George_VI

context: During George's reign the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated. The parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the country's constitution on the day of his accession. From 1939, the Empire and Commonwealth, except Ireland, was at war with Nazi Germany. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively. Though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, George remained as king of both countries, but the title Emperor of India was abandoned in June 1948. Ireland formally declared itself a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1949, and India became a republic within the Commonwealth the following year. George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by health problems in the later years of his reign. His elder daughter, Elizabeth, succeeded him.
qas: answers: India
question: For which country did George VI stop using the title Emperor but continue to use the title of King?

answers: June 1948
question: In what month and year did George VI discontinue using the title Emperor of India?

answers: Ireland
question: In 1949 what country solely proclaimed independence from the Commonwealth?

answers: Elizabeth
question: What Child of George VI ascended the throne?

answers: Commonwealth of Nations
question: What was the name used after the dissolution of the British Empire?

answers: 1945
question: What year was Britain and allies victorious in the war?

answers: 1947
question: When did India and Pakistan gain independence?

answers: Emperor of India
question: What title did George have in India prior to 1948?

answers: republic
question: What did Ireland declare itself in 1950?

context: His birthday (14 December 1895) was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert, the Prince Consort. 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". Queen Victoria 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". Consequently, he was baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St. Mary Magdalene's Church near Sandringham three months later.[a] As a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known formally as His Highness Prince Albert of York from birth. Within the family, he was known informally as "Bertie". His maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, did not like the first name the baby had been given, and she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one".
qas: answers: 14 December
question: What month and day was the death of Prince Albert?

answers: Queen Victoria
question: Who was Prince Albert's great grandmother?

answers: Bertie
question: What was Prince Albert's nickname?

answers: St. Mary Magdalene's Church
question: In which church was Prince Albert baptized?

context: Albert spent the first six months of 1913 on the training ship HMS Cumberland in the West Indies and on the east coast of Canada. He was rated as a midshipman aboard HMS Collingwood on 15 September 1913, and spent three months in the Mediterranean. His fellow officers gave him the nickname "Mr. Johnson". One year after his commission, he began service in the First World War. He was mentioned in despatches for his action as a turret officer aboard Collingwood in the Battle of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916), an indecisive engagement with the German navy that was the largest naval action of the war. He did not see further combat, largely because of ill health caused by a duodenal ulcer, for which he had an operation in November 1917.
qas: answers: HMS Cumberland
question: Which ship did Alber train on in 1913?

answers: three months
question: How many months did Albert spend in the Mediterranean in 1913?

answers: First World War
question: Which war did Albert serve in?

answers: fellow officers
question: Who gave Albert the nickname of "Mr Johnson"?

answers: duodenal ulcer
question: What was the cause of Albert's ill health in 1917?

context: In February 1918, he was appointed Officer in Charge of Boys at the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment at Cranwell. With the establishment of the Royal Air Force two months later and the transfer of Cranwell from Navy to Air Force control, he transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Force. He was appointed Officer Commanding Number 4 Squadron of the Boys' Wing at Cranwell until August 1918, before reporting to the RAF's Cadet School at St Leonards-on-Sea where he completed a fortnight's training and took command of a squadron on the Cadet Wing. He was the first member of the royal family to be certified as a fully qualified pilot. During the closing weeks of the war, he served on the staff of the RAF's Independent Air Force at its headquarters in Nancy, France. Following the disbanding of the Independent Air Force in November 1918, he remained on the Continent for two months as a staff officer with the Royal Air Force until posted back to Britain. He accompanied the Belgian monarch King Albert on his triumphal reentry into Brussels on 22 November. Prince Albert qualified as an RAF pilot on 31 July 1919 and gained a promotion to squadron leader on the following day.
qas: answers: Officer in Charge of Boys at the Royal Naval Air Service
question: What position was Albert appointed at Cranwell?

answers: 4
question: Which number squadron was Albert appointed commanding officer in 1918?

answers: 1919
question: What year did Albert become a RAF pilot?

answers: King Albert
question: Who was the king of Belgium  in 1918?

context: In October 1919, Albert went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied history, economics and civics for a year. On 4 June 1920, he was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. He began to take on more royal duties. He represented his father, and toured coal mines, factories, and railyards. Through such visits he acquired the nickname of the "Industrial Prince". His stammer, and his embarrassment over it, together with his tendency to shyness, caused him to appear much less impressive than his older brother, Edward. However, he was physically active and enjoyed playing tennis. He played at Wimbledon in the Men's Doubles with Louis Greig in 1926, losing in the first round. He developed an interest in working conditions, and was President of the Industrial Welfare Society. His series of annual summer camps for boys between 1921 and 1939 brought together boys from different social backgrounds.
qas: answers: history, economics and civics
question: What did Albert study in Trinity College?

answers: Industrial Prince
question: What was Albert's nickname as he toured coal mines, factories, and railyards?

answers: Edward
question: Who is Albert's older brother?

answers: tennis
question: Which sport was Albert proficient at?

answers: Industrial Welfare Society
question: Which society was Albert the president of?

context: In a time when royals were expected to marry fellow royals, it was unusual that Albert had a great deal of freedom in choosing a prospective wife. An infatuation with the already-married Australian socialite Sheila, Lady Loughborough, came to an end in April 1920 when the King, with the promise of the dukedom of York, persuaded Albert to stop seeing her. That year, he met for the first time since childhood Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. He became determined to marry her. She 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. In the words of Lady Elizabeth's mother, Albert would be "made or marred" by his choice of wife. After a protracted courtship, Elizabeth agreed to marry him.
qas: answers: Sheila, Lady Loughborough
question: Who was Albert infatuated with?

answers: Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
question: Who was the youngest daughter of Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne?

answers: twice
question: How many times did Elizabeth reject Albert's proposal?

answers: fellow royals
question: Who were royals usually expected to marry?

context: Because of his stammer, Albert dreaded public speaking. 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, 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. Subsequently, he was able to speak with less hesitation. With his delivery improved, the Duke opened the new Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, during a tour of the empire in 1927. His journey by sea to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji took him via Jamaica, where Albert played doubles tennis partnered with a black man, which was unusual at the time and taken locally as a display of equality between races.
qas: answers: his stammer
question: Why did Albert fear speaking in public?

answers: Lionel Logue
question: Who helped Albert improve in public speaking?

answers: doubles tennis
question: What did Albert play partnered with a black man?

answers: Parliament House
question: What did the Duke open in Australia in 1927? 

context: The Duke and Duchess of York had two children: Elizabeth (called "Lilibet" by the family), and Margaret. The Duke and Duchess and their two daughters lived a relatively sheltered life at their London residence, 145 Piccadilly. They were a close and loving family. One of the few stirs arose when the Canadian Prime Minister, R. B. Bennett, considered the Duke for Governor General of Canada in 1931—a proposal that King George V rejected on the advice of the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, J. H. Thomas.
qas: answers: Lilibet
question: What was Elizabeth's nickname?

answers: Elizabeth (called "Lilibet" by the family), and Margaret
question: Who were the Duke and Duchess of York's children?

answers: 145 Piccadilly
question: What was the name of Duke of York's London residence?

answers: J. H. Thomas
question: Who advised against the Duke becoming the Governor General of Canada? 

answers: Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
question: What position did J. H. Thomas hold?

context: As Edward was unmarried and had no children, Albert was the heir presumptive to the throne. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her first husband and divorcing her second. Edward had been advised by British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin that he could not remain king and marry a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands. Edward chose abdication in preference to abandoning his marriage plans. Thus Albert became king, a position he was reluctant to accept. The day before the abdication, he 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."
qas: answers: Edward was unmarried and had no children
question: Why was Albert the heir presumptive to the throne?

answers: divorced woman with two living ex-husbands
question: What was wrong with Edward marrying Wallis Simpson?

answers: abdication
question: What did Edward do to marry Wallis Simpson?

answers: Queen Mary
question: Who is Edward's mother?

answers: broke down and sobbed like a child
question: How did Edward react when he became heir to the throne?

context: On the day of the abdication, the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Irish Free State, removed all direct mention of the monarch from the Irish constitution. The next day, it passed 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.
qas: answers: the parliament of the Irish Free State
question: What is the Oireachtas?

answers: all direct mention of the monarch
question: What did the Oireachtas remove from the Irish constitution?

answers: External Relations Act
question: Which act gave the monarch limited authority in Ireland?

answers: day of the abdication
question: What day did the Oireachtas pass an act that started to establish Ireland as a republic?

context: Albert assumed the regnal name "George VI" to emphasise continuity with his father and restore confidence in the monarchy. 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, but George VI felt that by abdicating and renouncing the succession Edward had lost the right to bear royal titles, including "Royal Highness". In settling the issue, George's first act as king was to confer upon his brother the title and style "His Royal Highness The Duke of Windsor", but the Letters Patent creating the dukedom prevented any wife or children from bearing royal styles. George VI was also forced to buy from Edward the royal residences of Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, as these were private properties and did not pass to George VI automatically. Three days after his accession, on his 41st birthday, he invested his wife, the new queen consort, with the Order of the Garter.
qas: answers: George VI
question: What regnal name did Albert adopt?

answers: His Royal Highness The Duke of Windsor
question: What title did Albert give Edward?

answers: the Order of the Garter
question: What did Albert bestow onto his wife on his 41st birthday?

answers: Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House
question: Which two residences did Albert buy from Edward?

context: George VI's coronation 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. 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. Rising Indian nationalism made the welcome that the royal couple would have received likely to be muted at best, 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.
qas: answers: 12 May 1937
question: What day did George VI become coronated?

answers: Queen Mary
question: Who attended the coronation that was a break from tradition?

answers: Two
question: How many overseas tours happened after the coronation to France and North America?

answers: Delhi
question: In which city are Durbars usually held?

context: The growing likelihood of war in Europe dominated the early reign of George VI. The King was constitutionally bound to support Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. However, when the King and Queen greeted Chamberlain on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement in 1938, they invited him to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with them. This public association of the monarchy with a politician was exceptional, as balcony appearances were traditionally restricted to the royal family. While broadly popular among the general public, Chamberlain's policy towards Hitler was the subject of some opposition in the House of Commons, which led historian John Grigg to describe the King's behaviour in associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".
qas: answers: Neville Chamberlain
question: Which prime minister was the King constitutionally bound to support?

answers: Munich Agreement
question: Which agreement was signed in 1938?

answers: Buckingham Palace
question: The balcony in which palace is famous for being where the royal family makes appearances?

answers: John Grigg
question: Which historian commented that the king's act in associating with Chamberlain as unconstitutional?

context: In May and June 1939, the King and Queen toured Canada and the United States. From Ottawa, the royal couple were accompanied throughout by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, to present themselves in North America as King and Queen of Canada. George was the first reigning monarch of Canada to visit North America, although he had been to Canada previously as Prince Albert and as Duke of York. Both Governor General of Canada Lord Tweedsmuir and Mackenzie King hoped that the King's presence in Canada would demonstrate the principles of the Statute of Westminster 1931, which gave full sovereignty to the British Dominions. On 19 May, George VI personally accepted and approved the Letter of Credence of the new U.S. Ambassador to Canada, 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".
qas: answers: Canada and the United States
question: Which two countries did the King and Queen tour in 1939?

answers: William Lyon Mackenzie King
question: Who was the prime minister of Canada in 1939?

answers: King and Queen of Canada
question: What title was the king and queen presented with when touring Canada?

answers: U.S. Ambassador to Canada
question: What was Roper's position?

answers: gave full sovereignty to the British Dominions
question: What did the Statute of Westminster do?

context: 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. The fear that George would be compared unfavourably to his predecessor, Edward VIII, was dispelled. 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. A strong bond of friendship was forged between the King and Queen and the President during the tour, which had major significance in the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom through the ensuing war years.
qas: answers: isolationist tendencies
question: What kind of tendencies did North America have?

answers: Edward VIII
question: Who was George's predecessor?

answers: President Franklin D. Roosevelt
question: Who was the President of the United States in 1939?

answers: 1939 New York World's Fair
question: Which fair was happening in New York in 1939?

context: In September 1939, Britain and the self-governing Dominions, but not Ireland, declared war on Nazi Germany. George VI and his wife resolved to stay in London, despite German bombing raids. They officially stayed in Buckingham Palace throughout the war, although they usually spent nights at Windsor Castle. The first German raid on London, on 7 September 1940, killed about one thousand civilians, mostly in the East End. On 13 September, the King and Queen narrowly avoided death when two German bombs exploded in a courtyard at Buckingham Palace while they were there. In defiance, the Queen famously declared: "I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel we can look the East End in the face". The royal family were portrayed as sharing the same dangers and deprivations as the rest of the country. They were subject to rationing restrictions, and 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. In August 1942, the King's brother, Prince George, Duke of Kent, was killed on active service.
qas: answers: Nazi Germany
question: Against who did Britain declare war against in 1939?

answers: London
question: Which city did the king and queen stay in even with the bombing threats?

answers: one thousand civilians
question: How many people died on the first German raid on London?

answers: 1942
question: What year did the King's brother die in service?

context: In 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister, though personally George would have preferred to appoint Lord Halifax. After the King's initial dismay over Churchill's appointment of Lord Beaverbrook to the Cabinet, he and Churchill developed "the closest personal relationship in modern British history between a monarch and a Prime Minister". 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.
qas: answers: Neville Chamberlain
question: Who was Winston Churchill's predecessor?

answers: Prime Minister
question: What position did Churchill hold?

answers: Tuesday
question: What day of the week did Churchill and the King meet?

answers: Lord Beaverbrook
question: Who did Churchill appoint to Cabinet that the King did not like?

context: Throughout the war, the King and Queen provided morale-boosting visits throughout the United Kingdom, visiting bomb sites, munitions factories, and troops. The King visited military forces abroad in France in December 1939, North Africa and Malta in June 1943, Normandy in June 1944, southern Italy in July 1944, and the Low Countries in October 1944. Their high public profile and apparently indefatigable determination secured their place as symbols of national resistance. At a social function in 1944, Chief of the Imperial General Staff Sir Alan Brooke, revealed that every time he met Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery he thought he was after his job. The King replied: "You should worry, when I meet him, I always think he's after mine!"
qas: answers: Italy
question: What country did the King and Queen visit in July 1944?

answers: June 1943
question: When did the King and Queen visit North Africa and Malta?

answers: morale
question: What improved when the King and Queen visited different military sites?

context: George VI's reign saw the acceleration of the dissolution of the British Empire. The Statute of Westminster 1931 had already acknowledged the evolution of the Dominions into separate sovereign states. The process of transformation from an empire to a voluntary association of independent states, known as the Commonwealth, gathered pace after the Second World War. During the ministry of Clement Attlee, British India became the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan in 1947. George relinquished the title of Emperor of India, and became King of India and King of Pakistan instead. In 1950 he ceased to be King of India when it became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, but he remained King of Pakistan until his death and India recognised his new title of Head of the Commonwealth. Other countries left the Commonwealth, such as Burma in January 1948, Palestine (divided between Israel and the Arab states) in May 1948 and the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
qas: answers: the Commonwealth
question: What is the association of independent states in Britain called?

answers: India and Pakistan
question: What two dominions did British India become?

answers: Burma
question: What country left the Commonwealth in January 1948?

answers: 1949
question: What year was the Republic of Ireland formed?

context: In 1947, the King and his family toured Southern Africa. 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. George was appalled, however, when instructed by the South African government to shake hands only with whites, and referred to his South African bodyguards as "the Gestapo". Despite the tour, Smuts lost the election the following year, and the new government instituted a strict policy of racial segregation.
qas: answers: Jan Smuts
question: Who was the Prime Minister of South Africa in 1947?

answers: the Gestapo
question: What were the King's South African bodyguards referred as? 

answers: South African government
question: Who instructed the King to only shake hands with whites in South Africa?

context: The stress of the war had taken its toll on the King's health, exacerbated by his heavy smoking and subsequent development of lung cancer among other ailments, including arteriosclerosis and thromboangiitis obliterans. A planned tour of Australia and New Zealand was postponed after the King suffered an arterial blockage in his right leg, which threatened the loss of the leg and was treated with a right lumbar sympathectomy in March 1949. His elder daughter Elizabeth, the heir presumptive, took on more royal duties as her father's health deteriorated. The delayed tour was re-organised, with Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, taking the place of the King and Queen. The King was well enough to open the Festival of Britain in May 1951, but on 23 September 1951, his left lung was removed by Clement Price Thomas after a malignant tumour was found. In October 1951, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh went on a month-long tour of Canada; the trip had been delayed for a week due to the King's illness. At the State Opening of Parliament in November, the King's speech from the throne was read for him by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Simonds. His Christmas broadcast of 1951 was recorded in sections, and then edited together.
qas: answers: lung cancer
question: What kind of cancer did the King develop?

answers: arterial blockage
question: What developed in the King's right leg that prevented him from touring Australia?

answers: right lumbar sympathectomy
question: What treatment helped prevent the loss of the King's right leg?

answers: Elizabeth
question: Who was the King's heir presumptive?

answers: Duke of Edinburgh
question: Who was Elizabeth's spouse?

context: From 9 February for two days his coffin rested in St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, before lying in state at Westminster Hall from 11 February. His funeral took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on the 15th. 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. 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.
qas: answers: Windsor Castle
question: What church did the King's funeral take place on the 15th?

answers: 2002
question: What year did Queen Elizabeth die?

answers: 2002
question: What year did Princess Margaret die?

answers: King George VI Memorial Chapel
question: In which chapel does King George's body lie in today? 

context: In the words of Labour Member of Parliament George Hardie, the abdication crisis of 1936 did "more for republicanism than fifty years of propaganda". 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". 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.
qas: answers: low
question: How high was public faith in the monarchy when King George assumed the throne?

answers: Labour Member of Parliament
question: What position did George Hardie hold?

answers: Edward
question: Who was George VI's brother?