Thank you all for steering me to this thread about Princess Mary. I'm still a bit new to this site, and I appreciate your patience.
In his autobiography, "Captain of the Queens," Commodore Harry Grattridge tells of one of the most awkward cocktail parties he had ever given on the RMS Queen Mary. (no date given, most likely 1952-53) Princess Mary and her brother, the Duke of Windsor, were returning to England on the news that HM Queen Mary was in poor health. Page 262... "The Princess Royal, so quiet and serious that morning, did not respond to my efforts at conversation. The Duke, too, seemed unusually lost in thought and made no attempt to mix into the party. I knew this was a troubled time for brother and sister, as the news from England suggested that Queen Mary was gravely ill, but as host I had to do my best. We could not sit mute for three quarters of an hour. I tried every topic I knew: the ship, the weather, music, the excitement of visiting New York. All in vain. The Princess smiled at me vaguely and courteously, seeming to dismiss each subject from her mind as I raised it."
"Good heavens, I thought, I cannot keep this up much longer. Surely someone will say something?"
"A leaden silence fell. The Duke stared absently through a porthole at the grey Atlantic. (other guests seemed to have run out of words too ) Suddenly, turning to the Duke, I blurted out desperately, 'Excuse me, sir - do you have a tip for the Grand National?" That was the first time I ever saw the Duke smile. I think he sensed my embarrassment and was anxious to make amends. "No, I haven't," he chuckled, "and, what's more, if I had, I don't think I'd be inclined to share it."
"But what a change came over the Princess Royal then! Her face lit up like a young girl's at her first ball. With immense animation she began to discuss with me not only the Grand National but handicaps and selling plates of which I had never even heard. It seemed that she was passionately, wholeheartedly, and exclusively interested in horses. I will swear that before she left she had mentioned almost every winner of the Derby back to 1780, when the race began."
I love these kind of anecdotes! I just wish I could find more of them about her.
I believe it was Chips Channon, MP and London socialite, who wrote of Princess Mary in his famous diary "...has an easy sense-of-humor, but an otherwise colorless personality." I suspect he got the first part right, but may have overlooked the veneer one might expect to be found on a royal princess. I'm sure there was much more to her than what Chips could judge from his fleeting distance.
