Initially their as the wife and queen consort of King George V of England, Mary of Teck assumed the status of queen mother when her sons Edward and Albert ruled England.
Before her marriage, she was briefly engaged to her future husband's brother, Prince Albert Victor, who died of influenza before their wedding could occur.
In the late 1890s, she received the title of Patron of the London Needlework Guild.
Born in 1867 to Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Mary of Teck married Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V of England) in 1893. She and George had six children, including a son, George VI, who ruled England from 1936 until 1952 and became the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
Her oldest son, Edward VIII, was only briefly King of England; his engagement and subsequent marriage to an American divorcee provoked a constitutional crisis and disqualified him from ruling Great Britain.