King George VI (1895-1952)

[gaoshan1021]

HM King George VI

 

[gaoshan1021]

George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George), 1895–1952, king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1936–52), second son of George V; successor of his elder brother, Edward VIII. He attended the royal naval colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth and served in World War I. Later he served in the Royal Air Force. He studied at Cambridge for a time after the war, was created duke of York in 1920, and married (1923) Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. They had two daughters: Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret.

When Edward VIII abdicated on Dec. 11, 1936, George became king. He and his consort were crowned on May 12, 1937. They made a state visit to France in July, 1938, and an unprecedented royal voyage to Canada and the United States in 1939. During World War II the king worked to keep up British morale by visiting bombed areas, inspecting war plants, and touring theaters of war action.

In 1947 the royal family made a state visit and tour of South Africa. A tour of Australia and New Zealand, scheduled for 1949, was postponed indefinitely because of the king's illness at the end of 1948. Like his father, George was held in deep affection by his people. He was succeeded by Elizabeth II.

 

[Peggy]

HM king George VI as a cadet in royal navy

 

[Peggy]

HM King George VI
www.hultonarchive.con

 

[Peggy]

1. Prince Albert [King George VI] and Prince Edward [King Edward VIII] & Princess Mary.
2. and 3. HM King George VI
4. HM The King as a boy
5. King George VI in 1901 (Prince Albert)

 

[Peggy]

1. HM King George VI in Royal Navy uniform
2. HM King George VI in Royal Air Force uniform.

 

[Peggy]

HM King George VI
www.corbis.com

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Coronation of George VI

Hello.....
I was wondering if anyone could tell me who all was sitting in the Royal Box at King George VI's Coronation.
I have a picture showing the principle members of the Royal Family, including (I think, standing on the right of the Duchess of Kent) The Earl and Countess of Athlone. Clearly visible are The Duchess of Kent, The Duchess of Gloucester, Queen Maud, Queen Mary, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and The Princess Royal.
There looks to be many members of the extended Royal Family and/or visiting Royals behind them.
Thanks so much!!!!!!

 

[Lord Williams]

George VI and the State Opening of Parliament

Folks, heres an interesting hunt for you... I've never saw a picture of George VI wearing the Imperial State Crown while opening Parliament. All Ive saw him in is his navy uniform, due to WWII, I assume. Does anyone have any photographic evidence of George VI opening Parliament wearing a crown---I'm not looking for Coronation photos or portraits, State Opening only. please...

 

[wbenson]

I don't think there were any pictures of State Openings until the late 1950's. I've had similar trouble locating pictures of the Queen's first state opening.

 

[Thomas Parkman]

This dear members is part of my ongoing frustrations. I need to console myself with dangerous amounts of chocolate when reading such things as mentioned above. I would love to see a video of the Queen opening the Parliment. I think it would be wonderful and also something of a puncturing of the bubble so to speak to actually hear and see all these royals in action. Wearing the Imperial State Crown and all the rest of it. I think this business of modesty and hiding things away is nothing more than a spineless pandering to all those blasted republicans. I want jewels and pomp and all the rest of it. It would be the strongest of possible statements for these people to start falunting themselves for what they really are. All these scuzzy vulgar politicans are so depressing. We need a major pick me up, ie QEII in full regalia, please, informing the Lords etc what madness and mayhem Her government is going to inflict on the long suffering British people and the world. Done with all those gorgeous jewels and whatnot soften the blow.

As for George VI, a thoroughly decent man, he is but one in a long line of the British royal family done in by smoking. terrible.

 

[Roderick]

Not only did King George VI die prematurely from a heavy smoking habit but his father King George V and grandfather King Edward VII did also. It is a shame to see that Princes William and Harry have taken up the habit though perhaps they have quit it now?

 

[Jeniann]

When George VI was a boy it wasn't well known that smoking was dangerous and even when he died of lung cancer there was still some questioning about how harmful it was.

 

[iowabelle]

I came across an interesting article in the Daily Mail, about George VI's enduring fascination with an actress, Evelyn Laye, which might have threatened the royal marriage. The article draws some comparisons between this royal love triangle and that of Charles, Camilla and Diana.

It would seem to me that the differences might be that George VI was a less aggressive lover than his grandson; Queen Elizabeth was a more self-assured woman than Diana; and that Evelyn knew her place and stayed in it. Also, Evelyn didn't seem to float in the same social circles so the Queen wasn't confronted with her on a regular basis. And perhaps George VI was unprepared to traumatize Britain so soon after the Wallis/abdication debacle.

I'll try to come up with the link.

 

[Roslyn]

Is this the article you're talking about, Iowabelle? Revealed for the first time - the other woman in the Queen Mother's marriage | Mail Online

Perhaps I'm naive, but I get the impression it was just an infatuation on George's part, not an affair. It's very interesting, though.

 

[Mermaid1962]

That's what I believe as well. The article was heavily suggestive but ONLY suggestive.

 

[iowabelle]

That's the one. As you say, it is suggestive... how many married men don't have an interest in some other, usually famous, woman? How else would supermodels support themselves?

At the least the Queen didn't seem threatened by it, indeed maybe she was a little amused.

 

[Warren]

King George VI and Evelyn Lane

The article is quite long. Here are some quotes...

George VI's infatuation with the beautiful Boo - an aspect of his life that has escaped every biographer and royal historian to date - was to endure until the day he died. In the words of the Dowager Lady Hardinge of Penshurst, widow of his Principal Private Secretary and an intimate and lifelong friend of the Queen Mother, the King was 'rather more than a little in love with Evelyn Laye'. The same opinion was confided to me by the Queen Mother's late Private Secretary, Sir Martin Gilliat, who knew Laye socially. 'Of course, HM (the Queen Mother) has always been aware of the King's intense admiration for Boo,' he told me. 'She found it rather touching, and trusted absolutely in Boo's discretion.'

Lady Hardinge, one of the Queen Mother's closest friends, said that Elizabeth had 'an amused acceptance' of her husband's worship of Laye. 'Whenever Boo walked onto a stage, Queen Elizabeth would tease him by saying: "Bertie, here comes your girlfriend!" ' Laye, she swiftly saw, was impeccably discreet and posed no threat to her or to the monarchy, just as Edward VIII's married mistresses, Freda Dudley Ward and Thelma Viscountess Furness, to whom she was unfailingly friendly, posed no threat. However, Wallis Simpson was another matter entirely.

Although divorce was taboo in 1930s royal circles, the Yorks remained supportive of Evelyn Laye when her husband left her for a younger woman. Her admiration of his wife was unqualified. 'She made him into a great King in a way that no one else could have done. Hers was the strength and resolve that made it possible.' Laye was chosen to appear before the new King and Queen in the Royal Command Performance at the London Coliseum, in which, at the King's personal request, she sang some of his favourite songs.

Many wives might have resented the strange and intimate role played by Evelyn Laye in their husband's life. But the Queen Mother seems to have admired Laye almost as much as her husband had done. In 1990, the two women met at a society occasion and Laye, then a frail 90-year-old widow, sank into the deepest of curtseys. The Queen Mother raised her up and embraced her warmly.

In November 1994, feeling that the CBE awarded to Laye in 1973 was an inadequate recognition of her long and distinguished career, the Queen Mother wrote to the then Prime Minister, John Major, suggesting that Boo should be created a Dame of the British Empire. Asked later by her Page of the Backstairs why she had made that unexpected intervention, the Queen Mother smiled wistfully. 'It is something the King would have wished me to do' she said quietly.

Revealed for the first time - the other woman in the Queen Mother's marriage | Mail Online

 

[principessa]

Spiegel online is reporting that King George VI could be killed by the German airforce during WWII.

Aufgetauchter Brief: Deutsche Luftwaffe hätte fast König George getötet - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Panorama

 

[Warren]

I've moved all the posts about the 2010 film "The King's Speech" to a new thread in the Royal Library.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

George VI was the last King of Ireland as well as the last Emperor of India but an article I read said within hours of being King, the Irish Parliament altered his powers and rights as King of Ireland. Does anyone know what the parliament did exactly?

 

[wbenson]

They removed all of his official roles except to sign off on ambassadors and treaties.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Wbenson,

Thank you for the response.

 

[wbenson]

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Prince Charles: My grandfather was cut off from his family

Prince Charles told today how his grandfather King George VI became withdrawn and cut off from the rest of the Royal Family because of a speech problem.

"His stammer cut him off I think in so many ways from his parents and his brothers and sisters and drove him into himself as I suspect so many stammerers will understand," the Prince said.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

I heard a radio report on National Public Radio a few weeks ago which stated that there might be a genetic cause for a stammer. This would contradict past beliefs that forcing a child to write with his or her right hand, instead of the left hand, can cause stammering. I think I read somewhere that King George VI was naturally left-handed, and being forced to use his right hand was believed by some to give rise to his stammer.

 

[Iluvbertie]

My parents would agree with the left hand right hand thing because I was born a left-hander and was forcibly changed in 3rd class. Prior to that I never stammered or had any trouble speaking. Since being changed I often stammer and have other orientation troubles that only appeared after the change was forced on me. Three other students were changed in my class and all have the same problems and none of us had any problems beforehand e.g. we would be able to identify our right from our left 100% of the time before being changed but now (over 40 years later) will often get confused and would probably only get it right 60% of the time without thinking.

 

[isayoldboy]

This is my first post here, and I thought I'd share some insight I've gained into George VI recently, while researching something else.

I've been poring over some entries on the BBC's People's War, a sort of online oral history project. There are some fascinating stories there. Incidentally, I've discovered that you can't come away from these recollections without sensing that Winston Churchill and George VI (and the Queen Mother) held an important place in the memory of everyday people as leaders who "set the tone", so to speak.

There are also a few first-hand accounts of people meeting George VI at medal ceremonies and so on. After reading a couple I ran a search for entries "George VI" and "King George," just out of interest. It's interesting, the words that pop up frequently -- "shy", "quiet", "small," "slight".

One woman (with a very interesting life story, by the way) mentions here
that the King's stutter, when he spoke to her while he was inspecting her workplace (something to do with the UN I think), was "severe".

One day, early in 1946, King George VI came on a visit of inspection, and he asked me several questions about our work. He was quite short, seemed very shy, and had a severe stammer. The Daily Sketch - a popular newspaper at the time — took a photograph showing the two of us together!

Another entry records more childish recollections of the war: gas masks, school, air raid shelters, rationing, and a sighting of the king:

Sure enough, the small slight figure of King George VI, wearing the uniform of Marshal of
the Royal Air Force, presently came down the drive with a group of
high-ranking RAF officers. After salutes and handshakes he got in the
car. Someone in the crowd called "Three cheers for the King!" and he
smiled shyly and acknowledged our rather thin cheers as the car pulled
away.

Link.

I think it's significant that so many of these recorded memories describe George VI as shy, quiet, small. I don't think he was especially short, going with the average height of the time -- he doesn't seem lilliputian in photographs, although he is thin. In any case, I think this idea of "smallness" might have been suggested by his obvious shyness. Also, people may have expected so important a figure as the King to be larger than he was. Doesn't this sort of thing happen a lot -- people being surprised by how short Hollywood actors seem in the flesh?

Then one day hundreds and hundreds of men lined up in the big field next to our house. A smallish man in uniform came to see them and talk to them and we heard it was King George VI.

Link.

The King wasn't immediately "regal" or larger than life in these memories -- the overall impression he made was of a man who shied away from the limelight.

While some of these oral histories might not be as reliable as other sources, they provide anecdotal insight, not just into the King but the way people experienced him, as a quiet, firm monarch.

On getting to the bar a party of senior officers were standing and having a drink. When we ordered a pint of ale, a quiet voice said ’I will get those for gentlemen’ and much to our surprise we recognised him as His Majesty King George VI who chatted to us for several minutes.

Link.

What is almost as striking as the constant references to George V's shyness are the public's adoration for him. He was seen by many as a courageous figure: making speeches despite his stutter, touring bombed areas -- especially alongside the Queen, who was much more outgoing. I did find a couple of more annoyed recollections, connected entirely with having to stand in the blasting heat or pouring rain for hours, waiting for the King to inspect the troops. I imagine that sort of thing would be an ordeal for everybody involved.

So what have I learnt from this? In public George VI was shy, quiet, reserved, possibly even withdrawn. Yet he was still as "accessible" as a monarch can be, touring bombed parts of London. He was a slight man and this evidence shows that he never "got over" his crippling shyness and his terrible stammer.

To endure public life and the war like that, when even making a speech would have been excruciating... I think George VI, raised as he was to be the "spare heir", ridiculed by his siblings for his stammer, was admired by the public partly because of this. He kept on, quietly visiting bomb sites and troops, while the country was at war. He wasn't brash or showy like his brother, but he did what needed to be done.

Very interesting. I highly recommend checking out the People's War site -- it's a great resource.

 

[Zonk]

Thank you for sharing this information! Welcome to The Royal Forums!

George VI was IMO the personification for what a monarch should be particularly during War. He puts his brother the Duke of Windsor again IMO to shame for his particular actions during the War.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

The stature of a man is measured by his actions, not his height. I think George VI was a wonderful monarch who led his country through very tough times.

 

[Mermaid1962]

Thank you for your information. This is a site that I will be checking out.

This is my first post here, and I thought I'd share some insight I've gained into George VI recently, while researching something else.