Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary was born on Apr 25 1897. Though she was named after her paternal grandmother, Queen Victoria, she was always known as Princess Mary.

She was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, and the late Queen Elizabeth’s aunt.  During the Great War when she was a young woman, she did charity work for servicemen; in the Second World War, she was the Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

She has quite an interesting vibe about her.  I found these pictures of her in the Library of Congress and was impressed by her excellent posture and the air of “presence” she has!

I found Mary’s signature to be fascinating. Unlike your regular handwriting, or your script, your signature represents how you would like the world to see you.

Mary’s signature is big and bold, with an upward tilt, indicating optimism. She likely had a big personality. The way she underlined her name is called a pedestal. You often see greeting cards with the person’s name put on a pedestal on the envelope. When a person does this to their own signature, it’s often a sign they believe they belong on a pedestal. Considering her royal birth, that wouldn’t be surprising.  And when you take into account how she served her country, it’s quite likely she deserved to be there. She also put a period after her name, which graphologists interpret to be a way of saying, “After me, there is no more.”

Louis XV of France also placed his signature on a pedestal, but there was no period after his name. Instead, he expressed the sentiment: Après moi, le déluge (after me, the deluge).

 

I didn’t do a lot of research into Princess Mary but I’m guessing that she was a remarkable kind of person. Anyone named after Queen Victoria was bound to be. Whoever leaves the best comment about her wins a free Grievous Deeds audiobook! Don’t be shy about leaving comments. I love to hear from you all!

Note to our friends in the UK: the contest is open to you too!