Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes (Württemberg) Windsor (1867 - 1953)

Born 26 May 1867 in Kensington Palace, London, England

Ancestors

Wife of George Frederick Ernest Albert (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) Windsor KG — married 6 Jul 1893 in St James's Palace, London, England

Descendants

Died 24 Mar 1953 at age 85 in Marlborough House, London, England

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Biography

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May (Württemberg) Windsor is a member of the House of Windsor.

Birth and early life

Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes, was born on 26 May 1867 at Kensington Palace, London, England. She was the eldest child of His Serene Highness, Prince Francis of Teck and his wife Her Royal Highness Princess Mary Adelaide the daughter of the Duke of Cambridge and granddaughter of George III of Great Britain. Her parents had only married the previous June, and her mother's age (33) and her "unusual girth" had been a cause of general concern. ^{[1] [2]} The baby was soon nicknamed "May" for her birth month and was known as this both within her family and the British public at large.

Her names (as told to Queen Victoria before the christening) were to be Agnes Augusta Victoria Mary Louise Olga Pauline Claudine but the name Victoria was promoted due to the efforts of the dowager Duchess of Cambridge (Mary's grandmother), who regarded the child's descent from George III and her relationship as cousin to Queen Victoria, as superior to her father's Württemberg ancestry. ^[3] For the rest of this biography, she will be referred to as Mary.

Mary was the eldest of four children: Adolphus known as "Dolly", Francis or "Frank", and Alexander or "Alge" a contraction of Alexander George. All were born at their parents' apartments in Kensington Palace which was their official residence during their childhood. The family of the Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) were near neighbours at Marlborough House, Pall Mall, ^[4] and this kept the two families in close social contact. ^[5] Of the five Wales children, the two boys Albert Victor or "Eddy" and George would later be proposed as suitors for Mary.

From 1870, the Tecks made their main home at the White Lodge in Richmond Park, a grace and favour house of Queen Victoria's. This was to be where the children grew up, and apart from when the family lived in Italy (1883-5), this was to be Mary's chief home until she married the Duke of York in 1893. ^[6] The Hope family of Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, Scotland ^[7] were also regular hosts for extended summer holidays. The Tecks were affectionate parents and Mary had "a sunny childhood" but her parents also impressed on her the importance of charitable acts towards "the Poor". ^[8] At the age of 14, she was described as tall and "gawky", hating dancing and deportment lessons. ^[9]

Exile in Europe

In 1883, the spendthrift nature of Princess Mary Adelaide and the burden of running two London residences had brought the Tecks to near bankruptcy. Queen Victoria refused to pay her cousin's accumulated debts, and the Tecks were forced to leave England, staying in Italy where the accommodation was either much cheaper or given to them free of charge. ^[10] While in Florence, Mary learned to speak Italian, learned about art, and attended the theatre and opera. She mixed with the rich British expat society and also with Aristocrats from all over Europe. Her mother continued to spend lavishly.
In May 1884, Mary was 17 years old. A minor constitutional crisis occurred because she had not been confirmed, which meant that she was not eligible to be presented at any of the Royal Courts of Europe. Queen Victoria wanted to send the Bishop of Gibraltar to Florence to perform the ceremony. Princess Mary Adelaide was adamant that the ceremony should take place in the Chapel Royal at St James' Palace in London, effectively allowing the Tecks to return from exile. In the end, Mary remained unconfirmed for another year.
The Prince of Teck had suffered a stroke in March 1884, and his health declined afterwards. The family moved to Switzerland in July 1885 for the good of his health, and then onto Germany.

Return to England

The Tecks were invited to return to England in 1885 and arrived in London on Mary's eighteenth birthday. ^[11] Shortly after their return, the family moved back to White Lodge. Mary and her brother Adolf were confirmed at the Chapel Royal at St James Palace on 1 August 1855. The death of her Württemberg grandfather meant that she missed the social season due to the prescribed six months of deep mourning, but she attended her first Drawing Room (presentation at Court) in March 1886. ^[12] A social round of visiting country houses was tempered with assisting her mother with her charitable work. The Prince of Wales often contributed money, and the Tecks re-established their friendship with the Wales children.

Engagement and marriage

Having been presented at Court, a suitable husband was sought for Mary.
In 1956, the Hon. Margaret Wyndham (Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Mary from 1938-53) confided to James Pope-Hennessy that Mary had "one love of her life... it begins with an H". Initially Wyndham thought she remembered it to be (Lord Grosvenor) Hood, ^{[13] [14]} but shortly after corrected to (Lord John) Hope, afterwards 7th Earl of Hopetoun and the first Governor-General of Australia. ^[15] John Hope was one of the Hope children who Mary spent her summers with in Scotland. Wyndham commented "Of course she could never have married him, nor would she have thought it right." By the time Mary was of marriageable age, Hope was already married and had been posted to Australia.

The old Duchess of Cambridge wished Mary to marry the Russian Grand Duke Michael Michailovitch who was in London in 1886, but her father was opposed to the match. The Duchess also suggested a Prince of Anhalt, and Lord Euston (until it was pointed out that Euston already had a wife). The Prince of Naples dined with the Tecks in 1891 and Mary accompanied him to a dinner at the Mansion House but nothing further developed. ^[16]

Mary, in fact, turned out to be the answer to the question "What to do about Eddy?" Prince Albert Victor ("Eddy"), the eldest son of the Prince of Wales was 28 years old and was drifting through life with no aim or purpose much to the consternation of his parents and Queen Victoria. He was emotionally volatile and had failed to knuckle down to the discipline of Army life. The options were to send him on extended Colonial visits or to get him married to a sensible stabilising woman. ^[17] Eddy's previous choices of potential wives were not approved by the Queen and the British Government, but after Queen Victoria herself assessed Mary as being a suitable consort, Eddy proposed on 3 December 1891. ^[18] The wedding was fixed for 27 February 1892, but Eddy fell unwell with influenza on 7 January, the day before his birthday, and died on 14 January at Sandringham House, the Royal residence in Norfolk.

Eddy's death not only put Mary in an uncertain position regarding her future marriageability, but the continuation of a male lineage now became the sole responsibility of his brother George, the Duke of York. After a suitable period of official mourning, George proposed to Mary, the woman that Queen Victoria had particularly selected to continue the Royal line with his brother. Mary had always felt more affinity with the younger brother and she accepted. They were married at the Chapel Royal of St James Palace, London on 6 July 1893, and at her marriage Mary became the Duchess of York. ^[19]

Duchess of York

The couple started married life at York Cottage (actually a very large villa) on the Sandringham Estate, cheek by jowl with the Wales family in the "Big House". They also had "York House", apartments at St James Palace for their public life. ^[20]

Mary's first child was born at her parent's house, White Lodge in Richmond, on 23 June 1894 and was named Edward ("after dear Eddy") Albert (for Prince Albert) Christian George Andrew Patrick David (the last four for the four patron saints of the United Kingdom). Within the family he was known as David, and would become Edward VIII. ^[21]

Their second son Albert Frederick Arthur George (known as Bertie) was born on 14 December 1895. This was the anniversary of the death of Prince Albert, and was known in the Royal family as "Mausoleum Day" when the family would attend Prince Albert's mausoleum at Frogmore; Queen Victoria personally approved the name. ^[22] Bertie would become George VI upon his brother's abdication.

Their third child and only daughter was born a month before Mary's 30th birthday on 15 April 1897, the year of Diamond Jubilee. The child was named Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, in honour of the Queen and the Princess of Wales. ^[23] Later that year Mary's mother died, and her father followed her in 1900 from the decline of severe dementia. Both were buried in the Royal vault at Windsor. ^[24]

The outbreak of the Boer War in 1898 saw all three of Mary's brothers on active service. Mary gave birth to her fourth child, another son Henry William Frederick Albert, on 31 March 1900. Four days later, an assassination attempt on both the Prince and Princess of Wales narrowly failed. ^[25] If it had succeeded, Mary would have been Queen Consort when Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901.

Princess of Wales

When the Duke of York's father became King Edward VII, there was an expectation that George and Mary would automatically become Prince and Princess of Wales. This title was withheld until November of 1901, allegedly to provide a clear disconnect between the couple who had held the title for over 40 years. ^[26] The Yorks were sent on a tour to Australia where the Duke opened the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne. They dined with the Governor General, the same John Hope who Mary used to holiday with at Hopetoun. ^[27] This was their second Royal tour, the first being a visit to Ireland in 1897.

A fifth child, George Edward Alexander Edmund was born on 2 December 1902 and Mary's sixth and final child, John Charles Francis was born on 12 July 1905. Both were born at York Cottage. John developed epilepsy at an early age and was brought up separately from the rest of the family at Wood Farm, Wolferton on the Sandringham estate. He died at the age of 13 in 1919. ^[28]

In October 1905, the couple set out for a seven month tour of India, the first time a Princess of Wales had visited. Mary fell in love with the country, and later remarked "When I die, INDIA will be found written on my heart". ^[29] During the period up to the death of King Edward VII, the couple made many trips abroad representing the King who was in his sixties and in poor health. Mary revelled in travelling and sightseeing, her husband hated it. ^[30]

Queen and Empress

King Edward VII died on 6 May 1910, and his son became King George V while Mary became "Queen Consort of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Empress of India". At this time, her husband told her to stop using her first name Victoria, so she became officially "Queen Mary." ^[31]

The Coronation took place on 22 June 1911, and King George and Queen Mary attended the Imperial Dehli Durbar in 1912 as Emperor and Empress to receive the homage of the Indian nation. This would be the last time that the Durbar would take place. ^[32]

In 1912 and 1913 George and Mary started touring the mining and industrial areas of Britain, meeting and learning more about the lives of the majority of their subjects. Mary also interested herself in industrial working conditions. ^[33] When the Great War Started, Mary enlisted the assistance of Mary McArthur the leader of the Women's Trade Union Movement to organise the women's War Effort. ^{[34] [35]}

In 1917, King George announced that all members of the Royal house of the United Kingdom were to gave up all German styles and titles, and to change the Royal house name for all male descendants of Queen Victoria from Saxe-Coburg to Windsor. ^[36]

Mary's son John died in 1919 aged 13 and was buried at the parish church of Sandringham. Her only daughter Mary married Lord Lascelles in 1922. ^[37] Albert (the future George VI) married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, but her eldest son, the Prince of Wales refused to settle down, worrying his parents by having affairs with married women - a harbinger of the constitutional crisis ahead.

The King's health deteriorated after an operation for a lung abscess in 1928, and by 1935 he was unable to undertake many of his official engagements. He died at Sandringham on 20 January 1936. The Prince of Wales was proclaimed Edward VIII. Mary was chief mourner at the funeral at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. She was no longer Queen Consort, but as Edward was unmarried, she was not Queen Dowager either. ^[38]

Widowhood

In July 1936, Mary gave up the Crown Jewels and removed from Buckingham Palace to Marlborough House. ^[39] King Edward spent the summer on a yacht with amongst others, Mrs Wallis Simpson. When Edward's Abdication was announced in December 1936, Mary felt angry and humiliated. ^[40]

Her second son "Bertie" was proclaimed as George VI, and the date which had been set for the Coronation of Edward VIII (12 May 1937) was kept for George. Mary was the first Queen Dowager to attend the Coronation of her husband's successor. ^[41]

Mary spent the Second World War at Badminton House in Wiltshire, the home of the Duke of Beaufort, having been persuaded by her son that it was not a "dereliction of duty" to leave London. ^[42] At the end of the War she returned to Marlborough House and travelled very little. When Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, she gave her the jewellery which had been her chief wedding present in 1893, ^[43] and the birth of Prince Charles in 1948 made her a great-grandmother.

When King George died in February 1952, the 84 year old Mary, now virtually housebound, insisted on paying personal homage to her new Sovereign, her granddaughter Elizabeth. "Her old Grannie and subject, must be the first to kiss Her hand". ^[44] Mary died at her apartments at Marlborough House on 24 March 1953. She had given directions to Elizabeth that the planned Coronation was not to be postponed by any mourning period. ^[45] She was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor next to her husband in the joint tomb she had commissioned for them.

Research Notes

After Mary's death, the biographer James Pope-Hennessy was commissioned to write her official biography sanctioned by the British Royal Family. The biography "Queen Mary (1867-1953)" was published in 1959. ^[1] Pope-Hennessy had spent from 1955 to 1958 gathering material from those who knew the Queen. His research notes were compiled into "The Quest for Queen Mary", (2018) ^[13] edited by Hugo Vickers, another noted Royal biographer.
Both of these excellent and well sourced books have been used extensively for compiling this profile.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Queen Mary (1867-1953) James Pope-Hennessy. Published 1959 by Unwin Brothers, London. Accessed as a hard copy from Bromley House Library, Angel Row, Nottingham, England. Referred to in the references as "Queen Mary".
2. ↑ Queen Mary, p.23
3. ↑ Queen Mary p.27
4. ↑ Marlborough House, former Royal palace and now the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat
5. ↑ Queen Mary, p.52
6. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 63
7. ↑ Hopetoun House https://hopetoun.co.uk/house-and-grounds/
8. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 68
9. ↑ Queen Mary, p.78
10. ↑ Queen Mary, chapter Five - Exile to Florence p.112
11. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 156-7
12. ↑ Queen Mary,p.163
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} The Quest for Queen Mary James Pope-Hennessy edited by Hugo Vickers. Pub. 2018 by Zuleika, London. Accessed as a hard copy from Bromley House Library, Angel Row, Nottingham, England. Hereafter referred to in the references as "The Quest".
14. ↑ The Quest, p.119
15. ↑ The Quest, p. 122
16. ↑ Queen Mary, p.184
17. ↑ Queen Mary "Chapter 8, The Duke of Clarence and Avondale" pp. 189 et seq.
18. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 210
19. ↑ Queen Mary "Chapter 12: Princess May's wedding" pp.261 et seq.
20. ↑ Queen Mary, p.294
21. ↑ Queen Mary, p.301
22. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 316
23. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 333
24. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 337-8
25. ↑ Queen Mary, p.348
26. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 355
27. ↑ The Quest, p. 123
28. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 390
29. ↑ Queen Mary, p.395-7
30. ↑ Queen Mary, p.415
31. ↑ Queen Mary, p.421
32. ↑ Queen Mary, p.446 et seq
33. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 470
34. ↑ Mary McArthur Anderson, Trade Union leader 1880-1921: no Wikitree profile yet
35. ↑ Queen Mary, p.492 et seq
36. ↑ The centenary of the creation of the House of Windsor citing the records of the London Gazette 17 July 1917 The London Gazette online accessed 3 October 2021
37. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 519
38. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 564
39. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 566 et seq.
40. ↑ Queen Mary, p.573
41. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 584
42. ↑ Queen Mary, p.596
43. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 615
44. ↑ Queen Mary, p.619
45. ↑ Queen Mary, p. 621

• Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 18 January 2020), memorial page for Mary of Teck (26 May 1867–24 Mar 1953), Find A Grave: Memorial #7466, citing St George's Chapel, Windsor, Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough, Berkshire, England ; Maintained by Find A Grave .
• Wikipedia:Mary of Teck

See also:

• 'Martin-Leake, Double VC' by Ann Clayton