A Twentieth Century Princess: Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood

Portrait of Princess Mary by James Jebusa Shannon for the book Princess Mary's Gift Book, published in 1914.

In 1932, King George V named her only daughter, Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood, as Princess Royal of the United Kingdom. This title is a distinction bestowed to the only daughter or the eldest daughter of a British sovereign. By this time, the 35-year-old royal was already a popular member of the House of Windsor through her charity and tireless dedication to her duty and advocacy. 

Princess Mary, whose full name was Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, was born on April 25, 1897, at York Cottage in Sandringham, the Norfolk estate of her grandparents, the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Her birth coincided with the diamond jubilee year of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Her father, the second child of Albert  Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, was then Duke of York and was second in the line of succession to the British throne. Her mother was Princess Mary of Teck, the eldest child and only daughter of Francis, Duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge. The Duke of Teck was the morganatic son of Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg and Countess Claudine Rhedey. Princess Mary Adelaide was the second daughter and youngest of the three children of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, a son of King George III, and of Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel.

A young Princess Mary. Image from Flickr Commons

As a child, Princess Mary and her siblings lived a sheltered existence. She was educated by governesses and sometimes shared lessons with her brothers, Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor), Prince Albert (later King George V), and Prince Henry (Duke of Gloucester). She learned how to speak German and French, and held a lifelong passion for horses and horse racing.  

During her lifetime, Princess Mary actively supported causes where hospitals, nursing, and welfare are concerned. Nowhere else was this dedication to duty felt than at the height of World War I, when the princess initiated projects for British servicemen and their families.  In 1914, she launched the Princess Mary's Christmas Gift Fund,  which raised £100,000 for British soldiers and sailors in time for Christmas. She also promoted the Girl Guide movement, the VADs, and the Land Girls. In June 1918, she took up nursing course at Great Ormond Street Hospital and worked in the Alexandra Ward for two days a week.

Princess Mary with her brothers, Prince Albert, Prince George and Prince Henry. Image from Flickr Commons

In November 1921, Princess Mary was engaged to Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, who according to The Times, "was 15 years older than the Princess and was a considerable landowner and sportsman." Lord Lascelles was further described by the New York Times as "a handsome man of distinguished bearing and crisp manner," who had "served in the diplomatic service in Canada and been gassed in the war." At the time of their engagement, he was already a fabulously wealthy man  thanks to the £2 million-fortune which he inherited from his granduncle, the notoriously eccentric and miserly Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, second Marquess of Clanricarde, who was the largest landowner in Galway, Ireland, with some 52,000 acres  to his name. The viscount was also heir to his father's fortune. The fifth Earl of Harewood owned Harewood House, the family’s opulent country house in West Yorkshire, and the beautiful London mansion, Chesterfield House. The viscount was also expected to inherit another fine property, Goldsborough Hall. 

The pair celebrated their wedding before members of the British Royal Family and some 2,000 guests who assembled in Westminster Abbey on February 28, 1922. Despite Great Britain embroiled deep in economic depression, the wedding on that chilly February day was a cause for rejoicing throughout the empire, with hundreds of thousands of Britons flocking the sidewalks of London where the wedding procession passed by, and where "a great rolling cheer swept from street to street at the reappearance of the imperial pomp and splendor." (The New York Times)

After the wedding, King George V and Queen Mary sent a message of thanks the people."We appreciate this goodwill all the more because we know well that many at this moment are living in the shadow of great hardship and anxiety," said the King

Princess Mary gave birth to two sons: George Lascelles, who succeeded his father as the seventh Earl of Harewood  (1923 –2011);  and the Honourable Gerald Lascelles (1924 –1998).

A huge number of wedding presents flooded the couple, ranging from fabulous jewels to fine furniture and trinkets. Well-loved was the princess that "people from all walks of life and many organizations contributed funds to buy them," like the officers and men of the Royal Navy, who collected £2,684.24. The amount was used by the princess "to buy a small gift" with the rest donated to the RN Seamen’s and Royal Marines’ Orphans Home.  

Before her wedding to Viscount Lascelles, girls and women in the British Empire named Mary, Marie, May and Miriam formed "The Marys of the Empire." Together they pooled funds for a wedding present, which were donated to the Girl Guides Association for the purchase of Foxlease, a training and activity centre of Girlguiding near Lyndhurst. The princess donated  £6,000 for refurbishments and a further £4,000 was added for the upkeep of the property from the proceeds of an exhibition of her wedding presents at St. James's Palace. 

Princess Mary with Viscount Lascelles. Image from Flickr Commons

The Viscount and Viscountess Lascelles first settled at Goldsborough Hall, where the princess made changes in the interiors to suit the upbringing of her two children. She also spearheaded the planting of beech-hedge-lined long borders from the south terrace, which extended for a quarter of a mile down an avenue of lime trees. Relatives who visited the country house throughout the 1920s, including the king and queen, were asked by the princess to plant limes.

In October 1929, the Earl of Harewood died and his son succeeded to the title. The princess was now the Countess of Harewood, and as chatelaine of Harewood House, she busied herself in renovating and decorating the Lascelles family seat. She also took a keen interest in cattle breeding and farming pursuits in the family estate.

When World War II started, Mary, who was created Princess Royal by her father King George V in 1932, served as chief controller and later controller commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (renamed Women's Royal Army Corps in 1949), a task that brought her to the different parts of the country to visit its units, wartime canteens, and other welfare organisations. She also ably represented her niece Queen Elizabeth II in several engagements abroad. On behalf of the queen, she attended the independence celebrations of Trinidad and Tobago in 1962, and Zambia in 1964. One of her last official engagements was to stand on behalf of the British sovereign at the funeral of her cousin, Queen Louise of Sweden, in March 1965.

The afternoon of March 28, 1965, was a "summerlike afternoon".  Princess Mary and elder son, George, decided to take a stroll together with her two grandsons on the grounds of Harewood House. The end came for the 67-year-old royal "when she was taken ill and fell to the ground." A vehicle was called and came to fetch the dying royal. A doctor rushed to Harewood House, but she already passed away. According to a statement released by her family, the princes "died peacefully this afternoon from coronary thrombosis." Her second son, Gerald, who was residing at Fort Belvedere, the former residence of King Edward VIII, returned to the family seat in Leeds after learning of his mother's demise. Ten days before her death, she saw the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who came to the London Clinic, for an eye operation. She was buried at All Saints Church in Harewood, her funeral attended by her niece, Queen Elizabeth II and members of the British Royal Family.

Today, Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, was relegated to  a mere one-sentence description  in royal biographies.  The truth is, Princess Mary was one of the busiest and most hard-working royals during her lifetime. In fact, in Princess Mary: the first Modern Princess by Elisabeth Basford, a well-researched and authoritative biography about the princess, she was described as "Britain's first modern princess," evidenced by her "significant charitable achievements."  She earned the moniker "Queen of the North", because, aside from preferring Harewood House over a London residence, the bulk of her royal engagements were primarily carried out in the north of England. To sum up her life, Princess Mary “wanted to make a difference in her work, and more than anything, she wished to use her elevated position to help those who were less fortunate than herself."