Queen Victoria’s daughter Louise died owing money for cigarettes

Newly released documents from the National Archives in Kew from the estate of Princess Louise, Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter, have shown that she died in 1939 with an unpaid cigarette bill of 15 shillings at R Lewis Limited.

The death duties file shows that Princess Louise left £239,260, 18 shillings and sixpence, worth more than £70m today, around £70m today. Nevertheless, the cigarette bill went unpaid and it does not specify which brand the Princess smoked. Princess Louise was a heavy smoker but kept the habit a secret from her mother, who hated the habit.

Princess Louise married John Campbell, the future 9th Duke of Argyll and was the only one of Queen Victoria’s children who did not leave issue, though it was rumoured that she had had an illegitimate child.