Exile
The Duke and Duchess of Teck chose to reside in London rather than abroad, mainly because Mary Adelaide was the only breadwinner for the Tecks. She received £5,000 per annum as a Parliamentary annuity for carrying out Royal duties. Her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, also provided her with supplementary income. Requests to Queen Victoria for extra funds were generally refused. However, the Queen did provide the Tecks with apartments at Kensington Palace and White Lodge in Richmond Park as a country house.
Despite their modest income, Mary Adelaide had expensive tastes and lived an extravagant life of parties, expensive food and clothes and holidays abroad. The debts soon built up and the Tecks were forced to flee the country in 1883 to avoid their creditors. They travelled to Florence, Italy and also stayed with relatives in Germany and Austria. Initially they travelled under the names of the Count and Countess von Hohenstein. However, Mary Adelaide wished to travel in more style and reverted to her royal style, which commanded significantly more attention and better service.
Read more about this topic: Princess Mary Adelaide Of Cambridge
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