num_pages: 514
description: A brilliant, immensely readable biography of King George V of England. A work of great insight and thoroughness that has been hailed by The Times of London as "one of the most fair-minded biographies and one of the most enthralling of out time....historical biography as it should be written."George V was born while his grandmother Queen Victoria still reigned, and as the second son of Edward VII, he had no immediate prospects of reaching the throne, and no expectations that those prospects would ever change. Acquiring only the limited education of a nineteenth-century naval officer, he grew up indifferent to science and politics, history and the arts, his views staunchly conservative, and his favorite--and principal--occupations partridge shooting and stamp collecting. But at the age of twenty-six, with the death of his older brother, he found himself in direct line of succession to the throne--a role for which he felt "ill-equipped both by temperament and training." Nor was he able to hide the feelings of inadequacy from the populace: public ceremony visibly affected his nerves, and it was widely rumored that participation in social occasions adversely affected his digestion. When he was crowned in 1910 at the age of forty-five, he evoked little affection or enthusiasm in his people, and England's leaders found little in him to inspire their confidence. Yet by the time he died in 1936, he had become one of the most popular and generally loved of British sovereigns.George V's life spanned seventy years, during which Britain underwent enormous change, and his reign encompassed a time of unparalleled political unrest. He saw England survive one world war and watched the approach of another. He saw the downfall of the empires of Russia (during which he made the controversial decision to deny his cousin the Tsar political asylum in Britain), Germany, and Austria-Hungary; and he was embroiled in struggles--for Irish Home Rule and for Indian self-government--that presaged the dissolution of the British Empire itself. He presided over the decline of the House of Lords and the rise of the Labour Party. He involved himself in the bitter dispute that culminated in the General Strike of 1926, and he was instrumental in the formation of the National Government in 1931. Yet, during his 25-year reign, much to the surprise of his countrymen, he brought to each problem that confronted him inspired common sense and kindliness, principled wisdom, and sensibility. Considered, at first, dull and commonplace, George V quickly gained the respect of his government and the devoted loyalty of his people.Just as this excellent biography examines in detail and sheds new light on George's years as King, so it also illuminates the years before his ascension: his childhood, his service in the Royal Navy, the effects on him and his family of the death of his older brother Prince "Eddy," and his betrothal and marriage to Princess Mary of Teck, who had originally been engaged to marry Eddy. We see George during the years of his father's reign, when he undertook--always with appropriate decorum, but often unhappily--the rigorous duties expected of him as Prince of Wales. We see, too, King George's idyllic private life: his relationship with his children (the was the typical "Victorian Papa"), with his grandchildren, and especially with Queen Mary, whose unflagging devotion to him masked her great personal sacrifices.Kenneth Rose combines a biographer's absolute candor and objectivity with a deep respect for his subject to give us the most convincing, insightful, and vivid portrait we have had of this complex and often maligned ruler. Culling the details of George's life and reign from a variety of sources (including previously unpublished extracts of his diaries and the recollections of members of the Royal Family), Rose goes far beyond the scope of previous biographers in his revelation of George V both as a man and as a king. A superbly conceived and written biography, and a work of major historical importance.
language: English
title: King George V
titlecomplete: King George V
characters: Stanley Baldwin, George V of the United Kingdom, Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram, H.H. Asquith, Edward VII, Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham, Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys
genres: Biography, British Literature, 20th Century, 19th Century, History, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 85
awards: awardedAt: 410256000000
name: Whitbread Award
category: Joint Biography, awardedAt: 410256000000
name: Wolfson History Prize
publisher: Alfred A. Knopf