King George V and Queen Mary and the Duchess of Buccleuch announced the Engagement of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott at Balmoral Castle on this day in 1935, 90 years ago.
The Royal Family announced the Engagement of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, son of King George V and Queen Mary, and Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, at Balmoral Castle.
Lady Alice described the Engagement and the following days in her memoirs:
Towards the end of the summer Prince Henry was posted to Catterick with his regiment, and I soon joined him in the north for a weekend party given by our old friend Teddy for the opening of the grouse season. That was when we became engaged. There was no formal declaration on his part, I think he just muttered it as an aside during one of our walks; nor was there any doubt about my acceptance. I was thirty-four, so I had had a very good innings. Apart from my great happiness in getting married, I felt too that it was time I did something more useful with my life.
The King was greatly pleased with the engagement. On 25 August, 1935, he wrote to my father from Balmoral:
‘My dear John
I must send you a line to say how delighted the Queen and I are that my son Henry is engaged to be married to your third daughter Alice. When I met you at Lords the other day I should have liked to have mentioned the subject, but there were too many people in the room. I trust you have given your consent. Our families have known each other for so many generations now, that it gives me great pleasure to think that they will be more closely connected still. I have not met your daughter yet, but hope to do so soon & I am sure I shall find her charming, she will certainly receive a warm welcome from my family. I suppose, if you approve, the official announcement ought to be made soon, but I wanted to see my son first, I hope this week. I am so sorry to hear about your operation, I trust you are feeling better now & more comfortable & will soon be able to go to Bowhill & get out of the heat ofLondon, which you must be finding very trying. There are a few grouse here, but not very many.
With kind messages to the Duchess
Believe me
yr sincere of friend
G.R.I.’
My mother and I were soon invited to Balmoral, I having borrowed some suitable clothes from Angela. On the very first morning I found myself sitting next to the King at breakfast.
‘What are you doing today?’ he asked. ‘I’m going stalking,’ I replied, thinking that as I had been asked to stay with my fiancé it would naturally be assumed that I would do whatever he was doing. Idid not mean that I intended to shoot myself, just that I would go with him. I could see the remark was not a great success, and we exchanged no further conversation, and off I went stalking with Prince Henry. I was a very good walker so it was no effort to follow him.
When I told him about the effect my announcement had had on his father, he laughed. I could not, it seemed, have made a worse faux pas. Ladies at Balmoral at that time were not even allowed to watch the grouse shooting, so the idea that I was intending to go out stalking was completely beyond the pale. It later transpired that the King had been so surprised he had not dared say anything.
The Court was much more formal in those days. One was expected to change for tea and again for dinner, when one would wear gloves and jewellery. Today only the most splendid state occasions call for tiaras but at that time they were worn relatively often. Such house parties as there were were not to the taste of the Princes as the King and Queen invited very few guests and those who did come consisted of old people such as Sister Agnes (a Miss Cayzer), who was a particular favourite of theKing and had started a hospital for officers in World War I. The Princes were also very much in awe of their father. He was very fond of them and they were devoted to him, but he used to bark now and then, and nothing they did ever seemed quite good enough. Not surprisingly the Princes were always happiest staying away at places such as Drumlanrig.
Back in London I spent a good deal of time at Buckingham Palace so that the King could get to know me better. He was very ill then, but apparently I amused him. During dinner he was inclined to go to sleep, and as my stories used to make him laugh I was always placed next to him. He was kindly and rather absent-minded, not making much effort at conversation.
Queen Mary, having been such a close friend of both my grandmothers, was especially pleased with the engagement. She was glad to have another daughter, the Princess Royal being so far away in Yorkshire and the Duchess of York (now the Queen Mother) so busy. The Duchess of York and the future King George VI were always an immense support. I and my sisters had always been asked to the famous garden parties over the years. We got very little pleasure out of them but it would not have been at all the thing for us not to attend. To get round this problem we used to go in by the gate nearest to Grosvenor Place, hand over our invitation cards, and walk straight out again by the first gate down the wall.
Prince Henry and Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott got married at Buckingham Palace in November.
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