THE SON'S AND DAUGHTER OF KING GEORGE V AND PRINCES MARY - (I)
The king George v And Prince mary have
Six children's they are ,
1. Edward VIII.
2. George VI.
3.Mary, Princess Royal.
4.Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
5.Prince George, Duke of Kent.
6.Prince John.
(In this chapter we see Edward VIII And George VI remaining see in Next chapter)
1.Edward VII :
Introduction:
Reign : 20 January – 11 December 1936
Predecessor : George V
Successor : George VI
Name : Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David.
Father : George V.
Mother : Mary of Teck.
Born : Prince Edward of York
23 June 1894
White Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey, England.
Died : 28 May 1972 (aged 77)
4 route du Champ d'Entraînement, Paris,France.
Burial : 5 June 1972
Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, Windsor, Berkshire.
Spouse : Wallis Simpson
House : Windsor (from 1917)
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1917)
Allegiance : United Kingdom , Royal Navy
British Army , Royal Air Force
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.
Edward was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, seven weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, Edward served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. While Prince of Wales, he engaged in a series of sexual affairs that worried both his father and then-British prime minister Stanley Baldwin.
Upon his father's death in 1936, Edward became the second monarch of the House of Windsor. The new king showed impatience with court protocol, and caused concern among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, a constitutional crisis was caused by his proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort. Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as titular head of the Church of England, which, at the time, disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive. Edward knew the Baldwin government would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would have ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. When it became apparent he could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 326 days, Edward is the shortest-reigning British monarch.
After his abdication, Edward was created Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany. During the Second World War, Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France, but after private accusations that he was a Nazi sympathiser, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, Edward spent the rest of his life in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972.
Early life:
Edward was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park, on the outskirts of London during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria.He was the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary). His father was the son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother was the eldest daughter of Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge and Francis, Duke of Teck. At the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind his grandfather and father.
He was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894 by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury. The name "Edward" was chosen in honour of Edward's late uncle Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who was known within the family as "Eddy" (Edward being among his given names); "Albert" was included at the behest of Queen Victoria for her late husband Albert, Prince Consort; "Christian" was in honour of his great-grandfather King Christian IX of Denmark; and the last four names – George, Andrew, Patrick and David – came from, respectively, the patron saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He was always known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David.
As was common practice with upper-class children of the time, Edward and his younger siblings were brought up by nannies rather than directly by their parents. One of Edward's early nannies often abused him by pinching him before he was due to be presented to his parents. His subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send him and the nanny away. The nanny was discharged after her mistreatment of the children was discovered, and she was replaced by Charlotte Bill.
Edward's father, though a harsh disciplinarian, was demonstratively affectionate, and his mother displayed a frolicsome side with her children that belied her austere public image. She was amused by the children making tadpoles on toast for their French master as a prank,and encouraged them to confide in her.
Education :
Initially, Edward was tutored at home by Helen Bricka. When his parents travelled the British Empire for almost nine months following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, young Edward and his siblings stayed in Britain with their grandparents, Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII, who showered their grandchildren with affection. Upon his parents' return, Edward was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who virtually brought up Edward and his brothers and sister for their remaining nursery years.
Edward was kept under the strict tutorship of Hansell until almost thirteen years old. Private tutors taught him German and French. Edward took the examination to enter the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and began there in 1907. Hansell had wanted Edward to enter school earlier, but the prince's father had disagreed. Following two years at Osborne College, which he did not enjoy, Edward moved on to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. A course of two years, followed by entry into the Royal Navy, was planned.
Edward automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay on 6 May 1910 when his father ascended the throne as George V on the death of Edward VII. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester a month later on 23 June 1910, his 16th birthday. Preparations for his future as king began in earnest. He was withdrawn from his naval course before his formal graduation, served as midshipman for three months aboard the battleship Hindustan, then immediately entered Magdalen College, Oxford, for which, in the opinion of his biographers, he was underprepared intellectually. A keen horseman, he learned how to play polo with the university club.He left Oxford after eight terms, without any academic qualifications.
Prince of Wales :
Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a special ceremony at Caernarfon Castle on 13 July 1911. The investiture took place in Wales, at the instigation of the Welsh politician David Lloyd George, Constable of the Castle and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government. Lloyd George invented a rather fanciful ceremony in the style of a Welsh pageant, and coached Edward to speak a few words in Welsh.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and was keen to participate.He had joined the Grenadier Guards in June 1914, and although Edward was willing to serve on the front lines, Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener refused to allow it, citing the immense harm that would occur if the heir apparent to the throne were captured by the enemy.Despite this, Edward witnessed trench warfare first-hand and visited the front line as often as he could, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in 1916. His role in the war, although limited, made him popular among veterans of the conflict.He undertook his first military flight in 1918, and later gained a pilot's licence.
Edward's youngest brother, Prince John, died at the age of 13 on 18 January 1919 after a severe epileptic seizure.Edward, who was 11 years older than John and had hardly known him, saw his death as "little more than a regrettable nuisance".He wrote to his mistress of the time that "[he had] told [her] all about that little brother, and how he was an epileptic. [John]'s been practically shut up for the last two years anyhow, so no one has ever seen him except the family, and then only once or twice a year. This poor boy had become more of an animal than anything else." He also wrote an insensitive letter to his mother which has since been lost. She did not reply, but he felt compelled to write her an apology, in which he stated: "I feel such a cold hearted and unsympathetic swine for writing all that I did ... No one can realize more than you how little poor Johnnie meant to me who hardly knew him ... I feel so much for you, darling Mama, who was his mother."
Throughout the 1920s, Edward, as the Prince of Wales, represented his father at home and abroad on many occasions. His rank, travels, good looks, and unmarried status gained him much public attention. At the height of his popularity, he was the most photographed celebrity of his time and he set men's fashion. During his 1924 visit to the United States, Men's Wear magazine observed, "The average young man in America is more interested in the clothes of the Prince of Wales than in any other individual on earth."
Edward visited poverty-stricken areas of Britain,and undertook 16 tours to various parts of the Empire between 1919 and 1935. On a tour of Canada in 1919, he acquired the Bedingfield ranch, near Pekisko, Alberta,and in 1924, he donated the Prince of Wales Trophy to the National Hockey League.He escaped unharmed when the train he was riding in during a tour of Australia was derailed outside Perth in 1920.
His November 1921 visit to India came during the non-cooperation movement protests for Indian self-rule, and was marked by riots in Bombay. In 1929 Sir Alexander Leith, a leading Conservative in the north of England, persuaded him to make a three-day visit to the County Durham and Northumberland coalfields, where there was much unemployment. From January to April 1931, the Prince of Wales and his brother Prince George travelled 18,000 miles (29,000 km) on a tour of South America, steaming out on the ocean liner Oropesa,and returning via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.
Though widely travelled, Edward shared a widely held racial prejudice against foreigners and many of the Empire's subjects, believing that whites were inherently superior. In 1920, on his visit to Australia, he wrote of Indigenous Australians: "they are the most revolting form of living creatures I've ever seen!! They are the lowest known form of human beings & are the nearest thing to monkeys."
In 1919, Edward agreed to be president of the organising committee for the proposed British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park, Middlesex. He wished the Exhibition to include "a great national sports ground", and so played a part in the creation of Wembley Stadium.
Romances :
By 1917, Edward liked to spend time partying in Paris while he was on leave from his regiment on the Western Front. He was introduced to Parisian courtesan Marguerite Alibert, with whom he became infatuated. He wrote her candid letters, which she kept. After about a year, Edward broke off the affair. In 1923, Alibert was acquitted in a spectacular murder trial after she shot her husband in the Savoy Hotel. Desperate efforts were made by the Royal Household to ensure that Edward's name was not mentioned in connection with the trial or Alibert.
Edward's womanising and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, King George V, and those close to the prince. George V was disappointed by his son's failure to settle down in life, disgusted by his affairs with married women, and reluctant to see him inherit the Crown. "After I am dead," George said, "the boy will ruin himself in twelve months."
George V favoured his second son Albert ("Bertie") and Albert's daughter Elizabeth ("Lilibet"), later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II respectively. He told a courtier, "I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."In 1929, Time magazine reported that Edward teased Albert's wife, also named Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), by calling her "Queen Elizabeth". The magazine asked if "she did not sometimes wonder how much truth there is in the story that he once said he would renounce his rights upon the death of George V – which would make her nickname come true".
In 1930, George V gave Edward the lease of Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park.There, he continued his relationships with a series of married women, including Freda Dudley Ward and Lady Furness, the American wife of a British peer, who introduced the prince to her friend and fellow American Wallis Simpson. Simpson had divorced her first husband, U.S. Navy officer Win Spencer, in 1927. Her second husband, Ernest Simpson, was a British-American businessman. Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, it is generally accepted, became lovers, while Lady Furness travelled abroad, although the prince adamantly insisted to his father that he was not having an affair with her and that it was not appropriate to describe her as his mistress. Edward's relationship with Simpson, however, further weakened his poor relationship with his father. Although his parents met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935, they later refused to receive her.
Edward's affair with an American divorcée led to such grave concern that the couple were followed by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, who examined in secret the nature of their relationship. An undated report detailed a visit by the couple to an antique shop, where the proprietor later noted "that the lady seemed to have POW [Prince of Wales] completely under her thumb."The prospect of having an American divorcée with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety among government and establishment figures.
King George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. The next day, accompanied by Simpson, he broke with custom by watching the proclamation of his own accession from a window of St James's Palace. He became the first monarch of the British Empire to fly in an aircraft when he flew from Sandringham to London for his Accession Council.
Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. His comment during a tour of depressed villages in South Wales that "something must be done"for the unemployed coal miners was seen as an attempt to guide government policy, though he had not proposed any remedy or change in policy. Government ministers were reluctant to send confidential documents and state papers to Fort Belvedere, because it was clear that Edward was paying little attention to them, and it was feared that Simpson and other house guests might read them, improperly or inadvertently revealing government secrets.
Edward's unorthodox approach to his role also extended to the coinage that bore his image. He broke with the tradition that the profile portrait of each successive monarch faced in the direction opposite to that of his or her predecessor. Edward insisted that he face left (as his father had done), to show the parting in his hair. Only a handful of test coins were struck before the abdication, and all are very rare. When George VI succeeded to the throne he also faced left to maintain the tradition by suggesting that, had any further coins been minted featuring Edward's portrait, they would have shown him facing right.
On 16 July 1936, Jerome Bannigan, alias George Andrew McMahon, produced a loaded revolver as Edward rode on horseback at Constitution Hill, near Buckingham Palace. Police spotted the gun and pounced on him; he was quickly arrested. At Bannigan's trial, he alleged that "a foreign power" had approached him to kill Edward, that he had informed MI5 of the plan, and that he was merely seeing the plan through to help MI5 catch the real culprits. The court rejected the claims and sent him to jail for a year for "intent to alarm". It is now thought that Bannigan had indeed been in contact with MI5, but the veracity of the remainder of his claims remains open.
In August and September, Edward and Simpson cruised the Eastern Mediterranean on the steam yacht Nahlin. By October it was becoming clear that the new king planned to marry Simpson, especially when divorce proceedings between the Simpsons were brought at Ipswich Assizes. Although gossip about his affair was widespread in the United States, the British media kept silent voluntarily, and the general public knew nothing until early December.
Abdication :
On 16 November 1936, Edward invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Simpson when she became free to remarry. Baldwin informed him that his subjects would deem the marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people would not tolerate Simpson as queen. As king, Edward was the titular head of the Church, and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang, was vocal in insisting that Edward must go.
Edward proposed an alternative solution of a morganatic marriage, in which he would remain king but Simpson would not become queen consort. She would enjoy some lesser title instead, and any children they might have would not inherit the throne. This was supported by senior politician Winston Churchill in principle, and some historians suggest that he conceived the plan.In any event, it was ultimately rejected by the British Cabinetas well as other Dominion governments.The other governments' views were sought pursuant to the Statute of Westminster 1931, which provided in part that "any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom."The Prime Ministers of Australia (Joseph Lyons), Canada (Mackenzie King) and South Africa (J. B. M. Hertzog) made clear their opposition to the king marrying a divorcée; their Irish counterpart (Éamon de Valera) expressed indifference and detachment, while the Prime Minister of New Zealand (Michael Joseph Savage), having never heard of Simpson before, vacillated in disbelief.Faced with this opposition, Edward at first responded that there were "not many people in Australia" and their opinion did not matter.
Edward informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Simpson. Baldwin then presented Edward with three options: give up the idea of marriage; marry against his ministers' wishes; or abdicate. It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Simpson, and he knew that if he married against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the government to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis.He chose to abdicate.
Edward duly signed the instruments of abdication at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936 in the presence of his younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York, next in line for the throne; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent.The document included these words: "declare my irrevocable determination to renounce the throne for myself and for my descendants and my desire that effect should be given to this instrument of abdication immediately". The next day, the last act of his reign was the royal assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. As required by the Statute of Westminster, all the Dominions had already consented to the abdication.
On the night of 11 December 1936, Edward, now reverted to the title and style of a prince, explained his decision to abdicate in a worldwide BBC radio broadcast. He said, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love." He added that the "decision was mine and mine alone ... The other person most nearly concerned has tried up to the last to persuade me to take a different course".Edward departed Britain for Austria the following day; he was unable to join Simpson until her divorce became absolute, several months later. His brother, the Duke of York, succeeded to the throne as George VI. Accordingly, George VI's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became heir presumptive
Honours and arms :
Honours :
◇British Commonwealth and Empire honours :
KG: Royal Knight of the Garter, 1910
MC: Military Cross, 1916
GCMG: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George, 1917
GBE: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire, 1917
ADC: Personal aide-de-camp, 3 June 1919
GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 1920
PC: Privy Counsellor, (United Kingdom) 1920
GCSI: Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India, 1921
GCIE: Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire, 1921
Royal Victorian Chain, 1921
KT: Extra Knight of the Thistle, 1922
GCStJ: Bailiff Grand Cross of St John, 12 June 1926[145]KStJ: Knight of Justice of St John, 2 June 1917
KP: Knight of St Patrick, 1927
PC: Privy Councillor of Canada, 1927
GCB: Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, 1936
ISO: Companion of the Imperial Service Order, 23 June 1910
FRS: Royal Fellow of the Royal Society
◇Foreign honours :
Knight of the Golden Lion, 23 June 1911
Knight of the Golden Fleece, 22 June 1912
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, August 1912
Knight of the Elephant, 17 March 1914
Grand Cross of St. Olav, with Collar, 6 April 1914
Knight of the Annunciation, 21 June 1915
Croix de Guerre, 1915
Knight of St. George, 3rd Class, 1916
Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 16 August 1917
Order of Michael the Brave, 1st Class, 1918
War Merit Cross, 1919
Grand Cordon of the Order of Mohamed Ali, 1922
Knight of the Seraphim, 12 November 1923
Collar of the Order of Carol I, 1924
Order of Merit, 1st Class, 1925
Grand Cross of the Condor of the Andes, 1931[155]
Grand Cross of the Sun of Peru, 1931
Grand Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders, 25 April 1931 – during his visit to Lisbon
Grand Cross of the Southern Cross, 1933
Grand Cross of St. Agatha, 1935
◇Military ranks :
22 June 1911: Midshipman, Royal Navy
17 March 1913: Lieutenant, Royal Navy
18 November 1914: Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, British Army. (First World War, Flanders and Italy)
10 March 1916: Captain, British Army
1918: Temporary Major, British Army
15 April 1919: Colonel, British Army
8 July 1919: Captain, Royal Navy
5 December 1922: Group Captain, Royal Air Force
1 September 1930: Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy; Lieutenant-General, British Army; Air Marshal, Royal Air Force
1 January 1935: Admiral, Royal Navy; General, British Army; Air Chief Marshal, Royal Air Force
21 January 1936: Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy; Field Marshal, British Army; Marshal of the Royal Air Force
3 September 1939: Major-General, British Army
Arms :
Edward's coat of arms as the Prince of Wales was the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, differenced with a label of three points argent, with an inescutcheon representing Wales surmounted by a coronet (identical to those of Charles, the current Prince of Wales). As Sovereign, he bore the royal arms undifferenced. After his abdication, he used the arms again differenced by a label of three points argent, but this time with the centre point bearing an imperial crown.
Duke of Windsor :
On 12 December 1936, at the accession meeting of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, George VI announced his intention to make his brother the "Duke of Windsor" with the style of Royal Highness.He wanted this to be the first act of his reign, although the formal documents were not signed until 8 March the following year. During the interim, Edward was known as the Duke of Windsor. George VI's decision to create Edward a royal duke ensured that he could neither stand for election to the British House of Commons nor speak on political subjects in the House of Lords.
Letters Patent dated 27 May 1937 re-conferred the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness" upon the Duke, but specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute". Some British ministers advised that the reconfirmation was unnecessary since Edward had retained the style automatically, and further that Simpson would automatically obtain the rank of wife of a prince with the style Her Royal Highness; others maintained that he had lost all royal rank and should no longer carry any royal title or style as an abdicated king, and be referred to simply as "Mr Edward Windsor". On 14 April 1937, Attorney General Sir Donald Somervell submitted to Home Secretary Sir John Simon a memorandum summarising the views of Lord Advocate T. M. Cooper, Parliamentary Counsel Sir Granville Ram, and himself:
1. We incline to the view that on his abdication the Duke of Windsor could not have claimed the right to be described as a Royal Highness. In other words, no reasonable objection could have been taken if the King had decided that his exclusion from the lineal succession excluded him from the right to this title as conferred by the existing Letters Patent.
2.The question however has to be considered on the basis of the fact that, for reasons which are readily understandable, he with the express approval of His Majesty enjoys this title and has been referred to as a Royal Highness on a formal occasion and in formal documents. In the light of precedent it seems clear that the wife of a Royal Highness enjoys the same title unless some appropriate express step can be and is taken to deprive her of it.
3.We came to the conclusion that the wife could not claim this right on any legal basis. The right to use this style or title, in our view, is within the prerogative of His Majesty and he has the power to regulate it by Letters Patent generally or in particular circumstances.
The Duke married Simpson, who had changed her name by deed poll to Wallis Warfield (her birth surname), in a private ceremony on 3 June 1937, at Château de Candé, near Tours, France. When the Church of England refused to sanction the union, a County Durham clergyman, the Reverend Robert Anderson Jardine (Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington), offered to perform the ceremony, and the Duke accepted. George VI forbade members of the royal family to attend,to the lasting resentment of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Edward had particularly wanted his brothers the dukes of Gloucester and Kent and his second cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten to attend the ceremony.
The denial of the style Royal Highness to the Duchess of Windsor caused further conflict, as did the financial settlement. The Government declined to include the Duke or Duchess on the Civil List, and the Duke's allowance was paid personally by George VI. The Duke compromised his position with his brother by concealing the extent of his financial worth when they informally agreed on the amount of the allowance. Edward's wealth had accumulated from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall paid to him as Prince of Wales and ordinarily at the disposal of an incoming king. George VI also paid Edward for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, which were Edward's personal property, inherited from his father and thus did not automatically pass to George VI on his accession.Edward received approximately £300,000 (equivalent to between £20.5 and £134.4 million in 2019) for both residences which was paid to him in yearly instalments. In the early days of George VI's reign the Duke telephoned daily, importuning for money and urging that the Duchess be granted the style of Royal Highness, until the harassed king ordered that the calls not be put through.
Relations between the Duke of Windsor and the rest of the royal family were strained for decades. The Duke had assumed that he would settle in Britain after a year or two of exile in France. King George VI (with the support of Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth) threatened to cut off Edward's allowance if he returned to Britain without an invitation. Edward became embittered against his mother, Queen Mary, writing to her in 1939: "[your last letter] destroy[ed] the last vestige of feeling I had left for you ... [and has] made further normal correspondence between us impossible."
In October 1937, the Duke and Duchess visited Nazi Germany, against the advice of the British government, and met Adolf Hitler at his Berghof retreat in Bavaria. The visit was much publicised by the German media. During the visit the Duke gave full Nazi salutes.In Germany, "they were treated like royalty ... members of the aristocracy would bow and curtsy towards her, and she was treated with all the dignity and status that the duke always wanted", according to royal biographer Andrew Morton in a 2016 BBC interview.
The former Austrian ambassador, Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, who was also a second cousin once removed and friend of George V, believed that Edward favoured German fascism as a bulwark against communism, and even that he initially favoured an alliance with Germany.According to the Duke of Windsor, the experience of "the unending scenes of horror"[88] during the First World War led him to support appeasement. Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Germany and thought that Anglo-German relations could have been improved through Edward if it were not for the abdication. Albert Speer quoted Hitler directly: "I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved. If he had stayed, everything would have been different. His abdication was a severe loss for us."The Duke and Duchess settled in Paris, leasing a mansion in Boulevard Suchet from late 1938.
◇Second World War :
In May 1939, the Duke was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast (his first since abdicating) during a visit to the First World War battlefields of Verdun. In it he appealed for peace, saying "I am deeply conscious of the presence of the great company of the dead, and I am convinced that could they make their voices heard they would be with me in what I am about to say. I speak simply as a soldier of the Last War whose most earnest prayer it is that such cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind. There is no land whose people want war." The broadcast was heard across the world by millions. It was widely regarded as supporting appeasement, and the BBC refused to broadcast it. It was broadcast outside the United States on shortwave radio and was reported in full by British broadsheet newspapers.On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Duke and Duchess were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten on board HMS Kelly, and Edward, although he held the rank of field marshal, was made a major-general attached to the British Military Mission in France.In February 1940, the German ambassador in The Hague, Count Julius von Zech-Burkersroda, claimed that the Duke had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium,which the Duke later denied.When Germany invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz, then in June to Francoist Spain. In July the pair moved to Portugal, where they lived at first in the home of Ricardo Espírito Santo, a Portuguese banker with both British and German contacts. Under the code name Operation Willi, Nazi agents, principally Walter Schellenberg, plotted unsuccessfully to persuade the Duke to leave Portugal and return to Spain, kidnapping him if necessary.Lord Caldecote wrote a warning to Winston Churchill, who by this point was prime minister, that "[the Duke] is well-known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue." Churchill threatened the Duke with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil.
In July 1940, Edward was appointed governor of the Bahamas. The Duke and Duchess left Lisbon on 1 August aboard the American Export Lines steamship Excalibur, which was specially diverted from its usual direct course to New York City so that they could be dropped off at Bermuda on the 9th.They left Bermuda for Nassau on the Canadian National Steamship Company vessel Lady Somers on 15 August, arriving two days later.The Duke did not enjoy being governor and privately referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony".The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when the Duke and Duchess planned to cruise aboard a yacht belonging to Swedish magnate Axel Wenner-Gren, whom British and American intelligence wrongly believed to be a close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring. The Duke was praised for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands, although he was as contemptuous of the Bahamians as he was of most non-white peoples of the Empire. He said of Étienne Dupuch, the editor of the Nassau Daily Tribune: "It must be remembered that Dupuch is more than half Negro, and due to the peculiar mentality of this Race, they seem unable to rise to prominence without losing their equilibrium."He was praised, even by Dupuch, for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in 1942, even though he blamed the trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft".He resigned from the post on 16 March 1945.
Many historians have suggested that Adolf Hitler was prepared to reinstate Edward as king in the hope of establishing a fascist puppet government in Britain after Operation Sea Lion.It is widely believed that the Duke and Duchess sympathised with fascism before and during the Second World War, and were moved to the Bahamas to minimise their opportunities to act on those feelings. In 1940 he said: "In the past 10 years Germany has totally reorganised the order of its society ... Countries which were unwilling to accept such a reorganisation of society and its concomitant sacrifices should direct their policies accordingly." During the occupation of France, the Duke asked the German Wehrmacht forces to place guards at his Paris and Riviera homes; they did so. In December 1940, the Duke gave Fulton Oursler of Liberty magazine an interview at Government House in Nassau. Oursler conveyed its content to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a private meeting at the White House on 23 December 1940.The interview was published on 22 March 1941 and in it the Duke was reported to have said that "Hitler was the right and logical leader of the German people" and that the time was coming for President Roosevelt to mediate a peace settlement. The Duke protested that he had been misquoted and misinterpreted.
The Allies became sufficiently disturbed by German plots revolving around the Duke that President Roosevelt ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1941. Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg (then a monk in an American monastery) had told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the Duchess had slept with the German ambassador in London, Joachim von Ribbentrop, in 1936; had remained in constant contact with him; and had continued to leak secrets.
Author Charles Higham claimed that Anthony Blunt, an MI5 agent and Soviet spy, acting on orders from the British royal family, made a successful secret trip to Schloss Friedrichshof in Allied-occupied Germany towards the end of the war to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis. What is certain is that George VI sent the Royal Librarian, Owen Morshead, accompanied by Blunt, then working part-time in the Royal Library as well as for British intelligence, to Friedrichshof in March 1945 to secure papers relating to the German Empress Victoria, the eldest child of Queen Victoria. Looters had stolen part of the castle's archive, including surviving letters between daughter and mother, as well as other valuables, some of which were recovered in Chicago after the war. The papers rescued by Morshead and Blunt, and those returned by the American authorities from Chicago, were deposited in the Royal Archives. In the late 1950s, documents recovered by U.S. troops in Marburg, Germany, in May 1945, since titled the Marburg Files, were published following more than a decade of suppression, enhancing theories of the Duke's sympathies for Nazi ideologies.After the war, the Duke admitted in his memoirs that he admired the Germans, but he denied being pro-Nazi. Of Hitler he wrote: "[the] Führer struck me as a somewhat ridiculous figure, with his theatrical posturings and his bombastic pretensions." In the 1950s, journalist Frank Giles heard the Duke blame British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden for helping to "precipitate the war through his treatment of Mussolini ... that's what [Eden] did, he helped to bring on the war ... and of course Roosevelt and the Jews".During the 1960s the Duke said privately to a friend, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross, "I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap."
At the end of the war, the couple returned to France and spent the remainder of their lives essentially in retirement as the Duke never held another official role. Correspondence between the Duke and Kenneth de Courcy, dated between 1946 and 1949, emerged in a U.S. library in 2009. The letters suggest a scheme where the Duke would return to England and place himself in a position for a possible regency. The health of George VI was failing and de Courcy was concerned about the influence of the Mountbatten family over the young Princess Elizabeth. De Courcy suggested the Duke buy a working agricultural estate within an easy drive of London in order to gain favour with the British public and make himself available should the King become incapacitated. The Duke, however, hesitated and the King recovered from his surgery.
The Duke's allowance was supplemented by government favours and illegal currency trading.The City of Paris provided the Duke with a house at 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement, on the Neuilly-sur-Seine side of the Bois de Boulogne, for a nominal rent. The French government also exempted him from paying income tax,and the couple were able to buy goods duty-free through the British embassy and the military commissary. In 1952, they bought and renovated a weekend country retreat, Le Moulin de la Tuilerie at Gif-sur-Yvette, the only property the couple ever owned themselves. In 1951, the Duke had produced a ghost-written memoir, A King's Story, in which he expressed disagreement with liberal politics. The royalties from the book added to their income.
The Duke and Duchess effectively took on the role of celebrities and were regarded as part of café society in the 1950s and 1960s. They hosted parties and shuttled between Paris and New York; Gore Vidal, who met the Windsors socially, reported on the vacuity of the Duke's conversation.The couple doted on the pug dogs they kept.
In June 1953, instead of attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, his niece, in London, the Duke and Duchess watched the ceremony on television in Paris. The Duke said that it was contrary to precedent for a Sovereign or former Sovereign to attend any coronation of another. He was paid to write articles on the ceremony for the Sunday Express and Woman's Home Companion, as well as a short book, The Crown and the People, 1902–1953.
In 1955, they visited President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House. The couple appeared on Edward R. Murrow's television-interview show Person to Person in 1956, and in a 50-minute BBC television interview in 1970. On 4 April of that year President Richard Nixon invited them as guests of honour to a dinner at the White House with Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, Charles Lindbergh, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Arnold Palmer, George H. W. Bush, and Frank Borman.
The royal family never fully accepted the Duchess. Queen Mary refused to receive her formally. However, Edward sometimes met his mother and his brother, George VI; he attended George's funeral in 1952. Queen Mary remained angry with Edward and indignant over his marriage to Wallis: "To give up all this for that", she said.In 1965, the Duke and Duchess returned to London. They were visited by Elizabeth II, his sister-in-law Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and his sister Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. A week later, the Princess Royal died, and they attended her memorial service. In 1967, they joined the royal family for the centenary of Queen Mary's birth. The last royal ceremony the Duke attended was the funeral of Princess Marina in 1968. He declined an invitation from Elizabeth II to attend the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969, replying that Prince Charles would not want his "aged great-uncle" there.
In the 1960s, the Duke's health deteriorated. Michael E. DeBakey operated on him in Houston for an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta in December 1964, and Sir Stewart Duke-Elder treated a detached retina in his left eye in February 1965. In late 1971, the Duke, who was a smoker from an early age, was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent cobalt therapy. On 18 May 1972, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Duke and Duchess of Windsor while on a state visit to France; she spoke with the Duke for fifteen minutes, but only the Duchess appeared with the royal party for a photocall as the Duke was too ill.
◇Death and legacy :
On 28 May 1972, ten days after the Queen's visit, the Duke died at his home in Paris, less than a month before his 78th birthday. His body was returned to Britain, lying in state at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The funeral service took place in the chapel on 5 June in the presence of the Queen, the royal family, and the Duchess of Windsor, who stayed at Buckingham Palace during her visit. He was buried in the Royal Burial Ground behind the Royal Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Frogmore.Until a 1965 agreement with the Queen, the Duke and Duchess had planned for a burial in a cemetery plot they had purchased at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, where the Duchess's father was interred.Frail, and suffering increasingly from dementia, the Duchess died in 1986, and was buried alongside her husband.
In the view of historians, such as Philip Williamson writing in 2007, the popular perception in the 21st century that the abdication was driven by politics rather than religious morality is false and arises because divorce has become much more common and socially acceptable. To modern sensibilities, the religious restrictions that prevented Edward from continuing as king while planning to marry Simpson "seem, wrongly, to provide insufficient explanation" for his abdication.
2.George VI.
Introduction :
Reign : 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952.
Coronation : 12 May 1937
Predecessor : Edward VIII.
Successor : Elizabeth II.
Emperor of India
Reign : 11 December 1936 – 15 August 1947
Predecessor : Edward VIII.
Successor : Position abolished.
Name : Albert Frederick Arthur George.
Father : George V.
Mother : Mary of Teck.
Born : Prince Albert of York
14 December 1895
York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk, England.
Died : 6 February 1952 (aged 56)
Sandringham House, Norfolk.
Burial : 15 February 1952
Royal Vault, St George's Chapel;
26 March 1969
King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel.
Spouse : Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
Issue : 1.Elizabeth II.
2.Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.
House : Windsor (from 1917)
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha .
Service/branch : Royal Navy.
Royal Air Force.
Years of active service : 1913–1919
Battles/wars : World War I(Battle of Jutland)
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was concurrently the last Emperor of India until August 1947, when the British Raj was dissolved.
The future George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria; he was named Albert at birth after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort, and was known as "Bertie" to his family and close friends. His father ascended the throne as King George V in 1910. As the second son of the king, Albert was not expected to inherit the throne. He spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Prince Edward, the heir apparent. Albert attended naval college as a teenager and served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during the First World War. In 1920, he was made Duke of York. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret. In the mid-1920s, he engaged speech therapist Lionel Logue to treat his stammer, which he learned to manage to some degree. His elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII after their father died in 1936, but Edward abdicated later that year to marry the twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson; Albert thereby became the third monarch of the House of Windsor, taking the regnal name George VI.
Early life :
The future George VI was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second and eldest surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother, the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), was the eldest child and only daughter of Francis, Duke of Teck, and Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck.His birthday, 14 December 1895, was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort.Uncertain of how the Prince Consort's widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been "rather distressed". Two days later, he wrote again: "I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her."
The Queen was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby Albert, and wrote to the Duchess of York: "I am all impatience to see the new one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me, especially as he will be called by that dear name which is a byword for all that is great and good."Consequently, he was baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham on 17 February 1896. Formally he was His Highness Prince Albert of York; within the family he was known informally as "Bertie".The Duchess of Teck did not like the first name her grandson had been given, and she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one".Albert was fourth in line to the throne at birth, after his grandfather, father and elder brother, Edward.
Albert was ill often and was described as "easily frightened and somewhat prone to tears".His parents were generally removed from their children's day-to-day upbringing, as was the norm in aristocratic families of that era. He had a stammer that lasted for many years. Although naturally left-handed, he was forced to write with his right hand, as was common practice at the time.He had chronic stomach problems as well as knock knees, for which he was forced to wear painful corrective splints.
Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, and the Prince of Wales succeeded her as King Edward VII. Prince Albert moved up to third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother.
Military career and education :
Beginning in 1909, Albert attended the Royal Naval College, Osborne, as a naval cadet. In 1911 he came bottom of the class in the final examination, but despite this he progressed to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. When his grandfather, Edward VII, died in 1910, his father became King George V. Edward became Prince of Wales, with Albert second in line to the throne.
Albert spent the first six months of 1913 on the training ship HMS Cumberland in the West Indies and on the east coast of Canada.He was rated as a midshipman aboard HMS Collingwood on 15 September 1913. He spent three months in the Mediterranean, but never overcame his seasickness.Three weeks after the outbreak of World War I he was medically evacuated from the ship to Aberdeen, where his appendix was removed by Sir John Marnoch.He was mentioned in despatches for his actions as a turret officer aboard Collingwood in the Battle of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916), the great naval battle of the war. He did not see further combat, largely because of ill health caused by a duodenal ulcer, for which he had an operation in November 1917.
In February 1918 Albert was appointed Officer in Charge of Boys at the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment at Cranwell. With the establishment of the Royal Air Force Albert transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Force.He served as Officer Commanding Number 4 Squadron of the Boys' Wing at Cranwell until August 1918, before reporting to the RAF's Cadet School at St Leonards-on-Sea. He completed a fortnight's training and took command of a squadron on the Cadet Wing.He was the first member of the British royal family to be certified as a fully qualified pilot.
Albert wanted to serve on the Continent while the war was still in progress and welcomed a posting to General Trenchard's staff in France. On 23 October, he flew across the Channel to Autigny. For the closing weeks of the war, he served on the staff of the RAF's Independent Air Force at its headquarters in Nancy, France.Following the disbanding of the Independent Air Force in November 1918, he remained on the Continent for two months as an RAF staff officer until posted back to Britain. He accompanied Belgian King Albert I on his triumphal re-entry into Brussels on 22 November. Prince Albert qualified as an RAF pilot on 31 July 1919 and was promoted to squadron leader the following day.
In October 1919, Albert went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied history, economics and civics for a year,with the historian R. V. Laurence as his "official mentor". On 4 June 1920 his father created him Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney.He began to take on more royal duties. He represented his father, and toured coal mines, factories, and railyards. Through such visits he acquired the nickname of the "Industrial Prince".His stammer, and his embarrassment over it, together with a tendency to shyness, caused him to appear less confident in public than his older brother, Edward. However, he was physically active and enjoyed playing tennis. He played at Wimbledon in the Men's Doubles with Louis Greig in 1926, losing in the first round.He developed an interest in working conditions, and was president of the Industrial Welfare Society. His series of annual summer camps for boys between 1921 and 1939 brought together boys from different social backgrounds.
Marriage :
In a time when royalty were expected to marry fellow royalty, it was unusual that Albert had a great deal of freedom in choosing a prospective wife. An infatuation with the already-married Australian socialite Lady Loughborough came to an end in April 1920 when the King, with the promise of the dukedom of York, persuaded Albert to stop seeing her. That year, he met for the first time since childhood Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. He became determined to marry her.Elizabeth rejected his proposal twice, in 1921 and 1922, reportedly because she was reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary to become a member of the royal family.In the words of her mother Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Albert would be "made or marred" by his choice of wife. After a protracted courtship, Elizabeth agreed to marry him.
Albert and Elizabeth were married on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey. Albert's marriage to someone not of royal birth was considered a modernising gesture.The newly formed British Broadcasting Company wished to record and broadcast the event on radio, but the Abbey Chapter vetoed the idea (although the Dean, Herbert Edward Ryle, was in favour).
From December 1924 to April 1925, the Duke and Duchess toured Kenya, Uganda, and the Sudan, travelling via the Suez Canal and Aden. During the trip, they both went big-game hunting.
Because of his stammer, Albert dreaded public speaking. After his closing speech at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley on 31 October 1925, one which was an ordeal for both him and his listeners,he began to see Lionel Logue, an Australian-born speech therapist. The Duke and Logue practised breathing exercises, and the Duchess rehearsed with him patiently. Subsequently, he was able to speak with less hesitation.With his delivery improved, the Duke opened the new Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, during a tour of the empire with the Duchess in 1927.Their journey by sea to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji took them via Jamaica, where Albert played doubles tennis partnered with a black man, Bertrand Clark, which was unusual at the time and taken locally as a display of equality between races.
The Duke and Duchess had two children: Elizabeth (called "Lilibet" by the family) who was born in 1926, and Margaret who was born in 1930. The close and loving family lived at 145 Piccadilly, rather than one of the royal palaces. In 1931, the Canadian prime minister, R. B. Bennett, considered the Duke for Governor General of Canada—a proposal that King George V rejected on the advice of the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, J. H. Thomas.
Reluctant king :
King George V had severe reservations about Prince Edward, saying "After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months" and "I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." On 20 January 1936, George V died and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. In the Vigil of the Princes, Prince Albert and his three brothers (the new king, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Prince George, Duke of Kent) took a shift standing guard over their father's body as it lay in state, in a closed casket, in Westminster Hall.
As Edward was unmarried and had no children, Albert was the heir presumptive to the throne. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, Edward abdicated in order to marry Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her first husband and divorcing her second. Edward had been advised by British prime minister Stanley Baldwin that he could not remain king and marry a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands. He abdicated and Albert, though he had been reluctant to accept the throne, became king. The day before the abdication, Albert went to London to see his mother, Queen Mary. He wrote in his diary, "When I told her what had happened, I broke down and sobbed like a child."
On the day of Edward's abdication, the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Irish Free State, removed all direct mention of the monarch from the Irish constitution. The next day, it passed the External Relations Act, which gave the monarch limited authority (strictly on the advice of the government) to appoint diplomatic representatives for Ireland and to be involved in the making of foreign treaties. The two acts made the Irish Free State a republic in essence without removing its links to the Commonwealth.
Across Britain, gossip spread that Albert was physically and psychologically incapable of being king. No evidence has been found to support the contemporaneous rumour that the government considered bypassing him, his children and his brother Henry, in favour of their younger brother George, Duke of Kent.This seems to have been suggested on the grounds that George was at that time the only brother with a son.
In September 1939, the British Empire and most Commonwealth countries—but not Ireland—declared war on Nazi Germany. War with the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively. George VI was seen as sharing the hardships of the common people and his popularity soared. Buckingham Palace was bombed during the Blitz while the King and Queen were there, and his younger brother the Duke of Kent was killed on active service. George became known as a symbol of British determination to win the war. Britain and its allies were victorious in 1945, but the British Empire declined. Ireland had largely broken away, followed by the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. George relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948 and instead adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by smoking-related health problems in the later years of his reign and died of a coronary thrombosis in 1952. He was succeeded by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II.
Early reign :
Albert assumed the regnal name "George VI" to emphasise continuity with his father and restore confidence in the monarchy.The beginning of George VI's reign was taken up by questions surrounding his predecessor and brother, whose titles, style and position were uncertain. He had been introduced as "His Royal Highness Prince Edward" for the abdication broadcast, but George VI felt that by abdicating and renouncing the succession, Edward had lost the right to bear royal titles, including "Royal Highness". In settling the issue, George's first act as king was to confer upon his brother the title "Duke of Windsor" with the style "Royal Highness", but the letters patent creating the dukedom prevented any wife or children from bearing royal styles. George VI was forced to buy from Edward the royal residences of Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, as these were private properties and did not pass to him automatically.Three days after his accession, on his 41st birthday, he invested his wife, the new queen consort, with the Order of the Garter.
George VI's coronation at Westminster Abbey took place on 12 May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward's coronation. In a break with tradition, his mother Queen Mary attended the ceremony in a show of support for her son. There was no Durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred for his father, as the cost would have been a burden to the Government of India. Rising Indian nationalism made the welcome that the royal party would have received likely to be muted at best, and a prolonged absence from Britain would have been undesirable in the tense period before the Second World War. Two overseas tours were undertaken, to France and to North America, both of which promised greater strategic advantages in the event of war.
The growing likelihood of war in Europe dominated the early reign of George VI. The King was constitutionally bound to support Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler.When the King and Queen greeted Chamberlain on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement in 1938, they invited him to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with them. This public association of the monarchy with a politician was exceptional, as balcony appearances were traditionally restricted to the royal family. While broadly popular among the general public, Chamberlain's policy towards Hitler was the subject of some opposition in the House of Commons, which led historian John Grigg to describe the King's behaviour in associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".
In May and June 1939, the King and Queen toured Canada and the United States; it was the first visit of a reigning British monarch to North America, although he had been to Canada prior to his accession. From Ottawa, they were accompanied by the Canadian prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, to present themselves in North America as King and Queen of Canada. Both Governor General of Canada Lord Tweedsmuir and Mackenzie King hoped that the King's presence in Canada would demonstrate the principles of the Statute of Westminster 1931, which gave full sovereignty to the British Dominions. On 19 May, George VI personally accepted and approved the Letter of Credence of the new U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Daniel Calhoun Roper; gave Royal Assent to nine parliamentary bills; and ratified two international treaties with the Great Seal of Canada. The official royal tour historian, Gustave Lanctot, wrote "the Statute of Westminster had assumed full reality" and George gave a speech emphasising "the free and equal association of the nations of the Commonwealth".
The trip was intended to soften the strong isolationist tendencies among the North American public with regard to the developing tensions in Europe. Although the aim of the tour was mainly political, to shore up Atlantic support for the United Kingdom in any future war, the King and Queen were enthusiastically received by the public. The fear that George would be compared unfavourably to his predecessor was dispelled.They visited the 1939 New York World's Fair and stayed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House and at his private estate at Hyde Park, New York.A strong bond of friendship was forged between the King and Queen and the President during the tour, which had major significance in the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom through the ensuing war years.
Second World War :
Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the United Kingdom and the self-governing Dominions other than Ireland declared war on Nazi Germany.George VI and his wife resolved to stay in London, despite German bombing raids. They officially stayed in Buckingham Palace throughout the war, although they usually spent nights at Windsor Castle. The first night of the Blitz on London, on 7 September 1940, killed about one thousand civilians, mostly in the East End.On 13 September, the King and Queen narrowly avoided death when two German bombs exploded in a courtyard at Buckingham Palace while they were there. In defiance, the Queen declared: "I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel we can look the East End in the face." The royal family were portrayed as sharing the same dangers and deprivations as the rest of the country. They were subject to British rationing restrictions, and U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt remarked on the rationed food served and the limited bathwater that was permitted during a stay at the unheated and boarded-up Palace.In August 1942, the King's brother, the Duke of Kent, was killed on active service.
In 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister, though personally George would have preferred to appoint Lord Halifax. After the King's initial dismay over Churchill's appointment of Lord Beaverbrook to the Cabinet, he and Churchill developed "the closest personal relationship in modern British history between a monarch and a Prime Minister". Every Tuesday for four and a half years from September 1940, the two men met privately for lunch to discuss the war in secret and with frankness.The King related much of what the two discussed in his diary, which is the only extant first-hand account of these conversations.
Throughout the war, the King and Queen provided morale-boosting visits throughout the United Kingdom, visiting bomb sites, munitions factories, and troops. The King visited military forces abroad in France in December 1939, North Africa and Malta in June 1943, Normandy in June 1944, southern Italy in July 1944, and the Low Countries in October 1944.Their high public profile and apparently indefatigable determination secured their place as symbols of national resistance. At a social function in 1944, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Alan Brooke, revealed that every time he met Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, he thought Montgomery was after his job. The King replied: "You should worry, when I meet him, I always think he's after mine!"
In 1945, crowds shouted "We want the King!" in front of Buckingham Palace during the Victory in Europe Day celebrations. In an echo of Chamberlain's appearance, the King invited Churchill to appear with the royal family on the balcony to public acclaim. In January 1946, George addressed the United Nations at its first assembly, which was held in London, and reaffirmed "our faith in the equal rights of men and women and of nations great and small".
Empire to Commonwealth :
George VI's reign saw the acceleration of the dissolution of the British Empire. The Statute of Westminster 1931 had already acknowledged the evolution of the Dominions into separate sovereign states. The process of transformation from an empire to a voluntary association of independent states, known as the Commonwealth, gathered pace after the Second World War.During the ministry of Clement Attlee, British India became the two independent Dominions of India and Pakistan in August 1947.George relinquished the title of Emperor of India,and became King of India and King of Pakistan instead. In late April 1949, the Commonwealth leaders issued the London Declaration, which laid the foundation of the modern Commonwealth and recognised the King as Head of the Commonwealth.In January 1950, he ceased to be King of India when it became a republic, and remained King of Pakistan until his death. Other countries left the Commonwealth, such as Burma in January 1948, Palestine (divided between Israel and the Arab states) in May 1948 and the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
In 1947, the King and his family toured southern Africa.The prime minister of the Union of South Africa, Jan Smuts, was facing an election and hoped to make political capital out of the visit.George was appalled, however, when instructed by the South African government to shake hands only with whites,and referred to his South African bodyguards as "the Gestapo". Despite the tour, Smuts lost the election the following year, and the new government instituted a strict policy of racial segregation.
Honours and arms :
◇Titles, styles, and honours :
George VI was from birth a Prince of the United Kingdom, and was subsequently created a royal duke. It was as a duke that he succeeded his brother, King Edward VIII, to the throne.
14 December 1895 – 28 May 1898: His Highness Prince Albert of York
28 May 1898 – 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York
22 January 1901 – 9 November 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Cornwall and York
9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Wales
6 May 1910 – 3 June 1920: His Royal Highness The Prince Albert
3 June 1920 – 11 December 1936: His Royal Highness The Duke of York
11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King
◇Titles vested in the Crown :
Certain titles are borne and held by the reigning sovereign.
Isle of Man
11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King, Lord of Mann
Church of England
11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England
Other titles traditionally attributed to the reigning sovereign are Duke of Lancaster, to reflect that the Duchy of Lancaster is a private estate of the sovereign,and Duke of Normandy in the sovereign's capacity as head of state of the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.
◇Titles held personally :
George VI has held certain titles in a personal capacity, either by virtue of birth, or otherwise.
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
14 December 1895 – 17 July 1917: Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony
Commonwealth of Nations
28 April 1949 – 6 February 1952: Head of the Commonwealth
◇Title in the dominions and India :
The Dominions were self-governing entities which had the as their respective head of state the same person as was the British sovereign. These Dominions typically used the style and title of the sovereign as proclaimed in the United Kingdom, which, from the reign of Edward VII came to include the phrase, "and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas",signifying their reign over said Dominions.However, the sovereign reigned in these Dominions in a capacity independent from their position as monarch of the United Kingdom, similar in meaning and usage to, but not the same as modern-day Commonwealth realms, in that they lacked a separate title for each Dominion, until the reign of Elizabeth II. George VI's reign in the Dominions does not completely match his reign in the United Kingdom and his role as monarch in the Irish Free State is debated.
Per the terms of the Indian Independence Act, the imperial title was to be abolished. However, George VI issued a royal proclamation for that purpose and to that effect only on 22 June 1948, effectively reigning as king in the newly created Dominions of India and Pakistan whilst still bearing the imperial title for himself and his consort.
The title of Kaisar-i-Hind was coined in 1876 by the orientalist G. W. Leitner as the imperial title for the sovereign and was also employed in an official capacity, most notably to denote Crown property in India.This title continues to persist as a placeholder to the modern day in official records dating to the British era, despite the prohibition and deprecation of the use of the said title and all its variants for any and all purposes. Its usage is to be so understood as to denote the Government of India per the relevant provisions of the Government Grants Act,read alongside and in the context of the Transfer of Property Act and the Repealing and Amending (Second) Act.
◇Arms :
As Duke of York, Albert bore the royal arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre point bearing an anchor azure—a difference earlier awarded to his father, George V, when he was Duke of York, and then later awarded to his grandson Prince Andrew, Duke of York. As king, he bore the royal arms undifferenced.
Illness and death :
The stress of the war had taken its toll on the King's health,made worse by his heavy smoking and subsequent development of lung cancer among other ailments, including arteriosclerosis and Buerger's disease. A planned tour of Australia and New Zealand was postponed after the King suffered an arterial blockage in his right leg, which threatened the loss of the leg and was treated with a right lumbar sympathectomy in March 1949. His elder daughter Elizabeth, the heir presumptive, took on more royal duties as her father's health deteriorated. The delayed tour was re-organised, with Elizabeth and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, taking the place of the King and Queen.
The King was well enough to open the Festival of Britain in May 1951, but on 4 June it was announced that he would need immediate and complete rest for the next four weeks, despite the arrival of Haakon VII of Norway the following afternoon for an official visit.On 23 September 1951, he underwent a surgical operation where his entire left lung was removed by Clement Price Thomas after a malignant tumour was found. In October 1951, Elizabeth and Philip went on a month-long tour of Canada; the trip had been delayed for a week due to the King's illness. At the State Opening of Parliament in November, the King's speech from the throne was read for him by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Simonds.His Christmas broadcast of 1951 was recorded in sections, and then edited together.
On 31 January 1952, despite advice from those close to him, the King went to London Airport to see Elizabeth and Philip off on their tour to Australia via Kenya. It was his last public appearance. Six days later, at 07:30 GMT on the morning of 6 February, he was found dead in bed at Sandringham House in Norfolk.He had died in the night from a coronary thrombosis at the age of 56.His daughter flew back to Britain from Kenya as Queen Elizabeth II.
From 9 February for two days George VI's coffin rested in St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, before lying in state at Westminster Hall from 11 February.His funeral took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on the 15th. He was interred initially in the Royal Vault until he was transferred to the King George VI Memorial Chapel inside St George's on 26 March 1969. In 2002, fifty years after his death, the remains of his widow, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the ashes of his younger daughter Princess Margaret, who both died that year, were interred in the chapel alongside him.
◇Death and state funeral of George VI :
The state funeral of George VI, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland took place on 15 February 1952. George VI died in the early morning of 6 February at Sandringham House in Norfolk. A period of national mourning commenced and his elder daughter and successor, Queen Elizabeth II was proclaimed the new monarch by the Accession Council. George VI's coffin lay in St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham until 11 February when it was carried, in procession, to the nearby Wolferton railway station. The coffin was carried by train to London King's Cross railway station where another formal procession carried it to Westminster Hall where the king lay in state for three days. Some 304,000 people passed through Westminster Hall with queues up to 4 miles (6.4 km) forming.
Date : Friday, 15 February 1952
Location : St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (official ceremony).
George VI's funeral was held on 15 February and began with another formal procession to Paddington Station, the coffin being carried on a gun carriage hauled by Royal Navy seamen, as is traditional at the funerals of British sovereigns. The procession was accompanied by Elizabeth II, George VI's wife Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret and four royal dukes. Numerous foreign monarchs and other representatives also attended. On arrival at Paddington the coffin was loaded onto a train for the journey to Windsor. Another procession carried the coffin through the town to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle where a service was held and the king interred in the royal vault.
The procession was the first of a British monarch to be broadcast on television and may have led to the start of a mass purchase of television sets. The king's body was relocated to the newly built King George VI Memorial Chapel at St George's in 1969 and was joined there by the body of Queen Elizabeth and the ashes of Princess Margaret in 2002.
◇Death :
George VI had undergone a lung operation in September 1951 from which he never fully recovered. He died in his sleep at Sandringham House, Norfolk on 6 February 1952 at the age of 56.He was discovered by his valet at 7:30 am and the news was conveyed to Buckingham Palace by telephone, using the code "Hyde Park Corner" to avoid alerting switchboard operators to the news. The news was not broken to the wider world until 11:15 am when BBC newsreader John Snagge read the words "It is with the greatest sorrow that we make the following announcement..." on the radio. The news was repeated every fifteen minutes for seven occasions, before the broadcast went silent for five hours. As a mark of respect the Great Tom bell at St Paul's Cathedral was tolled every minute for two hours, as well as the bells at Westminster Abbey. The Sebastopol bell, a Crimean War trophy at Windsor Castle that is rung only upon a royal death, was tolled 56 times, once for each year of George VI's life, between 1:27 and 2:22 pm.
Royal funerals are overseen by the Earl Marshal, a hereditary post held at the time by Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk. The Earl Marshal has a suite of offices set aside for their use at St James's Palace in London. At the time of George VI's death these were being renovated and had to be hurriedly reopened. Scaffolding was dismantled, furniture moved in and phones, lighting and heating installed; the offices were ready by 5:00 pm.
The House of Commons met at 11:58 am to express its grief before adjourning to await the decision of the Accession Council as to the next monarch. The council met at 5:00 pm in the Entrée Room of St James's Palace and confirmed Elizabeth II as George VI's successor.An official proclamation of the accession was made by the Garter King of Arms on the Proclamation Gallery on the palace's eastern front, preceded by trumpet blasts from musicians from the Life Guards, the event being filmed by four television cameras.From then High Sheriffs repeated the proclamation at town and city halls across the country. Some 5,000 attended the proclamation in Manchester, 10,000 in Birmingham and 15,000 in Edinburgh.
A period of national mourning followed George VI's death. Rugby and hockey games were postponed, though football matches continued with the singing of the national anthem and the hymn "Abide With Me" before each game. Memorial services were held in churches of all denominations across the country and around the world, even in communist states.There was some opposition to the mourning, social researchers from Mass-Observation recorded one 60-year-old woman who asked: "Don't they think of old folk, sick people, invalids? It's been terrible for them, all this gloom". On another occasion the organisation recorded that a fight broke out in a Notting Hill bar after one man said of the King, "He's only shit and soil now like anyone else".
◇Journey to London :
The body of George VI was placed in a coffin made from oak grown on the Sandringham estate.The coffin was laid in St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham where the king had worshipped while on the estate.On 11 February the coffin, draped in the Royal Standard on top of which his wife Queen Elizabeth had laid a wreath of flowers, was carried from the church.The coffin was placed onto a gun carriage of the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery for its journey to the nearby Wolferton railway station. The coffin was followed by George VI's brother Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and son-in-law Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on foot. The new queen, Elizabeth II, her sister Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth followed by car. The Sandringham estate staff and their families followed in procession part of the way and the public lined much of the route.
Upon arrival at the station the coffin was removed from the gun carriage by eight soldiers of the Grenadier Guards and placed into a railway carriage, the same carriage that had carried the coffin of George V (the deceased king's father) for the same journey to London.The carriage was pulled by the LNER Thompson Class B2 locomotive 61617 Ford Castle, the usual Royal Train locomotive, class-mate 61671 Royal Sovereign being unavailable. The line required a reversal at King's Lynn so the locomotive was changed for BR Standard Class 7 70000 Britannia. The cab roofs of the locomotives were painted white for the occasion, as this is traditional for locomotives of the British Royal Train. Britannia arrived at London King's Cross railway station on time at 2:45 pm.
◇Procession and lying in state :
Before arrival in London the Imperial State Crown was placed, on a cushion, on top of the coffin. The coffin was carried from the train by eight Grenadier Guards and placed onto a green-painted gun carriage, the same as had been used for the funeral procession of George V. Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret followed the coffin on foot to the outside of the station and then boarded a car to travel to meet Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace.The King's coffin was drawn in procession to Westminster Hall where it was to lie in state. The coffin was drawn on a gun carriage by the Kings' Troop, escorted by an officer and ten men of the Grenadier Guards, preceded by mounted police. The Dukes of Gloucester and Edinburgh followed the coffin on foot, followed by members of George VI's royal household.The procession route was via the A4200 (Kingsway), Aldwych, Trafalgar Square and along Whitehall (where military officers in the procession saluted The Cenotaph) to Westminster Hall, part of the Palace of Westminster.
Crowds lined the route and to create space for them to stand the rhododendrons in Parliament Square were pulled up.The procession was broadcast on television, the first time that part of a royal funeral had this treatment, and also by radio.The BBC radio commentary by Richard Dimbleby has since received comment for its poignancy.Historian D. R. Thorpe considered that the funeral helped spark the mass purchase of television sets, usually ascribed to Elizabeth II's coronation the following year.
(The oak of Sandringham, hidden beneath the rich, golden folds of the Standard. The slow flicker of the candles touches gently the gems of the Imperial Crown, even that ruby that Henry wore at Agincourt. It touches the deep, velvet purple of the cushion, and the cool, white flowers of the only wreath that lies upon the flag. How moving can such simplicity be. How real the tears of those who pass by and see it, and come out again, as they do at this moment in unbroken stream, to the cold, dark night and a little privacy for their thoughts ... Never safer, better guarded, lay a sleeping king than this, with a golden candlelight to warm his resting place, and the muffled footsteps of his devoted subjects to keep him company ... How true tonight of George the Faithful is that single sentence spoken by an unknown man of his beloved father: 'The sunset of his death tinged the whole world's sky'
Richard Dimbleby, BBC radio commentary of the lying in state)
At Westminster Hall members of both houses of parliament were present to witness the guardsmen carry the coffin into the hall. The procession into the hall was led by the officers of arms, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod (Brian Horrocks), the minister of works (David Eccles), the Earl Marshal, the Lord Great Chamberlain (James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster) and, immediately in front of the coffin, the Dean of Westminster (Alan Don) and the Archbishop of York (Cyril Garbett).The coffin was followed by Elizabeth II, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret (who had all travelled by car from Buckingham palace) and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Royal. The Archbishop conducted a service during which the coffin was guarded by the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms and the Yeoman of the Guard.
George VI's coffin was afterwards placed on a dais in Westminster Hall, under a vigil guard.[5] The public were permitted to view the coffin and, at times, queued for 4 miles (6.4 km) to do so. Over the next three days some 304,000 people passed through Westminster Hall.The numbers were lower than they had been for George V, which was ascribed to the effects of the widespread television coverage.After the final day of lying in state it took a team of three jewellers two hours to clean the dust off the crown jewels which lay on the coffin, in preparation for the funeral.
◇Funeral :
The funeral of George VI took place on 15 February. Mourners, including representatives of foreign governments, were assembled outside Westminster Hall by 8:15 am. The American representative was Secretary of State Dean Acheson.The Belgian King Baudouin refused to attend, believed to be on the advice of his father, Leopold III, who held a grudge against the British prime minister Winston Churchill. Churchill had criticised Leopold for remaining in Nazi-occupied Belgium during the Second World War, rather than escaping to lead a government in exile. Baudouin went on to attend the funeral of Queen Mary in 1953.
At 9:30 am George VI's coffin was carried from Westminster Hall by eight soldiers of the Grenadier Guards and placed on a gun carriage.The coffin was draped in the royal standard atop which were placed a crown, orb and sceptre as well as his wife's wreath of orchids and lilies of the valley.The coffin was placed on a gun carriage that, as per royal tradition, would be hauled by a party of sailors the 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from New Palace Yard to Paddington Station from where it would travel to Windsor by train.The procession was led by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force and the Band of the Welsh Guards. Thereafter was a detachment of the RAF and representatives from Commonwealth forces including Northern and Southern Rhodesia, East and West Africa (King's African Rifles and Royal West African Frontier Force), Ceylon, Pakistan, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. There followed detachments from the units that George VI held the position of colonel-in-chief or honorary colonel, other British Army units, including the bands of the Coldstream Guards, the Irish Guards and the Royal Artillery. There was also a detachment of the Royal Marines (including their band). These were followed by senior foreign and British military officers, including George VI's aides-de-camp. A detachment of the Household Cavalry was followed by the Band of the Scots Guards and the massed pipes of five Scottish and Irish Regiments. Further senior military officials and members of the Royal Household preceded and escorted the coffin, flanked by the Gentleman at Arms and Yeoman of the Guard. Behind the coffin the Royal Standard was carried by the Household Cavalry in front of the Queen's carriage, which carried Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret and Princess Royal.They were followed on foot by the four royal dukes: Edinburgh, Gloucester, Windsor (George VI's brother, the former king Edward VIII) and Kent (Prince Edward, grandson of George V) and senior military and royal household figures.
Behind them walked the kings of Denmark (Frederick IX), Greece (Paul) and Sweden (Gustaf VI Adolf) and the President of France. (Vincent Auriol) at the head of a group of 20 foreign heads of state. They were followed by the High Commissioners of Commonwealth states and the representatives of foreign delegations. Six carriages carried British and foreign female dignitaries after which were more members of the Royal Hosehold, a detachment of the King's Flight, further foreign dignitaries and representatives of their armed forces. There followed the Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers and a police band, ahead of detachments from every police force in the country and representatives of the colonial police forces. The rear of the procession was made up of representatives from the fire services and the Civil Defence Corps. During the parade a 56-gun salute was fired, one round for each year of the king's life.
Acheson, in a report to the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs complained about the waiting around at the start of the day and the slow pace of the procession, which took 3 hours and ten minutes to reach the station. He commented on the silence and stillness shown by the crowd, who he called "solid, courageous, but tired people".
The route was lined with soldiers, sailors and airmen of the British forces, standing with arms reversed. The procession passed along Whitehall, where the Cenotaph was saluted, and later passed through Hyde Park to Marble Arch and along Edgeware Road.The party including coffin and carriage processed onto platform 8 at Paddington.The Queen's party dismounted to watch the coffin carried onto the royal train by eight guardsmen.The royal family boarded the same train and other guests followed in a separate one.The train was pulled by GWR 4073 Class locomotive 7013 Bristol Castle, though it carried the nameplates of classmate 4082 Windsor Castle. The latter was considered a more appropriate choice as it was named for the royal residence and had once been driven by George V but was unavailable on the day of the funeral.As a mark of respect the Royal Air Force was grounded during the time of the funeral. On one transatlantic flight from London to New York, in air during the time of the funeral, all of the passengers rose from their seats and bowed their heads in acknowledgement.
At Windsor the coffin was taken from the train and hauled by sailors, on a gun carriage through the town to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.This procession was similar to the one in London, though smaller.The coffin's arrival at the Royal Chapel was marked by naval petty officers piping the admiral over the side. Following the coffin, carried again by eight guardsmen, up the chapel steps, Elizabeth II gave way to usual precedence in allowing Queen Elizabeth to proceed ahead of her.Television cameras were excluded from the funeral itself, which was presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, and the Archbishop of York, Cyril Garbett. Also present were the Bishop of Winchester (Alwyn Williams), who read the lesson, and the Dean of Windsor (Eric Hamilton).
The music for the service included the last funeral sentence from the Book of Common Prayer, "I heard a Voice from Heaven", in a new setting by William Henry Harris, the organist and director of music at the chapel. Other music included the hymn "The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done" and the anthem, "God be in my head and in my understanding" in a setting by Walford Davies, which was sung after the Garter Principal King of Arms had proclaimed the late king's style and titles. Elizabeth II placed the king's colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the end of the service.The recessional voluntary was Hubert Parry's prelude to "Ye boundless realms of joy", which had been specifically requested by Elizabeth II to end the service on a hopeful rather than mournful note.
Floral tributes were left outside the chapel; Churchill laid one on behalf of the British government, on the card of which he wrote "for valour", the phrase engraved on the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military award for gallantry.George VI was buried within the Royal Vault of St George's Chapel.[18] During the burial, the Lord Chamberlain had carried out the tradition of symbolically breaking his staff of office, actually by unscrewing a joint in the middle, and placing half on the coffin.[19] Finally, Elizabeth II dropped in a handful of earth from Windsor.
◇Guests :
As per report in London Gazette.
¤British royal family
▪The House of Windsor
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the late king's widow
The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, the late king's daughter and son-in-law
The Princess Margaret, the late king's daughter
Queen Mary, the late king's mother
The Duke of Windsor, the late king's brother
The Princess Royal, the late king's sister
The Earl and Countess of Harewood, the late king's nephew and niece-in-law
The Hon. Gerald Lascelles, the late king's nephew
The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the late king's brother and sister-in law
The Duchess of Kent, the late king's sister-in law and second cousin
The Duke of Kent, the late king's nephew
The Earl of Southesk, widower of the late king's first cousinLord Carnegie, the late king's first cousin once removed
Princess Marie Louise, the late king's first cousin once removed
Lady Patricia and The Hon. Sir Alexander Ramsay, the late king's first cousin once removed and her husbandAlexander Ramsay of Mar, the late king's second cousin
▪Mountbatten family
The Marquess and Marchioness of Carisbrooke, the late king's first cousin once removed and his wife
The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, widow of the late king's second cousin
The Marquess of Milford Haven, the late king's second cousin once removed
The Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma, the late king's second cousin and his wife
▪Teck-Cambridge family
The Marquess and Marchioness of Cambridge, the late king's first cousin and his wife
The Duchess and Duke of Beaufort, the late king's first cousin and her husband
Lady Helena Gibbs, the late king's first cousin
¤Foreign royalty
The King of Norway, the late king's uncle by marriage and first cousin once removed
The Crown Prince of Norway, the late king's first cousin
Princess Astrid of Norway, the late king's first cousin once removed
The King and Queen of Denmark, the late king's second cousins
The King of the Hellenes, the late king's double second cousin
The King of Sweden, husband of the late king's second cousin
Prince Axel of Denmark, the late king's first cousin once removed
Prince George Valdemar of Denmark, the late king's second cousin and husband of the late king's niece by marriage
Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, the late king's second cousin
The Prince of Liège, the late king's second cousin once removed (representing the King of the Belgians)
The Grand Duchess and Prince of Luxembourg, the late king's third cousin and her husband
The Queen and Prince of the Netherlands
The King of Iraq
The Crown Prince of Jordan (representing the King of Jordan)
The Crown Prince of Ethiopia (representing the Emperor of Ethiopia)
Prince Ali Reza (representing the Shah of Iran)
Prince Zeid bin Hussein
Marshall Sardar Shah Wali Khan (representing the King of Afghanistan)
Prince Bửu Lộc (representing the Chief of State of Vietnam)
Prince Wan Waithayakon (representing the King of Thailand)
Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim (representing the King of Egypt)
¤Other guests
Vincent Auriol, President of France
Celâl Bayar, President of Turkey
Ivan Ribar, President of the Presidium of the Yugoslav Republic
Dean Acheson, United States Secretary of State (representing the President Harry S. Truman)
Georgy Zarubin, Ambassador of the Soviet Union
José Joaquim Moniz de Aragão, Ambassador of Brazil
Baber Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, former Minister of Defense of Nepal
Hafiz Wahba, Ambassador of Egypt
Ricardo Rivera Schreiber, Ambassador of Peru
Subandrio, Prime Minister of Indonesia
Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Foreign Minister of Cuba.
A 47-page report was written after the funeral to recommend improvements for the next royal funeral. Suggestions included attaching metal rollers to the catafalque to make a smoother landing of the coffin, which being lead lined weighed around a quarter of a ton.The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953; unlike at the funeral she permitted BBC cameras to film the event, which became a landmark in British television history.
The body of George VI was moved from the Royal Vault on 26 March 1969 and reinterred in the newly built King George VI Memorial Chapel.His daughter, Princess Margaret, died on 9 February 2002 and, in accordance with her wishes, a private funeral was held at St George's Chapel. This took place on 15 February 2002, the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral and Margaret was afterwards cremated and her ashes placed in the Royal Vault. Queen Elizabeth, who became known as the Queen Mother to distinguish her from her daughter, died on 30 March 2002. Like her husband she lay in state at Westminster Hall. After a funeral at Westminster Abbey she was buried next to her husband in the King George VI Memorial Chapel on 9 April 2002.At the same time the ashes of Princess Margaret were also transferred to the chapel.
Legacy :
In the words of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) George Hardie, the abdication crisis of 1936 did "more for republicanism than fifty years of propaganda".George VI wrote to his brother Edward that in the aftermath of the abdication he had reluctantly assumed "a rocking throne" and tried "to make it steady again".He became king at a point when public faith in the monarchy was at a low ebb. During his reign, his people endured the hardships of war, and imperial power was eroded. However, as a dutiful family man and by showing personal courage, he succeeded in restoring the popularity of the monarchy.
The George Cross and the George Medal were founded at the King's suggestion during the Second World War to recognise acts of exceptional civilian bravery. He bestowed the George Cross on the entire "island fortress of Malta" in 1943. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Liberation by the French government in 1960, one of only two people (the other being Churchill in 1958) to be awarded the medal after 1946.Colin Firth won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as George VI in the 2010 film The King's Speech.
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