A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and The Royal Household

The mounted group of eight miniature dress medals worn by Major His Serene Highness Prince Francis of Teck, G.C.V.O., 1st Dragoons, and the brother to H.M. Queen Mary

Distinguished Service Order, V.R., gold and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Jubilee 1887, gold, with 1897 clasp; Coronation 1902, silver; Queen’s Sudan 1896-98; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal; Germany, Saxony, Ernestine House Order, Military Division, 4th Class breast Badge, gold and enamel, with crown suspension; Germany, Wurttemberg, Golden Jubilee Medal 1889, silver; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 3 clasps, Sudan 1897, The Atbara, Khartoum, clasp carriages on both the QSA and Khedive’s Sudan remodelled for mounting purposes, mounted court-style as worn, very fine and better (8) £800-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and The Royal Household.

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Provenance: Spink Medal Circular, September 1999.

His Serene Highness Prince Francis Joseph Leopold Frederick of Teck was born at Kensington Palace on 9 January 1870, the second son of the Duke of Teck and Her Royal Highness Princess Mary Adelaide, and the brother of Princess May of Teck, the future Queen Mary. He was educated at Wellington College, Cheltenham College, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant, 9th Lancers, on 30 January 1899, transferring to the King’s Royal rifle Corps on 17 April 1899 and to the 1st Dragoons on 8 October 1890. He was promoted Lieutenant on 26 August 1891, and Captain on 25 July 1894. He served as Aide-de-Camp to the General Officer Commanding at Quetta, November 1896 until August 1897, and was employed with the Egyptian Army from December 1897 until September 1898, serving in the Nile Expedition in 1897. He again saw active service in the Nile Expedition of 1898, and was present at the battles of the Atbara and Khartoum, where he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes, 24 May and 30 September 1898), and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, ‘in recognition of services during the recent operations in Egypt and the Sudan, including the Battles of the Atbara and Khartoum' (London Gazette 15 November 1898), being presented with his insignia by Queen Victoria at Windsor on 1 December 1898. He was subsequently employed as Aide-de-Camp to the General Officer Commanding South-Eastern District, January to July 1899, and was appointed Staff Captain, Remount Establishment, on 24 July of that year. He served in the South African War on the Staff from 1899-1902, being employed with the Remount Department (graded D.A.A.G.) from 20 May until 9 December 1900. He was present at the operations in the Transvaal in May 1902; was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 1 April 1901); and was promoted Brevet Major. He retired from the Army on 16 November 1901 Created a K.C.V.O. in 1898, he was advanced to G.C.V.O. in 1909, and died unmarried on 22 October 1910, shortly before his brother-in-law’s and sister’s coronation. He is buried in the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore, Windsor, with Field Marshal Lord Kitchener of Khartoum acting as a pall bearer at his funeral.

For His Serene Highness’s full size medals, see Lot 95.