George VI of the United Kingdom (Born as Albert Frederick Arthur George; on December 14, 1895, in York Cottage, United Kingdom – Died on February 6, 1952, Sandringham Estate, United Kingdom) was King of the United Kingdom and its overseas dominions from November to December of 1936 until his death.
He was the last emperor of India (until August 14, 1947), and the first head of the Commonwealth of Nations. As the second son of King George V and Queen Mary was not expected to inherit the throne after the death of his father.
In 1909 he began his career in the British Royal Navy, taking part, as an officer of the HMS Collingwood ship, in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War. He married Lady Isabel Bowes-Lyon in 1923, a marriage that had two daughters, Isabel (who succeeded her as Queen Elizabeth II) and margarita Rosa.
George VI’s elder brother, Edward VIII, ascended the throne after his father’s death in 1936. However, less than a year later, he announced his intentions to marry a commoner American, Wallis Simpson.
The British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin warned the king that, for political and religious reasons, he could not remain king should marry Simpson, who had divorced twice. Edward VIII abdicated the British Crown on December 11, 1936, to be able to marry Simpson.
Then, unexpectedly, George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. The loss of power by the United Kingdom in the Irish Free State and the war against Nazi Germany and its allies marked his reign.
In addition to the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 and the founding of the Republic of Ireland in 1949, the reign of George VI saw the acceleration of the disintegration of the Empire and its transition to the Commonwealth of Nations.
George VI’s state of health gradually worsened. He died at the age of 56, on February 6, 1952while sleeping, due to coronary thrombosis. Upon his death, his daughter Elizabeth succeeded him on the British throne.
Quick Facts: George VI
- Born: 14 December 1895, York Cottage, United Kingdom
- Known For: King of the United Kingdom and its overseas dominions
- Also known As: Albert Frederick Arthur George
- Parents: (Father – George V), (Mother – Mary of Teck)
- Dynasty: Windsor
- Period: 1936 – 1952
- Predecessor: Edward VIII
- Successor: Elizabeth II
- Spouse: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
- Children: Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
- Died: 6 February 1952, Sandringham Estate, United Kingdom
- Quotes: “It is not the walls that make the city, but the people who live within them. The walls of London may be battered, but the spirit of the Londoner stands resolute and undismayed.”
The Early Life of George VI
George VI was born in York Cottage, on the Sandringham property in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York (later George V), 1 the second and only surviving male child of the Princes of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra).
Her mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), the Duke’s eldest and only daughter, and the Duchess of Teck. George VI was born on 14 December of 1895, 1 the same day that his great – grandfather Albert, Prince Consort had died in 1861.
Unsure of how Queen Victoria, widow of Prince Albert, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen “would be rather distressed.” 10 Two days later the prince wrote again to Duke saying, “I’m sure she would be satisfied if you only resolve to call Alberto.”
Queen Victoria was reassured to learn of the proposal to call baby Albert and wrote to the Duke of York: “I am eager to see the new baby, born on such a sad day but quite dear to me, especially if he is called that mode, a name that is synonymous with everything great and good.
Consequently, he was baptized three months later as “Albert Frederick Arthur George”, in the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene near Sandringham, although his family informally gave him the name “Bertie”.
However, his maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, did not like the first name given to the baby (Alberto) and prophetically wrote that he hoped that his last name (George) “could impersonate the least graceful”.
Military Career
In 1909 Albert entered the Royal Naval College in Osborne. In 1911, he arrived in the last of his class during the final exam but joined the Royal Naval College of Dartmouth. When Edward VII died in 1910, Albert’s father became king under the name of George V. Edward became Prince of Wales and Albert was now second in succession.
Albert spent the first six months of 1913 aboard the training ship HMS Cumberland in the Caribbean and on the East Coast of Canada. He then embarked as a midshipman on HMS Collingwood on September 15, 1913, and spent three months in the Mediterranean.
His fellow officers gave him the nickname “Mr. Johnson”. A year later, he began his service during the First World War. He received a military citation for his role as a turret officer aboard HMS Collingwood during the Battle of Jutland which was the main naval engagement of the war.
He did not take part in other fights, mainly because of health problems caused by a peptic ulcer for which he was operated in November 1917. In February 1918, he was appointed an officer at the Royal Naval Air Service training airbase at Cranwell.
With the creation of the Royal Air Force (RAF) two months later and the transfer of the Cranwell base from the navy to the air force, Albert joined the Royal Air Force. He was appointed commanding officer at Cranwell and remained there until August 1918.
He was the first member of the royal family to obtain his pilotage certificate. In t he last weeks of the war, he served on the staff of the RAF strategic bombing uniting Nancy. After the dissolution of the unit at the end of the war, he spent two months on the continent before returning to Britain.
Marriage
In 1920, the Duke of York met the aristocrat Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Upon meeting her, Alberto decided to marry her.
However, he had to propose three times to Elizabeth, who accepted only the third, apparently because she was reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary to be a member of the royal family. After a long courtship, Elizabeth agreed to marry him.
Eventually, the Duke of York, Albert, and Lady Elizabeth were married on April 26, 1923, at Westminster Abbey. The newly formed British Broadcasting Company wanted to record and broadcast the event on the radio, but the chapter vetoed the idea (although the Dean, Herbert Edward Ryle, was in favor of the proposal).
From her marriage, Elizabeth received the treatment of “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York”. Alberto’s marriage to a noble British aristocrat was considered a modernization gesture for the time.
The duke and duchess had two daughters: Isabel and Margarita. The dukes and their daughters initially lived in the White Lodge residence in Richmond Park, but as their duties increased, they needed a more central location, which is why, in 1927, they moved to the residence. #145 at Piccadilly, near Hyde Park.
Unexpected Ascension to The Throne
On January 20, 1936, King George V died, then ascending Prince Edward to the throne as Edward VIII. However, George V had serious opinions about Eduardo, and more than once he provoked his father’s wrath because of his “eternal adolescence” and being a womanizer.
George V had expressed his opinions about his eldest son: I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry or have children so that nothing stands between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne. King Edward VIII planned to marry the socialite American Wallis Simpson (twice divorced).
The ministers believed that the people would never accept Wallis as queen and advised her not to marry; As a constitutional monarch, Eduardo was obliged to accept the advice of the ministers. After 325 days of reign, November to December of 1936, Edward VIII abdicated from the throne in favor of his brother Albert, to marry Simpson.
On May 12, 1937, the coronation of George VI was carried out.
Reign
The beginning of the reign of George VI. was marked by political crises. The aggressive foreign and armament policies of the Nazi German Reich under Adolf Hitler led Europe to a new war. Besides, the reputation of the monarchy was badly damaged by the abdication crisis, also because Eduard openly sympathized with the Nazi regime.
As a constitutional monarch, George was bound by the kingdom’s constitution and was required to support the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain, who had become prime minister in May 1937.
After the conclusion of the Munich Agreement Chamberlain appeared at the side of the royal couple on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and was celebrated by the population as a savior of peace. In May and June 1939, George VI as the first crowned British monarch, together with his wife, on an extensive trip to North America.
According to the Westminster Statute, he was King of Canada and sought to strengthen ties with one of the most important Dominions in this role. In the United States, he tried to reduce the isolationism efforts of the Americans and to win them over as allies in a possible conflict with the German Reich. For this purpose, he met with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House.
Despite all efforts to achieve peace, the Western powers ‘ appeasement policies failed, and after the German invasion of Poland, France, Great Britain, and the Dominions declared war on the German Reich on September 3, 1939. In a well-received radio address via the BBC, King Georg justified the entry into the war against the people of the global empire.
Commonwealth of Nations
George VI’s reign saw the acceleration of the dissolution of the British Empire, which had begun with the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference when the British dominions were recognized as sovereign states, a declaration that was formalized in the Statute of Westminster of 1931.
The process of transforming an empire into a voluntary association of independent states known as the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated after World War II. In 1947, British India became the two independent domains of India and Pakistan, only to later become republics.
In the same year, George VI ceased to be emperor of India, turns becoming the first head of the Commonwealth of Nations. Ireland in 1946, to officially become the republic chose to leave the Commonwealth to the like other nations.
King George VI Death
The poor health of George VI was certainly increasingly weakened by the stress of the events of the war, together with his attitude as a heavy smoker. In September 1951 the king was diagnosed with a malignant tumor, due to which a lung was removed; contextually he also developed a form of atherosclerosis.
On 31 January 1952, in contrast to the advice of the doctors, he wanted to go to the airport to greet Princess Elizabeth (now clearly considered his heir), leaving for a trip to Australia with a stop in Kenya. A few days later, on February 6, George VI died of coronary artery thrombosis while sleeping while he was at Sandringham House, Norfolk, at the age of 56.
Upon hearing the news, Elizabeth left Kenya and returned to England, to succeed him as sovereign with the name of Elizabeth II. After the body was exhibited at Westminster Hall, George VI ‘s funeral took place on February 15; the coffin was finally buried in the St George chapel of Windsor Castle.
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