(Redirected from Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood)
'The Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood' (Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary Lascelles, née Windsor;
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. Mary held the title of
princess with the style
Highness from birth as the then great-granddaughter of the British Sovereign, and later
''Her Royal Highness'', as the granddaughter and finally daughter of the Sovereign. After her marriage she held the title of
Countess of Harewood.
Early life
Birth
Princess Mary was born on
25 April 1897 at York Cottage on the
Sandringham Estate in
Norfolk,
England. Her father was
Prince George, Duke of York (later George V), the second eldest son of
The Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and
The Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra). Her mother was
The Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the eldest daughter of
The Duke and
Duchess of Teck.
Mary was named after her paternal great-grandmother, her paternal grandmother, the Princess of Wales, and her maternal grandmother, Princess Mary Adelaide. She was always known by the last of her Christian names, Mary. As a great-grandchild of the British monarch (
Queen Victoria), she was styled ''Her Highness'' 'Princess Mary of York'. In 1898, the Queen passed
letters patent granting the children of the Duke and Duchess of York the style, ''
Royal Highness''. Mary was then styled ''Her Royal Highness'' 'Princess Mary of York'. She was fifth in the
line of succession at the time of her birth.
Her baptism took place at in St Mary Magdalene's Church near
Sandringham on
7 June 1897 by
William Dalrymple Maclagan,
Archbishop of York. Her godparents were
Queen Victoria, the
Prince and
Princess of Wales, the
King of Greece, the
Duke of Teck and
Princess Victoria.
Education
Princess Mary was educated by governesses, but shared some 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 give 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 was sent to all British soldiers and sailors for
Christmas, 1914. She took an active role in promoting the
Girl Guide movement, the
VADs, and the
Land Girls. In 1918, she took a nursing course and went to work at
Great Ormond Street Hospital.
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.
Marriage
On
28 February 1922, Princess Mary married
Henry Charles George, Viscount Lascelles (
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), a friend of Princess Mary's and one of the bridesmaids, participated. She and her husband made their home in Yorkshire, first at
Goldsborough Hall, 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. It has been reported that she did not want to marry Lord Lascelles and that her parents forced her into an arranged marriage. Her brother the Prince of Wales, later King Edward, to whom she was very close was also against the marriage because he did not want his sister to marry someone whom she did not love.
Her eldest son, the Earl of Harewood, however, wrote about their parents' marriage in his memoirs "The Tongs and the Bones" and refuted these widespread rumours that the marriage was an unhappy one. He says "that they got on well together and had a lot of friends and interests in common".
Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles had two sons:
★
George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, born
7 February 1923; married, 1949, Maria Donata, aka
Marion Stein; divorced 1967; married, 1967,
Patricia Elizabeth Tuckwell; had issue.
★
The Honourable Gerald Lascelles,
21 August 1924–
27 February1998; married, 1952,
Angela Dowding; had issue; divorced 1978; married
Elizabeth Collingwood; had issue.
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 the 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, the Prince of Wales and later on
Edward VIII (who was known as David to his family). 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 allegedly declined to attend the wedding of her niece,
Princess Elizabeth, to
Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten to protest the fact that the Duke of Windsor had not been invited. She gave ill health as the official reason for her non-attendance.
[1] The Duke of Windsor was however invited to the weddings of Princess Margaret and Princess Alexandra, his nieces, but out of bitterness he refused to attend.
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 Corps 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 the
University of Leeds 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 Minster.
Princess Mary lived for less than 68 years, yet six British monarchs ruled during her lifetime:
Queen Victoria (her great-grandmother),
Edward VII (her grandfather),
George V (her father),
Edward VIII and
George VI (her brothers) and
Elizabeth II (her niece).
Notes and sources
1. King George VI, , Sarah, Bradford, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989,
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
Born a great-granddaughter of
Queen Victoria, Mary was styled ''Her Highness'' 'Princess Mary of York' from birth (this was later changed to ''Her Royal Highness'' by Queen Victoria). When Queen Victoria died, for a short time she was known as HRH Princess Mary of Cornwall and York (as her father was now the heir apparent and thus Duke of Cornwall as well as Duke of York) and then ''HRH'' 'Princess Mary of Wales' when her father was created Prince of Wales. Finally, upon her father's accession as King she was styled and titled ''HRH'' 'The Princess Mary'. When the title Princess Royal was conferred upon her in 1932, she became known as ''HRH'' 'The Princess Royal' (occasionally ''HRH'' 'The Princess Mary, Princess Royal'). After her marriage her Harewood titles were affixed after her royal titles. Throughout her life and the various name changes, her signature was simply "Mary".
★ '
25 April 1897–
27 May 1898': ''Her Highness'' Princess Mary of York
★ '
27 May 1898–
22 January 1901': ''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Mary of York
★ '
January 22 1901–
9 November 1901': ''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Mary of Cornwall and York
★ '
9 November 1901–
6 May 1910': ''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Mary of Wales
★ '
6 May 1910–
22 February 1922': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Princess Mary
★ '
22 February 1922–
6 October 1929': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles
★ '
6 October 1929–
1 January 1932': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood
★ '
1 January 1932–
28 March 1965': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Princess Royal
Honours
★ 'GBE':
Dame Grand Cross of the British Empire, ''
3 June 1917''
★ 'CI':
Companion of the Crown of India, ''
25 April 1919''
★ 'GCStJ':
Dame Grand Cross of St John of Jerusalem, ''
12 May 1926''
★ 'GCVO':
Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, ''
11 May 1947''
★ 'RRC': Member (First Class) of the
Royal Red Cross, ''1953''
★
Royal Family Order of King George V
★ Royal Family Order of King George VI
★
Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II
Honorary military appointments
'British'
★ ''1918'': Colonel-in-Chief, of
The Royal Scots (the Royal Regiment)
★ ''1935'': Colonel-in-Chief, of the
Royal Signal Corps
★ ''1947'': Colonel-in-Chief, of the West Yorkshire Regiment
★
★ ''1958: amalgamated, with the East Yorkshire Regiment (The Duke of York's Own), to form the Prince of Wales' Own Yorkshire Regiment''
'Commonwealth'
★ ''1936–1950'': Colonel-in-Chief, of the n Corps of Signals
★ ''1937–1965'': Colonel-in-Chief, of the Royal n Corps of Signals
★ ''1930–1965'': Colonel-in-Chief, of the Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)
★ ''1940–1965'': Colonel-in-Chief, of the Royal Corps of Signals
★ ''and several other
Commonwealth regiments.''
Ancestry
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