The Royal 1926: the year that changed everything

 

A century ago, the Royal Family welcomed a baby who would change everything. No one knew on the day she was born that the whole future of the Monarchy would not only rest on her shoulders but be steered by her to a place of safety it had perhaps never known before. The arrival of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, on April 21 1926, was a family celebration that hid a turning point in royal history. Through the year, I'll be looking back at the Royal Family in 1926 as it lived a year that would alter its very existence even though it didn't know it at the time.

Just to show that some things never change, on January 1 1926, various papers were filled with pieces of news about various members of the Royal Family. Their names were on everyone's lips back then even if many have been forgotten now. The Uxbridge and W. Drayton Gazette ran a piece about a new royal resident in its neighbourhood, telling readers that ''H.R.H Princess Victoria is taking up residence at a house called Coppins''. Just in case you're feeling bad for not knowing who this princess is, take heart, the paper's readers were also given a reminder. She was ''sister of King George V'', and the report went on '' is by no means a stranger to the district. She has attended the church and has often visited the ladies associated with it..'

Princess Victoria was the sister of George V and found a new home in 1926

The first papers of the New Year also carried all the royal news we've come to expect with the Honours list dominating some. The Scotsman reported all the honours - and there were far fewer dished out than these days. Notes such as ''The King has been graciously pleased to give directions for the following appointments to the most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George'' topped different lists of recipients.

The Evening News (London) stated that the New Year had started with Queen Mary, wife of King George V, approving a new window in memory of her mother. The paper reported that it was to be ''erected in a new chapel at Princess Mary Village Homes at Addlestone, which were founded by the Queen's mother''. The previous memorial to Mary, Duchess of Teck, who died in 1897, had ''been smashed by the fall of an elm tree seven years ago.''

The Vote had been a voice for women campaigning for the right to participate in elections for years

Another memorial was also under discussion in The Vote, the newspaper set up by the Suffragette movement. On January 1 1926, it reported that some of the money that had been raised for a memorial for Queen Alexandra, who had died in November 1925, was to be put to another use. The paper said ''it has been proposed to devote at least half the funds collected for the national memorial to Queen Alexandra to augment the resources of the work of the Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses, and the remainder to form a nucleus for a much needed Nurses' Pension Fund.'' Queen Alexandra had been devoted to the group - she called them ''my nurses'', just as Victoria had done before her.

Elizabeth, The Duchess of York, painted by Philip de Laszlo in 1925

And in the smaller reports on the Royal Family on New Year's Day 1926 were the briefest of mentions of the Duke and Duchess of York. Albert, second son of George V, and his wife, Elizabeth, were noted by the Aberdeen Press and Journal to have begun the New Year on their travels. It reported they had ''been the guests of the King and Queen since shortly before Christmas at York Cottage, Sandringham''  but had now ''left there'' with the Duke of York headed to Melton Mowbray with his older brother, Edward, for a hunting party. The Duchess had ''returned to Curzon House''. The next few days would put the duchess much more firmly in the spotlight....