Wednesday 6 May 2020

#OTD: Mary of Teck becomes Queen of England



On this day, in 1910, Mary of Teck became Queen Consort. She took on the role on the accession of her husband as King George V. They were also now Emperor and Empress of India. They would reign for 26 years.


George and Mary became monarchs on May 6th 1910 on the death of King Edward VII. George, his second son, and Mary had been Prince and Princess of Wales throughout his reign. The couple had wed in 1893 and moved to Buckingham Palace with a family of six children. The new heir to the throne, their eldest son Edward, was sixteen years old.



George wrote in his diary that day that ''darling May will be my comfort as she has always been''. The new queen consort had been baptised as Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes but chose to be known as Queen Mary once her tenure began.



Mary had been plucked from relative royal obscurity by Queen Victoria who decided she would make a good consort. In her youth, her parents had faced financial trouble so serious they had been forced to take their family overseas for a period. But now the young princess who had been a source of amusement for many during those difficult days had the last laugh. On a May day, the royal they called May became a Queen and an Empress - definitely worth a wry smile.

No comments:

Post a Comment