Lady May Helen Emma Abel Smith (formerly Lady May Cambridge, ''née'' Princess May of Teck; 23 January 1906 – 29 May 1994) was a relative of the
British royal family. She was a great-granddaughter of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
and a niece of
Queen Mary. She led a private life in Britain. From 1958 until 1966, she lived in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, while her husband, Sir
Henry Abel Smith
Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith, (8 March 1900 – 24 January 1993) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of Queensland, Australia. He married Lady May Cambridge, a niece of Queen Mary, consort of King George V.
Early life and fa ...
, served as the
governor of Queensland
The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor Governors of the Australian states, performs c ...
.
Early life
She was born as
Her Serene Highness
His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Over the past 400 years, it has also used as a style for senior members ...
Princess May Helen Emma of
Teck Teck may refer to:
* Teck Castle (Burg Teck) in Württemberg, Germany
* Teckberg, mountain on which it is located
* Duke of Teck, a title of nobility, associated with Teck Castle
* Teck Railway, Germany
* Teck Resources, a Canadian mining company ...
at
Claremont House
Claremont, also known historically as 'Clermont', is an 18th-century Palladian mansion less than a mile south of the centre of Esher in Surrey, England. The buildings are now occupied by Claremont Fan Court School, and its landscaped gardens are ...
, near
Esher
Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole.
Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Ar ...
in Surrey, England. Her parents were
Prince Alexander of Teck
Major General Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone (Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George; born Prince Alexander of Teck; 14 April 1874 – 16 January 1957), was a British Army commander and major-general who served as Governor- ...
, great-grandson of
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, and the former
Princess Alice of Albany
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline; 25 February 1883 – 3 January 1981) was a member of the British royal family. She is the longest-lived British princess of royal blood, and was the last surviving grand ...
, granddaughter of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
. She was named May after her paternal aunt Princess
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 Janua ...
who was married to
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
, Helen after her maternal grandmother
Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany
Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont (later Duchess of Albany; 17 February 1861 – 1 September 1922) was a member of the British royal family by marriage. She was the fifth daughter and child of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, a ...
and Emma after her maternal great-aunt
Queen Emma of the Netherlands. During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, anti-German feeling led her family to abandon their German titles. Princess May of Teck thus became known as Lady May Cambridge, after her father assumed the last name Cambridge and was granted the
Earldom of Athlone.
Lady May served as a bridesmaid in 1919 to
Princess Patricia of Connaught
Lady Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth Ramsay, (born Princess Patricia of Connaught; 17 March 1886 – 12 January 1974) was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Upon her marriage to Alexander Ramsay (Royal Navy officer), Alexander Ramsay, she re ...
; in 1922 to her first cousin
Princess Mary; and in 1923 to
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...
on her marriage to Mary's brother the Duke of York (later
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
).
Marriage
Lady May married
Sir Henry Abel Smith, member of the rich
Smith family, on 24 October 1931 in
Balcombe
Balcombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east north east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the north west and H ...
, Sussex, close to the Athlone residence at
Brantridge Park
Brantridge Park, Balcombe, West Sussex, England is a 19th-century country house, formerly one of the lesser royal residences. It is a Grade II listed building.
History
The house and grounds replaced Brantridge farmhouse and farm. Sir Robert Lo ...
. One of the bridesmaids,
Princess Ingrid of Sweden, introduced her brother
Prince Gustaf Adolf to his future wife,
Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Sibylla Calma Marie Alice Bathildis Feodora; 18 January 1908 – 28 November 1972) was a member of the Swedish royal family and the mother of the current king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf.
Born into the Ho ...
, who was also a bridesmaid.
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
attended her wedding as a bridesmaid at the age of 5.
Sir Henry and Lady May Abel Smith were married for over 60 years and had three children:
*Anne Mary Sibylla Abel Smith (born 28 July 1932), mother of the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Member of Parliament
Ian Liddell-Grainger
Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...
and first wife of
David Liddell-Grainger
David Ian Liddell-Grainger (26 January 1930 – 12 March 2007) was a Scottish politician.
Personal life
David Liddell-Grainger was the son of Captain Henry Hubert Liddell-Grainger (1886–1935), Scots Guards, JP, DL, of a landed gentr ...
of
Ayton Castle, Scottish Borders
Ayton Castle is located to the east of Ayton in the Scottish Borders. It is north-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the former county of Berwickshire. Built around a medieval tower house, the present castle dates largely from the 19th century. ...
*
Colonel Richard Francis Abel Smith (11 October 1933 – 23 December 2004)
*Elizabeth Alice Abel Smith (born 5 September 1936)
Later life
Lady May, being only a distant relative of the royal family, did not carry out any royal duties. She attended some major royal events such as the
coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...
and the
wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer
The wedding of the Prince of Wales (future King Charles III) and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in London, United Kingdom. The groom was the heir apparent to the British throne, and the bride was ...
. Between 1958 and 1966, Sir Henry Abel Smith served as the
governor of Queensland
The governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the monarch of Australia. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governor Governors of the Australian states, performs c ...
. Lady May accompanied him to
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
as vice-regal consort. They retired in 1975 to Barton Lodge at
Winkfield
Winkfield is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest unitary authority of Berkshire, England.
Geography
According to the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 14,998. The parish includes the hamlets of Winkfield, Maidens Green ...
in Berkshire, England.
Lady May died in hospital one year after her husband. They are both buried at the
Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore
The Royal Burial Ground is a cemetery used by the British royal family. Consecrated on 23 October 1928 by the Bishop of Oxford, it is adjacent to the Royal Mausoleum, which was built in 1862 to house the tomb of Queen Victoria and Prince Alb ...
, not far from
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
. Her funeral was held at
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gar ...
, Windsor, on 9 June 1994. It was attended by the
Duke of Gloucester
Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...
and
Princess Alexandra, representing the royal family.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel Smith, May
1906 births
1994 deaths
People from Esher
Daughters of British earls
May
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...
May
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...
Burials at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore
German princesses
Wives of knights
Spouses of Queensland Governors
People from Balcombe, West Sussex