George VI

Listen to this article
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Prince Albert, Duke of York
)

George VI
St George's Chapel
26 March 1969
, St George's Chapel
Spouse
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
(m. 1923)
Issue
Detail
Names
Albert Frederick Arthur George
House
Father
Protestant[c]
SignatureGeorge's signature in black ink
Education
Military career
Service/branch
Years of active service1913–1919
Battles/wars

George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was

British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death on 6 February 1952. He was also the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in August 1947, and the first head of the Commonwealth following the London Declaration
of 1949.

The future George VI was born during the reign of his great-grandmother

stutter, 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. As heir presumptive to Edward VIII, Albert became king, taking the regnal name
George VI.

In September 1939, the British Empire and most Commonwealth countries—but not Irelanddeclared war on Nazi Germany, following the invasion of Poland. 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 at Sandringham House, aged 56, of a coronary thrombosis in 1952. He was succeeded by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II.

Early life

Four kings: Edward VII (far right); his son George, Prince of Wales, later George V (far left); and grandsons Edward, later Edward VIII (rear); and Albert, later George VI (foreground), c. 1908

Albert was born at

Albert, Prince Consort.[3] 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."[4]

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."

baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham on 17 February 1896.[d] Formally he was His Highness Prince Albert of York; within the royal family he was known informally as "Bertie".[7] 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".[8] 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".

knock knees, for which he was forced to wear painful corrective splints.[11]

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

At an RAF dinner, 1919

Beginning in 1909, Albert attended the

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.[12] When his grandfather Edward VII died in 1910, his father became King George V. Prince Edward became Prince of Wales, with Albert second in line to the throne.[13]

Albert spent the first six months of 1913 on the training ship

duodenal ulcer, for which he had an operation in November 1917.[17]

In February 1918 Albert was appointed Officer in Charge of Boys at the

RAF's Cadet Brigade at St Leonards-on-Sea and then at Shorncliffe.[20] He completed a fortnight's training and took command of a squadron on the Cadet Wing.[21] He was the first member of the British royal family to be certified as a fully qualified pilot.[22]

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.[23] 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.[24] 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.[25] He accompanied King Albert I of Belgium 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.[26]

In October 1919, Albert attended

Industrial Welfare Society. His series of annual summer camps for boys between 1921 and 1939 brought together boys from different social backgrounds.[32]

Marriage

The Duke and Duchess of York (centre, reading programmes) at Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane, Queensland, 1927

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 Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. He became determined to marry her.[34] 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.[35] In the words of Lady Strathmore, Albert would be "made or marred" by his choice of wife. After a protracted courtship, Elizabeth agreed to marry him.[36]

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.[37] 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).[38]

cover of Time
, January 1925

From December 1924 to April 1925, the Duke and Duchess toured

Uganda, and the Sudan, travelling via the Suez Canal and Aden. During the trip, they both went big-game hunting.[39]

Because of his stutter, Albert dreaded public speaking.[40] 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,[41] 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.[42] Subsequently, he was able to speak with less hesitation.[43] With his delivery improved, Albert opened the new Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, during a tour of the empire with the Duchess in 1927.[44] 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.[45]

The Duke and Duchess had two children:

Canadian prime minister, R. B. Bennett, considered Albert 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.[48]

Reign

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."

lay in state, in a closed casket, in Westminster Hall
.

As Edward was unmarried and had no children, Albert was the

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.[50] 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."[51]

On the day of Edward's abdication, 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.[52]

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 Prince Henry, in favour of their younger brother Prince George, Duke of Kent.[53] This seems to have been suggested on the grounds that Prince George was at that time the only brother with a son.[54]

Early reign

Crown coin with George in profile, 1937

Albert assumed the regnal name "George VI" to emphasise continuity with his father and restore confidence in the monarchy.[55] 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,[56] but George VI felt that by abdicating and renouncing the succession, Edward had lost the right to bear royal titles, including "Royal Highness".[57] 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.[58] Three days after his accession, on his 41st birthday, he invested his wife, the new queen consort, with the Order of the Garter.[59]

Cover of the 7 May 1937 edition of Radio Times, drawn by C. R. W. Nevinson, marking the first coronation to be broadcast, and partially televised, live

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, Queen Mary attended the ceremony in a show of support for her son.[60] 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.[61] Rising Indian nationalism made the welcome that the royal party would have received likely to be muted at best,[62] 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.[63]

The growing likelihood of war in Europe dominated the early reign of George VI. The King was constitutionally bound to support British prime minister

House of Commons, which led historian and politician John Grigg to describe George's behaviour in associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".[65]

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, on the USS Potomac, 9 June 1939

In May and June 1939, the

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".[69]

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.[70] The fear that George would be compared unfavourably to his predecessor was dispelled.[71] 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.[72] A strong bond of friendship was forged between Roosevelt and the royal couple during the tour, which had major significance in the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom through the ensuing war years.[73][74]

Second World War

King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and Princess Elizabeth with RAF personnel during World War II

Following the

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.[80] In August 1942, the King's brother, the Duke of Kent, was killed on active service.[81]

With Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (right), near the front lines in the Netherlands, October 1944

In 1940,

Lord Beaverbrook to the Cabinet, he and Churchill developed "the closest personal relationship in modern British history between a monarch and a Prime Minister".[83] 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.[84] George related much of what the two discussed in his diary, which is the only extant first-hand account of these conversations.[85]

Throughout the war, George and Elizabeth provided morale-boosting visits throughout the United Kingdom, visiting bomb sites, munitions factories, and troops. George visited military forces abroad in France in December 1939, North Africa and

Alan Brooke, revealed that every time he met Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, he thought Montgomery was after his job. George replied: "You should worry, when I meet him, I always think he's after mine!"[88]

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.[89] 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".[90]

Empire to Commonwealth

With Clement Attlee (left) at Buckingham Palace, July 1945

George VI's reign saw the acceleration of the dissolution of the

Burma in January 1948, Palestine (divided between Israel and the Arab states) in May 1948 and the Republic of Ireland in 1949.[97]

In 1947, George and his family toured southern Africa.[98] 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.[99] George was appalled, however, when instructed by the South African government to shake hands only with whites,[100] and referred to his South African bodyguards as "the Gestapo".[101] Despite the tour, Smuts lost the election the following year, and the new government instituted a strict policy of racial segregation.

Illness and death

The stress of the war had taken its toll on George's health,

Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
, taking the place of the King and Queen.

George was well enough to open the

Christmas broadcast of 1951 was recorded in sections, and then edited together.[109]

On 31 January 1952, despite advice from those close to him, George went to

GMT on the morning of 6 February, he was found dead in bed at Sandringham House in Norfolk.[111] He had died in the night from a coronary thrombosis at the age of 56.[112] His daughter flew back to Britain from Kenya as Queen Elizabeth II.[113]

From 9 February George's coffin rested in St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, before lying in state at Westminster Hall from 11 February.[114] His funeral took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on the 15th.[115] 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.[116] 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.[117] In 2022, the remains of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, were also interred in the chapel.[118]

Legacy

Statue by William McMillan (1955) at Carlton House Terrace, Westminster

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".[119] 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".[120] 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.[121][122]

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.[123] He bestowed the George Cross on the entire "island fortress of Malta" in 1943.[124] 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.[125]

Colin Firth won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as George VI in the 2010 film The King's Speech.[126]

Titles, honours and 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.[127]

Coat of arms as Duke of York
Coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom
Coat of arms in Scotland
Coat of arms in Canada

Issue

Name Birth Death Marriage Children
Date Spouse
Elizabeth II 21 April 1926
8 September 2022
20 November 1947 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Charles III
Anne, Princess Royal
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon 21 August 1930 9 February 2002 6 May 1960
Divorced 11 July 1978
Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon
Lady Sarah Chatto

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ From April 1949 until his death in 1952.
  2. ^ George VI continued as titular Emperor of India until 22 June 1948.
  3. ^ As monarch, George VI was Supreme Governor of the Church of England. He was also a member of the Church of Scotland.
  4. Prince Adolphus of Teck (his maternal uncle).[6]
  5. ^ Renamed Heathrow Airport in 1966.[110]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Rhodes James, p. 90; Weir, p. 329
  2. ^ Weir, pp. 322–323, 329
  3. ^ Judd, p. 3; Rhodes James, p. 90; Townsend, p. 15; Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 7–8
  4. ^ Judd, pp. 4–5; Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 7–8
  5. ^ Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 7–8
  6. ^ The Times, Tuesday 18 February 1896, p. 11
  7. ^ Judd, p. 6; Rhodes James, p. 90; Townsend, p. 15; Windsor, p. 9
  8. ^ Bradford, p. 2
  9. ^ Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 17–18
  10. S2CID 35750495
  11. ^ required.)
  12. ^ Bradford, pp. 41–45; Judd, pp. 21–24; Rhodes James, p. 91
  13. ^ Judd, pp. 22–23
  14. ^ Judd, p. 26
  15. ^ Judd, p. 186
  16. ^ "Royal Connections", Aberdeen Medico-Chirugical Society, archived from the original on 17 January 2019, retrieved 16 January 2019
  17. ^ Bradford, pp. 55–76
  18. ^ Bradford, p. 72
  19. ^ Bradford, pp. 73–74
  20. ^ Darbyshire, Taylor (1929), The Duke of York, Hutchinson & Company Limited, p. 51, archived from the original on 17 April 2023, retrieved 19 March 2023
  21. ^ Wheeler-Bennett, p. 115
  22. ^ Judd, p. 45; Rhodes James, p. 91
  23. ^ Wheeler-Bennett, p. 116
  24. ^ Boyle, Andrew (1962), "Chapter 13", Trenchard Man of Vision, St James's Place London: Collins, p. 360
  25. ^ Judd, p. 44
  26. from the original on 29 July 2016, retrieved 18 March 2016
  27. ^ Judd, p. 47; Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 128–131
  28. ^ Wheeler-Bennett, p. 128
  29. ^ Weir, p. 329
  30. ^ Current Biography 1942, p. 280; Judd, p. 72; Townsend, p. 59
  31. ^ Judd, p. 52
  32. ^ Judd, pp. 77–86; Rhodes James, p. 97
  33. ^ Henderson, Gerard (31 January 2014), "Sheila: The Australian Ingenue Who Bewitched British Society – review", Daily Express, archived from the original on 2 April 2015, retrieved 15 March 2015; Australian Associated Press (28 February 2014), A Sheila who captured London's heart, Special Broadcasting Service, archived from the original on 6 November 2017, retrieved 14 March 2015
  34. ^ Rhodes James, pp. 94–96; Vickers, pp. 31, 44
  35. ^ Bradford, p. 106
  36. ^ Bradford, p. 77; Judd, pp. 57–59
  37. ^ Reith, John (1949), Into the Wind, London: Hodder and Stoughton, p. 94
  38. ^ Judd, pp. 89–93
  39. ^ Judd, p. 49
  40. ^ Judd, pp. 93–97; Rhodes James, p. 97
  41. ^ Judd, p. 98; Rhodes James, p. 98
  42. ^ Current Biography 1942, pp. 294–295; Judd, p. 99
  43. ^ Judd, p. 106; Rhodes James, p. 99
  44. ^ Shawcross, p. 273
  45. ^ Judd, pp. 111, 225, 231
  46. ^ "White Lodge, Richmond Park" (PDF), London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2023, retrieved 30 March 2023
  47. ^ Howarth, p. 53
  48. ^ Ziegler, p. 199
  49. ^ Judd, p. 140
  50. ^ Wheeler-Bennett, p. 286
  51. ^ Townsend, p. 93
  52. ^ Bradford, p. 208; Judd, pp. 141–142
  53. ^ Howarth, p. 63; Judd, p. 135
  54. ^ Howarth, p. 66; Judd, p. 141
  55. ^ Judd, p. 144; Sinclair, p. 224
  56. ^ Howarth, p. 143
  57. ^ Ziegler, p. 326
  58. ^ Bradford, p. 223
  59. ^ Bradford, p. 214
  60. ^ Vickers, p. 175
  61. ^ Bradford, p. 209
  62. ^ Bradford, pp. 269, 281
  63. ^ Sinclair, p. 230
  64. Hitchens, Christopher (1 April 2002), "Mourning will be brief" Archived 28 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine
    , The Guardian, retrieved 1 May 2009
  65. ^ Library and Archives Canada, Biography and People > A Real Companion and Friend > Behind the Diary > Politics, Themes, and Events from King's Life > The Royal Tour of 1939, Queen's Printer for Canada, archived from the original on 30 October 2009, retrieved 12 December 2009
  66. from the original on 18 March 2021, retrieved 21 September 2020
  67. ^ Lanctot, Gustave (1964), Royal Tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Canada and the United States of America 1939, Toronto: E.P. Taylor Foundation
  68. ^ Galbraith, William (1989), "Fiftieth Anniversary of the 1939 Royal Visit", Canadian Parliamentary Review, 12 (3): 7–9, archived from the original on 7 August 2017, retrieved 24 March 2015
  69. ^ Judd, pp. 163–166; Rhodes James, pp. 154–168; Vickers, p. 187
  70. ^ Bradford, pp. 298–299
  71. ^ The Times Monday, 12 June 1939 p. 12 col. A
  72. ^ Swift, Will (2004), The Roosevelts and the Royals: Franklin and Eleanor, the King and Queen of England, and the Friendship that Changed History, John Wiley & Sons
  73. ^ Judd, p. 189; Rhodes James, p. 344
  74. ^ Judd, pp. 171–172; Townsend, p. 104
  75. ^ Judd, p. 183; Rhodes James, p. 214
  76. ^ Churchill, Winston (1949), The Second World War, vol. II, Cassell and Co. Ltd, p. 334
  77. ^ Judd, p. 184; Rhodes James, pp. 211–212; Townsend, p. 111
  78. ^ Goodwin, Doris Kearns (1994), No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 380
  79. ^ Judd, p. 187; Weir, p. 324
  80. ^ Judd, p. 180
  81. ^ Rhodes James, p. 195
  82. ^ Rhodes James, pp. 202–210
  83. .
  84. ^ Judd, pp. 176, 201–203, 207–208
  85. ^ Judd, p. 170
  86. ^ Judd, p. 210
  87. ^ Townsend, p. 173
  88. ^ Townsend, p. 176
  89. ^ Townsend, pp. 229–232, 247–265
  90. ^ Published by Authority (18 June 1948), "A proclamation by the King, 22 June 1948", Supplement to the Belfast Gazette - Official Public Record (1408): 153, archived from the original on 5 September 2021
  91. ^ London Declaration 1949 (PDF), Commonwealth Secretariat, archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2012, retrieved 2 April 2013
  92. JSTOR 1090506
  93. ^ Townsend, pp. 267–270
  94. ^ Townsend, pp. 221–223
  95. ^ Judd, p. 223
  96. ^ Rhodes James, p. 295
  97. ^ Rhodes James, p. 294; Shawcross, p. 618
  98. ^ King George VI, Official website of the British monarchy, 12 January 2016, archived from the original on 1 December 2017, retrieved 18 April 2016
  99. ^ Judd, p. 225; Townsend, p. 174
  100. ^ Judd, p. 240
  101. ^ Rhodes James, pp. 314–317
  102. ^ "The King to rest", The Times, 5 June 1951, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 21 December 2021
  103. ^ Bradford, p. 454; Rhodes James, p. 330
  104. ^ Rhodes James, p. 331
  105. ^ Rhodes James, p. 334
  106. ^ About Heathrow Airport: Heathrow's history, LHR Airports, archived from the original on 3 October 2013, retrieved 9 March 2015
  107. ^ 1952: King George VI dies in his sleep, BBC, 6 February 1952, archived from the original on 7 October 2010, retrieved 29 May 2018
  108. ^ Judd, pp. 247–248
  109. ^ The day the King died, BBC, 6 February 2002, archived from the original on 30 May 2018, retrieved 29 May 2018
  110. from the original on 3 June 2013, retrieved 26 December 2011
  111. ^ Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805, Dean & Canons of Windsor, archived from the original on 27 September 2011, retrieved 15 February 2010
  112. ^ "Mourners visit Queen Mother's vault", BBC News, 10 April 2002, archived from the original on 7 December 2008, retrieved 2 March 2018
  113. ^ "Your complete guide to the Queen's funeral", BBC News, 19 September 2022, archived from the original on 9 September 2022, retrieved 19 September 2022
  114. ^ Hardie in the British House of Commons, 11 December 1936, quoted in Rhodes James, p. 115
  115. ^ Letter from George VI to the Duke of Windsor, quoted in Rhodes James, p. 127
  116. ^ Judd, pp. 248–249
  117. ^ Judd, p. 186; Rhodes James, p. 216
  118. ^ Townsend, p. 137
  119. ^ List of Companions (PDF), Ordre de la Libération, archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009, retrieved 19 September 2009
  120. ^ Brooks, Xan (28 February 2011), "Colin Firth takes the best actor crown at the Oscars", The Guardian, archived from the original on 17 August 2022, retrieved 17 August 2022
  121. ^ Velde, François (19 April 2008), "Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family", Heraldica, archived from the original on 17 March 2018, retrieved 22 April 2009

General and cited sources

External links

George VI
Born: 14 December 1895 Died: 6 February 1952
Regnal titles
Preceded by
King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions

1936–1952
Succeeded by
Emperor of India1
1936–1947
Partition of India
Masonic offices
Preceded by
Iain Colquhoun
Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland

1936–1937
Succeeded by
Norman Orr-Ewing
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Auxiliary Air Force

1936–1952
Succeeded by
New title Head of the Commonwealth
1949–1952
Air commodore-in-chief of the Air Training Corps
1941–1952
Succeeded by
Notes and references
1. Indian Empire dissolved 15 August 1947. Title abandoned 22 June 1948 ("No. 38330". The London Gazette. 22 June 1948. p. 3647.)