After her death, Sir Winston Churchill paid Queen Mary the
          compliment: "She looked like a Queen and she acted like a Queen".
          However, as a young princess she was regarded as unimportant, her
          father being the product of a morganatic marriage and her mother, "Fat
          Mary", was the younger daughter of the Duke of Cambridge, an uncle of
          Queen Victoria.
             To economise, the Duke and Duchess of Teck moved with their
          children to Florence where Mary acquired a lasting interest in art. As
          a young woman she displayed great tact which enabled her to cope with
          a difficult mother-in-law.
             It was because of this tact and ability to handle difficult people
          that she was chosen as bride for the heir-apparent. Prince "Eddy",
          Duke of Clarence and Avondale, was the eldest son of the Prince of
          Wales (King Edward VII) and therefor in line to inherit the throne.
          Like his mother he was congenitally deaf, a condition caused by
          otosclerosis, the effects of which were aggravated by his poor
          education. Many regarded him as backward, and only his mother showed
          some understanding by recognising his artistic rather than academic
          bent. In 1883 his mother asked Walter Richard Sickert, a young
          painter, to introduce Eddy to the artistic and literary society of
          London. It was in these circles that Eddy received a rather unsavoury
          reputation when his name became linked to the "Jack the Ripper"
          murders and the police-raid on the Cleveland Street brothel in 1889.
          After he had tried to marry the unsuitable catholic Princess Helene
          d'Orleans, it was hoped a marriage to Princess Mary of Teck might
          steer him in the right direction. However, it is recorded, he died of
          typhoid shortly after their engagement but even his death is now open
          to speculation.
             Mary, never regarded a beauty but with a regal bearing and dignity,
          made a much more suitable marriage when she married Eddy's younger
          brother, the future King George V. They were both caring and loving
          when their children were young but appeared unable to express their
          feelings once these children were grown up.
             Queen Mary shared her artistic interests with the Duke of Kent, the
          only one who had inherited her love for art and history. She also
          appeared stiff and unsmiling, but people weren't aware of how shy she
          was in public and a very different person at home.
             As Queen-Mother, Queen Mary spent the war years at Badminton House,
          the home of her niece, the Duchess of Beaufort. Queen Mary loved the
          theatre and the cinema, and often her car would be seen parked outside
          a suburban cinema, where she preferred to go to avoid the fuss which
          would have been created had she attended a West End performance.
             Queen Mary was a great collector and, after her death, the Victoria
          and Albert Museum arranged an exhibition of some of her possessions.
          When she died, she had outlived her husband by more than sixteen years
          as well as three of her sons: King George VI, the Duke of Kent, and
          Prince John.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas