Princess Mary, Duchess of Sussex

Mary, Duchess of Sussex
GBE LG LT
Personal information
National team	Great Britain
Born	5 December 2003 (age 21)
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

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, Prince Richard.

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 25 July 2017, she became the first British princess to hold a ducal title in her own right. 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 5 December 2003 to the royal pair of King Thomas and the 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 25 July 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 modeling 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.

On 2 January 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", amidst controversies surrounding the event itself, particularly around health and safety issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, she then 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 while representing England, namely in the women's 200-metre freestyle event.

On August 2022, the duchess made her debut as a senior Olympian at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, where she won a total of two gold medals and two silver medals for England in the women's 50, 200, 400, and 800-meter freestyle events with the respective times of 23.14, 1:50:51, 4:00.22, and 8:15.42.

Personal Life

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