Mary of Teck, the fairytale princess who hid her story behind a wall of stone faced dedication to duty, was set on a path that would bring her a crown on July 6th 1893. On that summer’s day, she married the future George V in a huge royal wedding that turned them into a king and queen in waiting.
The bride, whose parents had been so cash strapped that they had taken her and her siblings abroad to avoid creditors and shame just years earlier, was marrying the younger brother of her first fiance who had died weeks after their engagement announcement.
The groom was a reluctant second in line to the throne. George, second son of Edward and Alexandra, Prince and Princess of Wales, had been catapulted into the direct line of succession by the unexpected death of his older brother, Albert Victor.
However, while both bride and groom were aware of the duty that surrounded their match, they appear to have been genuinely fond of one another which no doubt pleased their matchmaker, Queen Victoria, who set her heart on her grandson marrying Mary.
The wedding took place at the Chapel Royal of St. James’ Palace, London where Victoria had married Albert over fifty years earlier.
The bride, attended by a coterie of royal bridesmaids including George’s sisters Victoria and Maud, walked into the chapel on the arm of her father, Francis of Teck.
Waiting for her were a host of royal guests – most of them related to her and her husband to be and including the Tsarevich of Russia, Nicholas, who would become his country’s last Tsar soon afterwards.
The ceremony, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, began at 12.30 in sweltering heat and ended around an hour later with Mary walking out of the chapel as HRH the Duchess of York.
The couple were cheered through the streets of London on their way back to Buckingham Palace where they enjoyed their reception before starting their honeymoon at Sandringham.
Seventeen years later, the groom became King George V and Mary became Queen. In 1917, they oversaw the change of the royal family’s name to Windsor and began one of the most famous dynasties in the world.
