Prince Arthur (Duke Of Connaught)

1850-1942

The Duke of Connaught was the third son of Queen Victoria. He first came to Bath in 1881 with his wife, who was formerly Princess Louisa of Prussia, and the royal couple returned in 1909 to attend the Bath Historical Pageant. The Duke spent several weeks in the city in 1935 and 1936, when he came for the cure, and for the excellent orchestral concerts that were regularly given in the Pump Room at this time; on one occasion Sir Thomas Beecham conducted the orchestra of fifteen players in Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances. The Duke stayed at the Pulteney Hotel in Great Pulteney Street, formerly Stead’s Hotel. The building has now been converted into luxury flats, and given the appropriate name of Connaught Mansions.