Princess Alice dies at the age of 102

31 OCTOBER.2004

LONDON - The aunt of Queen Elizabeth, Princess Alice, has died at the age of 102, Buckingham Palace say. She had been the longest living member of the Royal Family.

A Palace spokesman said on Saturday the Princess, widow to the Queen's uncle Henry Duke of Gloucester, died in her sleep on Friday at Kensington Palace surrounded by her immediate family.

 

The Queen was said to be "greatly saddened" by the death.

 

"After the Princess's marriage to Henry, Duke of Gloucester, in 1935, Princess Alice supported the work of King George VI and then the Queen over many years through war and peace and despite the tragedy of the early death of her eldest son Prince William," the Palace said in a statement.

 

"The Queen remembers with gratitude Princess Alice's service to the monarchy and to the country".

 

Princess Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott was born on Christmas Day in 1901 and married the Duke of Gloucester in the chapel at Buckingham Palace. The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, and her sister Margaret were bridesmaids.

 

The Duke of Gloucester was the third son of King George V and Queen Mary and the brother of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, the Queen's father.

 

The couple had two children, Princes William and Richard. William died in a plane crash in 1972 at the age of 30 and Alice's husband died two years later.

 

Prince Richard, who succeeded his father as the Duke of Gloucester, married Birgitte van Deurs in 1972 and had three children.

 

Princess Alice had not been seen in public for many years.