The balcony at Buckingham Palace, Silver Jubilee 1936
The Princess Mary Archive, housed at Harewood House, features in a new three-part series on Channel 4 from Sunday 11 August.
A new series tells the story of the royal family over three turbulent decades from the 1920s to the end of World War Two, and draws extensively from a series of personal letters, diaries and photograph albums, many of which are held at Harewood House. The series looks at key moments in history from the end of the First World War onwards, including events around George V changing the royal family’s name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor and Princess Mary marrying Henry, Viscount Lascelles and future 6th Earl of Harewood.
This will be the first time that contents of The Princess Mary Archive have been so visibly and comprehensively explored for a documentary, following its long-term loan to Harewood House Trust in 2018. Totalling over 170 boxes, it includes her private correspondence, press cuttings and diaries, which relate to her wedding, family and public life. While this archive has been known and researched for displays at Harewood, Princess Mary’s vast personal correspondence is yet to be fully catalogued. The archive’s loan to the Trust, coupled with investment by the Trust in a new Collections database, will enable a programme for this cataloguing to be put in place over time.
As this cataloguing takes place, the Trust will look to provide access in line with its mission as an educational charity to maintain and develop Harewood, its collections and grounds for the public benefit. The centenary in 2022 of the marriage of HRH The Princess Mary to Henry, Viscount Lascelles will be just one platform for sharing new information as it is uncovered.
The Queen’s Lost Family airs on Channel 4 at 8pm for three weeks from 11 August.
28 September – 3 November 2019 ‘In Their Own Words’ at Harewood House
Features the recently conserved wedding train and slippers and a flower headdress, in addition to personal letters, diary entries and artefacts.