Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
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Missing image PrincessMaryRoyal.jpg HRH The Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood |
Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary (25 April 1897 – 28 March 1965) was a member of the British Royal Family. She was the sixth holder of the title of Princess Royal. As a daughter of the British monarch, Mary held the title of princess with the style Her Royal Highness from her father's accession. After her marriage she held the title of Countess of Harewood.
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Early life
Princess Mary was born on April 25, 1897 at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England. Her father was His Royal Highness Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second eldest son of King Edward VII. Her mother was Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the only daughter of The Duke of Teck. As a great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Mary was styled Her Royal Highness Princess Mary of York from birth.
Mary was named after her paternal great grandmother, her paternal grandmother, the then Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra), and her maternal grandmother, Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. She was always known by the last of Christian names, Mary.
Princess Mary was educated by governesses, but shared some of lessons with her brothers, Prince Edward (later Edward VIII), Prince Albert (later George VI), and Prince Henry (later Duke of Gloucester). She became fluent in German and French and developed a life-long interest in horses and horse racing. Her first state appearance was at the coronation of her parents at Westminster Abbey on 11 June, 1911.
Royal duties
During World War I, Princess Mary visited hospitals and welfare organizations with her mother, assisting with projects to comfort to British servicemen and assistance to their families. One of these projects was Princess Mary's Christmas Gift Fund, through which £100,000 worth of gifts were sent to all British soldiers and sailors for Christmas, 1914. She took an active role in promoting the Girl Guides movement, the VADs, and the "Land Girls." In 1918, she took a nursing course and went to work at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
King George V created her Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (civil division) on 3 June 1917. She received the Imperial Order of the Crown of India (CI) on 25 April 1919 and the Dame Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (GCStJ) on 12 May 1926. Her brother, George VI, created her Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) on 11 May 1947. She also held the family orders of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
Marriage
On 28 February 1922, Princess Mary married Henry Charles George, Viscount Lascelles, K.G. (9 September 1882-23 May 1947), the elder son of Henry Lascelles, 5th Earl of Harewood, and Lady Florence Bridgeman. Their wedding at Westminster Abbey was the first royal occasion in which Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), a friend of Princess Mary's and one of the bridesmaids, participated. She and her husband made their home in Yorkshire, first at Goldborough, and later at Harewood House. She took a keen interest in the interior decoration of Harewood House, the Lascelles family's seat, and in farming pursuits, becoming an expert in cattle breeding.
Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles had two sons:
- George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (7 February 1923-); m. 1949 (1) Maria Donata, aka Marion, Stein (10 October 1926-), daughter of Edwin Stein, and had issue (divorced 1967); 1967 (2) Patricia Elizabeth Tuckwell (24 November1926-), daughter of Charles Tuckwell, and has issue.
- The Honourable Gerald Lascelles (21 August 1924-27 February1998); m. 1952 (1) Angela Dowling (20 April1919-), and had issue (divorced 1978); (2) Elizabeth Colvin (24 April 1924-), the daughter of Brigadier Sydney Collingwood, and has issue.
Honorary Appointments
Princess Mary's public duties reflected her concerns with nursing, the Girl Guide movement, and the Women's Services.
She became honorary president of the British Girl Guide Association in 1920, a position she held until her death. In 1926, she became the commandant-in-chief of the British Red Cross Detachments. Earlier, in 1918, she became the colonel-in-chief of The Royal Scots (the Royal Regiment). In 1935, she became colonel-in-chief of the Royal Signal Corps and in 1947, she became colonel-in-chief of the West Yorkshire Regiment (later amalgamated with The East Yorkshire Regiment (The Duke of York's Own) to form the Prince of Wales' Own Yorkshire Regiment in 1958).
She also served as colonel-in-chief of the Indian Corps of Signals (1936-1950), the Royal Australian Corps of Signals (1937-65), the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's, 1930-1965), the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals (1940-1965), and several other Commonwealth regiments.
Princess Royal
On 6 October 1929, Lord Lascelles, who had been created a Knight of the Garter upon his marriage, succeeded his father as 6th Earl of Harewood, Viscount Lascelles, and Baron Harewood. The couple's elder son assumed courtesy title of Viscount Lascelles. On 1 January 1932, George V declared that his only daughter should bear the title Princess Royal.
The Princess Royal was particularly close to her eldest brother. After the abdication crisis, she and her husband went to stay with the former Edward VIII, by then created Duke of Windsor, at Enzenfeld Castle near Vienna. Later, in November 1947, she declined to attend the wedding of her niece, the future Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to protest the fact that the Duke of Windsor had not been invited.
At the outbreak of World War II, the Princess Royal became chief controller and later controller commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS, renamed the Women's Royal Army Corp in 1949). In that capacity she travelled Britain visiting its units, as well as wartime canteens and other welfare organizations. On the death of her younger brother, the Duke of Kent, she became the president of Papworth. The Princess Royal became air chief commandant of Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service in 1950 and received the honorary rank of general in the British Army in 1956. Also, in 1949, the 10th Gurkha Rifles were renamed the 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles in her honour.
After her husband's death in 1947, the Princess Royal lived at Harewood House with her elder son and his family. She became the chancellor of Leeds University in 1951, and continued to carry out official duties at home and abroad. She attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953 and later represented the Queen at the independence celebrations of Trinidad and Tobago in 1962 and Zambia in 1964. One of her last official engagements was to represent the Queen at the funeral of Queen Louise of Sweden (formerly Lady Louise Mountbatten) in early March 1965.
The Princess Royal suffered a fatal heart attack during a walk with her elder son, Lord Harewood, and his children on the grounds of the Harewood House estate. She was buried at Harewood after a private family funeral at York Minister.
Titles from birth to death
- Her Highness Princess Mary of York (25 April 1897 to 27 May 1898)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Mary of York (27 May 1898 to 22 January 1901)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Mary of Cornwall and York (January 22 to 9 November 1901)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Mary of Wales (9 November 1901 to 6 May 1910)
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Mary (6 May 1910 to 22 February 1922)
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles (22 February 1922 to 6 October 1929)
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood (6 October 1929 to 1 January 1932)
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal (1 January 1932 to 28 March 1965)