The old Duchess of Cambridge had begun to derive a genuine delight from her granddaughter's appearance ... and urged that she should marry the Grand Duke Michael Michailovich*, who was in London in the spring of 1886. this suggestion was strongly combated by the Duke of Cambridge** and also by [her father] the Duke of Teck, the latter stating categorically that he would not be a party to 'sacrificing his child', that Russian Grand Dukes made notoriously bad husbands, that Russia was a horrid country and and the Russians were 'our enemies'.
J . Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary (1959), 166-7
* Grandson of Nicholas I, 1861-1929
** Prince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, 1819-1904
