The Unofficial British Royal
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The Unofficial British Royal
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Sunday 12 November 2006 George and MarinaMy series on the Queen's cousins continues this month with the Kents. Well, that was the idea, but their parents are so fascinating that I wrote a whole column about them instead. I'll get back to the Queen's generation next month.The Queen's Kent cousins are the children of her uncle, Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund, Duke of Kent. He was born in 1902, the fifth child and fourth son of the future King George V and Queen Mary. Perhaps because he was so far from the throne, they were somewhat less strict and demanding with him than with their older sons. George was handsome, charming, and intelligent, and he inherited Queen Mary's interest in the decorative arts, making him her favorite son. He got along well with his difficult father too. The Duke of Windsor wrote that when he was Prince of Wales, Prince George had been his best friend, and had shared his bachelor home at York House. Unfortunately, the King insisted that his intellectual, cultured son should go to the Royal Naval College instead of to university, and then join the Navy like his father and elder brothers. Like the future Duke of Windsor, Prince George enjoyed the vibrant London nightlife of the 1920s. He was stylish, glamorous, popular, and bisexual. He also took drugs, and in 1929 the Prince of Wales had to dry him out at an isolated country house he rented and staffed with nurses. In 1932, Prince George convinced his father to allow him to join the civil service, the first member of the royal family to do so. He worked as a factory inspector until World War II, when he rejoined the Navy and later joined the Air Force. The King and Queen looked on their sons' social lives with disapproval, and like all princes George was expected to marry and have a family. It was hoped that a wife might settle him down. Because of this royal attitude and his bisexuality, George's marriage is sometimes believed to have been one of convenience, but I think that it was truly a love match, or at least became one. Prince George's bride was Princess Marina of Greece. Marina was intelligent, artistic, and stylish, which made her a good match with Prince George. She was the daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and the Grand Duchess Helena Vladimirovna of Russia, and was George's second cousin, as Prince Nicholas's father, King George I of Greece, was the brother of George's grandmother, Queen Alexandra. She was also Queen Mary's favorite godchild. George and Marina had known each other all of their lives, but seem not to have been interested in each other until they went out a few times in London in September 1933. George was traveling for much of the next year, but in August 1934 they were both invited to visit her sister and brother-in-law, Princess Olga and Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, and became engaged within a few days. They married in Westminster Abbey on November 29, 1934, and became Duke and Duchess of Kent. They had a happy domestic life at their country home, Coppins in Buckinghamshire (left to Prince George by his doting aunt, Edward VII's unmarried daughter Princess Victoria), and combined royal duties and a glittering social life at their London home at 3 Belgrave Square. George and Marina had three children: Prince Edward in 1935, Princess Alexandra in 1936, and Prince Michael in 1942. When Prince Michael was only six weeks old, the Duke of Kent was killed in a plane crash while on active duty. Conspiracy theories have surrounded the crash, including the possibility that the duke, an inexperienced pilot, may have been at the controls. The royal family, already suffering from the stress of war, was devastated. Princess Marina continued to be an active and popular member of the royal family as a widow. She also had a full social life, and particularly liked show business friends such as Danny Kaye. Marina was Prince Philip's first cousin, and his marriage might never have happened without Marina's encouragement, even though Earl Mountbatten liked to take credit for the match. Of course, she also raised three children alone, and trained them in royal life. She died suddenly from an undiagnosed brain tumor on August 27, 1968. -
Margaret Weatherford
Previous columns can be found in the archive
This page and its contents are
�2007 Copyright by Geraldine Voost and may not be
reproduced without the authors permission. Margaret Weatherford's column is
�2007 Copyright by Margaret Weatherford who has kindly given permission for it to be displayed on this website.
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