What was Mary of Teck like?

Question

What was she like? Was she popular as Queen? What was her personality like? Was she a nice lady? 

Answer 1

She was avaricious and entitles, using her position to embarrass people into giving her their prized positions. 

Answer 2

One thing about Mary of Teck is that she is infamous for her kleptomania. She took many things from the homes of those who hosted her. 

Answer 3

She and King George believed in the (then) traditional public image of Royals:  sober, dignified, reserved.  But memoirs of those who knew her personally agree that she was gracious, friendly and had a well-developed sense of humor.

Answer 4

Queen Mary would invite herself over for a few weeks, steal your nicest belongings, and have all of your trees chopped down. After she left, you'd be left almost bankrupt from all the lavish food and sundries required, yet rarely touched. The tree removal, re-landscaping, replacing the silver, furniture, paintings, etc... How genuinely popular could she be? She was a nightmare.

Answer 5

Queen Mary was said to be shy, but also stalwart, dignified, willing to fulfill her royal role. She was tactful, loyal, supportive. She was held in high esteem. Mary's support of her husband, George V through a world war and his illness is well-noted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Teck

During the First World War, Queen Mary instituted an austerity drive at the palace, where she rationed food, and visited wounded and dying servicemen in hospital, which caused her great emotional strain.....

Her staunch support of her husband continued during the later half of his reign. She advised him on speeches and used her extensive knowledge of history and royalty to advise him on matters affecting his position. He appreciated her discretion, intelligence, and judgement. She maintained an air of self-assured calm throughout all her public engagements in the years after the war, a period marked by civil unrest over social conditions, Irish independence, and Indian nationalism.In the late 1920s, George V became increasingly ill with lung problems, exacerbated by his heavy smoking. Queen Mary paid particular attention to his care. During his illness in 1928, one of his doctors, Sir Farquhar Buzzard, was asked who had saved the King's life. He replied, "The Queen". In 1935, King George V and Queen Mary celebrated their silver jubilee, with celebrations taking place throughout the British Empire. In his jubilee speech, George paid public tribute to his wife, having told his speechwriter, "Put that paragraph at the very end. I cannot trust myself to speak of the Queen when I think of all I owe her."

Mary was even supportive of her son, Edward VIII, but she could not understand why he abdicated; she believed that her second son, Bertie, who became George VI, deserved and needed her moral support, so she never met with Wallis Simpson, publicly or privately. She loved her eldest son, whom the family called David, but she disapproved of his actions.

Family meant much to Mary and she took a keen interest in the raising of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. Queen Elizabeth, later Queen Mother, encouraged the relationship between grandmother and granddaughters.

Some historians have noted that Mary may have been a kleptomaniac, or an acquisitive nature.

Answer 6

Well liked apparently. She was however; also known as the "kleptomaniac Queen". If she liked something that her host/hostess had; she would not be backward in coming forward in asking for it, or sending one of her ladies in waiting back to ask for it on her behalf.

Answer 7

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Teck

There's a lot of information about her if you read the above.   Our current Queen was close to her, and I think, looks quite like her.  Of her time, I'd suggest she was probably a way nicer person than the Queen Mother.

Answer 8

She was quite well regarded. It was a strange set up as she was originally engaged to King George's brother, Albert Victor, but upon his premature death was left suddenly unattached. As she was already popular in the family she seemed a good match for the otherwise unencumbered Duke of York. She was probably a better grandmother than mother (she took the abdication quite hard) and was very close to the present queen, spending time with her when she was little and helping to educate her at a time when such things were not considered important for girls.