November 29, 1934 - ninety years ago today, HRH Prince George, Duke of Kent, and HRH Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark were married at Westminster Abbey.
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| @Royal Collection Trust/His Majesty King Charles III |
This portrait "shows a full-length group portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Kent (center) on their wedding day, 29 November 1934, with the bridesmaids. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (1906-68) is wearing her wedding gown and veil, the Fringe Tiara (1919), and holding a bouquet of lilies. Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902-42) is dressed in military uniform with ropes, sash, and medals (including Royal Victorian Order, Order of the Thistle, Order of the Garter, and Order of St Michael and St George, among others). They are both facing forward holding hands. Princess Marina's eight bridesmaids flank her and Prince George, and were her first cousins Princesses Irene, Eugenie (far left) and Katherine of Greece and Denmark, her maternal first cousin Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (second from left), Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands (far right), her husband's niece Princess Elizabeth of York (seated on the floor, right), her husband's cousins the Lady Iris Mountbatten and the Lady Mary Cambridge. The portrait is set in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace."
HRH Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund (1902-1942) was the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. HRH Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (1906-1968) was the third and youngest daughter of HRH Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and HIH Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia.
The couple spent their honeymoon at Himley Hall, near Birmingham. Himley was the home of William, 3rd Earl Dudley, a close friend of the Royal Family, especially the then Prince of Wales (Edward VIII.) Lord Dudley's first wife, Lady Rosemary Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, was the daughter of the 4th Duke of Sutherland.
King George V and Queen Mary were friends with the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland. Lady Rosemary and the Prince of Wales had known each other since childhood. Their romance blossomed in 1917 in France, where Lady Rosemary was a nurse. The Prince of Wales visited the hospital to meet her sister-in-law. Eileen, the Duchess of Sutherland. A romance ensued between Lady Rosemary and the Prince of Wales. He proposed to her, but his parents, although they liked Lady Rosemary, vetoed his plans. Their disapproval had to do with two of Lady Rosemary's relatives, her half-aunt, Daisy, Countess of Warwick, a mistress of Edward VII, and her uncle, the thrice-married 5th Earl of Rosslyn, a "compulsive gambler."
Lady Rosemary declined the Prince of Wales' proposal after learning the king and Queen's views. In 1919, she married William Ward, Viscount Ednam, eldest son of the Earl of Dudley. She was killed in a plane crash in 1930. Two years later, William succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Dudley. He remained a close friend of the Prince of Wales.
The Duke and Duchess of Kent spent the first two weeks of their honeymoon at Himley Hall.
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| @Himley Hall |
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