Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark - Later Life

Later Life

After her husband's death, the Duchess of Kent continued to be an active member of the British Royal Family, carrying out a wide-range of royal and official engagements. She was the longtime president of the Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. She was already the first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and then also became his aunt, due to his 1947 marriage to Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II.

In March 1957 when Ghana—then a British colony—gained independence from Britain, the Duchess of Kent was appointed to represent the Queen at the celebrations. Fifty years later, at the 50th Anniversary of Ghana's Independence, it would be her son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, who would be appointed by the Queen to represent her.

In September 1966, when the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland became the new Republic of Botswana, the Duchess of Kent was appointed again to represent the Queen at the celebrations. The main public hospital in Gaborone, the new Botswana's capital, is named "Princess Marina Hospital".

She served as the first Chancellor of the University of Kent at Canterbury from 1963 until her death from a brain tumour at Kensington Palace on 27 August 1968, aged 61. She is buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.