[1] She was the third and youngest daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, and his wife Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia.

In 1932, Princess Marina and Prince George (later the Duke of Kent), a second cousin through Christian IX of Denmark, met in London.

[13] The couple had three children: The Duke of Kent was killed on 25 August 1942, in an airplane crash at Eagle's 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".

[2] She was also the president of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from 1943 until her death and was awarded the RNLI's gold medal in 1967 to mark this contribution.

[16][17] In June 1952 the Duchess laid the foundation stone of the new St Mark's Church in Bromley, London, which had been damaged in the war.

[18] In 1952, the Duchess also visited Sarawak (then a British Crown Colony), where she laid the foundation stone of the Cathedral of St Thomas in Kuching.

[19] In March 1957, when the Gold Coast achieved independence from Britain as Ghana, the Duchess of Kent was appointed to represent the Queen at the celebrations.

[20] Fifty years later, at the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence, her son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, was appointed by the Queen to represent her.

[21] Marina earned a place in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1960 together with the Princess of Monaco, Patricia Lopez-Willshaw and Merle Oberon.

[23] In September and October 1966, when the British Protectorates of Bechuanaland and Basutoland became the new Republic of Botswana and the Kingdom of Lesotho respectively, the Princess was appointed again to represent the Queen at both celebrations.

Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, died of a brain tumour at Kensington Palace at 11.40 am on 27 August 1968, aged 61.