Celebrating the Legacy of HRH Princess Mary
Wednesday, 18th September 2013
Brand New Interactive Display at Harewood House, Leeds
A new interactive display celebrating the life of HRH Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, is to open on 20 September at Harewood House, near Leeds. Made possible by funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the exhibition follows careful research by the team to weave together the strands of Princess Mary’s life within an interactive format that successfully displays items that are too fragile to exhibit permanently.
As the great granddaughter
of Queen Victoria, the daughter of George V and Queen Mary, wife of the 6th Earl of Harewood, the
mother of two boys, and ultimately as the Princess Royal, the exhibition shows
her commitment to her family, her public duties and her love of the outdoors and
life at Harewood. The interactive
display allows visitors to view in detail items such as the delicate Royal wedding
dress, an unfolding Fabergé locket and letters to and from the Princess. The exhibition also precedes the publication
in October of Princess Mary The Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood,
a new book which will contain many photos from Princess Mary’s personal
childhood albums that have never been shared before. It’s a fantastic insight for all visitors to
Harewood to get to know the woman behind the name and understand more about her
legacy at Harewood.
One Extraordinary Gift Deserves Another: The Harewood Call for News on Gift Boxes
As a 17 year old, the young Princess Mary was fully aware of the challenges that the onset of the First World War brought to the nation’s forces. Unlike her brothers, Princess Mary was not allowed to go to the front but was keen to send encouragement and a ‘thank you’ to all those in uniform. At her behest a committee was formed and a date set for a meeting at The Ritz – a committee which included one Winston Churchill, then the First Sea Lord. A ‘gift’ was devised that could be sent to every member of the armed and auxiliary forces in uniform on Christmas Day 1914, which became known as Princess Mary’s Christmas Gift Fund. These wonderful brass gift boxes carried a photograph of the young Princess with a note of best wishes, and included a variety of contents, such as letter writing kits, ‘bullet pencils’, tobacco and chocolate. They were then despatched around the world to every serving man and woman. Many of these boxes continue to be held with fondness by the descendents of recipients around the world today and remain a legacy to the families of those who fought and served in the Great War.To commemorate and celebrate the memory of Princess Mary and her inspirational idea, Harewood are calling for anyone who has a gift box in their family to get in touch. Harewood hold some 70 examples of the boxes, with a variety of contents, which were sent by the factories that produced these boxes. Treasured by Princess Mary, many are on show in this new exhibition. The aim is to build a ‘story book’ of memories and facts about these gifts, so the team at Harewood would like to hear from people who continue to look after these boxes. Ever wondered what this box is? Do you still use this wonderful box? How far did your box travel? Truth or myth, did these boxes ever stop a bullet? What stories do you have? The results will be part of the centenary commemoration in 2014. It’s a unique opportunity for the team to shed light on the stories behind these gift boxes and build a living legacy in memory of those who were the original recipients.
As Princess Mary wrote in a letter to her son George in 1940 at the outbreak of the Second World War, her commitment to the war effort remained true: ‘We must all do our utmost to do all we can, no matter how little that is, to help in any way we can.’
To get in touch please email info@harewood.org or write to The Marketing Department, Harewood House, Harewood, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS17 9LG, and mark your email or your envelope ‘Princess Mary Gift Boxes.’
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