Princess Mary, Duchess of Sussex

Mary, Duchess of Sussex
GBE
LG
LT
Personal information
National team	Great Britain
Born	5 December 2003 (age 20)
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Weight	8 st 5 lb; 117 lb (53 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	Stockport Metro SC
Coach	Matthew Harris
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing Great Britain
World Junior Championships
Youth Olympic Games
Representing England
Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Youth Games

Full name
	Mary Katharine Nicole Lauren Audrey Alexandra

Princess Mary
Princess Mary
Duchess of Sussex
Born	5 December 2003 (age 20); Princess Alice Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland
Full name
Full name
	Mary Katharine Nicole Lauren Audrey Alexandra
House	Hanover
Father	Thomas
Mother	Christy Turlington
Religion	Protestant

Princess Mary, Duchess of Sussex (Mary Katharine Nicole Lauren Audrey Alexandra; born 5 December 2003) is a member of the British royal family, a competitive swimmer, and an Olympian. She is the third child of King Thomas and the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, ahead of her younger twin sisters, princesses Elle and Vivian. Currently, she is second in the line of succession to the British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish thrones behind her brother, the Duke of Cleveland.

The eldest out of three younger female siblings of Queen Alexandra, she is best known for her active involvement in the Olympics and her outspoken activism, which has at times garnered both criticism and praise from the public. On July 25th 2017, she became the third British princess to hold a ducal title in her own right after her aunt, the Duchess of Albany. Meanwhile, she is also historically the youngest ever royal duchess in British history, having been made one herself at the age of fourteen for her success in international sports.

Early Life

Mary was born on December 5th 2003 to the royal pair of Thomas and American supermodel, Christy Turlington. Unlike her siblings, she was the first and the only one to be born in a hospital, namely the Princess Alice Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon her baptism, she was named Mary Katharine Nicole Lauren Audrey Alexandra, thereby paying respective tributes to her mother, her maternal grandmother, the famed American and British actresses, Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn, and lastly her own older sister, Alexandra.

In a similar pattern to her older siblings, Mary was almost entirely raised by her own relatives rather than raised by an appointed governess. To that end, while Mary typically spends most of her first few years under her mother’s primary care, her paternal grandmother, Queen Lauren herself would instead begin to take on some of the parental responsibilities formerly almost entirely held by Mary’s own mother, as to make up for the latter's preoccupation with her own humanitarian works. Nevertheless, this new arrangement would ultimately do little to disrupt Mary's childhood upbringing, with the princess herself later being described by Queen Lauren in a part of her memoirs as an "extremely bright, talkative, and free-spirited young girl". At the same time, in a manner similar to that involving both her older twin brothers and older sister, Mary's mother, Queen Christy would often take to bringing the young princess herself along with her when conducting her various trips overseas, with the majority being conducted in support of the international humanitarian organisation, CARE, of which Mary's mother herself is particularly associated with. Later on, Mary herself has since spoken rather positively of her time overseas with her mother, calling them "particularly mind-opening" and "hours where one could learn so much from irrespective of their own personal backgrounds".

Education

At the age of seven, Mary first began her public education at the Broughton Primary School in Edinburgh, Scotland, during which she was noted early on for having displayed a "slightly above-average" performance in her studies, prompting assumptions that the princess might be transferred to a private school instead, in order to fare better for her educational studies. Ultimately, this did not materialise as a result of Mary's parents' firm commitment to a normal form of education for their children, as opposed to a more privatised or elitist form, which had been the norm for royalty for decades. Nevertheless, aside from her academic studies, Mary's proficiency in sports, ranging from football to swimming, was also noted, with the latter sport being the one that she generally excelled in.

According to school records, during Year 2, Mary was recorded as having generally served as the vice-captain for her class's football team, before also serving in the same position for her school's football club in the following year. However, for the subsequent fourth and fifth years at her primary school, Mary's interest in sports deviated towards swimming instead, in which she performed generally well despite not being made a captain of the swimming team in either of those two years. For her final and sixth year, she returned back to her school's football club but was now made a captain instead, with the decision being her final sports-related appointment in primary school. Overall, during her capacity as both vice-captain and later captain for her school's football club, she generally played in the attacking midfielder position.

For her subsequent SAT examination, she notably earned a 103 score for the KS1 phase of the exam, before later earning a 105 score for the final KS2 phase of the exam.

Olympic Career

For her secondary school years, she was then transferred to the nearby Broughton High School, thereby following in the footsteps of her older siblings. At the age of fourteen, upon discovering herself as a gifted and extremely talented swimmer, Mary then applied and was formally inducted into the acclaimed Stockport Metro swimming club. She first made a promising mark by placing 3rd in the Women's Junior 200m Freestyle at the 2017 British Swimming Championships. As a result, she was then included as part of the national swimming team for the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, and the 2018 Youth Olympics. She was also part of the national team for the 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. On July 25th 2017, she was made Duchess of Sussex for her successful achievements at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games. However, at the same time, her achievement was briefly marred by controversy when her likeness was unexpectedly used by the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine for that year's cover issue, under the guise of supposedly celebrating the duchess's success. The Duchess, whom promptly responded with a hefty lawsuit against the magazine later publicly recounted the incident, stating, "No matter how much I've aged since then, I could generally never found myself even modelling for that certain kind of audience. To be clear, even if it never happened at all, I still wouldn't do so either way". Ultimately, Mary was compensated with a total amount of $100,000 (£73,535.90) by the magazine, while her depiction was instead replaced with that of the American model, Kate Upton. Nevertheless, just a month later, Mary opted to feature herself on a magazine cover, namely the National Geographic magazine, in which she appeared donning a swim parka with a nature-themed background.

In addition to her professional swimming career, Mary is also known for her general outspoken attitude in regard to both domestic and international issues. For instance, on October 13th 2018, the duchess also notably came out against the selected list of that year's UN Human Rights Council, during which she referred to the inclusion of Venezuela in particular as an "ineffective method of positive encouragement". In a follow-up statement, the duchess further added by stating, "The world during the 1980s was able to dismantle South Africa's apartheid system when it is made clear that racial discrimination is never acceptable despite their fervent anti-Communism, a commendable belief in all its entirety. Regardless, it is much disappointing today to learn that simple issues such as human rights have been mostly politicised with longstanding geopolitical machinations". Then, in August 2019, she once more sparked a considerable amount of controversy when she publicly announced a "personal boycott" of the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, in which she cited Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán's "virulent anti-Semitism" as her primary reason for her boycott and personal withdrawal from the event. Mary then promptly declared, "Only a democratic ousting of the Prime Minister or relocation of the event will see my immediate re-entry into the event. Period".

On January 2nd 2021, Mary formally announced her abstention from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, claiming to have done so under the guise of "concerns for personal safety". Nonetheless, she also later announced that her participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics is otherwise a "likely possibility", stating that "in a year where the pandemic has potentially become more of a less pressing issue overall, I am once again hoping to make my mark on the international stage as a proud Olympian representing my much-beloved country". Nonetheless, her appearance at the 2024 Summer Olympics would be her first overall Olympic debut since reaching adulthood. Prior to this, she has only competed once in the Youth Olympic Games, where she won a single gold medal in representing England.

On March 24th 2020, she was named the new UNICEF ambassador alongside British actress Millie Bobby Brown, thereby becoming the second youngest to hold the post after the latter for her "contribution and outspoken support for UK students in times of hardships and uncertainty". Furthermore, in light of the renewal of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict around May 2021, the duchess was particularly praised for her public and outspoken defence of the British Jewish community, owing in part to her own Jewish ancestry, whilst striking a commendable tone by also publicly criticising the Israeli government's hardline rhetoric, which Mary referred to as an "egregiously horrible thing to accept as a Jewish woman".

In 2022, Mary made her debut since turning of age at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, where she won a total of four for England in the women's 50, 200, 400, and 800 metre freestyle events with the respective times of 23.14, 1:50:51, 4:00.22, and 8:15.42.

Personal Life

Characteristically, while Mary herself is generally said to have shared her sister's enthusiasm for sports, with swimming being her respective favourite sport, she is also generally recognised for her unwavering commitment to activism, and also for her slightly higher level of intelligence, when compared with the rest of her family members. In regards to her personality, the duchess openly named the late American actress, Katharine Hepburn whom, despite falling short of meeting the duchess herself due to her own demise, as her template for her "loud personality, rebellious, and unorthodox nature". In the same interview, the duchess was also recorded as having said, "I think I'm quite of a rebellious-like girl because I was named Mary, since Mary itself, among other meanings, also meant rebelliousness, which I can fully say I am one myself".

Much like her older sister, the Duchess is also said to be a polyglot, a fact which she later confirmed in an interview with The Guardian, to whom she revealed as being fluent in German, Hebrew, and Japanese, aside from her native English.

As a result of her well-established activist persona, the duchess has largely come to garner both praise and criticism from the general public, with the latter largely coming from right-wing publications and news outlets. For instance, after the right-wing American cable news network, Fox News, once described the duchess as "Britain's woke princess", Mary herself soon famously responded with a remark on Twitter stating, "Frankly, I don't know what's worse, being a woke princess or the spokesperson for a billionaire who's not even born in the same country that Fox News is located in". In addition to that, the duchess has also openly spoken on the issue of cyberbullying, with the first instance of her doing so being in June 2018, when the duchess, whom in response to the decision by British actress, Millie Bobby Brown to leave the popular social media site, Twitter, amidst claims of targeted cyberbullying directed against the actress, subsequently tweeted, "As one of the world's most undeniably popular places for people from around the world to communicate with one another, it is much saddening to realise that such a particularly young and promising actress has been ruthlessly subjected to attacks from morally devoid and ruthless online trolls". At the same time, she has also extensively partnered with her older half-sister, the Duchess of Cambridge in a joint effort of campaigning against cyberbullying in general, stating that "as social media continues to become an undeniably integral part of our lives, it must also be ideally safe as possible for anyone using it, much like how roads themselves should generally be free of any harm and danger that can be potentially fatal for anyone and overall harmful for the general society".

Meanwhile, in a 2021 online interview with The New York Times, the duchess openly criticised sceptics of both the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccines, stating that "while the average person should not obviously be restricted from pursuing knowledge, there also exists a clear and absolute difference between the actually intelligent people and those who pretend to be intelligent themselves. Sadly, the latter people are the ones dominating the headlines on news sites every now and then, coupled with the fact that there are loads of people who buy into and are willing to defend their lies".

Titles & Honours

5 December 2003 - 25 July 2017 Her Royal Highness The Princess Mary
25 July 2017 - Present Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex

Honours

National & Commonwealth

United Kingdom - Dame Grand Cross of the Most Gallant Order of British Excellence
United Kingdom - Recipient of the Royal Family Order of King Charles III
United Kingdom - Recipient of the Royal Family Order of King Thomas
United Kingdom - Recipient of the Medal of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of King Charles III
United Kingdom - Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter
United Kingdom - Lady Companion of the Most Ancient and the Most Noble Order of the Thistle
United Kingdom - Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order
United Kingdom - Member of the Order of St. George