Queen Mary of Teck's biography and author James Pope-Hennessy's murder

Queen Victoria’s unsatisfactory grandson, Prince Albert Duke of Clarence, second in line to the British throne, desperately needed a bride. Earlier attempts to marry this useless duke off to foreign princesses had failed, so Queen Victoria was relieved when, in 1891, Mary of Teck (1867-1953) loved the prospect of becoming Britain’s queen and immediately accepted the duke’s hand. But this plan had to be abandoned when the duke died of pneumonia soon after the engagement. Instead Mary became engaged to his brother, the Duke of York, who in 1910 was crowned King George V and she his queen consort.

King George V and Queen Mary

at their coronation, 1911

Queen Mary of Teck and King George V had 6 children, of whom 5 survived to adulthood. Mary lived through the reigns of her sons, King Edward VIII and King George VI. In 1952, her eldest grandchild became Queen Elizabeth II and in 1953 Queen Mary died at Marlborough House, aged 85.

Royal librarian Owen Morshead asked James Pope-Hennessy (1916–1974) to write a biography about the late Queen Mary. Pope-Hennessy had been the editor of The Spectator, author and biograph­er. He was the brother of Sir John Pope-Hennessy, director of both the V&A and British Museums.

James was very well connected. He had formerly shared a flat with the spy Guy Burgess in Ladbroke Grove, London and in 1960 was invested with the Insignia of Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order by the Queen. He had previously been in a relationship with Harold Nicolson, a former diplomat, writer and MP. Author James Lees-Milne was also a former lover of Pope-Hennessy.

James Pope-Hennessy began his 3 year project in 1955, two years after Mary died. It took him to many royal courts in Britain and Europe, meetings old royals, current and retired courtiers and Queen Mary’s staff. He included sharply observed encounters with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Duke of Gloucester and a young Queen Eliz­ab­eth. Plus he had access to many private documents. His book, Queen Mary, was set to be a classic of royal publishing.

The interviews revealed as much about the interviewer as about the late queen. At Sandringham, Pope-Hennessy was a bit arrogant about the suburb­an, middle-class York Cottage into which George V and Queen Mary lived for most of their reign. And some reviewers sugg­ested that Pope-Hennessy’s judgment was not always to be trusted eg he thought the Duke of Windsor was very intelligent and liberal-minded.

The interviews were fascinating. Pope-Hennessy spent a weekend with Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester at Barnwell Manor. The Duke was very kind and entertaining, and he sat with the author until the wee small hours of the morning, gossiping about family. Queen Mary spent the war at Badminton so the Duchess of Beaufort interview was also important. She described the queen sitting in the air-raid shelter at midnight, fully dressed in pearls, with her Lady.

Inevitably the picture that emerged was not altogether favourable. The Duchess of Devonshire, who was Mistress of the Robes for 40+ years, claimed that in all that time she only once had a relaxed conversation with the queen. Maggie Wyndham, a Woman of the Bed­chamber, was sometimes made to read aloud to the queen for 7 hours non-stop. Lord Claud Hamilton said that Queen Mary was ‘one of the most selfish human beings I have ever known’.

The cold, proud queen dressed up in diamonds for dinner at Sandringham every night, even when alone with the king. And her staff knew when she admired something in other peoples’ homes, the hosts had to give it to her.

The author soon realised that these interviews in themselves formed the mat­erial for another book. But because of the awful secrets they contained, Pope-Henn­essy wrote: I kept a private and confid­en­t­ial file recording in considerable detail the convers­ations I had both with Queen Mary’s immediate descend­ants, related German, Dan­ish and Norwegian royalty and with sur­v­iving members of the Court of King George V and Queen Mary. None of these strictly confid­ential interviews could be published until a lapse of 50 years.

In the end James' very informative book biography was released in 1959, six years after the queen’s death.

Pope-Hennessy’s brutal death
In Jan 1974 thieves ransacked the home of James Pope-Hennessy, 57, following newspaper reports that he had been offered $150,000 to write a book about Sir Noel Coward. He was bound and stabbed by three men. During the attack, James’ young valet Leslie Smith entered the house and was immediately set upon, before the assailants fled the scene. Smith staggered into the street and shouted for help from local labour­ers. He was taken to hospital with a serious head wound and surv­ived. Pope-Hennessy was also taken to hospital but immediately died from multiple stab wounds. Queen Elizabeth II was informed and sent a condolence message to James’ brother, Sir John.

James Pope Hennessy

photo credit: scepticpeg

The three men, all rent boys, were arrested and charged with the mur­d­er. One of them, John O’Brien, had been living at Pope-Hennessy’s flat for a few months prior to the incident. Since both Pope-Hennessy and his valet were users of the rent boys in Picc­ad­illy, they had both been in a sexual relationship with O’Brien.

In the July 1974 trial, a deal was struck and the three defendants pleaded guilty only to manslaughter. They men received further sentences for robbery, G.B.H and burglary.

New Release of Queen Mary’s biography
Remember that Pope-Hennessy had kept notes about the interviews he had done. Pope-Hennessy had not intended the notes of his royal interviews to be published for 50 years i.e until 2009. In fact very few of Pope-Hennessy’s interviews were published (by Peter Quen­nell in 1980).

Mostly the candid observations, secrets and ind­iscretions in Pope-Hennessy’s notes were indeed kept private. Now published in full for the first time and edited by royal bio­grapher Hugo Vick­ers, this is a fascinating portrait of the eccen­tric ar­istocracy. Hugo Vickers published the interviews, along with his well edited text.