Queen Mary's Road to Matrimony

When we last discussed Queen Mary we left off at a wonderful time in her life.  She was a debutante who was receiving an amazing education, which she herself had designed, that included classes in 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.  Being the relative of the current monarch, Queen Victoria, she was also taking part in some of the historical hallmarks of the era.  Though this was a wonderful period in her life it was not without its hardships.  Princess May did live in the shadow of her gregarious and much loved mother, Princess Mary Adelaide.  Princess May enjoyed her freedom and at the same time looked forward to settling down with a partner of good standing with a decent income.  As she did not enjoy the same pastimes as her peers – teas and gossip - Princess May did not have many admirers watching out for her in royal circles.  Mainly, this was all she expected in marriage as though her mother was a cousin of Queen Victoria her father, the Duke of Teck, was born of a morganatic union.  His father had forfeited his rights of succession by marrying Countess Rhedey in Wurttemberg where marriage by the Heir-Apparent to the throne to a woman of lesser rank was unconstitutional.  Therefore, by marrying Countess Rhedey, the Duke of Teck’s father not only forfeited his own succession, but any claim that his heirs might have made of it.  This put the Duke of Teck in the awkward position of having a worthy bloodline with no means of support.  A stain that he had no way of protecting his own heirs from.

This was all about to change.  For on fourth November 1891 Princess May and her brother Prince Dolly were on their way to Balmoral at the behest of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.  Queen Victoria needed to find a suitable wife for her eldest grandson, Albert Victor, known as Prince Eddy.  Prince Eddy was no prize, but being a sensible young woman who viewed royalty as a business, Princess May was pleased to be considered a candidate for this all important union.  She knew that after Queen Victoria passed her eldest son, Edward, would take the throne as Edward VII and that Prince Eddy would become the Prince of Wales and eventually King Edward VIII.  She would then be the Queen Consort and her heirs would not suffer the stigma of her grandfather’s morganatic union as her father and she had.  Queen Victoria’s invitation was a call to duty that Princess May would obediently answer.

Well, the ten-day visit that was a test for Princess May’s suitability pleased Queen Victoria very much.  She found Princess May intelligent, better educated than any of her Wales grandchildren, and possessing a maturity that allowed her to grasp the seriousness of the commitment to the monarchy she would be asked to make.  Princess May was also fluent in German, which pleased Queen Victoria greatly as it was the language of her dear, departed Albert.  Her fluency in French did not inspire quite the awe of the German, but was duly noted.  After her visit Queen Victoria wrote to the Empress Frederick (her eldest daughter, Vicky) ‘I think & hope that Eddy will try & marry her for I think she is a superior girl – quiet & reserved till you know her well, but she is the reverse of oberflachlich*.  She has no frivolous tastes, has been very carefully brought up & is well informed & always occupied.’  We’ll take that as the ‘official’ seal of approval.

Prince Eddy, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, was born two months premature and had always been considered physically and mentally weak.  He had no real interests accept for the pursuit of pleasure and there he gave the gossips plenty to discuss.  He was at once accused of being like his father, a womanizer, as he seemed to fall in and out of love at quite a pace or being quite unlike his father, a homosexual.  It is said that his slow languid style was either seductive to woman or appalling to them.  It is safe to say that though he was often called a ‘dear boy’ by all who knew him, it was more out of pity for his strangeness than any strong feelings of warmth toward him.  A view of all he suffered was shared in a letter from his younger brother, Georgie, to their mother, Princess Alexandra, in 1890 after Queen Victoria had bestowed the dual dukedom on him.  ‘I see a lot of the stupid jokes & puns about Clarence & Avondale.  I think it is a great pity, because now his names are ridiculed the same as Albert Victor was which only does harm; the poor boy seems to be doomed to have two names...’  Or maybe just doomed.

Well, as luck would have it, Prince Eddy was recently declined when asking another cousin, Princess Alexandra of Russia, for her hand in marriage and in a quick recovery he fell hard for Princess Helene of Orleans, a Roman Catholic and therefore unsuitable bride, whom he carried out a clandestine romance with.  He had persuaded her to change her religion and marry him.  He was reportedly quite relieved when both sides of the family were concerned about the arrangement and the engagement was called off.  Then it was on to Lady Sybil.  With both the Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales blessing, Princess May and Prince Eddy – along with about twenty other guests – headed to the Luton Hoo, the home of the de Falbes, on two December 1891.  The de Falbes were excellent hosts who left their guests little free time; therefore Prince Eddy and Princess May had no time alone together during the visit.

The following day, Thursday, third December 1891, with Princess May looking stunning in her beautiful ball gown and jewels, Prince Eddy took her upstairs to Mme. De Falbe’s room and proposed.  In her diary entry, Princess May records, ‘To my great surprise, Eddy proposed to me during the evening in Mme. De Falbe’s boudoir – Of course I said yes.’  Both parties, who could hardly have been in love at that point, never having been alone, had closed the deal.  Princess May would now be part of the ‘firm’ and would work hard to ensure it was always shown in its best light.  Prince Eddy left the next day to seek Queen Victoria’s official approval of the union.  The papers were filled with the story of the ‘true romance’ and Princess May was quite pleased with her accomplishment.  When she arrived home in London she was greeted by a crowd of well-wishers whom, she addressed according to Anne Edwards, “as confidently and exuberantly as her mother had done in the past.”

Unfortunately May’s happiness was short lived.  For about one month later on seventh January 1892, Prince Eddy fell ill with abdominal pains and dizziness.  He was diagnosed with influenza.  Two days later, after a second doctor was called, his fever soared and he was diagnosed with incipient pneumonia.  On the morning of 14^th January 1892 Prince Eddy died in his bed after a long night of feverish delirium.  The sudden death of Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale came as a great shock to everyone – especially Princess May who was looking forward to being his wife.  This was certainly a dark period in her young life.

* Shallow/insincere

All the best,