The daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch, Scotland's largest landowner, she became by marriage a princess of the United Kingdom, and a sister-in-law to Edward VIII and George VI.

Alice was a descendant, in an unbroken male line, of Charles II through his eldest but illegitimate son, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, himself a major political figure during the years leading up to the Glorious Revolution.

[2] Caught in a current in the Solway Firth, she was convinced that she was going to die and she prayed to God, begging for a miracle to save her life in exchange for her devoting herself to public service: The next instant my feet touched rocks.

So when, through a series of unforeseen circumstances, I one day found myself allotted a life of public duty in the service of my country, a very secret pledge was honoured.

[2][5]Alice attended the independent St James's School for Girls, in West Malvern, Worcestershire, and later travelled to France, Kenya and India.

[10] Although the day was cold and wet, a crowd estimated to be more than one million people lined the streets from the Palace to the railway station to see the couple off on their honeymoon.

[11] The Duke of Gloucester left the army to take on more public duties following the abdication of Edward VIII in December 1936.

The couple received a grace and favour residence at York House, St James's Palace,[6] London, and, in 1938, they purchased Barnwell Manor in Northamptonshire.

[2] In 1972, the Duchess's elder son, Prince William, was killed in a plane crash while participating in an amateur air show race.

[8] In 1999, the Duke issued a press release announcing that due to physical frailty, his mother would no longer carry out public engagements outside the environs of Kensington Palace.

[30] On 21 August 2003, Princess Alice surpassed the Queen Mother's record as the oldest person in the history of the British royal family by reaching the age of 101 years and 238 days.

[32] On the evening of 29 October 2004, Princess Alice died in her sleep from heart failure at Kensington Palace, at the age of 102 years and 309 days.

[13] A memorial service was held at St Clement Danes on 2 February 2005, which was attended by her son and his family and representatives of organisations Princess Alice was involved in;[35] the service was co-ordinated by the Royal Air Force in respect of Princess Alice's role as Commandant-in-Chief WRAF.

[36] Hugo Vickers called Princess Alice "a very private person who was not widely known to the general public" despite being the third-highest-ranking lady in the royal family at the time of her marriage.

I made a miserable debut at a dance at Windsor for Princess Mary's birthday, uncomfortably squeezed into a white satin frock.

[3] Soon after her marriage, when the couple moved to York House, they were warned that the drawing-room floor would not stand the weight of more than twenty people.

The Queen allowed her aunt to adopt this title, in part to avoid confusion with her daughter-in-law, the new Duchess of Gloucester (formerly Birgitte van Deurs Henriksen).