Greetings, Gentle Reader. I hope that, however you chose to celebrate Christmas, you had a lovely day, or a lovely two days if you had Boxing Day off as well.

Oh, by the way, I�d like to correct a statement I made in last month�s column. The Queen is now the oldest living monarch. On December 20 she surpassed the age Queen Victoria was when she died- reaching 81 years, 7 months and 29 days. However she won�t be the longest reigning monarch for seven more years. Victoria reigned 63 years. I think she�ll make it, don�t you?

Last month started a two-part series of some previous People�s Princesses. Naturally they were from a different time, but nevertheless for their times they were much loved by the public as ladies of distinction, and for their good works.

Princess Mary of Teck's daughter May was to be married to the Prince of Wales�s son Eddy, but he had died before the wedding could take place. So she married his brother George instead. Princess Mary could rest easy-her daughter would be Queen. Queen Mary�s son Bertie would marry and become Duke of York. Her eldest would be King Edward VIII. Her granddaughter Elizabeth would marry Philip, Prince of Greece. Philip�s cousin Marina would marry the Duke of Kent, the Queen�s youngest son. Of course she didn�t know that then. She did know that it would be a long row to hoe until Marina triumphed. Unlike Mary, Marina was a direct royal descendent of the Danish royal family. King Christian IX had five children. The eldest William was crowned the reluctant first King of Greece as George I. He married the Tsar�s granddaughter Olga. Their youngest daughter Alexandra married the Prince of Wales (Edward VII). George�s eldest became King Constantine I of Greece. His second youngest son Andrew fathered four daughters and one son, Philip. His fourth child Nicholas had three daughters: Olga (who married Prince Paul of Yugoslavia), Elizabeth (married a German Count) and Marina, who married the Duke of Kent. George and Marina had three children, Eddy, Alexandra and Michael (current Duke of Kent).

In 1942, George, who desperately wanted to do something more for the war effort than he had been allowed as a son of the King, took off in a plane for Iceland. He was to meet a US Air force general there and be formally asked to take on a job as a liaison officer. Taking off in bad weather, something happened that has never been explained. The sole survivor has never talked. The plane flew too low and crashed into a Scottish hillside. For days after Marina was in a daze. Queen Mary, who had now lost two sons (John had died age 14), and had another abdicate his throne, passing it to his younger brother who never wanted the job anyway, could only offer her advice-you can�t wallow in it-your duty must come first. Well, Marina knew that but it was still very hard. Her youngest was just seven weeks old. The two eldest would only have vague memories of their father. For her, George had controlled every facet of her life after their marriage. What was she going to do now?

For those interested in the history of her and Prince Philip�s family and the Greek monarchy see Court Jester columns for December, 2004 and January 2005 (Philip�s Family Matters Parts 1 and 2). Prince Philip and Princess Marina were first cousins. During Philip�s time at Gordonstoun and Dartmouth George and Marina�s house at Coppins was his second home. Coppins and Marina would later play a big role in the courtship of Philip and her niece Elizabeth.

But for now Marina was a widow at age 36. She mistakenly refused George�s RAF pension which she was entitled to. George had been a wealthy man, but he had taken little thought for the future, spending his money on Coppins. What he had left he put in trust for the children. This left nothing for Marina to live on. Of course the King gave her a pension, as did old Queen Mary, so she wasn�t exactly destitute. However her past growing up as an exile in Paris had taught her a lot about economizing. So some of the family�s old furniture ended up on the auction block more than once over the next few years, and she was also the first royal lady to give up designer gowns and shop off the rack.

But despite this Marina had the public�s approval. She was glamourous, beautiful and above all kind. She made many friends from all walks of life, and managed to keep all the different groups separate from each other. The theatre types like Douglas Fairbanks and Noel Coward were kept away from the aristocrats. Nevertheless they all loved her. Numerous rumours went about that some of them were her lovers. Nobody ever told.

It wasn�t until 1946 that Marina could bring herself to visit the crash site, then not again for another six years. Marina�s children were the focus of her life, but after they went off to their various schools Marina got back into the swing of the war effort. After the war she took on all of George�s patronages and a few of her own. She worked hard and she partied hard too. She loved to dance. And she loved to play matchmaker.

She helped out with not a few royal matches with her relatives, but the one with the most importance perhaps was Philip and Elizabeth. Philip was at Dartmouth, but he was usually at Coppins when Elizabeth came to visit. As early as 1941 some of the Coppins regulars were convinced a wedding was in the air. Of course not during war time, but in 1947 the wedding took place. Old family feuds notwithstanding, it was a grand occasion. Marina�s children were in the bridal party.

Marina was probably pretty lonely, but that changed in 1948 when she hired a new private secretary. Philip Hay was married to one of Princess Elizabeth�s ladies-in-waiting. Not only did he quickly get her financial house in order, but he became her very private lover as well. He not only provided a father figure for her children but later became Comptroller for her and later Prince Michael when he became Duke.

As happy as she was in England, which she would never again leave unless it was on vacation, Greece still interested her. In 1944, her Uncle Constantine�s eldest son George, the exiled King of Greece, was again almost living at Coppins with Marina. Greece had been invaded by the German army and he had been valiant in defending their last line of defense in Crete, winning a DSO. George II learned he had been restored by a plebiscite in 1946 while in London; the vote had been overwhelmingly in his favour, and he returned to his beloved Athens for the last year of his life. He was succeeded by his brother Paul. Paul�s queen was Frederika, head of the House of Hanover. They were dedicated to the recovery of Greece to prosperity, and worked tirelessly countrywide to help the people get their sense of worth back again.

In February, 1952, George VI died while the Princess was with Philip on tour in Kenya. For old Queen Mary she had now lost a third son. It meant that David could come home and take his place in the funeral procession (not Wallis Simpson), and both the old and new Queens brought him back into the family. In turn the Queen now allowed Marina�s exiled sister Olga, and husband Paul, back in England any time. Barely a year later Queen Mary herself was dead, but David soon learned that he was not entirely back in their good graces as neither he nor his wife were invited to the coronation. Elizabeth�s aunties Marina and Alice, and her mother, would never accept her, and the Queen did not go against them. Although she wasn�t included specifically on the new Civil List, the new Queen made sure Marina was compensated for her work out of her own allotment, as well as Alexandra and Eddy, who were now part of the royal Firm as well. George had never let her make a decision about a single thing, and now on her own she fell back on her old inner strength. From a flighty Duchess who was always chronically late, she was now changed into a Princess, dependable and necessary.

Marina worked hard and not for the money. It was her responsibility as part of the Royal Family, and she took this very seriously. Because of her gentle, friendly way with people the public loved her. She was invited to open a TB clinic in Singapore and from this a full-fledged royal tour encompassing 70 official engagements all over the Orient was planned, lasting five weeks. Although the Queen Mother was credited with starting royal Walkabouts, it was Marina who met crowds and shook hands first, who took time to shop in local markets, while exhibiting the height of fashion at all times. Garden parties, hospital openings, foundation lying, dinners, inspections, barging in Brunei, meeting headhunters and having expensive skin oil named after her, were just some of the highlights. In 1954 she went on an official tour to Canada, which .the press was not allowed to cover it and were not happy about it. Eddie had accompanied his mother on the first tour, and Alexandra went on this one. While in Canada Marina made a visit to her elderly cousin Grand Duchess Olga (see February and March 2005 columns: What Olga Did for Love- Part 1 and 2 for Olga�s story). She never could say then as it would be bad manners, but Marina was privately shocked at the state the old lady had sunk to.

The Queen sent her to Africa and Australia, but she also worked all over the UK on the Crown�s behalf. Whatever she was asked to do she did it with enthusiasm and grace. Not so much in dealing with her children�s choice of marriage partners however. Eddie wanted to marry a commoner named Katharine, who he met in 1957 when aged 21. His mother made him wait a year while they were separated. It did no good, and they took until he was 25 before he could marry her. What this meant was that Katharine was now the Duchess of Kent. Officially Marina was the Dowager Duchess, but for someone just 55 that didn�t sound too wonderful. So she became Princess Marina again. It also meant that her beloved Coppins now belonged to Eddie, and she moved permanently into Kensington Palace in as good cheer as possible.

Eddie had married in Scotland and therefore the ceremony was not a state occasion. For Alexandra there had been much hope she would marry into the royal families of Norway or Greece and someday be a queen herself. But like her brother she married for love-Angus Ogilvy was the grandson of one of the Queen Mother�s ladies-in-waiting, the Countess of Airlie. He had a checkered career but was at the time of his marriage the director of nearly thirty companies. Final hopes were dashed when King Constantine announced his engagement to the 16-year-old Princess of Denmark. The wedding took place in 1963, and Marina was the belle of the numerous balls.

Marina found herself the target of numerous marriage rumours herself. Anthony Eden and King Olaf of Norway were in the phantom running, but came to nothing. In 1961 she went back to Greece with Alexandra to celebrate King Paul�s 60^th birthday, and the announcement of his daughter Princess Sophia to the heir to the Spanish throne, who were married in Athens a year later. The following year Constantine married his Anne-Marie, and Crown Princess Beatrix married Claus von Amsberg in Amsterdam in 1966. The extended British and Greek family Marina cherished gathered on each occasion.

It took several years before the Duke of Windsor was completely forgiven, at least officially, and Marina made sure that even if they weren�t invited to the Derby the Duke and Duchess were guests of Marina� s and her children. So many of her contemporaries were dying off, but her children were giving her grandchildren. She seemed healthy and contented enough, so no one was expecting it when just after her 60^th birthday the family found out she wasn�t looking forward to a long old age at all. She would lose her looks she complained. She began to experience weakness in her legs. She had to cancel the first engagement in her life. In July she was told she had an inoperable brain tumour but not that she only had a few weeks left. On August 25, she attended a service marking the 26^th anniversary of George�s death. The next morning she went back to bed after breakfast, fell asleep and never woke up again, dying late the next morning.

George was moved from his vault to Frogmore in Windsor Great Park, where he was reburied next to Marina. Once again the royalty of Europe gathered to mourn a cousin, an aunt, a sister, a friend, a mother, a niece, and a royal Princess. When the family left the Chapel they found over 1,000 ordinary people had quietly gathered in the streets outside to pay their respects. �She was beautiful up to the last,� declared the Queen Mother. Nobody disagreed with any words of praise heaped on her by anyone. Keeping up the mystery with grace and discretion is what makes monarchy successful. Marina knew that and lived it every day of her life-the first real peoples� Princess.

Hope you have a fun, safe and prosperous start to 2008. Happy New Year!!!!!.

Anon.