His Royal Highness The Prince Leopold George Duncan Albert, KG, KT, PC, CGSI, GCMG, Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow was born in Buckingham Palace. He was named for King Leopold I of the Belgians, the uncle of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His christenting took place at Buckingham Palace on 28 June 1853, and his sponsors were his first cousins-once removed, King George V of Hanover and Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck and his eldest sister then then-Crown Princess of Prussia. While still a bady, he was diagnosed as a haemophiliac and spent most of childhood as a semi-invalid.
In 1872, Prince Leopold, entered Christ Church, Oxford University, where he studied a variety of subjects. He left the university with an honorary doctorate in civil law (DCL) in 1876. Prince Leopold travelled in Europe and 1880, he toured Canada and the United States with his sister, Princess Louise, whose husband, the Marquess of Lorne was the governor general of Canada. Incapable of pursuing a military career because of his illness, Prince Leopold instead became a patron of the arts and literature. In 1878, he became president of Royal Society of Liberature and in the following year became vice president of the Royal Society of Arts. From 1876 until his death, he served as Queen's private secretary.
Queen Victoria made Prince Leopold a Knight of the Garter on 18 May 1869, a Knight of the Thistle on 24 March 1871, and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India on 25 January 1877. Prince Leopold became a member of the Privy Council on 20 October 1874. Finally, the Queen created him Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow in the peerage of the United Kingdom and made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George on 24 May 1881.
On 27 April 1882 in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, the Duke of Albany married Princess Helene Frederica, daughter of George Victor, Reigning Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. They had two children, Princess Alice of Albany (1883-1981) and Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany and later reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1884-1954).
The Duke of Albany died at the age of 31, of a brain hemorrhage from a minor blow to the head, in Villa Nevada in Cannes, in France. He was burried in the Albert Memorial Chapel at Windsor. His posthumous son, Prince Charles Edward, succeeded him as Duke of Albany upon birth.