Elisabeth Basford - Princess Mary - The First Modern Princess

For J.D.

First published 2021

The History Press

97 St Georges Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Elisabeth Basford, 2021

The right of Elisabeth Basford to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9700 3

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ Books Limited, Padstow, Cornwall.

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

There are many people who made the research and writing of this biography such a joyous experience and to them I am truly grateful. Every effort has been made to locate copyright holders and obtain permission to reproduce sources. For those sources where it has been difficult to trace the copyright holder of the work, I would be grateful for information. If any copyright holder would like an amendment to the acknowledgements, please notify me and I shall gladly update the next reprint. Sincerest apologies if I have omitted anyone from this list. Again, I would be happy to amend this in the next reprint.

My thanks go to the following for providing considerable research material. To Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her gracious permission to study and reproduce Princess Marys letters and Queen Marys letters and diaries. To the Royal Archives at Windsor and especially to Julie Crocker, Lynette Beech and Colin Parish. If it had not been for Colin, I would never have made it up the steep incline to the Archives. To Mark and Clare Oglesby at Goldsborough Hall, who started me off on my journey and gave their time and considerable knowledge so generously. Goldsborough Hall is now as spectacular as it was in the time of Princess Mary and visiting the Hall inspired me greatly. To David Lascelles, 8th Earl of Harewood, and the Harewood House Trust, especially Rebecca Burton and Lindsey Porter for permissions and assistance in all things Harewood. To Tasha Swainston, archivist at the National Army Museum and Elizabeth Ennion-Smith, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge for enabling me to see so many of Marys letters and for helping me to disprove another misconception concerning Mary. To Christopher Ussher, Princess Marys godson, for personal insight. To the Royal Scots Regimental Office and Frank Gogos, curator at the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum for information concerning Mary as a colonel-in-chief. To Jane Rosen and Belinda Haley at the Imperial War Museum for so much information concerning the Princess Mary Tin and enabling me to hear Marys voice for the first time. To Lord Middleton for permission to view a large number of letters from Princess Mary to Lord Middleton. To Gareth Williams, curator and head of learning at the Weston Park Foundation for being so generous with his knowledge and for providing many photographs. To Anne Williamson and John Gregory of the Henry Williamson Society for such benevolence. Rebecca Higgins at Special Collections, University of Leeds Library. University of Leeds Archive for sourcing information relating to Marys patronage of the university and information regarding her patronages in the north of England. To Denise Summerton and Jayne Amat, Manuscripts and Special Collections, Nottingham University. To Guy Storrs, for permission to reproduce extracts from the Ronald Storrs archive and such a wonderful email correspondence. To LInstitut Pasteur for permissions relating to the Duke of Windsor.

In addition, I should like to thank the institutions who provided contemporary sources and information from their archives: Alan and Julie at the Special Collections Department, Toronto Reference Library; the Australian War Memorial; the Borthwick Institute for Archives, York; Danielle Triggs, West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds; Helen Clark, supervisor, East Riding Archives; Library and Archives, Canada; Nick Baldwin at Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Aidan Haley, assistant archivist and librarian, Devonshire Collection Chatsworth; Lloyd Pocock from Ashstead Pottery; Lyndsey Hendry, Girlguiding UK; Newfoundland Museum; Portumna Castle; Public Record Office Northern Ireland; QARANC Association; Rebecca Jackson, Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service; Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre; the Memorial University of Newfoundland; Visit Portumna; West Yorkshire Leeds Archives; Ludgrove School.

Thanks to the British Newspaper Archive and in particular Eddie Bundy for permissions and proving to be such an invaluable source of factual information and to Tom at Back Issue Newspapers for providing copies of The Times.

For additional photographs: Bibelots London: Ephemera and Curiosities; the wonderful Barry Sullivan at D.C. Thomson; Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum; Lee Turnbull; Victoria Ann Fletcher for her incredible image of Harewood.

Individuals who shared with me details of their personal archives so generously: Elaine Merckx at Wakefield Girls High School; Joy Broughton at the Red Poll Cattle Society; Julia Knight at the Queen Mothers Clothing Guild.

For additional permissions: Katie Widdowson, assistant archives officer, UK Parliament, Westminster, London; Kate Symonds at the Wellcome Collection; Laura Lacey, rights and licensing executive, British Medical Journal; Megan McCooley, moving image archivist, Yorkshire Film Archive; Penguin Books; Renegade Productions; Orion Publishing Group; Jack Baker at Harper Collins Publishers; the Jack the Ripper Tour; the Witchita State University Digital Collection; the Girl Guiding movement; the Irish Wolfhound Society; Wakefield Publishing; BBC Sounds; JPI Media; Orion Publishing Group Ltd.

For details concerning personal items belonging to Princess Mary: Christies Auctioneers.

In the virtual world of social media: to all the followers of my blog Write On Ejaleigh, especially Messiah Kaeto. To the Facebook and Instagram followers of Princess Mary, Princess Royal. To Nash Rambler and the Esoteric Curiosa.

To Mary Mackie for her knowledge of PMRANS; Marlene A. Eilers Koenig for her encyclopaedic knowledge of European dynasties and Alexandra Churchill for her knowledge of George V as a father. To Milly Johnson for inspiration in my writing. To Nick Holland, a fellow writer and Bront lover, who supported and encouraged me right from the very start of this process.

To The History Press, especially Christine McMorris and my editors, Simon Wright and Alex Waite; for helping me to tell Princess Marys story.

An immense thank you to the wonderful royal biography community, who have welcomed me so warmly. My sincere thanks go especially to Christopher Warwick for his kind-heartedness, generosity and vast knowledge and for being such a wonderful and witty raconteur.