In April 1926, royalty was all over the news. There was much expectation as the second in line to the throne, the future George VI, and his wife, Elizabeth, waited for the birth of their first child. Royal baby mania was already bubbling as April got under way but on April 4, Easter Sunday, there were plenty of other regal stories to catch the eye.
Worries for a princess
All the papers were still filled with concern for Princess Victoria, one of King George V’s three sisters. She had been ill with pneumonia for some time and there was continuing speculation on the state of her health. On Easter Saturday, an update had been given on her state and most of the Easter Sunday papers carried it. The Sunday Express reported ”the following bulletin was issued yesterday with regard to the condition of Princess Victoria” and then replicated the exact wording ”although the pneumonia is resolving, the strain on the heart remains great.”
Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror tried to add a happier note that Easter as concerns continued. It reported, in its ‘Mainly for Women’ page, that Prince George, youngest surviving son of George V, was trying to keep his aunt’s spirits up. Then on service with the Royal Navy, the paper noted that ”the Prince’s racy letters from the various ports, illustrated by the little thumbnail sketches which he knows so well how to do, have been a great joy to her.”
(By W. & D. Downey. London, Public Domain, Wiki Commons)
The Sunday Sun of Newcastle published a quasi obituary of Princess Victoria which painted George V’s sister as something of a victim of the Royal Family. It focused on the severe impact that leaving her home at Sandringham was having on her, noting that ”the leaving of beloved Sandringham, where she had been for so many years, was a heavy trial.” And it wrote at length of her devotion to her mother, Queen Alexandra, who had died the previous November.
The paper, rather curtly, said Alexandra ”clung with pathetic affection to Princess Victoria” who was ”afflicted with peculiar severity” by the death of the then Queen Mother. And it noted that Victoria was called ”The Unselfish Princess” by her late father, King Edward VII and claimed that she herself had heard someone call her ”the Unknown Princess”.
News on the expected royal baby
She was far from unknown that April as the papers pored over details over her health while trying to keep royalty front and centre ahead of the expected big regal event of the year, the arrival of a baby prince or princess. While the impending birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York was usually described in genteel terms like ”the forthcoming happy event”, The People cut straight to the chase that Easter Sunday. It wrote that ”the Duchess of York’s baby is expected to arrive early in May at 17 Bruton Street, the Duchess’ old home.” It turned out that the paper got everything bar the date right.
(Wiki Commons)
The People also had news of the Duke of Norfolk who was also Earl Marshall and so responsible for organising major Crown events. A few decades later, it would be this duke who ran the Coronation of the baby about to be born. However, in April 1926 he had other things on his mind. The People noted that he is ”not musical but has been practising lassoing, a rather difficult art in a London ballroom but useful at times for the removal of a dull guest.” Presumably, no one at the Coronation of 1952 was boring as the Duke was never seen lassoing in public.
Royal romance
All that was needed for the papers on Easter Sunday 1926 was a bit of royal romance and that was provided by the then Crown Prince of Norway who would later reign as King Olav, one of the most famous monarchs of the 20th century. On April 4 1926, he was better known as the handsome prince in a bubbling royal love story except no one would say who is paramour could be.
(Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons)
Reynold’s Newspaper was one of several to report that Easter weekend about a forthcoming marriage, saying ”the betrothal of the Crown Prince of Norway will be announced shortly. The bride-elect is a member of the British Royal Family, closely related to The Queen.”
The information was clearly wide of the mark. No engagement was announced and Olav instead fell in love with Princess Martha of Sweden with their wedding taking place in 1929.
The amazing princesses
To end, back to the Sunday Mirror which was on form that Easter Day. It also noted that Princess Victoria, whose ill health was causing so much concern, had once been a ‘pioneer’ of the Royal Family. Along with her sister Maud, now Queen of Norway and mother of Olav, she had ”amazed London by bicycling in Battersea Park”. Whether it was the bicycle or the sight of two royals as far south as Battersea that caused the shock wasn’t explained.
