It is my understanding from the literature on how to write that when using actual historical characters, one must stick to historical dates for historical events such as births, marriages, and deaths. As a reader, I also expect those "landmarks" of the story to be accurate. The reason for keeping these important life-changing dates accurate is that "no man is an island unto himself," as some famous person wrote. In other words, each life is interwoven with everything else that is happening at the time.

Princess Ada's Medical Condition

I read your linked article on Princess Ada Irene Helen Benyl Duleep Singh. It seems she had a medical ailment that today the medical profession might diagnose as depression; Google defines neurasthenia thus:

an ill-defined medical condition characterized by lassitude, fatigue,
headache, and irritability, associated chiefly with emotional
disturbance.

The article says she:

was unhappy
led a troubled life
was treated in a "nursing home" [hospital?] in England in 1924
made an attempt to end her life in 1925
died by suicide drowning Oct. 8 1926

The article also says she was "much aggrieved" by her half-brother's death two months earlier. She was also separated from her husband since shortly before the 1925 suicide attempt though the article doesn't tell who initiated the separation. In my observation, all these things are today generally taken for either the symptoms, cause, or the consequence of depression.

Ramifications of a Princess's Suicide

The suicide of a princess will have had major political ramifications. Not least to be impacted will have been the relationship of her estranged husband Pierre Marie Villament with the king. If he has been in the family since March 1910, the historical wedding date, we know that his relationship, involvement, commitments, and political responsibilities are deeper and more complex than if he only married her in 1920 as you propose.

You may decide to also change Villament's role in the king's family, but then you are rewriting history a great deal. Alternatively, if he has been involved but not married all these years, the relationship between him and the princess will be different; her depression might not yet be so deep and far advanced in 1925 because for the past ten years she will have been courting him either secretly or overtly. She will have been living on hopes and dreams, keeping depression at bay.

That is my argument against changing the wedding date, based on professional training in mental health and family dynamics.

Suggestion: Create Your Own Story

A suggestion from the writing literature is to create a fictional character based on the period and culture, i.e. life, of Princess Ada Irene Helen Benyl Duleep Singh, daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh. This gives you more freedom to write the story you want to write it.

You can create characters, conversations, political situations and events. Published examples are novels I've read set in the American White House with a fictitious president. These novels compared this fictitious president's character and habits with that of real former American presidents such as Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Barack Obama. I believe these former presidents were portrayed as accurately as possible. Brad Meltzer's Beecher White series uses this technique, if I remember correctly.

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