Lady Mary Whitley - Early Life

Early Life

Lady Mary was born at 19, Lowndes Square, Kensington, to the Earl and Countess of Eltham, later the Marquess and Marchioness of Cambridge, born Dorothy Isabel Westenra Hastings, a granddaughter of the 14th Earl of Huntingdon. She was a great-great-great-granddaughter of King George III, a great-granddaughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster and a niece of the Duchess of Beaufort. Her father was a nephew of the Earl of Athlone and of Queen Mary, the consort to King George V, making her a second cousin to Queen Elizabeth II.

Lord and Lady Eltham lived on the edge of Hyde Park, London, near Lord Eltham's cousin and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of York. The young Lady Mary was educated at home under the supervision of her grandmother, nanny, and governess. During her free time, Mary would play with her friends. Often she would be invited to play with her second cousins (they shared great-grandparents, Francis of Teck and his wife Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge), the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret of York, who lived near her by Hyde Park (specifically at 145 Piccadilly). When they were in London she would also play with George and Gerald Lascelles, the children of the Princess Royal, who were her second cousins. On 29 November 1934, she was a bridesmaid at the marriage of the Duke of Kent to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.