Royal Harewood: Celebrating the Life of The Yorkshire Princess

Saturday 31 Mar 2012 - Sunday 17 Jun 2012
Daily 12.00pm - 3.00pm

Harewood House was home to Princess Mary, The Princess Royal, through four decades. Her love of Yorkshire and the affection the people of Yorkshire felt for her in return mean that she will always be remembered as ‘The Yorkshire Princess’. Harewood is proud to celebrate this Jubilee year with a special exhibition remembering her, an exhibition that runs through the House and out into the gardens which she loved so much.

Her Royal Highness Princess Mary married Viscount Lascelles in 1922 and from 1929 Harewood became her home. Together they introduced many modern amenities and commissioned architect Sir Herbert Baker to design a suite of rooms for them. They were both keen gardeners and the changes and improvements they made to Harewood’s gardens can still be seen.

They were also avid collectors and, with the generous help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, we will be displaying for the first time many of the things that were precious to her: personal items such as exquisite fans, gifts from heads of state, presents from her royal relations by the great designer Fabergé.

She loved the countryside and Harewood was her family home, where she brought up her two sons before the war and where she continued to live for more than twenty years after her husband’s death in 1947. She saw Harewood through times of tremendous change and died here, walking round the lake with her son and two of her grandsons, in 1965.

Family photographs, portraits, period footage and precious personal items will allow you to see Harewood as the family home it has always been, especially for the Princess who preferred country life to that of the city, and loved Harewood more than anywhere.

2012 marks the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne with Diamond Jubilee celebrations across the country. Harewood is delighted to be re-presenting displays from our collections including Princess Mary’s collection of rose quartz and jade, exquisite fans and family heirlooms as part of these celebrations. 

We are also commemorating Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee with an exhibition of intimate family photographs of The Queen, from childhood to motherhood. Read more here...