"It is with the greatest pleasure that the King and Queen announce the betrothal of their beloved son, the Duke of York, to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, to which union the King has gladly given his consent."
The first rumors of an engagement between The Duke of York, who is the second son of King George V and Queen Mary, and Lady Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Strathmore, first surfaced last year, when the Duke of York and his sister, Princess Mary, were guests at Glamis Castle. Lady Elizabeth acted as hostess for her mother, who was seriously ill at the time.
The Duke of York's visit to Glamis was the first time that the son of a king had visited the castle since Charles II.
A close friendship formed between Elizabeth and the royal visitors. Lady Elizabeth was one of Princess Mary's bridesmaids, when she married Lord Lascelles last year. Those in royal circles "soon perceived that the Duke's friendship had ripened into a deeper sentiment, and that the King and Queen, it is understood, watched the development of this love match with a sympathetic interest."
Although reports of a royal engagement were denied at the time, the attachment between the duke and Lady Elizabeth was known, and an engagement "was regarded as a probability."
It has been assumed "that only a question of precedence required to be settled when the betrothal would be made public," as it is rare for a younger son of the King to announce his engagement, when the "intentions in this respect of the heir to the throne are undefined."
It appears unlikely that the Prince of Wales will marry before his younger brother.
This engagement follows the marriage last year of Princess Mary to Viscounnt Lascelles. This is a "further instance of the fact that royal unions, in England at any rate, are becoming more affairs of the the heart and less subjects of arrangements by chancellories," reports the New York Times.
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