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Lady Helena Gibbs

(Redirected from Lady Helena Cambridge)

Lady Helena Gibbs (Helena Frances Augusta; née Cambridge; 23 October 1899 – 22 December 1969), born Princess Helena of Teck, was a relative of the British royal family, great-great-granddaughter of King George III, and a niece of Queen Mary and King George V.

Lady Helena Gibbs
Photograph of Lady Helena Gibbs, 1919
BornPrincess Helena Frances Augusta of Teck
(1899-10-23)23 October 1899
Grosvenor House, Mayfair, Westminster
Died22 December 1969(1969-12-22) (aged 70)
Badminton House, Gloucestershire, England
Buried27 December 1969
St John the Baptist's Church, Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire
Spouse(s)
John Evelyn Gibbs
​
​
(m. 1919; died 1932)​
FatherAdolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge
MotherLady Margaret Grosvenor

During the First World War, the British royal family and their near relatives (including the House of Teck), relinquished their German titles, and Princess Helena assumed the style Lady Helena Cambridge.[1]

Early life

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Photograph, 1903

Princess Helena was born at Grosvenor House, Mayfair, Westminster. Her father was Prince Adolphus of Teck (later the 2nd Duke of Teck and after 1917 the 1st Marquess of Cambridge), the eldest son of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge.[2] Her mother was Lady Margaret Grosvenor, the third daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster.[2] She was the couple's second daughter.[3] In 1919, a newspaper article included her mother's description about her upbringing that was in "the simplest fashion" with the desire that she "should be regarded as ordinary members of the English titled and untitled aristocracy".[4]

As a child of Prince Adolphus of Teck, she was styled "Her Serene Highness Princess Helena of Teck" at birth.

Lady Helena Cambridge

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During World War I, anti-German feeling in the United Kingdom led King George V to change the name of the royal house from the Germanic House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more English-sounding House of Windsor. The King also renounced all his Germanic titles for himself and all members of the British royal family.

In response to this, Helena's father renounced his title of Duke of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg and the style His Highness.[2] Adolphus, along with his brother, Prince Alexander of Teck, adopted the name Cambridge, after their grandfather, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.

He was subsequently created Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Eltham, and Viscount Northallerton in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[2] Helena was entitled to the style of "Lady Helena Cambridge" as a daughter of a marquess.

Lady Helena was in attendance for the 1919 wedding of Princess Patricia to Alexander Ramsay.[5][6]

Marriage

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Helena married Colonel John Evelyn Gibbs (22 December 1879 London – 11 October 1932 Tetbury),[2] a veteran of the Boer Wars and World War I and grandson of famed Victorian businessman William Gibbs, on 2 September 1919 at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[7][8] While Gibbs was a commoner,[9][10] his elder brother George was raised to the peerage as Baron Wraxall in 1928.[11][12] The marriage was approved by the King,[13] who was originally to be present for the wedding,[13] but later was not able to attend[14] and instead sent a telegram of congratulations on the day after the wedding.[15] Upon the announcement of her engagement to Gibbs, Country Life placed her on the cover of their August 2, 1919 magazine.[16] The wedding was covered in a multi-page article with photographs in The Sketch a British illustrated journal[17] and also in the Tatler in the week following the wedding.[18] The wedding, which her parents wished to be a "quiet, ordinary wedding",[13] hosted between four and five hundred people, and the party following the wedding was held at Frogmore Cottage. She wore a simple necklace of small pearls for the wedding,[19] a dress of white Royal beaute material,[15][20] and had six bridesmaids, including Lady May Cambridge.[21] The best man was Lancelot Gibbs, the brother of the bridgegroom.[15]

In 1921, Lady Helena Gibbs helped open a children's home in Kingsdown in honor of her late sister-in-law, Victoria Gibbs.[22] She also served as honorary host of a 1931 flower show in Montpellier.[23]

Lady Helena and Colonel John Evelyn Gibbs had no children. Lady Helena survived her husband by 37 years and died at Badminton House, home of her sister.[24] Her funeral service was in Gloucestershire at the Church of St. Mary, Tetbury on 27 December 1969.[25]

Ancestry

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ Huberty, Michel; Giraud, Alain; Magdelaine, F. and B. (1979). L'Allemagne Dynastique, Tome II – Anhalt-Lippe-Wurtemberg. France: Laballery. pp. 497, 539–540, 547. ISBN 2-901138-02-0.
  2. ^ a b c d e Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (editor). Burke's Guide to the Royal Family, Burke's Peerage, London, 1973, pp. 289, 291, 293. ISBN 0-220-66222-3
  3. ^ Kipling, Rudyard (1990). The letters of Rudyard Kipling. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press. pp. 257, 260. ISBN 978-0-87745-657-5.
  4. ^ "Not in class with princes". The Washington Post. 14 September 1919. p. 4. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  5. ^ The New York Times 1919-02-28: Vol 68 Iss 22315. 28 February 1919.
  6. ^ Style. Fisher - University of Toronto. Dry Goods Review. 1919.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ "Marriage". St George's Windsor. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Obituary for Colonel J. Gibbs". The Gloucestershire Echo. 12 October 1932. p. 3. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Lady Cambridge to wed commoner". Detroit Free Press. 26 July 1919. p. 3. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  10. ^ "England's problem - a bride for the prince". The San Francisco Examiner. 2 November 1919. p. 71. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  11. ^ "No. 33347". The London Gazette. 13 January 1928. p. 290.
  12. ^ "No. 14409". The Edinburgh Gazette. 17 January 1928. p. 70.
  13. ^ a b c The Illustrated London News 1919-08-02: Vol 155 Iss 4189. Illustrated London News. 2 August 1919.
  14. ^ "The Queen's Niece Married". The Times (London, England). No. 42195. 3 September 1919 – via Gale.
  15. ^ a b c San Francisco News Letter (July-Dec. 1919). California State Library. 13 February 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. ^ Country Life 1919-08-02: Vol 46 Iss 1178. Time Inc. (UK) Ltd. 2 August 1919.
  17. ^ "Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality; Bride and Groom: Major E. Gibbs and Lady Helena Gibbs". Ingram brothers. 1919. pp. 359–360, 366–367.
  18. ^ "Tatler: An Illustrated Journal of Society, the Drama, and Sport..." Vol. 950. 10 September 1919. p. 329.
  19. ^ The Jewelers' Circular 1919-09-17: Vol 79 Iss 7. Reed Exhibitions Ltd. 17 September 1919. p. 117.
  20. ^ "King's Niece Married". The Western Daily Press. 3 September 1919. p. 5. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  21. ^ Ladies' News. Vol. 155. The Illustrated London News. 6 September 1919.
  22. ^ "The memorial to Mrs. George Gibbs". The Western Daily Press. 26 January 1921. p. 3. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Choice blooms at the flower show". Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic. 4 July 1931. p. 8. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  24. ^ Lee, Brian North (1992). British Royal Bookplates and Ex-libris of Related Families. Brookfield, Vt., USA. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-85967-883-4.
  25. ^ "Deaths - Lady Helena Gibbs". The Times (London, England). No. 57753. 29 December 1969 – via Gale.
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