Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark

Princess Marina on her wedding day

In 1932 Princess Marina and Prince George (later the Duke of Kent), a second cousin through Christian IX of Denmark, met in London.[4] Their betrothal was announced in August 1934.[3] Prince George was created Duke of Kent on 9 October 1934.[9] Marina's engagement ring was made out of a "square-cut Kashmir sapphire set in platinum with a baton diamond on either side".[10] On 29 November 1934, they married at Westminster Abbey, London.[11] The wedding was a grand affair, as it had been more than ten years since the last royal wedding with Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The wedding of Prince George and Princess Marina was the first royal wedding ceremony to be broadcast by wireless, and with the use of other technology, such as microphones—the control room was located underneath the Unknown Warrior's tomb of Westminster Abbey. The service was broadcast locally and abroad to other nations, and loudspeakers allowed spectators from outside the Abbey to hear the proceedings.[12] The wedding was followed by a Greek ceremony in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, which was converted into an Orthodox chapel for the ceremony.[11] This was the first time this had been done since the wedding of Princess Marina's great-aunt, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia to Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, during the reign of Queen Victoria.[13] The wedding was the most recent occasion on which a foreign-born princess married into the British Royal Family.

The bride's gown was in white and silver silk brocade, designed by Edward Molyneux, and worked on by a team of seamstresses including, at Marina's request, Russian émigrées.[14] The dress featured "sheath silhouette, a draped cowl neckline, trumpet sleeves, and a wide train."[14] A tiara, given to her as a wedding gift, secured her tulle veil.[14]

Her eight bridesmaids were her first cousins, Greek princesses Irene, Eugenie and Katherine, her maternal first cousin Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, her first cousin once removed Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, her husband's niece Princess Elizabeth of York, her husband's cousins the Lady Iris Mountbatten and Lady Mary Cambridge.[4][15]

The Royal School of Needlework made a quilt as a wedding gift for Princess Marina and the Duke of Kent.[16]

Portrait by Philip de László, 1934

The Duke and Duchess set up their first home at 3 Belgrave Square, close to Buckingham Palace.[17] She became a patroness of several organizations and charities, including the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, the Women's Hospital Fund, and the Central School of Speech and Drama. She would continue to support these charities and institutions for the rest of her life.[18] She became very close to her mother-in-law, Queen Mary, with whom she would usually spend time while her husband was off performing his own royal duties.[19]

The couple had three children:

• Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (9 October 1935): he married Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley on 8 June 1961. They have three children.
• Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy (25 December 1936): she married Rt. Hon. Sir Angus James Robert Bruce Ogilvy, son of David Lyulph Gore Wolseley Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Marie Bridget Coke, on 24 April 1963. They had two children.
• Prince Michael of Kent (4 July 1942): he married Marie Christine von Reibnitz on 30 June 1978. They have two children.

The Duke of Kent was killed on 25 August 1942, in an aeroplane crash at Eagles Rock, near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland, while on active service with the Royal Air Force. The Duchess, according to royal biographer Hugo Vickers, was "the only war widow in Britain whose estate was forced to pay death duties".[20]

During World War II, Marina was trained as a nurse for three months under the pseudonym "Sister Kay" and joined the civil nurse reserve.[5]

• 13 December 1906 – 29 November 1934: Her Royal Highness Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark
• 29 November 1934 – 8 June 1961: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent
• 8 June 1961 – 27 August 1968: Her Royal Highness Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent

British and Commonwealth honours

• CI: Companion of the Order of the Crown of India[37] 1937
• GCVO: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order 1948
• GBE: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire 1937
• GCStJ: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem 1935
• Royal Family Order of King George V
• Royal Family Order of King George VI
• Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II
• Canadian Forces Decoration

Foreign honours

• Order of Saints Olga and Sophia, 1st Class[38]
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Beneficence
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Merit
• Dame Grand Cross of the National Order of the Southern Cross
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator San Martin
• Grand Decoration in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria[39]
• House of Romanov: Dame Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of Saint Catherine[40]

The Duchess inspecting cadets of the WRNS officers' training course, 1941

• Colonel-in-Chief, of The Kent Regiment
• Colonel-in-Chief, of The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment[41]
• Colonel-in-Chief, of The Dorset Regiment
• Colonel-in-Chief, of The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment
• Colonel-in-Chief, of The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment
• Colonel-in-Chief, of the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
• Colonel-in-Chief, of The Queen's Regiment (Allied)
• Honorary Colonel, of the Buckinghamshire Battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
• Honorary Colonel, of the 4th Battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
• Honorary Colonel, of the 431 LAA Regiment RA
• Honorary Colonel, of the 299th (Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and Berkshire) Field Regiment, RA
• Honorary Colonel, of the Buckinghamshire Regiment, RA (Territorials)
• Colonel, of the Queen's Own Buffs
• Commandant, Women's Royal Naval Service (1940–1968) (Chief Commandant from 1951)
• Honorary Commandant, of the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service