Queen Mary is often thought of as the stern Queen, the one who never smiled. This harsh view is one that I’d held of her – even after reading her adoring son, David, praising her in his autobiography ‘A King’s Story.’ I’d imagined that of his parents she was the lesser of two evils. Even after visiting Windsor Castle to see her dollhouse and visiting Kensington Palace to view her coronation robes I was unable to derive any warmth from the thought of her. Thankfully, I’d come across an old book, ‘Queen Mary’s Photograph Albums’ edited by Christopher Warwick. Here in her own hand Queen Mary chronicles her life through the photographs of her loved ones. Here we see her stern conviction for protocol in that she signs each album with her current title so as we go through her life we begin with Victoria Mary of Teck (her birth name), then Victoria Mary, Mary R. and finally Mary. We also see her attention to detail in the way each photograph is marked and placed in the books. Here is where I found the real warmth of Queen Mary and a sense of humor as well.

Let’s begin at the beginning – with where Queen Mary fell into the family. Queen Mary’s mother, Princess Mary Adelaide, was a cousin of Queen Victoria as their father’s were brothers. While Victoria became Queen, Princess Mary Adelaide was on the road to spinsterhood when at 33 she wed the 29-year-old Prince Franz (Francis) of Teck. They were a very handsome couple but, poor as Prince Franz was a product of a morganatic marriage and therefore had no inheritance. Princess Mary Adelaide received a yearly income of eight thousand pounds, but due to her fondness for clothes, jewels, parties, etc. was in a state of perpetual debt from which her poor husband was unable to extricate her. She was often rescued by Queen Victoria who appreciated Princess Mary Adelaide’s jovial company and by some other rich friends whom it is believed stayed friends with her in part for her close connection with her cousin, the Queen.

Queen Victoria had given the Teck’s the apartment in Kensington Palace, in which she was born and raised, as their new home. It is here that Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes of Teck was born at one minute before midnight on 26 May 1867. From the start her family called her May after the month in which she was born. In June, Queen Victoria came to visit her cousin and meet Princess May her namesake and goddaughter. She wrote in her diary that evening ‘a very fine child with quantities of hair – brushed up in a curl on the top of its head! - & very pretty features’. This is a very impressive description from a Queen who bore nine of her own children and had many grandchildren as well.

Princess May grew up in a very loving home filled with the flamboyant personality of her mother who was generous to a fault with herself and others. By the time Princess May was 16 she was used to fending off the creditors who were always around as her mother was now spending twice her annual income. This caused Princess May to behave as the mother to her own childish mother, her amiable father and her three younger brothers, Adolphus (Dolly), Francis (Frank) and Alexander (Alge). In her family, Princess May was known as the peacemaker.

It was at 16 that Princess May and her family were driven from London as the Queen had lost all patience for her cousin’s inability to live within her means. The family departed for Florence, Italy, on 15 September 1883 under the alias of the Hohenstein’s. Looking back on this period of her life Queen Mary once shared with a friend, ‘Very ridiculous we must have seemed, I must say, this utterly English family, all talking English, and maintaining the artless fiction that we were the family Hohenstein.’

While in Florence Princess May, a strong and intelligent young woman, took full advantage of the circumstances she found herself in. She visited museums, churches and art galleries. She studied art, Tuscan literature, French and Italian. The experience was an exhilarating one for the young princess. It was during this, her personal renaissance, that Princess May wrote to a friend, ‘I have spent all my afternoons lately going to Museums, how much one learns & picks up, & how much nicer than going out to tea & gossip.’ These events were to prove a bit of a hindrance to Princess May who was never interested in gossip and therefore never very interested in the teas that were part of the social circles of the day. Teas which were important to a woman who needed to be seen as traveling in the right social circle in order to attract a worthy husband.

Nearly two years later, on 26 May 1885, her eighteenth birthday, Princess May and her family arrived back at Victoria Station, London, forgiven their indiscretions, once again welcomed into the fold. Here’s where the huge adjustment came for Princess May who describes herself during this period as ‘daughter, secretary and lady-in-waiting combined’ to her socialite mother. Princess Mary Adelaide delved back into her work for the poor and underprivileged of society. Her generous spirit and gregarious nature made a perfect fit in assisting a wide variety of charities in fund raising events; her reserved, shy daughter appearing rather dull in comparison.

Though Princess May made her formal debut in the spring of 1886 and was invited to many of the important social occasions, Princess Mary Adelaide’s shadow left little light for her daughter to bask in. It was a time that saw Princess May grow ever closer to her mother’s sister, Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenberg-Strelitz, who always retained pride in being English and became a willing mentor to her niece. Through these six long years, an apprenticeship to her future, Princess May learned the plight of the ordinary person, the value of personal service and to respect each individual’s dignity. She continued her studies in the areas of the history of the modern world and modern literature as well as studying the industrial and social issues that she saw first hand through her charity work. She was evolving into a well-grounded woman who was refined and dignified.

Thankfully, all was not hard work and study for Princess May, for as I’d mentioned earlier she did get to participate in some of the great social events of the day such as Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee which she described in a letter to a friend, ‘I really cannot describe all the fetes. The excitement here in London was something not to be imagined & I believe it was this that kept us all up thro’ the fatiguing time when we were on the go from morning ‘til night...’ She also got to participate in the festivities for the Prince and Princess of Wales Silver Wedding Anniversary, Queen Victoria opening the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, and the Prince of Wales laying the foundations stone for the London Tower Bridge. It certainly was a grand time to be alive and traveling in the royal circle.

Well this brings us to Princess May’s betrothal to Prince Eddy – a tragic story for another time. Another great source of information about Queen Mary is a book by Anne Edwards titled, ‘Matriarch: Queen Mary & the House of Windsor’. This book was published in 1984 so you’ll have to do some research to come up with a copy of it. The book I mentioned in the beginning of the article ‘Queen Mary’s Photograph Albums’ edited by Christopher Warwick is also an excellent source of information and the place where I came across all the quotes in this article. This book was published in 1989 so it too will be difficult to come by, but both books are well worth having if you are a Queen Mary fan.

-- Eileen Sullivan --