The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-03
SEMI I-CENTENARY OF KINGS BIRTH OBSERVED THROUGH
 OUT BRITISH EMPIRE.


 H. R. H. George ", "by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions, Beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Elm peror of India,'' will pass the half century mark today, and his birthday will be celebrated throughout that mighty empire over which the Union Jack fIaunts it's folds and the sun never sets. The British monarch was born June 3, 1885, and he has now oc- cupied the three a little more than five years. His reign will go down in history as the most momentous in British history, because of the great
 war now raging, but in this conflict the king, unlike the kaiser, his cousin, has played but a minor role In this critical period of his country's history King George has not permit ted himself to forget that Great Britain is, for all practical purp oses, a democracy, and that to essay the role of war lord'' or to attempt to
 usurp the functions of those better fitted to transact the grim and
 bloody business at hand would not
 be appreciated by his subjects. Al though he received a thorough naval training, King George has never made
 any pretense of superior Knowledge charged with the protection of Great Britain have not had to deal with royal interference.
 King Georges blood is largely Ger
 man. The House of Hanover, in the
 person of George l., elector of Han
 over, gained the English throne two
 centuries ago. The crown passed to
 the German house in the absence of
 heirs to Queen Anne, the last of the
 Stuart dynasty. The first George
 married Sophia Dorothea, daughter of the Duke of Zel1. His son and suc-
 cessor married a German princess of Brandenburg-Ansp George III,
 grandson of George IT., married Charlotte Sophia, daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburg-S -Strelitz. His fourth son, Edward, Duke of Kent, married .. daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and their only daughter 1 ascended the throne as Queen Vic Itoria- She married her cousin, Al bert, Prince of saxe-Coburg ana Gotha. Their son, who came to the throne as Edward VII, gave a Dan ish strain to the English royal family by marrying Alexandra, eldest ! daughter of Christian TX. That
 Danish monarch, descended from
 II. of England, was the son of Will liam, Duke of Sch1eswi g-Holstein- Sonde -G1ucksburg. Queen Alex
 andra's mother was also a German l princess, Louisa of Hesse-Casse1- It 1 will thus be seen that it is almost A 1 in the veins of Great Britain's ruler.
 King Georges biography contains little of the spectacular. At the age of twelve he became a, naval cadet and spent two years on the Britannia He reached the rank of commander l in 1891. On the death of his elder 1 brother, Prince Albert Victor, in 1892, 1 he became heir to the throne. The
 following year he married Princess ] Victoria Mary of Teck. who had pre- | vious1y been the betrothed wife of
 Prince Albert Victor. In 1901 he was l advanced to the rank of rear admiral and visited the British possessions of
 the world, including Canada. He was at Niagara Falls on the day I President Mckinley was shot at Buff
 falo and visited the latter city in formally. He was created Prince of | Wales and Earl of Cornwall in 1901, I and two years later was advanced to
 admiral in the navy. In 1908 he at
 tended the Quebec tercentenary ceIe-
 bration. He succeeded his father on 1 May 6, 1910. King Georges chief
 hobby is stam-collecting, but it is not l to be deduced from that that he is a 1 'tmollycoddle,' for he is extremely fond of boxing and other manly
 sports. He is an inveterate smoker Iof mild cigars, but in recent years he 1 has drank but little liquor, and is now a teetotaler.