Lady May Abel Smith


Lady May Helen Emma Abel Smith was a relative of the British Royal Family. She was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and a niece of Queen Mary. Due to anti-German sentiment in England during World War I, George V changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor and renounced all of his German titles and the German titles of members of the British royal family. In response, May's family renounced their German princely titles and the style of Serene Highness and adopted the surname Cambridge, after her ancestor the Duke of Cambridge. Her father was then created the Earl of Athlone, and she was granted the precedence of the daughter of an earl with the courtesy title of Lady.

Early life

Princess May of Teck was born at Claremont House, near Esher in Surrey, England, the oldest child and only daughter of the German nobleman Prince Alexander of Teck, later granted the British title of Earl of Athlone, the youngest son of Francis, Duke of Teck by his wife the German-born Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the youngest surviving son of King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Her mother was Princess Alice of Albany, the daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, youngest son of Queen Victoria, by his wife Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont. As a daughter of Prince Alexander of Teck, May was styled at birth Her Serene Highness Princess May of Teck.
During World War I, anti-German feeling in the United Kingdom led Princess May's uncle King George V, to change the name of the British royal family from the Germanic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more British-sounding Windsor. The king also renounced all Germanic titles for himself and other members of the British Royal Family who were British subjects.
In solidarity, May's father, Prince Alexander of Teck, renounced his title of a Prince of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg in Germany, and the style His Serene Highness. Alexander, along with his brother, Prince Adolphus of Teck, adopted the surname Cambridge, after their grandfather, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.
A few days later, the king elevated Alexander to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Earl of Athlone and Viscount Trematon. Alexander was now styled The Right Honourable Earl of Athlone. His daughter then became styled as Lady May Cambridge, befitting a daughter of an Earl, and his surviving son adopted as a courtesy title his secondary title of Viscount Trematon, as befitted the eldest son of an Earl. Alexander's wife, Alice, born as a British princess, retained her title and style, Her Royal Highness, and became known as Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.
She served as a royal bridesmaid on numerous occasions; three times in Westminster Abbey: in 1919 to Princess Patricia of Connaught on her marriage to Captain Alexander Ramsay, RN; in 1922 to Princess Mary on her marriage to Viscount Lascelles; and in 1923 to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on her marriage to Prince Albert, Duke of York, later King George VI.

Marriage

Lady May married Henry Abel Smith on 24 October 1931 in Balcombe, Sussex, close to the Athlone residence at Brantridge Park.
The bride was attended by four child bridesmaids: Princess Elizabeth of York, Rosemary Madeline Hamilton Fraser, Jennifer Bevan and Kathleen Alington. Her eight adult bridesmaids were the Hon. Imogen Rhys ; Lady Mary Whitley; Phyllis Seymour-Holm; Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott ; Princess Ingrid of Sweden; Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ; Verena Seymour to her brother, Prince Gustaf Adolf, whom Princess Sibylla married a year later at the Kirche St. Moriz Coburg.

Issue

Sir Henry and Lady May Abel Smith were married for over 60 years and had three children:

Later life

Lady May, being only a distant member of the royal family, did not carry out any royal duties. She did attend some major royal events such as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer.
Between 1958 and 1966, Sir Henry Abel Smith served as the Governor of Queensland. May accompanied Henry to Brisbane, as vice-regal consort. They retired in 1975 to Barton Lodge at Winkfield in Berkshire, England.
Lady May died in hospital one year after her husband. They are both buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, not far from Windsor Castle. Her funeral was held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Windsor, on 9 June 1994. It was attended by the Duke of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra, representing the royal family.

Titles

From her birth, she was known as Princess May of Teck, a title from the Kingdom of Württemberg. She was later named for a few days Miss May Cambridge after the British Royal Family and its relatives ceased using their German titles in 1917, and her father adopted the surname "Cambridge". She was subsequently styled Lady May Cambridge, when her father was created Earl of Athlone, and Lady May Abel Smith after her marriage in 1931.

Ancestry