Lady Helena Gibbs

{{Infobox noble

|name = Lady Helena Gibbs

|image = Lady_Helena_Gibbs_nee_Cambriddge.jpg

|caption = Photograph of Lady Helena Gibbs, 1919

|birth_name = Princess Helena Frances Augusta of Teck

|birth_date = {{birth date|1899|10|23|df=y}}

|birth_place = Grosvenor House, Mayfair, Westminster

|death_date = {{death date and age|1969|12|22|1899|10|23|df=y}}

|death_place = Badminton House, Gloucestershire, England

|burial_date = 27 December 1969

|burial_place = St John the Baptist's Church, Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire

|father = Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge

|mother = Lady Margaret Grosvenor

|spouse = {{marriage|John Evelyn Gibbs|1919|1932|end=d}}

}}

Lady Helena Gibbs (Helena Frances Augusta; née Cambridge; 23 October 1899 – 22 December 1969), born Princess Helena of Teck, was a relative of the British royal family, great-great-granddaughter of King George III, and a niece of Queen Mary and King George V.

During the First World War, the British royal family and their near relatives (including the House of Teck), relinquished their German titles, and Princess Helena assumed the style Lady Helena Cambridge.{{cite book | title=L'Allemagne Dynastique, Tome II – Anhalt-Lippe-Wurtemberg | publisher=Laballery |author1=Huberty, Michel |author2=Giraud, Alain |author3=Magdelaine, F. and B. | year=1979 | location=France | pages=497, 539–540, 547| isbn=2-901138-02-0}}

Early life

File:Helena of Teck - Speaight CL 3.1.1903.jpg

Princess Helena was born at Grosvenor House, Mayfair, Westminster. Her father was Prince Adolphus of Teck (later the 2nd Duke of Teck and after 1917 the 1st Marquess of Cambridge), the eldest son of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge.Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (editor). Burke's Guide to the Royal Family, Burke's Peerage, London, 1973, pp. 289, 291, 293. {{ISBN|0-220-66222-3}} Her mother was Lady Margaret Grosvenor, the third daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster. She was the couple's second daughter.{{Cite book |last=Kipling |first=Rudyard |url=http://archive.org/details/lettersofrudyard0005kipl |title=The letters of Rudyard Kipling |date=1990 |location=Iowa City, Iowa |publisher= University of Iowa Press |isbn=978-0-87745-657-5 |pages=257, 260}} In 1919, a newspaper article included her mother's description about her upbringing that was in "the simplest fashion" with the desire that she "should be regarded as ordinary members of the English titled and untitled aristocracy".{{Cite news |date=1919-09-14 |title=Not in class with princes |pages=4 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112466413/not-in-class-with-princes/ |access-date=2022-11-03}}

As a child of Prince Adolphus of Teck, she was styled "Her Serene Highness Princess Helena of Teck" at birth.

Lady Helena Cambridge

During World War I, anti-German feeling in the United Kingdom led King George V to change the name of the royal house from the Germanic House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more English-sounding House of Windsor. The King also renounced all his Germanic titles for himself and all members of the British royal family.

In response to this, Helena's father renounced his title of Duke of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg and the style His Highness. Adolphus, along with his brother, Prince Alexander of Teck, adopted the name Cambridge, after their grandfather, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.

He was subsequently created Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Eltham, and Viscount Northallerton in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Helena was entitled to the style of "Lady Helena Cambridge" as a daughter of a marquess.

Lady Helena was in attendance for the 1919 wedding of Princess Patricia to Alexander Ramsay.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1919-02-28_68_22315 |title=The New York Times 1919-02-28: Vol 68 Iss 22315 |date=1919-02-28 }}{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/dgrstyle1919toro |title=Style |date=1919 |publisher=Dry Goods Review |others=Fisher - University of Toronto}}

Marriage

Helena married Colonel John Evelyn Gibbs (22 December 1879 London – 11 October 1932 Tetbury), a veteran of the Boer Wars and World War I and grandson of famed Victorian businessman William Gibbs, on 2 September 1919 at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.{{cite web |title=Marriage |url=https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georges/royal-connection/marriage/ |website=St George's Windsor |access-date=5 August 2020}}{{Cite news |date=1932-10-12 |title=Obituary for Colonel J. Gibbs |pages=3 |work=The Gloucestershire Echo |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112308796/obituary-for-colonel-j-gibbs/ |access-date=2022-10-31}} While Gibbs was a commoner,{{Cite news |date=1919-07-26 |title=Lady Cambridge to wed commoner |pages=3 |work=Detroit Free Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112466556/lady-cambridge-to-wed-commoner/ |access-date=2022-11-03}}{{Cite news |date=1919-11-02 |title=England's problem - a bride for the prince |pages=71 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112466586/englands-problem-a-bride-for-the/ |access-date=2022-11-03}} his elder brother George was raised to the peerage as Baron Wraxall in 1928.{{London Gazette |issue=33347 |date=13 January 1928 |page=290}}{{London Gazette |issue=14409 |date=17 January 1928 |page=70 |city=e}} The marriage was approved by the King, who was originally to be present for the wedding,{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_illustrated-london-news_1919-08-02_155_4189 |title=The Illustrated London News 1919-08-02: Vol 155 Iss 4189 |date=1919-08-02 |publisher=Illustrated London News}} but later was not able to attend{{Cite news |date=September 3, 1919 |title=The Queen's Niece Married |work=The Times (London, England) |issue=42195 |via=Gale}} and instead sent a telegram of congratulations on the day after the wedding.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sfnewsletter97unse |title=San Francisco News Letter (July-Dec. 1919) |others=California State Library|date=13 February 2024 }} Upon the announcement of her engagement to Gibbs, Country Life placed her on the cover of their August 2, 1919 magazine.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_country-life_1919-08-02_46_1178 |title=Country Life 1919-08-02: Vol 46 Iss 1178 |date=1919-08-02 |publisher=Time Inc. (UK) Ltd}} The wedding was covered in a multi-page article with photographs in The Sketch a British illustrated journal{{Cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIE4AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Lady+Helena+Gibbs%22&pg=RA2-PA364 |title=Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality; Bride and Groom: Major E. Gibbs and Lady Helena Gibbs |date=1919 |publisher=Ingram brothers. |pages=359–360, 366–367}} and also in the Tatler in the week following the wedding.{{Cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRyab__TL8kC&dq=%22lady+helena+gibbs%22&pg=RA2-PA329 |title=Tatler: An Illustrated Journal of Society, the Drama, and Sport... |date=September 10, 1919 |volume=950 |pages=329}} The wedding, which her parents wished to be a "quiet, ordinary wedding", hosted between four and five hundred people, and the party following the wedding was held at Frogmore Cottage. She wore a simple necklace of small pearls for the wedding,{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_jck_1919-09-17_79_7 |title=The Jewelers' Circular 1919-09-17: Vol 79 Iss 7|page=117 |date=1919-09-17 |publisher=Reed Exhibitions Ltd}} a dress of white Royal beaute material,{{Cite news |date=1919-09-03 |title=King's Niece Married |pages=5 |work=The Western Daily Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112466348/kings-niece-married/ |access-date=2022-11-03}} and had six bridesmaids, including Lady May Cambridge.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_illustrated-london-news_1919-09-06_155_4194 |title=Ladies' News |date=1919-09-06 |publisher=The Illustrated London News |volume=155 |issue=4194}} The best man was Lancelot Gibbs, the brother of the bridgegroom.

In 1921, Lady Helena Gibbs helped open a children's home in Kingsdown in honor of her late sister-in-law, Victoria Gibbs.{{Cite news |date=1921-01-26 |title=The memorial to Mrs. George Gibbs |pages=3 |work=The Western Daily Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112308773/the-memorial-to-mrs-george-gibbs/ |access-date=2022-10-31}} She also served as honorary host of a 1931 flower show in Montpellier.{{Cite news |date=1931-07-04 |title=Choice blooms at the flower show |pages=8 |work=Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112308883/choice-blooms-at-the-flower-show/ |access-date=2022-10-31}}

Lady Helena and Colonel John Evelyn Gibbs had no children. Lady Helena survived her husband by 37 years and died at Badminton House, home of her sister.{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Brian North |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JxbhAAAAMAAJ&q=%22lady+helena+gibbs%22 |title=British Royal Bookplates and Ex-libris of Related Families |date=1992 |publisher=Brookfield, Vt., USA |isbn=978-0-85967-883-4 |pages=203}} Her funeral service was in Gloucestershire at the Church of St. Mary, Tetbury on 27 December 1969.{{Cite news |date=December 29, 1969 |title=Deaths - Lady Helena Gibbs |work=The Times (London, England) |issue=57753 |via=Gale}}