princessalice.jpgHRH Princess Alice, the Duchess of Gloucester and the oldest member of the British royal family, died on Oct. 29. Cause of death was not released. She was 102.
Born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu-Douglas-Scott, she was the third daughter of John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, the seventh Duke of Buccleuch. In 1935, Alice married Prince Henry, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary, at a private ceremony in Buckingham Palace. The couple had two sons — Prince William and Prince Richard. William died in 1972 when a plane he was flying crashed at an air show.
Before her husband’s death in 1974, the prince and princess traveled all over the world performing their royal duties. During World War II, Princess Alice worked with the Red Cross and ran the Women’s Royal Air Force in 1940. She later worked for numerous charities and became an accomplished watercolorist. Her autobiography, “The Memoirs of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester,” was published in 1981.
The mother of the present Duke of Gloucester and the aunt of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Alice spent her final years living in Barnwell Manor, an Elizabethan building in rural Northamptonshire, and at Kensington Palace in London.