George, Duke of Kent (1902-ka1942) and Princess Marina (1906-1968)

[Zonk]

Yes...thank you Geli. I've always wondered who are bridesmaids were. Is this the same Ingrid of Sweden who will become Queen of Denmark, Margethe's mother?

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

I have been trying to find more pictures of Princess Nicholas!
Princess Marina surely got her looks from her mother!
Striking!!

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

On the wedding picture... wonder where the Duke of Gloucester was? Not being present with his brothers......

 

[geli]

Yes...thank you Geli. I've always wondered who are bridesmaids were. Is this the same Ingrid of Sweden who will become Queen of Denmark, Margethe's mother?

Yes, that's her.

 

[Madjenn]

The second girl is Queen Elizabeth II?

 

[sophie25]

The Duke of Kent actually romanced Parincess Ingrid before his marraige. I saw an old newsreel from the early 1930's in a documentary about him showing he and Ingrid doing some sort of engagement together and the newscastor was talking about how marraige was in the air but of course it didn't happen. The documentary was called The Queen's Lost Uncle or something like that.

 

[ysbel]

The Duke of Kent actually romanced Parincess Ingrid before his marraige. I saw an old newsreel from the early 1930's in a documentary about him showing he and Ingrid doing some sort of engagement together and the newscastor was talking about how marraige was in the air but of course it didn't happen. The documentary was called The Queen's Lost Uncle or something like that.

That's funny because I heard that Ingrid's husband, King Frederik was once engaged to Princess Marina.

 

[geli]

The second girl is Queen Elizabeth II?

You are right, it is well her indeed !

 

[Esmeralda]

Just like her daughter, Princess Alexandra, Princess Marina's looks improved with age. As a young woman she wasn't really that striking, but when she matured she was incredibly lovely looking.

 

[Marengo]

That's funny because I heard that Ingrid's husband, King Frederik was once engaged to Princess Marina.

Almost, Frederik was engaged to Marina´s sister, Princess Olga, in the 20-ties. Olga broke of the engagement as she disapproved of his heavy drinking and later married Prince-regent Paul of Yougoslavia.

 

[geli]

A glamorous Duchess of Kent :

Princess Marina's husband, Prince George, Duke of Kent :

 

[geli]

Two others pictures of the beautiful Princess Marina :

 

[Madjenn]

Portraits of Kent Family
1- Prince George of Kent, Princess Alexandra (lady ogilvy), Princess Marina, Prince Edward (duke of Kent) and their dog Muff at their home Buckinghamshire.
http://i10.tinypic.com/4gy4uwz.jpg

2- Special portrait because is the late portrait of Prince George with his family before his airplane accident.Christenned of Prince Michael of Kent.
http://i16.tinypic.com/3zbdc1x.jpg

 

[Madjenn]

Pics from 1947 taken by Cecil Beaton (like hollywood star).
TinyPic - Share The Experience!™
TinyPic - Share The Experience!™
TinyPic - Share The Experience!™
TinyPic - Share The Experience!™

 

[auntie]

It's first cousin once removed. The cousin of your cousin is your second cousin. In other words, my first cousin "Danny" has a first cousin "Gianni" in Palermo. "Gianni" is my second cousin.

Sorry you are wrong there, a second cousin is someone, who's parent is a first cousin of my parent, it means a cousin to a second generation. My parents first cousin is my first cousin once removed.

 

[felicia]

I find this wedding picture interesting bacause we can see there Marina surrounded by some of her not yet married cousins at the time.

From left by right, the Princesses are recognized : Catherine of Greece, Ingrid of Sweden, Eugénie of Greece, Kira of Russia, Irène of Greece, sister of Catherine, and Juliana of the Netherlands.

All, with Catherine share which will be only Lady Brandram, will marry a member of foreign Royal Family.

I know that one of the bridesmaids was Lady Iris Mountbatten, a great-grandaughter of Queen Victoria. So you must have got one of them wrong, I think you got Ingrid wrong, and it is Iris.

 

[Warren]

I know that one of the bridesmaids was Lady Iris Mountbatten, a great-grandaughter of Queen Victoria. So you must have got one of them wrong, I think you got Ingrid wrong, and it is Iris.

The bridesmaids were Princesses Eugenie, Irene and Katherine of Greece, Juliana of The Netherlands, Kyra of Russia, and Lady Iris Mountbatten. The two youngsters are Lady Mary Cambridge and Princess Elizabeth of York.

 

[felicia]

Yes I knew it wasn't Ingrid, it doesn't even look like her.
It's a rare photo of Lady Iris Mountbatten.

 

[iowabelle]

I was SHOCKED by the CBS News early this morning. They had a British correspondent explaining the provenance of these items and why the Kents must sell. Among other things he said that the late Duke died mysteriously and Marina must have wondered why SHE was being punished by George VI... the insinuation was that the Duke died while flying off to make an unauthorized peace with Hitler (a backhanded way of saying that he was a traitor).

I have never heard such a thing (and attributed Marina and the children's mistreatment to the fact that the King was a bit of a miser, and probably had been left a little underfunded after paying off the Duke of Windsor).

 

[Iluvbertie]

A few months ago I watched a documentary on the death of the Duke of Kent and it most definitely implied that something unusual was happening as they linked his flight to Rudolf Hess even suggesting that Hess was actually on the plane as well. One interesting point was the number of people on the plane, all of whom died but - who raised the alarm and went for help. The suggestion was that that person was the real Hess and that the man who spent all that time in Spandau actually wasn't Hess at all. The implication from the documentary was that the Duke was going to Germany with Hess to negotiate.

This same implication was also in a documentary on Hess which was also arguing that the real Hess escaped and didn't end up being tried at Nuremburg or in Spandau and that again upper echelons of British society, including the Duke of Kent, were prepared to negotiate with Hitler and even help Hitler take on the Soviets.


Prior to these two documenaries I had never heard this but I did see it in two documentaries but I didn't record either of them so haven't done any analysis of the people doing the presentation.

 

[iowabelle]

It is surprising that they haven't been more forthcoming with documents regarding the circumstances of the Duke's death.

But let's say the Duke had been a traitor... what would be the reason for punishing Marina and the children? You'd think if nothing else, that the Windsors would have really tried to cover it up and bring the Kents back into the fold.

Oddly enough, the Kent children never seem to have held a grudge over this and have gone out of their way to work for their cousin and the monarchy.

 

[Roslyn]

The Hess theory is addressed in "War of the Windsors - A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy" by Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince & Stephen Prior. The topic was dealt with in more detail in their earlier (2001) book, "Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-Up", which I have not read.

The authors considered the Hess mission in 1942 was a genuine attempt to negotiate an end to the war, enthusiastically supported by eminent figures in Britain, including the Royal Family, and that Prince George played a key role. They also noted how curious it was that despite having ostensibly died in the service of his King and country, very little was said about him after the War. They concluded there was a deliberate campaign by the RF and their advisors to make the Duke of Kent a non-person in royal history due to fear of the consequences should the truth about him be revealed.

 

[Mermaid1962]

It's a conspiracy theory that pops up from time to time. I need pretty hard evidence before I take these things seriously.

I have never heard such a thing (and attributed Marina and the children's mistreatment to the fact that the King was a bit of a miser, and probably had been left a little underfunded after paying off the Duke of Windsor).

 

[Connie Cutmantle]

It is rather trying that inexplicable events and accidents can fuel conspiracy theories! I saw a documentary some years ago that decided that the Duke had guzzled heaps of champagne before the flight and that he had insisted on piloting the plane himself....the documentary had no hard proof for anything it purported and it was all pure speculation!

I would take anything that is claimed/theorized with a great big 'pinch' of salt unless hard evidence is used! In the case of the crash......and the reasons/circumstances of the flight and crash remain scant and the missing report of the secret court of inquiry just adds to the interest...as the Duke was apparently taking part in sensitive operations at the time.....I think the general lack of hard data/sources about the nature of the flight to Iceland etc merely adds to the speculation! As does the 'purported' things that Andy Jack may or may not have said about the flight and his memories of the crash site!

Oooh this is all very off topic as to the auction......sorry!

 

[Mermaid1962]

I think that conspiracy theories tend to flourish when there's a sudden death and that death of someone young, attractive, and famous.

It is rather trying that inexplicable events and accidents can fuel conspiracy theories!

 

[iowabelle]

Maybe this is off track re the auction... but my assumption had always been that, out of consideration to Queen Mary and the Kent family, these records were kept private. It would be distressing to have photos and some details floating around (a la John Kennedy, JFK Jr., Princess Diana). To me that would be the simplest explanation.

And maybe there was some concern about revelations of the Duke's pre-war social life, given the recent Abdication upheaval.

Back to the auction... the British correspondent said they expected the auction to fetch at least 10 million U.S. dollars.

 

[Zonk]

This is the first time that I have heard about the mystery surrounding the late Duke's death.

The Duke died fairly young and people don't talk about him as much.

On another note, why wasn't Princess Marina placed on the Civil List following the Duke's death. She continued to perform duties on behalf of the BRF.

I believe that late Duke was given about a quarter of a million pounds in (1936 values) at the death of the late George V (I read this recently in one of the books on Abdication, I will try to find the particular source) , and inherited Coppins from the late Princess Victoria, so I am a little taken aback by the financial problems faced by Marina. Of course, I recognize that the death tax was probably very heavy and most likely a large portion went to the tax man.

 

[Connie Cutmantle]

It was generally customary to make tacit provision for wives of Princes of the blood in the event of widowhood. Generally these agreements were set down through the normal parliamentary channels. QV was obliged to go 'crown in hand' to Parliament to ask for annuities for her children when they reached their majorities and for increases when said children married (It was here that provision for widowhood were generally arranged or at least suggested.) I tend to recall that widows were provided with 3,000 pounds as a general rule as was the case of the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Albany (I think the latter may have seen her annuity increase to 6,000 gbp later on so as to bring her annuity into line with the annuities received by QV's daughters and from 1901/02 by Edward VII's girls. With regards to Marina, it appears that at the time of her marriage to George a provision for the event of her widowhood was overlooked and after George's death the issue of her lacking an income came to light! Various sources state that Churchill was horrified by the situation and that he approach George VI about the problem...... apparently it is/was believed that 'grey' persons within the Royal Household did not wish Marina's financial problems to become a political hot potato, as such talk would have drawn attention to the enormous annuity Queen Mary was receiving at that time of severe war-time austerity!

I have never reached to the bottom of this rumour, but it appears that George VI chose/was advised to deal with the problem privately! It is suggested that he made Marina a small allowance out of his own pocket, although the amount appears not to have been enough to prevent Marina selling off a fair bit after the war!


As to Marina's finances. I believe that George had left the remainder of the capital he inherited from his father in trusts for Edward and Alexandra (this was probably altered later to include provision out of the capital for Michael.) It does not appear that Marina received any substantial portion of her husband's personal capital but may have received some allowance from the trusts for the maintenance of her children....though again this has never been fully proven as far as I can tell.

In addition to his inheritances from his father and aunt, George was also in receipt of a lovely annuity of 24,000 pounds per annum.....I believe that both George and Marina liked 'lovely' things so probably spent quite lavishly from 1934 until his death.

 

[jmaura]

Was Prince George, Duke of Kent in Spain?

Hi, I'm a journalist from Valencia. I am interested in knowing whether the Prince George, Duke of Kent was in Spain between 1920-1930. I'm writing an article. I would appreciate any information, link to website or article. It may be a bit ignorant but in the biographies I have consulted is a void in those years. Thank you for your attention.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

What other conspiracies besides the alleged connection to Hess arose after the death of the Duke of Kent? I'm reading the biography of the Queen Mother and the author mentions that "all sorts of conspiracy theories have since been attached to the Duke's death but it seems to have been a simple case of pilot error." I never heard of any conspiracies and while searching this thread before posting my question, I read the above posts about the Duke going to negotiate with the Germans. Anything else out there?