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Proud Grandmother

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No one ever forgot the superb sight of the stately Queen, a magnificent crown on her tousseled greying head, wearing décolletage that evidenced a full womanly breast, loaded with priceless jewels, and seated column-straight, hands poised eloquently on her cloth-of-gold or silver or creamy ivory or pale pastel lap. The Queen’s Court gowns had no modern connection whatsoever. Elaborate in cut, beaded, gold-and-silver-embroidered, “gusseted, gored, looped, draped, cap-sleeved,” they were uniquely anachronistic; part Empire, part Edwardian. No Royal Jewel collection in the world remained that could compare to hers. At Courts, she liked to wear alternating sets of gems–diamonds and emeralds, or pearls, or sapphires. At state dinners, she often wore an outer rope of a hundred and fifty emormous pearls that fell to her waist, three inner strands, a nine-strand dog collar, pearl-and-diamond earrings, a diamond-and-pearl tiara, and all her brilliant orders.

Matriarch, Anne Edwards, pp. 351-352.

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During the years 1937, 1938, and 1939, other monuments to the memory of the dead King were in the course of preparation.  …  Queen Mary was consulted in all these memorials, and took a strong interest in them, particularly in the effigy for St George’s Chapel, the commission of which had been given to Sir William Reid Dick by King Edward VIII and Queen Mary who shared the cost equally between them. During the progress of this work Queen Mary paid a whole series of visits to Sir William Reid Dick’s studio. She also at this time gave him sittings to enable him to make an effigy of herself to be placed, after her death, beside that of King George V on that was to be their joint tomb. This project was dictated by Queen Mary’s feeling for the chronologically appropriate, as well as by her common sense. “I come of a long-lived family,’ she remarked–reflecting that her grandmother the Duchess of Cambridge had lived until the age of ninety-one, her Aunt Augusta Strelitz until ninety-four, her Uncle George Cambridge until ninety-one. Queen Mary’s conclusion was that she herself might reasonably expect to live into her tenth decade, and she was anxious that, should she do so, there should be no noticeable discrepancy in age between the appearance of King George V and of herself in the two effigies. 

– James Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, pp. 587-88

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Resplendent 

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#judgingyou

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The rights of the Queen Mother

“How glad I am to be a Queen Mother and only not a Queen Dowager,” she said to me, and explained that the positions of the two had been investigated at the time of King Edward VII’s Accession when it was established that a Queen Mother had certain rights whereas a Queen Dowager had no particular privileges except those voluntarily accorded to her by the reigning Sovereign. The distinction appealed to Queen Mary’s reverence for tradition, and although the King and Queen were kindness itself in all their relations with her it pleased her to know that her status has been defined.

– Mabell, Countess of Airlie, Thatched with Gold, p. 207

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An Account of Queen Mary at Age Twenty-Four. 

After dinner Pss Mary [Adelaide] & Pss May chatted & played Halma, & the Duke played on the pianoforte. After father & daughter had retired Pss Mary [Adelaide] remained up talking until very late. She spoke chiefly of her children. How happy she was to have such good children–that they were so steady, contented & affectionate,–her daughter is her ‘Herzblatt’–she spoke of her with tears in her eyes–saying ‘May is indeed a pearl of great price’. 

What I have seen of the young Princess makes me think that the mother is quite justified in saying this. She is so unaffected–sensible–with a soul above buttons–she goes on with her studies–devoting a certain number of hours a day to improving her mind–& she is always serene & contented. Many girls would chafe against what might be called the dull life here–but Pss May says she makes herself happy wherever she is. 

– Miss Ella Taylor, in a letter to her sister. Queen Mary, James Pope-Hennessy, p. 187. 

HSH Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, age 24, 1890. Royal Collection. 

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I love Letizia's hatred of hats. She's worn them only a few times - single figures - and I think whenever it's expected she'll wear one she spends the whole time trying to work out the smallest amount of material she can put on her head and still have it be classified as a "hat"

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Opening a school. Don’t miss the end – Queen Mary greets mothers and babies, plays with children and is generally adorable. 

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New photographs of Queen Margrethe of Denmark have been released by the royal court on the occasion of her 84th birthday today. The photographs were taken at Fredensborg Palace by Keld Navntoft | April 16, 2024

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“There’s only one thing I never did and wish I had done: climbed over a fence.” – Her Majesty Queen Mary. 

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My parents were in short street, so they had to go abroad to economize. 

– Her Majesty Queen Mary.

Initially humiliating, the forced relocation to Florence transformed Princess May and was the refining fire that kindled her passion for art and precious objects; and who, later, with a single-minded vigor, strengthened, expanded, and organized the Royal Collection. 

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Their Majesties review prize cows in the Channel Islands and Queen Mary gives out the trophies. 

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We were girls together. She was high-spirited, full of fun, and up to any prank which we might suggest. When she died, Alice of Athlone said to me, “We have lost the rock in our family.” How true this was; we always realized and knew that in every difficulty, whether it might be a question of etiquette or “what’s what,” and also in one’s own personal problems, May was always there to help and advise with calm, detached judgment and affection. 

–Princess Marie Louise, My Memories of Six Reigns, p. 236.