Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck (
26 May,
1867 –
24 March,
1953), later
Queen Mary, was the
Queen Consort of
George V of the United Kingdom. Queen Mary was also the
Empress of India and
Queen of Ireland. Before her accession, she was also
Princess of Wales,
Duchess of Cornwall and
Duchess of York. In her own right she held the title of a
Princess of
Teck in the Kingdom of
Württemberg with the style
Her Serene Highness. To her family, she was known as
May.
During her time, Queen Mary was known for setting the tone of the
British Royal Family, as the model of regal formality and propriety, especially during State occasions. She was the first Queen Consort to attend the coronation of her successors. Known for superbly bejewelling herself for formal events, Queen Mary left a collection of jewels now considered priceless.
Princess
Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes of Teck was born on
26 May,
1867, at
Kensington Palace,
London. Her father was
Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the son of
Duke Alexander of Württemberg by his
morganatic wife, Countess Claudine Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde (created Countess von Hohenstein in the
Austrian Empire). Through the House of Württemberg, Mary was distantly descended from the
Habsburgs, the once powerful ruling family of
Austrian Empire (Cite
Almanach de Gotha). Her mother was
Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, the third child and the younger daughter of
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and the
Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel. She was baptised in the
Chapel Royal of Kensington Palace on
27 July 1867 by
Charles Thomas Longley,
Archbishop of Canterbury and her godparents were
Queen Victoria, the
Prince of Wales, the
Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the
Duchess of Cambridge.
Although her mother was a grandchild of
King George III of the United Kingdom, Princess Mary was only a minor member of the
British Royal Family. Her father, the Duke of Teck, was the product of
morganatic marriage, had no inheritance or wealth, and carried the lower royal style of
Serene Highness. The Duchess of Teck was however granted a
Parliamentary
Annuity of
£4000 plus £4000 from her mother, the
Duchess of Cambridge. Despite this, the family was deep in debt and had to flee abroad to avoid their
creditors in 1883. The Tecks travelled throughout Europe, visiting their various relatives and staying in
Florence,
Italy, for a time. There Princess Mary enjoyed visiting the
art galleries,
churches and
museums.
In 1885, the Tecks returned to
London and were given use of
White Lodge in
Richmond Park as a residence. Princess Mary was close to her mother and acted as an unofficial secretary, helping to organise parties and social events. Mary was also close to her aunt, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (née
Princess Augusta of Cambridge). Mary wrote to her aunt every week without fail. During
World War I, the
Swiss Embassy helped pass letters from Mary to her aunt, who lived in
Germany.
In 1891, Princess Mary was engaged to
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, the eldest son of
Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. Princess Mary was chosen as a bride for Albert Victor, due mainly to
Queen Victoria's fondness of her, as well as her strong character and sense of duty. Albert Victor was Princess Mary's
second cousin once removed; Mary was the daughter of
Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, whose father,
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, was a brother of
Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, the father of
Queen Victoria, who was Albert Victor's paternal grandmother. However, Prince Albert Victor died, perhaps of
pneumonia, six weeks later.
Despite this setback, Queen Victoria still favoured Princess Mary as a suitable candidate to marry a future King, so she persuaded Albert Victor's brother,
Prince George, Duke of York, to propose to Mary. George duly proposed and Mary accepted. Despite its being an arranged marriage, Mary and George soon were deeply in love. George never took a mistress (unusual at the time) and wrote to Mary every day.
Their marriage took place on
6 July,
1893, at the
Chapel Royal,
St. James's Palace, in
London. The couple had six children in total, listed below.
| Name | Birth | Death | Marriage | | King Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor, | 23 June, 1894 | 28 May, 1972 | Wallis Simpson (19 June, 1896 – 24 April, 1986); no issue. |
| King George VI | 14 December, 1895 | 6 February 1952 | Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March, 2002); and had issue. |
| Mary, Princess Royal | 25 April, 1897 | 28 March, 1965 | Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (9 September, 1882 – 23 May, 1947); and had issue. |
| Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester | 31 March, 1900 | 10 June, 1974 | Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott (25 December, 1901 – 29 October, 2004); and had issue. |
| Prince George, Duke of Kent | 20 December, 1902 | 25 August , 1942 | Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (13 December, 1906 – 27 August, 1968); and had issue. |
| Prince John | 12 July, 1905 | 18 January, 1919 | |
|
The Duchess of York in 1893. |
After her marriage, Princess Mary was now styled
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York. The Duke and Duchess of York lived in York Cottage, a small house on the
Sandringham Estate in
Norfolk. They also had apartments in
St. James's Palace,
London. York Cottage was a modest house for royalty, but was a favourite of George, who liked a simple life.
The Duchess of York was not considered to be emotionally attached to her children. The royal nanny looking after Princes Edward and Albert was found to be abusing the children. The nanny would pinch Edward before he was to be presented to the Duke and Duchess, causing them to dismiss him. Albert was generally ignored, and he turned into a shy, stammering man as a result.
As Duke and Duchess of York, George and Mary carried out a variety of public duties. In 1900, they toured the
British Empire. Visiting Australia, the Duke and Duchess opened the first session of the Australian Parliament, when the
Commonwealth of Australia was created.
On
22 January,
1901,
Queen Victoria died, and the Duchess of York's father-in-law, Albert Edward, ascended the throne as
King Edward VII. For the rest of that year, May was styled
Duchess of Cornwall and York until
9 November,
1901, when George was created
Prince of Wales, and she was then styled
Princess of Wales.
King Edward VII wished his son to be more prepared for the role of King, given Queen Victoria's exclusion of Edward from state affairs. However, the Prince of Wales was not of the highest intellect, and May was required to help him read and understand the state papers sent by the King.
On
6 May,
1910, King Edward VII died, and the Prince of Wales ascended the throne. Thus, Mary became Queen consort of the United Kingdom. George and Mary's coronation at
Westminster Abbey took place on
22 June,
1911. They later travelled to
India for the
Delhi Durbar on
11 December,
1911. The King and Queen toured the country visiting their new subjects as their Emperor and Empress.
The beginning of Mary's reign as Queen Consort saw her come into conflict with the new dowager
Queen Alexandra. Although the two queens were friendly and close, Alexandra was stubborn in many ways. She demanded precedence over Mary at the funeral of Edward VII, was slow in leaving Buckingham Palace, and kept some of the royal jewels that should have been passed to the new Queen.
Queen Mary's staunch support of her husband become stronger during his reign. She advised him on speeches, and used her extensive knowledge of history and royalty to advise him on matters of state.
History remembers Mary as an inattentive mother. She failed to notice the neglect of a nanny of the young Princes Edward and Albert, and her youngest son Prince John was kept away on the Sandringham Estate so the public would not see his epilepsy. However, Mary was a caring mother in many respects and taught her children history and music. Edward, in his memoirs, wrote of the fondness and kindness of Mary as a mother.
In 1935, George V and Queen Mary celebrated their
silver jubilee, with celebrations taking place throughout the
British Empire. However, George was now very ill, leaving Mary to nurse the ailing King.
King George V died on
20 January,
1936, his death supposedly hastened by an injection of
morphine and
cocaine given by his physician, the future
Baron Dawson of Penn, on Mary's orders. Mary's son
Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. Although loyal and supportive to her son, she could not understand why Edward would neglect his position in order to marry
Wallis Simpson. Mary refused to meet or acknowledge Wallis either in public or private. When Edward decided to abdicate, Mary provided moral support for the shy and stammering
Prince Albert, Duke of York, now expected to ascend the throne in Edward's place. With Albert on the throne as George VI, Mary provided support to the new King and Queen, even attending their coronation, the first
dowager Queen to do so; her censure of Edward for what she considered his dereliction of duty was absolute and she never wavered in her disapproval of what she perceived as his disservice to the Crown.
She was now
Queen Mother (see
English Queen Mothers), though she did not use that title in shorthand, instead being known as
Her Majesty Queen Mary.
During World War II, George VI wished his mother to be evacuated from London, and although she was reluctant, she decided to live with her niece,
Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, the daughter of her brother
Adolphus, at
Badminton House. She and her fifty-five servants and her personal belongings (which required seventy pieces of luggage to transport from London) occupied all of the house for the next seven years (except the Duke and Duchess's private suites) and the only people to complain about the arrangements were the royal servants, who found the house too small. It was here that Queen Mary supported the war effort by visiting troops and factories and helping to gather scrap materials. She was known to offer lifts to soldiers she spotted on the roads and caused her niece some annoyance by having the ancient ivy torn from the walls of Badminton House (the Queen considered it a hazard as well as unattractive). The Queen finally returned to Marlborough House in June 1945.
The Queen was also something of an opportunistic
kleptomaniac, making it very clear to hosts and others that she wanted a treasure of theirs by admiring it repeatedly and extravagantly until said treasure was, regretfully, packed up and given to the Queen. However, records show she generously paid above-market estimates when purchasing jewels from the estate of
Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna (Clarke,
Lost Fortune Of The Tsar), and paid almost three times the estimate when reclaiming the family's Cambridge Emeralds from Lady Kilmurry, mistress of her late brother
Prince Francis. (Kilmurry Papers.)
In 1952, Mary's son George VI died, and her granddaughter,
Princess Elizabeth, ascended the throne. Since her daughter-in-law
Queen Elizabeth was now Queen Mother, Mary became the
Dowager Queen Mother, though she still did not use that in her shorthand title. Mary died the next year of
lung cancer (publicly referred to as "gastric problems") at the age of 85 without seeing Elizabeth II's
coronation. Upon her deathbed, Mary called her Lady in Waiting towards her and said, "There is only one thing I have never done and wish I had and that is to climb over a fence". When visited by a doctor, she showed her truly regal expectations. When he had finished, he went to walk out of the room. In a warning voice she called, "I'm not dead yet". He turned around, bowed and backed out of the room. Her dying wish was that the coronation not be postponed. Her remains lay in state at
Westminster Hall, where crowds of mourners filed past her coffin. She is buried at
St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
The ocean liner,
RMS Queen Mary was named in her honour, as was the Royal Navy Battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary, which was blown up by fire from German Battleships at the Battle of Jutland, in 1916.
Both Queen Mary College, University of London and "Queen Mary College" in Lahore, Pakistan are named after Queen Mary.
Queen Mary's School in New Delhi, India, was established in 1912 after her India visit. It is the oldest residential girls' school in Delhi.
Queen Mary's Dolls House''' was created for her in 1926 by
Sir Edwin Lutyens.
On screen, Queen Mary has been portrayed by a multitude of distinguished British actresses, including
Peggy Ashcroft,
Eileen Atkins, and
Miranda Richardson.
Queen Mary's Peak, the highest mountain in
Tristan da Cunha; and
Queen Mary Land in
Antarctica are named after Queen Mary.
*
Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (
26 May,
1867 to
6 July,
1893)
*
Her Royal Highness The
Duchess of York (
6 July,
1893 to
22 January,
1901)
*
Her Royal Highness The
Duchess of Cornwall and York (
22 January,
1901 -
9 November,
1901)
*
Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales (
9 November,
1901 to
6 May,
1910)
*
Her Majesty The Queen (
6 May,
1910 to
20 January,
1936)
*
Her Majesty Queen Mary (
20 January,
1936 to
24 March,
1953)
Honorary military appointments
* Husaren-Regiment Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, Chief
* The 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), Colonel-in-chief (until 1922)
* The Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, Colonel-in-chief (until 1922)
* The 13/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own), Colonel-in-chief
* The 100th (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Brigade, RFA (TA), Colonel-in-chief (until 1939)
* Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, President
*
The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, Colonel-in-chief
* The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), Colonel-in-chief
* The 63rd (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment, RA (TA), Colonel-in-chief (until 1942)
* The 387th Field Regiment (Queen's Own Oxford Hussars) (TA), Colonel-in-chief (until 1950)
*
Royal Army Medical Corps, Colonel-in-chief
* Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, Colonel-in-chief
* The 299th (Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry and Queen's Own Oxford Hussars) Field Regiment]], RA (TA), Colonel-in-chief
*
Crown of Queen Mary
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