Queen of Mean: King’s great-grandmother, Mary of Teck, recycled flowers from her vases for friends
The Windsors are known for being smart with their money – and few in the royal family were as careful as the late Queen Elizabeth.
However, when it came to frugal habits, not even the Queen could compete with her grandmother.
Queen Mary of Teck, the consort of George V, went so far as to recycle flowers from her vases as gifts when she visited her friends.
“She never bought flowers from the florist,” her relative, the Marchioness of Cambridge, once said.
Queen Mary of Teck, stingy with her money, allegedly exhibiting ‘upmarket kleptomania’
Mary of Teck surrounded by family after the coronation of her son George VI in 1937. From left: Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret Rose and the newly crowned King
Queen Mary of Teck was the grandmother of the late Queen Elizabeth. Here she sits with Princesses Elizabeth (left) and Princess Margaret Rose (right). On her lap sits Edward, now Duke of Kent
“She picked them from vases in her rooms so they were often dead the day after she brought them.”
Born Maria van Teck 156 years ago, she grew up in surprisingly difficult circumstances. It seemed she never got into the habit of spending her own money.
Indeed, according to Queen Elizabeth’s distant cousin, Princess Olga Romanoff, Mary was known for coveting — and then acquiring — other people’s possessions.
Princess Olga told television viewers that Mary of Teck had “a sort of posh kleptomania because she’d go stay in someone’s house and sit on one of the dozen Sheraton chairs and she’d say ‘Oo, I like this chair.’
“And you should give her all 12.
“People got wise to this and said, ‘Oh God, Queen Mary is coming to stay,’ so they put the good stuff in the attic and took the rotten stuff down.
“She was famous for it, absolutely famous for it. Outside the church she would say: ‘I like that fur coat’ and then you should give it to her.
“Thank God our royal family doesn’t.”
Queen Mary is an aloof character to a younger generation, but she was an important figure in the life of royalty and undoubtedly an influence on her dutiful granddaughter, Elizabeth, who would later become queen.
Queen Mary is presented with a pig in a pigsty at Wimbledon in 1918. She loved presents
Mary of Teck, seen here with husband George V, persuaded hosts to hand over treasured possessions as “gifts.” She said thank you with recycled flowers from her vases at home
Mary of Teck grew up in straitened circumstances but was favored by Queen Victoria
Olga Romanov, a distant relative of the royal family, says Queen Mary had “upmarket kleptomania.” She loved to acquire other people’s possessions, which made hosts wary of her visits
According to her official biographer, James Pope-Hennessy, Mary had been a shy child—”a tall, pink and white, gawky girl”—overshadowed by her lavish mother, the revelry, Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. .
Her parents’ extravagance meant that money was tight when Queen Mary was a child, despite her aristocratic pedigree.
Mary grew into a serious woman with strong passions. It is known that she disliked her frivolous granddaughter, Princess Margaret Rose (the feeling was mutual), and had no time for the family homes at Sandringham or Balmoral.
Rather, she was fond of literature and loved to be read to herself for seven hours by long-suffering courtiers.
Spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, Queen Mary connected the present with a rapidly disappearing world of the past.
It’s easy to forget that the royal family was originally German. Mary was the first consort in 400 years to speak English as her native language. And yet she had a throaty German accent.
Her husband, King George V, may have been Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, but he also held a number of senior posts in the German Army, wearing German uniforms to match.
Queen Mary was directly linked to Victoria’s reign, who had described her as ‘a very fine’ [baby]with nice little features and a lot of hair.’
Victoria would later take the young princess under her wing and support the match with her grandson and heir apparent, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, proposing to her in 1891.
The following year, however, disaster struck when Albert succumbed to the great flu pandemic. He was already ill, contracted pneumonia and died at Sandringham in Norfolk.
In May 1893, his younger brother George – now heir to the throne – proposed to Mary and she again accepted. They soon married and eventually had six children.
The black and white photos from that time give a somewhat stiff picture.
However, Queen Mary was a force in her own right – a point made in great detail by Pope-Hennessy.
Appointed Mary’s biographer after her death in 1953 at the age of 85, the author spent three years jotting down confidential conversations with friends, family and courtiers, which he said would not be published for 50 years.
Princess Mary Adelaide, the revelry of Queen Mary of Teck’s mother, was known as ‘Fat Mary’. There was little money left when her daughter grew up
Seen here in coronation robes, Queen Mary of Teck was the first royal consort to speak English for 400 years. Still, she had a throaty German accent
It was 2018 when they finally appeared in his book, The Quest For Queen Mary.
The details are fascinating. For example, the Countess of Shaftesbury tells him that Queen Mary had the rare ability to eavesdrop on thirty people around a dining table at once.
Queen Mary herself confided in Cynthia Colville, a long-serving lady-in-waiting, that she had once seen her father hurling a plate across the table at her mother’s head.
Colville also explains that Queen Mary’s father, the Duke of Teck, died “insanely”, and that despite their betrothal, Queen Mary was in love with neither the Duke of Clarence nor his younger brother, Prince George – later George V been. whom she married.
The book claims that the real love of Mary’s life was the 7th Earl of Hopetoun, a distinguished statesman who became Australia’s first Governor General.
Even the late Queen Elizabeth II does not escape Pope Hennessy’s pointed remarks:
“She throws herself into certain subjects because they interest her personally,” he writes.
“But overall it’s a clockwork conversation, not at all difficult on either side, but on the other hand not memorable, interesting, or worth the paper it could be typed on.”