Queen Mary Pt 3

[etonexile]

Let's see some great pics and stories about this strong,dedicated woman...."Royalty" was almost a religion to her....

[grandduchessella]

QV: 'Mary's boys are splendid but her little girl is very plain.'

[Martyn]

My favourite picture of May.....

[grandduchessella]

she grew out of delicacy as an infant and was soon 'alarmingly tall'

[grandduchessella]

She developed an aversion to illness and invalidism as a young child when she was taken by her mother as a young girl to spend time with her grandmother the Duchess of Cambridge. The Duchess had suffered a stroke and lived at St James's Palace in the dark apartments. The Duchess was at this point so bent that one often had to kneel on the floor to talk to her and, being completely bald, would sometimes either have her wig on crookedly or, more disconcertingly, leave it off totally. Marie Battenberg witnessed this and wrote that she was 'quite disconcerted...and her absolutely bald head looked like a very big egg'. Sometimes the children would be left in the carriage for hours while their mother visited the aged Duchess. Since her brothers were soon of to school it was invariably May who accompanied her mother into the gloomy atmosphere. The young girl was rather scared of her grandmother and would write in her later years 'I think an invalid rather frightens young people.'

[grandduchessella]

The floor is yours GDElla...give us your best......

I'll do my best.    I'm going to try to find some 'new' photos.

Regarding her shyness: 'Princess May was now fourteen. For some years she had been taken to children's parties and to dancing classes. At all of these she suffered considerably, for, once outside the home circle, she was, and for many, many years remained, infintely shy. The psychological causes of this major handicap are not far to seek: for the Duchess of Teck's impulsive, entertaining and at time indiscreet conversation was hard for a growing daughter to rival. The girl reacted against it by becoming a silent listener and observer. The Duchess was a devoted parent, but she could often seem an embarassing one...At Taglioni's dancing classes...the other children would giggle when they saw that Princess May's mother needed two gilt chairs, not one, to sit upon. Princess May was accutely conscious that her mother might at any moment appear in an absurd light to those who did not know her...She was perfectly aware of her own shyness, but, like most sensitive children, she did not know how it could best be overcome. The Duchess of Teck only made it worse by applying her own rough-and-ready method for curing shyness...which was to refer in company to this shyness in the presence of the wretched girl herself.' At one party when May was 13 she tried to hide behind MA in the procession and her 'teeth were chattering with fright'.

[grandduchessella]

As a bridesmaid for Princess Louise of Wales to the Duke of Fife

[grandduchessella]

In her 'coming out' dress

[grandduchessella]

The birth of David:

QV: 'I went over yesterday with Beatrice, Nicky, Alicky, &c to see May & the Baby who is a vy fine strong Boy, a pretty Child.'

The to-do over his name: G&M had determined to call him Edward 'after darling Eddy' but as QV reminded them 'You write as if Edward was the real name of dear Eddy...'

The young parents got very little respite from MA who bustled in and out of their home several times a day--often unannounced

[grandduchessella]

1951: King George VI had undergone surgery on his lung. QM spent a 'dreadful morning of anxiety' while reports were phoned to her. Shortly before his operation she had been able to visit with him and they had 'a nice talk'. He recovered enough for the whole family to spend Christmas together at Sandringham but QM was obliged to leave in mid-Jan owing to her rheumatism. She left sharing the optimism of GVI regarding his health. On Feb 6 was in her sitting-room when her Woman-of-the-Bedchamber Cynthia Colville came into the room. QM looked at her and asked 'Is it the King?' From this 'the last great emotional shock of her life, Queen Mary did not recover. Her Household noticed that from now on the old Queen aged rapidly.' To her lifelong friend Lady Shaftesbury she said "I suppose one must force onself to go on until the end?'

She had now outlived her parents and in-laws; most of her contemporaries; 2 of her brothers; 3 of her siblings-in-law; her husband; 3 of her 6 children.

[grandduchessella]

The death of GV:
'On 14 January, te anniversary as it happened of Prince Eddy's death, the King went out of doors for the last time. [Sandringham also being where Eddy died] On 17 Jan QM realized that his sudden illness was more serious than had first been thought and sent for the Prince of Wales who was shooting at Windsor. She worded the note carefully since she didn't want to alarm GV by having his son suddenly arrive full of worry saying that the doctors weren't 'too pleased with Papa's state'. David arrived via aeroplane the next day. By the 19th the other children began to arrive and David drove to London to inform the PM the King was dying. QM wrote she 'sat with him for time to time--Did not go to church as the place was surrounded by reporters and photographers--too heartless--Walked with Mary--Georgie arrived at 7--David & Bertie left but will return tomorrow.' On 20 January GV died. QM wrote in her diary 'Am brokenhearted...at 5 to 12 my darling husband passed peacefully away--my children were angelic...The sunset of his death tinged the whole world's sky''



On the day after the funeral Archbishop Lang recorded that he had a long talk with her and Pss Mary. He reported that QM was strong but 'let it not be supposed that this unfailing self-control was due to any sort of hardness...her emotions were always ready to break through; only her courage restrained them.' When the Trooping the Colour was held in June QM wrote that 'tears were often in my eyes thinking of the past & of him we so sorely  miss.'

[Prince_Christopher]

She was the epitome of royalty, classically regal, and extremely intelligent and astute....

[etonexile]

I love that pic of May and Georgie on the sofa....his leg under the other....so charming and sweet...intimate...

[etonexile]

And the next pic....she looks out at the world in confidence and humour...he looks at her....she was the centre of his universe......

[Martyn]

Marvellous information GDElla and wonderful images, as ever.

I love the full-length one of May in her coming out gown; I have never seen that before and it is marvellous for the detail fof the dress.....