. They arrived back in the UK 5th April. In addition to such sojourns, Macduff annually chartered the steam yacht Catania for summer cruises around Norwegian waters. The first occasion was in June 1907 for just over a month with subsequent cruises in the summers of 1908 and 1909. The couple returned to Gibraltar in December 1907 and stayed again at Europa Point with a trip to Algeciras and Rondo in March, embarking for England on 30th March 1908. In December of the same year, Louise and Macduff and the girls took their fist trip to Egypt, and went up the Nile in their own chartered dehabeah. This trip was repeated annually until 1911/12 and then ceased all together.
I find it quite interesting that after Macduff's death, Louise never appears to have left British shores again. Why? Did her health improve, or was she unwilling to go! I do find this rather strange! Another revealing statistic is the increase in Louise's public engagements after Macduff's death. On average during the 1890s/1900s Louise's public engagements never seem to have amounted to more than eight a year! Furthermore these appearances at such functions were generally in a 'supportive' role of her husband, who was generally the Patron/President of the charity concerned in most cases! One particular case comes to mind, Macduff was President of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick Children and annually he and Louise visited and she distributed toys etc, but after his death, she never again had such a prominent role supporting the hospital. I wonder whether Macduff was a little bit domineering, as after his death Louise seems to have been far more individual in her choice of engagements and the general pattern of her life.
During the Great War the number of her annual engagements hit a high, which would have been quite natural in the circumstances averaging nearly thirty a year. Admittedly many of these were in the form of fund raising matinée performances, but the statistics show that Louise was an 'active' member of the RF regularly visiting hospitals, depots and factories as well.
Looking through the still incomplete list of charities to which Louise gave her patronage I am struck by her particular attachment to two, the Theatrical Ladies Guild and the Church Army. The former regarded her as 'beloved' and her last public engagement was to have been a visit to distribute stars to the members on the day she fell ill for the last time in December 1930. I am still trying to confirm whether she did actually attend the award ceremony or not.
A partial list of charities with which she was linked follows for any one who may be interested:-
Vice President - The RSPCA
Vice Patron - The British and Foreign Sailors Society
Patron - The Church Army's Medical Mission and Alexandra Club
President - The Church Army's Recreational Branch
Patron - The Lotus Ladies Orchestra
Joint Patron - The Scottish Home Industries Association
President - The London British Red Cross Society
Patron - The Theatrical Ladies Guild
Patron - The Greater London Fund for the Blind
Patron - The Ladies Association in aid of Princess Christian's fund for the Deaf and Dumb
President - The Queen Alexandra League to support the Lord Mayor Treloar Cripples' Hospital and College
Even after the war, Louise continued to appear at engagements and although I do not know what tallies other members of the RF scored in comparison, she, Louise notched up an average of seventeen public/state engagements a year inclusive between January 1919 and December 1929. It must be noted that 1925 - 26 were years of particular ill health when Louise only seems to have managed six and four appearances each. Furthermore, I must point out that I am a little concerned that the 'Times' search engine is not exactly perfect for refined searches but the stats are still of some value.
