Mary, Queen Consort of George V (1867 -1953)

Mary of Teck (her full name was Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes) was born and raised in England. Her parents were Francis, Duke of Teck, who was of German extraction, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, who was a granddaughter of King George III. At the age of 24, she was betrothed to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), but six weeks after the announcement of the engagement, he died unexpectedly of pneumonia. The following year, she became engaged to Albert Victor's next surviving brother, George, who subsequently became king. Before her husband's accession, she was successively Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall, and Princess of Wales. Before she became queen, she was known to her family, friends and the public by the diminutive name of "May", after her birth month.
Mary and George were married on 6 July 1893 at The Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace. They had six children: Edward, Albert, Mary, Henry, George, and John.
On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died, and George ascended the throne as King George V, When her husband asked her to drop one of her two official names, Victoria Mary, she chose to be called Mary, preferring not to take the name of her husband's grandmother, Queen Victoria.
George V died on 20 January 1936, and the eldest son, Edward, ascended the throne, but on his insistence of marrying the American Wallis Simpson, was forced to abdicate. Though loyal and supportive of her son, Mary could not understand Edward’s marriage, and refused to meet Wallis Simpson. Following the abdication, Edward’s younger brother Prince Albert, Duke of York, became King George VI. In 1952 George VI died, becoming the third of Mary’s six children to predecease her. Mary died the next year on 24 March 1953 at the age of 85, only ten weeks before the coronation of her granddaughter, Elizabeth. Mary is buried beside George V in the nave of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.