Lady Alice Christabel Montagu-Douglas-Scott was born on 25 Dec 1901, at Montagu House. She was the fifth child and third daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch. Her mother was Molly Bridgeman, daughter of the 4th Earl of Bedford. She became HRH Princess Alice when she married Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester on 6 Nov 1935. The wedding day was cold and wet and came soon after the death of her father on 19 Oct. Because of this, and her birthday being Christmas Day, she was known as the Winter Princess.

The Duke of Buccleuch was a descendant of King Charles II through the illegitimate James Scott, Duke of Monmouth. Lady Alice’s childhood was spent at three family homes; Boughton House, Northants, Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries, Bowhill in the Scottish Borders, and Eildon Hall near Melrose. At the age of 14 she swam in the Solway Firth and nearly drowned. She was educated at St James’s School in West Malvern and travelled to France, Kenya and India. She spent a year in Paris before being presented at court in 1920.

In World War Two she worked with the Red Cross and the Order of St John, but is best known for her service in the RAF. She was commandant of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1939, appointed Air Chief Commandant of the WAAF in March 1943. It became the WRAF in 1949, and by February 1990 she was Air Chief Marshal in the RAF.

After the war, the Duke of Gloucester was appointed Governor-General of Australia so the couple lived in Canberra from 1945 to 1947. Princess Alice was the Colonel-in-Chief of several regiments. She was appointed as Colonel-in-Chief of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers in 1937. In the same year she held the same rank in the Northamptonshire Regiment. When the Northants amalgamated with the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment in June 1960 the new regiment was given the unwieldy title 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester’s Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire). When the 10th and 11th Hussars were amalgamated in 1969 she became Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Hussars.

Princess Alice suffered two miscarriages before she had children. Her eldest son Prince William of Gloucester, born on 18 Dec 1941, was killed in a plane crash while taking part in an air show in 1972. The second son was Prince Richard, born on 26 Aug 1944, who became Duke of Gloucester on the death of his father in June 1974. In 1975 Alice was the first woman to be appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). She was already GCStJ CI GBE and GCVO.

The Gloucester family home was at Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire. They also lived in London, at York House, St James’s Palace. In 1969 they moved to Apartment 1, Kensington Palace. She retired from public duties when she was 98. She died on 29 October 2004 aged 102, the oldest royal of all time. She was a shy, private woman who was not a confident speaker and who did not enjoy social occasions. But she had a wicked sense of humour. In later life she recalled that when the couple were married and moved into York House, they were warned that the drawing-room floor would not stand the weight of more than 20 people. “So we made a party list of the 21 people whom we disliked most.”

This five and a half pence stamp was one of a set of 3 produced on 19 Feb 1945 to celebrate the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester in Australia. It was designed and engraved by F D Manley.