Boots, 3rd von Zieten Hussars, worn by HRH The Duke of Connaught, pre-1914

Prince Arthur (1850-1942) was the third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was named after one of his godfathers, Field Marshal Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington, on whose 81st birthday he was born.

In 1879, Arthur married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. She was the daughter of Prince Friedrich Karl and a great-niece of Kaiser Wilhelm I (another of Arthur's godfathers). To mark the occasion, he was appointed colonel of the 3rd Zieten Hussars, a regiment of the Imperial German Army. From 1904, he served as its colonel-in-chief and in 1906 he was appointed a field marshal in the German Army.

Although purely ceremonial, these appointments reflected his family's close German ties. His mother, Queen Victoria, was the last British monarch from the House of Hanover. Through Prince Arthur's father, Prince Albert, he was also Duke of Saxony and Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.