# Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
**Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood** (Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary; 25 April 1897 – 28 March 1965) was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom. She married Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, later the 6th Earl of Harewood, in 1922, and from 1930 lived at [Harewood House](https://www.edgepedia.org/harewood-house) in [Yorkshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/yorkshire), where she was buried after her death.[1](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v) • [2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 April 1897, York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965) |
| Parents | George V (r. 1910–1936) and Mary of Teck (1867–1953); she was their only daughter[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965) |
| Marriage | Henry Lascelles (1882–1947), 6th Earl of Harewood, on 28 February 1922 at Westminster Abbey[1](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v) |
| Children | George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (born 1923), and Gerald Lascelles (born 1924)[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965) |
| First World War | Raised £31,000 by public appeal in 1914 for Christmas gift boxes sent to 2.5 million soldiers, sailors, and nurses[3](https://harewood.org/stories/plans-to-mark-the-first-world-war-centenary/) |
| Later offices | Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service in the Second World War; honorary rank of general in the British army, 1956; Chancellor of the University of Leeds[4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf) • [16](https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1994-03-294--1) |
| Died | 28 March 1965, at Harewood House, Leeds, West Yorkshire; buried at Harewood[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965) • [1](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v) |
## Early life
Mary was born at York Cottage on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, the only daughter among the six children of [George V](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-v) and Queen Mary.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965) • [5](https://www.rct.uk/collection/407132/mary-princess-royal-1897-1965-later-countess-of-harewood) Her brothers included Edward, who reigned briefly as [Edward VIII](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-viii), Albert, who reigned as [George VI](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-vi), Henry, Duke of Gloucester, George, Duke of Kent, and Prince John.[6](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp03001/princess-mary-countess-of-harewood)
## First World War work
**The Christmas gift fund.** Aged 17 at the outbreak of war in 1914, Mary requested a meeting with figures including the [Duke of Devonshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/duke-of-devonshire) and Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and launched a public appeal that raised £31,000, the equivalent of over £3 million today, to send a gift box to every serving soldier, sailor, and nurse on the front line, about 2.5 million people.[3](https://harewood.org/stories/plans-to-mark-the-first-world-war-centenary/) The gift was a 5-inch embossed brass tin containing items such as tobacco, and, as the scheme developed, bullet-cased pencils and spices; her son David Lascelles, Earl of Harewood, described the tins as mementos carried by many hundreds of thousands of soldiers into battle.[3](https://harewood.org/stories/plans-to-mark-the-first-world-war-centenary/)
She visited hospitals and welfare organizations extensively with her mother during the war and worked in a canteen in a munitions factory in Hayes.[6](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp03001/princess-mary-countess-of-harewood) • [7](https://www.royal.uk/first-world-war-royal-archives?ch=5) She took an advanced nursing course, which she passed with honors, and in 1918, at 21, began work as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) probationer at the [Hospital for Sick Children](https://www.edgepedia.org/hospital-for-sick-children) in Great Ormond Street, announced in *The Times* on 26 June; she worked in the Alexandra Ward two days each week.[7](https://www.royal.uk/first-world-war-royal-archives?ch=5) She was not allowed to serve in France, a restriction she regretted, though she visited the front immediately after the war ended in 1918.[7](https://www.royal.uk/first-world-war-royal-archives?ch=5) • [3](https://harewood.org/stories/plans-to-mark-the-first-world-war-centenary/)
## Marriage and Harewood
On 28 February 1922 Mary married Henry, Viscount Lascelles, a soldier who later became the 6th Earl of Harewood, at [Westminster Abbey](https://www.edgepedia.org/westminster-abbey).[1](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v) Tatler records that she was the first child of a monarch to marry at the Abbey since 1290, and *Time* notes the wedding was the first royal wedding covered in *Vogue*.[8](https://www.tatler.com/article/princess-mary-henry-lascelles-wedding) • [9](https://time.com/5680473/downton-abbey-movie-real-history/) The couple first lived at Goldsborough Hall in Yorkshire, where Mary replanned the garden and created a grand lime walk, and moved permanently to Harewood House in 1930 after her husband succeeded his father as Earl in 1929.[4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf) • [10](https://iconotheca.com/museums/harewood-house/) She then assumed the title of [Princess Royal](https://www.edgepedia.org/princess-royal).[4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf)
At Harewood she had a dressing room designed for her by the British architect Sir Herbert Baker in 1930, in the Adam-revival style to match the house's 18th-century interiors, with display cabinets for her collection of Chinese jade, amber, and rose-quartz carvings.[11](https://harewood.org/room/princess-marys-dressing-room/) She was a talented horsewoman, shown in a portrait at Harewood riding her favorite horse, Portumna.[12](https://harewood.org/explore/collections/british-portraiture/)
Her husband died in 1947, and she continued to live at Harewood.[4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf) Their elder son George was a prisoner of war at Colditz castle during the Second World War.[1](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v)
## Public roles
Mary's charitable and military associations continued across both world wars. In 1926 she was appointed Commandant-in-Chief of British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments, the first holder of that post, and she became Royal Patron of what became Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service.[13](https://www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/our-history/museum-and-archives/royal-family-exhibition) • [4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf) After the war she became President of the Girl Guides Association.[4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf)
During the Second World War she served as Controller Commandant of the [Auxiliary Territorial Service](https://www.edgepedia.org/auxiliary-territorial-service); the [Women's Land Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/womens-land-army), the organization that placed women on farms to replace male workers, had been re-formed in June 1939 and at its 1943 peak employed over 80,000 women.[4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf) • [14](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/womens-land-army/) • [16](https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1994-03-294--1) Her military associations continued to the point where in 1956 she was given the honorary rank of general in the British army, and in peacetime she became [Chancellor](https://www.edgepedia.org/chancellor) of the University of Leeds.[4](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf) In 1949 the King bestowed her name on the 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles.[15](https://www.regiments.org/MILHIST/biography/royals/1897marR.html)
## Death and legacy
Mary died on 28 March 1965 at Harewood House and was buried there.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965) • [1](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v) Harewood House, open to the public, holds her archive and preserves rooms from her private apartments, including the dressing room Baker designed for her.[1](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v) • [11](https://harewood.org/room/princess-marys-dressing-room/) The 2019 *Downton Abbey* film, set in 1927, featured a fictional royal visit modeled in part on the real family, with Harewood House used as a filming location.[9](https://time.com/5680473/downton-abbey-movie-real-history/)
## References
1. [Princess Mary, daughter of George V, Westminster Abbey](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/princess-mary-daughter-of-george-v)
2. [Mary (1897–1965), Encyclopedia.com, Women in World History](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-1897-1965)
3. [Plans to mark the First World War Centenary, Harewood House Trust (2014)](https://harewood.org/stories/plans-to-mark-the-first-world-war-centenary/)
4. [Brent Elliott, entry on Princess Mary, RHS Lindley Library Occasional Papers, Volume 8 (2012)](https://www.rhs.org.uk/Misc-Pages/PDFs/Publications/Lindley-library-occasional-papers/Volume-8-April-2012.pdf)
5. [Sir John Lavery, Mary, Princess Royal, Royal Collection Trust](https://www.rct.uk/collection/407132/mary-princess-royal-1897-1965-later-countess-of-harewood)
6. [Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood, National Portrait Gallery](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp03001/princess-mary-countess-of-harewood)
7. [The First World War in the Royal Archives, The Royal Family](https://www.royal.uk/first-world-war-royal-archives?ch=5)
8. [Remembering the wedding of Princess Mary, Tatler](https://www.tatler.com/article/princess-mary-henry-lascelles-wedding)
9. [The Real History Behind the Downton Abbey Movie, TIME (2019)](https://time.com/5680473/downton-abbey-movie-real-history/)
10. [Harewood House: hours and tickets, Iconotheca](https://iconotheca.com/museums/harewood-house/)
11. [Princess Mary's Dressing Room, Harewood House](https://harewood.org/room/princess-marys-dressing-room/)
12. [British Portraiture, Harewood House](https://harewood.org/explore/collections/british-portraiture/)
13. [The royals and the Red Cross exhibition, British Red Cross](https://www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/our-history/museum-and-archives/royal-family-exhibition)
14. [Women's Land Army research guide, The National Archives](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/womens-land-army/)
15. [Mary, The Princess Royal (1897–1965), Regiments.org](https://www.regiments.org/MILHIST/biography/royals/1897marR.html)
16. [No 2 dress jacket worn by HRH Princess Mary, The Princess Royal, Women's Royal Army Corps, 1962-1964, Online Collection, National Army Museum, London](https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1994-03-294--1)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › Government and public administration › Royal consorts and dynastic families › Non-reigning princes and princesses › British and Irish royal relatives › Modern British royal relatives › Windsor-era royal relatives*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license