May had enough to contend with. Her full name, Victoria Mary, had long been regarded as cumbersome by her husband. With his accession, he asked her to choose between the two. ‘Victoria’ was so closely associated with his illustrious grandmother that ‘Mary’ was the only alternative. ‘It strikes me as curious to be rechristened at the age of 43,’ she wrote to her beloved aunt and confidante, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. ‘Mary’ at least had a regal ring. ‘I hope the beautiful old name will come into vogue again,’ noted the diarist Lady Knightley of Fawsley with approval on 9 May.36
