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 , 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 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 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 .