Lady Helena Gibbs

Photograph, 1903

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.[2] Her mother was Lady Margaret Grosvenor, the third daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster.[2] She was the couple's second daughter.[3] 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 aristrocracy".[4]

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

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.[2] 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.[2] 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.[5][6]

Helena married Colonel John Evelyn Gibbs (22 December 1879 London – 11 October 1932 Tetbury),[2] 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.[7][8] While Gibbs was a commoner,[9][10] the marriage was approved by the King,[11] although it was later determined that King's Consent was not required.[12] The King was originally to be present for the wedding,[11] but later was not able to attend[13] and instead sent a telegram of congratulations on the day after the wedding.[14] Upon the announcement of her engagement to Gibbs, Country Life placed her on the cover of their August 2, 1919 magazine.[15] The wedding was covered in a multi-page article with photographs in The Sketch a British illustrated journal[16] and also in the Tatler in the week following the wedding.[17] The wedding, which her parents wished to be a "quiet, ordinary wedding",[11] 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,[18] a dress of white Royal beaute material,[14][19] and had six bridesmaids, including Lady May Cambridge.[20] The best man was Lancelot Gibbs, the brother of the bridgegroom.[14]

In 1921, Lady Helena Gibbs helped open a children's home in Kingsdown in honor of her late sister-in-law, Victoria Gibbs.[21] She also served as honorary host of a 1931 flower show in Montpellier.[22]

Helena survived her husband by 37 years and died at Badminton House, home of her sister.[23] Her funeral service was in Gloucestershire at the Church of St. Mary, Tetbury on December 27, 1969.[24]