BORN: Richard Walter George Windsor
BIRTHDAY: August 1944
THE DUCHESS: Birgitte
BORN: Birgitte Eva van Deurs
BIRTHDAY: June 1946
THE EARL OF ULSTER
BORN: October 1974
NAME: Alexander Patrick Gregers Richard Windsor
PARENTS: Ricahrd and Birgitte, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
SISTERS: Lady Davina and Lady Rose
ARMY CAREER?: Alexander "passed out" of the first level of army training a few years ago.
LADY DAVINA
BORN: Lady Davina Elizabeth Alice Benedickte Windsor
BIRTHDAY: November 1977
PARENTS: Richard and Birgitte, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
BROTHER: Alexander, Earl of Ulster
SISTER: Lady Rose
SCHOOLING: attended St. George's School, Windsor, and now goes to university in London
CHRISTENING: she was christened at Barnwall Church
WRITING: she is right-handed
TRAVEL: she loves to travel
FASHION: is very into the grunge scene in London
COUSINS: is very close to her distant cousin, Prince William
LADY ROSE
BORN: Lady Rose Victoria Birgitte Louise Windsor
BIRTHDAY: March 1980
PARENTS: Richard and Birgitte, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
BROTHER: Alexander, Earl of Ulster
SISTER: Lady Davina
SCHOOLING: goes to a university in London
FASHION: is into the grunge scene in London, like her sister
Henry stuttered like his older brother Bertie, and often burst into tears or spasms of high laughter for no apparent reason.
It was because of this that people thought he wasn't that bright.
Because he always seemed to be ill, his parents decided not to put him into the Royal Navy like their older sons had done. Instead, they sent him to Broadstairs Prep School, a first for the Royal Family.
After he was finished school, he still didn't want to join the Navy, so he opted for the Cavalry instead. He ended up loving it, and kept up the job until after the abdication.
Henry often drank too much, but it was something his brothers did as well. A reaction to the strict childhood they had.
In 1928, the King created Henry the Duke of Gloucester.
In the summer of 1935, Henry proposed to Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott. He wasn't a romantic man, though, and according to Alice, he just mumbled it to her while they were walking.
Alice's father died just three weeks before their planned huge wedding at Westminster Abbey, so the wedding ended up being a toned-down, private family affair.
Bridesmaids at the wedding included the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
The King died a few months after the wedding, and chaos came upon the Royal Family. The new King, soon to the the Duke of Windsor, abdicated, and the second brother, Bertie, became King.
After this happened, there were only two brothers left (Henry and George, Duke of Kent) to carry out Royal duties. This meant that Henry had to give up his cherished career in the cavalry and become a full-time Royal. He was apparently none too happy about this, but under the circumstances, he had no choice.
Henry spent some time in France in 1941-42, at the Allied HQ. Then, in 1942, when the Duke of Kent died in a plane crash, and Henry became the Governor General of Australia.
In the meantime, Alice had had a number of miscarriages, but they finally had two children. Richard was only a few weeks old when they left for Australia.
Just after they were married, Henry and Alice bought a house, Barnwell Manor, in Northamtonshire. Alice still goes there sometimes. They were very country- oriented people, and didn't live in the city or in palaces often at all. Both of the loved riding, and enjoyed gardening and farming.
Henry suffered his first stroke in the 1960s. He had several other ones in the years that followed, and these impaired his abilities. By the time he died, he was basically a vegetable.
He did not even understand that his son William had died in 1972.
Maria thinks he is buried at Windsor, but she isn't sure. If she ever finds out, I'm sure she'll let me know. And vice versa, of course!
Alice's family were a very, very noble, rich family. They could easily pass for royalty. However, Alice herself was and is a woman with very simple tastes. Alice had two siblings, a sister named Sybil and a brother named Billy. Billy joined the army when WWI broke out. Alice and Sybil were sent to school when Alice was 12. The school was for the highly upper-class, and the girls were taught proper etiquette and how to speak Italian. Alice has since forgotten it all (the Italian, at least).
Alice traveled a lot in her youth, especially in Africa. She also visited Billy in India for an extended period of time.
She is a very good watercolourist.
After she married Henry, her story is pretty much what we've got written up there about his life. She was devastated when William was killed in 1972, and this was probably made worse by the fact that Henry didn't comprehend what had happened.
Henry's death didn't seem to devasate her as much as one would expect. But this is perhaps because she was expecting it for some time. Also, by this time she had a new daughter-in-law, and her first grandchild was born just three months after Henry died.
After Henry's death, she continued to take on Royal engagements and such, but lately, due to her age and poor health, she has slowed down considerably. She was even unable to attend the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh's Golden Wedding service because of illness.
William was the first child of Henry and Alice. Queen Mary doted on him big time. He was a daredevil kind of person, and when he was a little boy, he was apparently bad (so was Richard). He was prepped to be Duke, but he never really outgrew the daredevil streak. He learned how to fly airplanes, and entered a flying race. Something went wrong mechanically during the race and his plane crashed, killing him instantly. Maria said she didn't like that story, because it's so sad, and you know what? Neither do I.
It was actually two years after William died that his younger brother Richard became Duke, but since his father was pretty much out of things, he really started his duties of being a duke right off the bat.
Richard also had his new wife to think about, as he had gotten married maybe six weeks before William was killed. Since he had never had to train to be a Duke, Richard had sort of an aimless life. He couldn't decide what to be.
However, since he had liked playing with building blocks when he was little, his brother suggested architecture. So, he went to Cambridge and studied just that.
While at college, Richard met Birgitte van Deurs, who was born in Odense, Denmark. They dated, but after Birgitte finished her school course, she went back to Denmark. Not long afterwards, though, she was back in England, working in the Danish Embassy. They were married within the year.
The family is very quiet, very out of the spotlight.
