Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, (born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; 25 December 1901 – 29 October 2004) was a member of the British royal family.

She was the wife of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary.

She was the mother of Prince William of Gloucester and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

The daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch, Scotland's largest landowner, she became by marriage a princess of the United Kingdom, and a sister-in-law to Edward VIII and George VI.

She was thus an aunt by marriage to Elizabeth II.

Princess Alice was extremely well travelled, both before and after her marriage.

At the time of her death at age 102, she was the longest-lived member of the British royal family.

Alice Christabel Montagu Douglass Scott was born in Montagu House, Whitehall, London, on Christmas Day 1901 as the third daughter and fifth child of John Montagu Douglas Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (later Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry), and his wife, the former Lady Margaret Alice "Molly" Bridgeman, daughter of the 4th Earl of Bradford.

Her brothers Walter and William and her nephew John were all Conservative MPs. Her first cousin, Marian Louisa, Lady Elmhirst, was the paternal grandmother of Sarah, Duchess of York, former wife of Alice's great-nephew, Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

Alice was a descendant, in an unbroken male line, of Charles II through his eldest but illegitimate son, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, himself a major political figure during the years leading up to the Glorious Revolution.

As she was born on Christmas Day, she was given the middle name of Christabel.

Alice spent much of her childhood travelling "between splendid houses": Boughton House in Northamptonshire, Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, and Bowhill in the Scottish Borders.

Eildon Hall, in Melrose, Scottish Borders, was more or less home base.

An experience of nearly drowning at the age of 14 awoke Alice to a keen sense of making the most of every day.

Caught in a current in the Solway Firth, she was convinced that she was going to die and she prayed to God, begging for a miracle to save her life in exchange for her devoting herself to public service:

"The next instant my feet touched rocks. I was able to stand up and get my breath back. I had been carried quite a way down the coast—some houses had come and gone on my left—but the rocks proved to be a reef and I was able to scramble through them back to shallow water without further mishap.... In return for my life I had promised to dedicate it to some useful purpose; but there never seemed to be anything that required my help or that I was any use at. So when, through a series of unforeseen circumstances, I one day found myself allotted a life of public duty in the service of my country, a very secret pledge was honoured."

Alice attended the independent St James's School for Girls, in West Malvern, Worcestershire, and later travelled to France, Kenya and India.

After school in West Malvern, she spent a year in Paris "before returning home to be presented at Court in 1920".

Alice enjoyed skiing, horse-riding and hunting and was also an accomplished watercolourist.

A painting by her, done near Archers Post in Kenya, is today part of the Royal Collection.

The Duchess of Gloucester served as Colonel-in-Chief or deputy Colonel-in-Chief of a dozen regiments in the British Army, including the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Northamptonshire Regiment, the 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire), the Royal Anglian Regiment, the Royal Hussars, and the Royal Irish Rangers (27th Inniskilling); also, the Royal Corps of Transport.

In Kenya, where she stayed for over a year, from about 1929–1931, she stayed in the area typical of the so-called Happy Valley set and encountered many of the personalities of said clique, including Evelyn Waugh.

In 1935, Alice returned to the United Kingdom when she learned that her father's health had been deteriorating.

In August 1935, Lady Alice became engaged to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.

They were married in a private ceremony, in the Private Chapel, Buckingham Palace, on 6 November of that year.

A much more elaborate wedding was originally planned for Westminster Abbey; but after the Duke of Buccleuch died of cancer on 19 October 1935, and in consideration of the King's own failing health, it was decided that the wedding should be scaled down to a more private setting.

Although the day was cold and wet, a crowd estimated to be over one million people lined the streets from the Palace to the railway station to see the couple off on their honeymoon.

She was often referred to as the "Winter Princess" from then on.

Initially the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester lived at the Royal Pavilion in Aldershot, where the Duke was taking the Army staff course.

The Duke of Gloucester left the army to take on more public duties following the abdication of Edward VIII in December 1936.

The public appearances of the Duchess included launching HMS Gloucester (62) on 19 October 1937.

During World War II, the Duchess worked with the Red Cross and the Order of St John.

The couple received a grace and favour residence at York House, St James's Palace, London, and, in 1938, they purchased Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire.

The Duchess suffered two miscarriages, before giving birth to two sons:

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester travelled extensively, undertaking various engagements.

She became head of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1939 as Senior Controller, changed to Air Commandant on 12 March 1940, and appointed Air Chief Commandant on 4 March 1943, when she took over as director until August 1944.

From 1945 to 1947, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester lived in Canberra, where the Duke was serving as Governor-General of Australia.

When the WAAF became the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) in 1949, she was appointed an Air Chief Commandant (equivalent to Air vice-marshal) in the new service on 1 February 1949.

She was promoted to Air marshal on 1 September 1968, and to air chief marshal in the Royal Air Force on 23 February 1990.

She also served as deputy to Queen Elizabeth, the consort of George VI, as Commandant-in-Chief of the Nursing Corps.