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The First Modern Princess
Princess Diana is seen as the first member of the British royal family to tear up the rulebook, and the Duchess of Cambridge is modernising the monarchy in strides. But before them was another who paved the way.
Princess Mary was born in 1897. Despite her Victorian beginnings, she strove to make a princess’s life meaningful, using her position to help those less fortunate and defying gender conventions in the process. As the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, she would live to see not only two of her brothers ascend the throne but also her niece Queen Elizabeth II.
She was one of the hardest-working members of the royal family, known for her no-nonsense approach and her determination in the face of adversity. During the First World War she came into her own, launching an appeal to furnish every British troop and sailor with a Christmas gift, and training as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
From her dedication to the war effort, to her role as the family peacemaker during the Abdication Crisis, Mary was the princess who redefined the title for the modern age. In the first biography in decades, Elisabeth Basford offers a fresh appraisal of Mary’s full and fascinating life.
At last a biography of Princess Mary, the Queen’s aunt – and a good one ... She has long deserved a full study and in Elisabeth Basford, she has found a dedicated and sympathetic biographer, who has done her full justice
Hugo Vickers,
An enjoyable, worthwhile story, not least in its celebration of an exemplary royal record undertaken with modesty, kindliness and sincerity
Matthew Dennison, Daily Telegraph,
Filled with never previously known information, this first full biography is the definitive read for this refreshingly forward-looking, eternally good-willed and relatively little-known Princess
Annabel Sampson, Tatler,
She was an exemplar of the unflagging postwar countess, always doing good, always keeping busy to stave off grief. When we contemplate the Queen’s lifelong devotion to duty, we sense the influence of her unpretentious aunt
Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times,
Surprisingly, there has never been a biography of Princess Mary, the Queen's aunt and sister to George VI and the Duke of Windsor, until now. Elisabeth Basford's diligently researched account of the princess's life is therefore a welcome one ... Basford persuasively argues that she was a thoroughly modern member of the royal family, possessed of genuine compassion and interest in helping others ... Perhaps some of her descendants could learn from her
Alexander Larman, Observer,
19th March, 2021 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
If ever a member of the Royal Family has been underestimated, then it is Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. Few people are aware of the immense amount of work she undertook in her public life and her importance in the history of the Royal Family during the tw…
24th April, 2018 in Society & Culture, Women in History
Royal ladies have always aided the sick. In 1148, Queen Matilda founded the Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St Katharine by the Tower and reserved the choice of master to all the queens of England who would follow her. Since then, royal women have patronised, endowed and…
