The then dowager Queen of Great Britain writes a long two page holographed note on her personal imprinted correspondence card, October 9, 1945. We offer with an elegant full length postcard photograph of the Queen.
9 October 1945
I looked at my list of wedding presents, & I enclose the description of the 2 cabinets given to the late King. I feel sure that the one stand I saw in the corridor outside the Victoria Rooms, with a painted cabinet on it which I said was not the right cabinet for the stand, is one of the stands for the Gilbraltar cabinets. I feel sure they will turn up they always lived in the Victoria Rooms, in the room which was sometimes used as a bedroom with furniture with red silk. I spent a most interesting afternoon today. Seems well you have got on with your arduous work -
Mary
of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes) (1867 – 1953)
was queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress
consort of India as the wife of King George V.
Although
technically a princess of Teck, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, she was born and
raised in the United Kingdom. Her parents were Francis, Duke of Teck, who was
of German extraction, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, who was a
granddaughter of King George III. She was informally known as "May",
after her birth month. At the age of 24,
she was betrothed to her second cousin once removed Prince Albert Victor, Duke
of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, but six weeks
after the announcement of the engagement, he died unexpectedly during an
influenza pandemic. The following year, she became engaged to Albert Victor's
only surviving brother, George, who subsequently became king. Before her
husband's accession, she was successively Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall,
and Princess of Wales.
As
queen consort from 1910, she supported her husband through the First World War,
his ill health, and major political changes arising from the aftermath of the
war. After George's death in 1936, she became queen mother when her eldest son,
Edward VIII, ascended the throne, but to her dismay, he abdicated later the
same year in order to marry twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.
She supported her second son, George VI, until his death in 1952. She died the
following year, during the reign of her granddaughter Elizabeth II, who had not
yet been crowned.
Princess
Victoria Mary ("May") of Teck was born on 26 May 1867 at Kensington
Palace, London, in the same room where Queen Victoria, her first cousin once
removed, had been born 48 years earlier. Queen Victoria came to visit the baby,
writing that she was "a very fine one, with pretty little features and a
quantity of hair". May would become the first British queen consort born
in Britain since Catherine Parr. Her father was Prince Francis, Duke of Teck,
the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg by his morganatic wife, Countess
Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (created Countess von Hohenstein in the Austrian
Empire). Her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of
King George III and the third child and younger daughter of Prince Adolphus,
Duke of Cambridge, and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel.
She
was baptized in the Chapel Royal of Kensington Palace on 27 July 1867 by
Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury. From an early age, she was
known to her family, friends and the public by the diminutive name of "May",
after her birth month.
May's
upbringing was "merry but fairly strict". She was the eldest of four
children, and the only daughter, and "learned to exercise her native
discretion, firmness, and tact" by resolving her three younger brothers'
petty boyhood squabbles. They played with their cousins, the children of the
Prince of Wales, who were similar in age. She grew up at Kensington Palace and
White Lodge, in Richmond Park, which was granted by Queen Victoria on permanent
loan, and was educated at home by her mother and governess (as were her
brothers until they were sent to boarding schools). The Duchess of Teck spent
an unusually long time with her children for a lady of her time and class, and
enlisted May in various charitable endeavors, which included visiting the
tenements of the poor.
Although
May was a great-grandchild of George III, she was only a minor member of the
British royal family. Her father, the Duke of Teck, had no inheritance or
wealth and carried the lower royal style of Serene Highness because his parents'
marriage was morganatic. The Duchess of Teck was granted a parliamentary
annuity of £5,000 and received about £4,000 a year from her mother, the Duchess
of Cambridge, but she donated lavishly to dozens of charities. Prince Francis
was deeply in debt and moved his family abroad with a small staff in 1883, in
order to economize. They travelled throughout Europe, visiting their various
relations. For a time they stayed in Florence, Italy, where May enjoyed
visiting the art galleries, churches, and museums. She was fluent in English,
German, and French.
In
1885, the family returned to London and lived for some time in Chester Square.
May was close to her mother, and acted as an unofficial secretary, helping to
organise parties and social events. She was also close to her aunt, the Grand
Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and wrote to her every week. During the First
World War, the Crown Princess of Sweden helped pass letters from May to her
aunt, who lived in enemy territory in Germany until her death in 1916.
In
1886, May was a debutante in her first season, and was introduced at court. Her
status as the only unmarried British princess who was not descended from Queen
Victoria made her a suitable candidate for the royal family's most eligible
bachelor, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, her second
cousin once removed and the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. On 3 December 1891 at Luton Hoo, country
residence of Danish Ambassador Christian Frederick de Falbe, Albert Victor
proposed marriage to May and she accepted. The choice of May as bride for the
Duke owed much to Queen Victoria's fondness for her, as well as to her strong
character and sense of duty. However, Albert Victor died six weeks later, in a
recurrence of the worldwide 1889–90 influenza pandemic, before the date was
fixed for their wedding.
Albert
Victor's brother, Prince George, Duke of York, now second in line to the
throne, evidently became close to May during their shared period of mourning,
and Queen Victoria still thought of her as a suitable candidate to marry a
future king. The public was also anxious that the Duke of York should marry and
settle the succession. In May 1893, George proposed, and May accepted. They
were soon deeply in love, and their marriage was a success. George wrote to May
every day they were apart and, unlike his father, never took a mistress.
May
married Prince George, Duke of York, in London on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel
Royal, St James's Palace. The new Duke and Duchess of York lived in York
Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, and in apartments in St James's
Palace. York Cottage was a modest house for royalty, but it was a favorite of
George, who liked a relatively simple life. They had six children: Edward,
Albert, Mary, Henry, George, and John. The
children were put into the care of a nanny, as was usual in upper-class
families at the time. The first nanny was dismissed for insolence and the
second for abusing the children. This second woman, anxious to suggest that the
children preferred her to anyone else, would pinch Edward and Albert whenever
they were about to be presented to their parents so that they would start
crying and be speedily returned to her. On discovery, she was replaced by her
effective and much-loved assistant, Charlotte Bill.
Sometimes,
Mary and George appear to have been distant parents. At first, they failed to
notice the nanny's abuse of the young Princes Edward and Albert, and their
youngest son, Prince John, was housed in a private farm on the Sandringham
Estate, in Bill's care, perhaps to hide his epilepsy from the public. However,
despite Mary's austere public image and her strait-laced private life, she was
a caring mother in many respects, revealing a fun-loving and frivolous side to
her children and teaching them history and music. Edward wrote fondly of his mother in his
memoirs: "Her soft voice, her cultivated mind, the cozy room overflowing
with personal treasures were all inseparable ingredients of the happiness
associated with this last hour of a child's day ... Such was my mother's pride
in her children that everything that happened to each one was of the utmost
importance to her. With the birth of each new child, Mama started an album in
which she painstakingly recorded each progressive stage of our
childhood".[23] He expressed a less charitable view, however, in private
letters to his wife after his mother's death: "My sadness was mixed with
incredulity that any mother could have been so hard and cruel towards her
eldest son for so many years and yet so demanding at the end without relenting
a scrap. I'm afraid the fluids in her veins have always been as icy cold as
they are now in death."
As
Duke and Duchess of York, George and May carried out a variety of public
duties. In 1897, she became the patron of the London Needlework Guild in
succession to her mother. The guild, initially established as The London Guild
in 1882, was renamed several times and was named after May between 1914 and
2010. Samples of her own embroidery range from chair seats to tea cozies.
On
22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died, and May's father-in-law ascended the
throne. For most of the rest of that year, George and May were known as the
"Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York". For eight months they toured
the British Empire, visiting Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Ceylon, Singapore,
Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, South Africa and Canada. No royal had
undertaken such an ambitious tour before. She broke down in tears at the
thought of leaving her children, who were to be left in the care of their
grandparents, for such a long time.
On
9 November 1901, nine days after arriving back in Britain and on the King's
sixtieth birthday, George was created Prince of Wales. The family moved their
London residence from St James's Palace to Marlborough House. As Princess of
Wales, May accompanied her husband on trips to Austria-Hungary and Württemberg
in 1904. The following year, she gave birth to her last child, John. It was a
difficult labor, and although she recovered quickly, her newborn son suffered
respiratory problems.
From
October 1905 the Prince and Princess of Wales undertook another eight-month
tour, this time of India, and the children were once again left in the care of
their grandparents. They passed through Egypt both ways and on the way back
stopped in Greece. The tour was almost immediately followed by a trip to Spain
for the wedding of King Alfonso XIII to Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, at
which the bride and groom narrowly avoided assassination. Only a week after
returning to Britain, May and George went to Norway for the coronation of
George's brother-in-law and sister, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud.
On
6 May 1910, Edward VII died. Mary's husband ascended the throne and she became
queen consort. When her husband asked her to drop one of her two official
names, Victoria Mary, she chose to be called Mary, preferring not to be known
by the same style as her husband's grandmother, Queen Victoria. Queen Mary was
crowned with the King on 22 June 1911 at Westminster Abbey. Later in the year,
the new King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar held on 12
December 1911, and toured the sub-continent as Emperor and Empress of India,
returning to Britain in February. The
beginning of Mary's period as consort brought her into conflict with her
mother-in-law, Queen Alexandra. Although the two were on friendly terms,
Alexandra could be stubborn; 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.
During
the First World War, Queen Mary instituted an austerity drive at the palace,
where she rationed food, and visited wounded and dying servicemen in hospital,
which caused her great emotional strain. After three years of war against
Germany, and with anti-German feeling in Britain running high, the Russian
Imperial Family, which had been deposed by a revolutionary government, was
refused asylum, possibly in part because the Tsar's wife was German-born. News
of the Tsar's abdication provided a boost to those in Britain who wished to
replace their own monarchy with a republic. The war ended in 1918 with the
defeat of Germany and the abdication and exile of the Kaiser.
Two
months after the end of the war, Queen Mary's youngest son, John, died at the
age of thirteen. She described her shock and sorrow in her diary and letters,
extracts of which were published after her death: "our poor darling little
Johnnie had passed away suddenly ... The first break in the family circle is
hard to bear but people have been so kind & sympathetic & this has
helped us [the King and me] much."
Her
staunch support of her husband continued during the later half of his reign.
She advised him on speeches and used her extensive knowledge of history and
royalty to advise him on matters affecting his position. He appreciated her
discretion, intelligence, and judgment. She maintained an air of self-assured
calm throughout all her public engagements in the years after the war, a period
marked by civil unrest over social conditions, Irish independence, and Indian
nationalism.
In
the late 1920s, George V became increasingly ill with lung problems,
exacerbated by his heavy smoking. Queen Mary paid particular attention to his
care. During his illness in 1928, one of his doctors, Sir Farquhar Buzzard, was
asked who had saved the King's life. He replied, "The Queen". In
1935, King George V and Queen Mary celebrated their silver jubilee, with
celebrations taking place throughout the British Empire. In his jubilee speech,
George paid public tribute to his wife, having told his speechwriter, "Put
that paragraph at the very end. I cannot trust myself to speak of the Queen when
I think of all I owe her."
George
V died on 20 January 1936, after his physician, Lord Dawson of Penn, gave him
an injection of morphine and cocaine that may have hastened his death. Queen
Mary's eldest son ascended the throne as Edward VIII. She was now the queen
mother, though she did not use that style, and was instead known as Her Majesty
Queen Mary.
Within
the year, Edward caused a constitutional crisis by announcing his desire to
marry his twice-divorced American mistress, Wallis Simpson. Mary disapproved of
divorce, which was against the teaching of the Anglican church, and thought
Simpson wholly unsuitable to be the wife of a king. After receiving advice from
the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Stanley Baldwin, as well as the
Dominion governments, that he could not remain king and marry Simpson, Edward
abdicated.
Though
loyal and supportive of her son, Mary could not comprehend why Edward would
neglect his royal duties in favor of his personal feelings. Simpson had been
presented formally to both King George V and Queen Mary at court, but Mary
later refused to meet her either in public or privately. She saw it as her duty
to provide moral support for her second son, the reserved and stammering Prince
Albert, Duke of York, who ascended the throne on Edward's abdication, taking
the name George VI. When Mary attended the coronation, she became the first British
dowager queen to do so. Edward's abdication did not lessen her love for him,
but she never wavered in her disapproval of his actions.
Mary
took an interest in the upbringing of her granddaughters, Princesses Elizabeth
and Margaret, and took them on various excursions in London, to art galleries
and museums. (The princesses' own parents thought it unnecessary for them to be
taxed with any demanding educational regime.)
During the Second World War, George VI wished his mother to be evacuated
from London. Although she was reluctant, she decided to live at Badminton
House, Gloucestershire, with her niece, Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, the
daughter of her brother Lord Cambridge. Her personal belongings were
transported from London in seventy pieces of luggage. Her household, which
comprised fifty-five servants, occupied most of the house, except for the Duke
and Duchess's private suites, until after the war. The only people to complain
about the arrangements were the royal servants, who found the house too small,
though Queen Mary annoyed her niece by having the ancient ivy torn from the
walls as she considered it unattractive and a hazard. From Badminton, in
support of the war effort, she visited troops and factories and directed the
gathering of scrap materials. She was known to offer lifts to soldiers she
spotted on the roads. In 1942, her youngest surviving son, Prince George, Duke
of Kent, was killed in an air crash while on active service. Mary finally
returned to Marlborough House in June 1945, after the war in Europe had
resulted in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Mary
was an eager collector of objects and pictures with a royal connection. She
paid above-market estimates when purchasing jewels from the estate of Dowager
Empress Marie of Russia and paid almost three times the estimate when buying
the family's Cambridge Emeralds from Lady Kilmorey, the mistress of her late
brother Prince Francis. In 1924, the famous architect Sir Edwin Lutyens created
Queen Mary's Dolls' House for her collection of miniature pieces. She has
sometimes been criticized for her aggressive acquisition of objets d'art for
the Royal Collection. On several occasions, she would express to hosts, or
others, that she admired something they had in their possession, in the
expectation that the owner would be willing to donate it. Her extensive
knowledge of, and research into, the Royal Collection helped in identifying
artefacts and artwork that had gone astray over the years. The royal family had
lent out many pieces over previous generations. Once she had identified
unreturned items through old inventories, she would write to the holders, requesting
that they be returned. In addition to being an avid collector, Mary also commissioned
many gifts of jewelry, including rings which she presented to her
ladies-in-waiting on the occasion of their engagements.
In
1952, King George VI died, the third of Queen Mary's children to predecease
her; her eldest granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, ascended the throne as Queen
Elizabeth II. The death of a third child profoundly affected her. Mary remarked
to Princess Marie Louise: "I have lost three sons through death, but I
have never been privileged to be there to say a last farewell to them."
Mary
died on 24 March 1953 in her sleep at the age of 85, ten weeks before her
granddaughter's coronation. Mary let it be known that, in the event of her
death, the coronation was not to be postponed. Her remains lay in state at
Westminster Hall, where large numbers of mourners filed past her coffin. She is
buried beside her husband in the nave of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
26
May 1867 – 6 July 1893: Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Mary of Teck
6
July 1893 – 22 January 1901: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York
22
January 1901 – 9 November 1901: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall and
York
9
November 1901 – 6 May 1910: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales
6
May 1910 – 20 January 1936: Her Majesty The Queen
20
January 1936 – 24 March 1953: Her Majesty Queen Mary
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