Editing Mary of Teck (section)

==Duchess of York==
{{See also|Wedding of Prince George and Princess Victoria Mary|Wedding dress of Princess Victoria Mary of Teck}}
[[File:Victoria Mary of Teck.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Princess Victoria Mary shortly before her marriage to the Duke of York in 1893|alt=Young Mary in a tightly corseted dress]]
[[File:Princess Mary of Teck wedding dress 1893 no2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Wedding photo of Prince George, Duke of York, and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, 6 July 1893]]
Mary married Prince George, Duke of York, in London on 6 July 1893 at the [[Chapel Royal, St James's Palace]]. The couple lived in [[York Cottage]] on the [[Sandringham Estate]] in Norfolk, and in apartments in St James's Palace. York Cottage was a modest house for royalty, but it was a favourite of George, who liked a relatively simple life.<ref>Pope-Hennessy, p. 291</ref> They had six children: [[Edward VIII|Edward]], [[George VI|Albert]], [[Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood|Mary]], [[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester|Henry]], [[Prince George, Duke of Kent|George]], and [[Prince John of the United Kingdom|John]].

The children were put into the care of a nanny, as was usual in upper-class families at the time. The first nanny was dismissed for insolence and the second for abusing the children. This second woman, anxious to suggest that the children preferred her to anyone else, would pinch Edward and Albert whenever they were about to be presented to their parents so that they would start crying and be speedily returned to her. On discovery, she was replaced by her effective and much-loved assistant, [[Charlotte Bill]].<ref>Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 16–17</ref>

Sometimes, Mary and George appear to have been distant parents. At first, they failed to notice the nanny's abuse of their sons Edward and Albert,<ref>Pope-Hennessy, p. 393</ref> and their youngest son, John, was housed in a private farm on the Sandringham Estate, in Charlotte Bill's care, perhaps to hide his [[epilepsy]] from the public. Despite Mary's austere public image and her strait-laced private life, she was a caring mother and comforted her children when they suffered from her husband's strict discipline.<ref name="dnb"/>

Edward wrote fondly of his mother in his memoirs: "Her soft voice, her cultivated mind, the cosy room overflowing with personal treasures were all inseparable ingredients of the happiness associated with this last hour of a child's day&nbsp;... Such was my mother's pride in her children that everything that happened to each one was of the utmost importance to her. With the birth of each new child, Mama started an album in which she painstakingly recorded each progressive stage of our childhood".<ref>Windsor, pp. 24–25</ref> He expressed a less charitable view, however, in private letters to his wife after his mother's death: "My sadness was mixed with incredulity that any mother could have been so hard and cruel towards her eldest son for so many years and yet so demanding at the end without relenting a scrap. I'm afraid the fluids in her veins have always been as icy cold as they are now in death."<ref>Ziegler, p. 538</ref>

The Duke and Duchess of York carried out a variety of public duties. In 1897, Mary became the patron of the [[Queen Mother's Clothing Guild|London Needlework Guild]] in succession to her mother. The guild, initially established as The London Guild in 1882, was renamed several times and was named after Mary between 1914 and 2010.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.qmcg.org.uk/|title=Queen Mother's Clothing Guild official website|access-date=1 May 2010}}</ref> Samples of her own embroidery range from chair seats to tea cosies.<ref>e.g. {{citation|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/488288|author=Mary, Queen of England|title=Chair seat|date=1943|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]}}; {{citation|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/602811|title=Tea cosy|date=1909|author=Queen Mary|location=[[Springhill, County Londonderry]]|publisher=National Trust}}</ref>
[[File:Mary of Teck 4.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The Duchess of Cornwall and York in Ottawa, 1901|alt=Thin Mary wearing a formal dress, a rope of pearls and a tiara]]

On 22 January 1901, [[Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria|Queen Victoria died]], and Mary's father-in-law ascended the throne as [[Edward VII]]. For most of the rest of that year, George and Mary were known as the "Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York". For eight months they toured the [[British Empire]], visiting [[Gibraltar]], [[Crown Colony of Malta|Malta]], Egypt, [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]], [[Straits Settlements|Singapore]], Australia, New Zealand, [[British Mauritius|Mauritius]], [[Cape Colony|South Africa]] and Canada. No royal had undertaken such an ambitious tour before. She broke down in tears at the thought of leaving her children, who were to be left in the care of their grandparents, for such a long time.<ref>Edwards, p. 115</ref>