Mary of Teck

Who was Mary of Teck?

Mary of Teck was Queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V.

Although technically a princess of Teck, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, she was born and raised in England. Her parents were Francis, Duke of Teck, who was of German extraction, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a member of the British Royal Family. She was informally known as "May", after her birth month. At the age of 24 she was betrothed to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, but six weeks after the announcement of the engagement he died unexpectedly of pneumonia. The following year she became engaged to Albert Victor's next surviving brother, George, who subsequently became king. Before her husband's accession she was successively Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall and Princess of Wales.

As queen consort from 1910, she supported her husband through the First World War, his ill-health and major political changes arising from the aftermath of the war and the rise of socialism and nationalism.