1936 The Year of the Three Kings | Lisa's History Room 1936 The Year of the Three Kings October 2, 2009 by Lisa Waller Rogers 1936 The Year of Three British Kings: dad George V and his 2 sons - George VI & Edward VIII The year 1936 brought many changes within the British monarchy. In January of that year, the first monarch of the House of Windsor, King George V, died and his son, Edward VIII ascended the throne. King Edward VIII though was not destined to rule long. He had a married American mistress – Wallis Warfield Simpson – who was in the process of divorcing her second husband. The King’s choice of sweetheart would soon bring him tumbling down. Wallis Warfield Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (1896-1986). Wallis' second husband Ernest Simpson couldn't keep her happy. She was accustomed to a grander style of living than he was capable of providing.

They were living well beyond their means and having to fire servants when, in 1931, she was introduced to the playboy Prince of Wales, who ascended to the British throne in 1936 as King Edward VIII. The King - called "David" by his friends and family - dropped all his other married girlfriends and became obsessed with Wallis, showering her with jewels and clothes and taking her on expensive ocean cruises - while she was still Mrs. Married Simpson. The King shocked the nation – already reeling from the King’s scandalous behavior of appearing in the society pages with Mrs. Simpson – by announcing that he planned to marry Mrs. Simpson. The British people and the government would never have accepted Mrs. Simpson as their queen. Divorced people were not accepted at court, especially ones with two living ex-husbands. Although the King was not forbidden to marry Mrs. Simpson, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised him, on religious and political grounds, that he must make a choice between the throne and marrying Mrs. Simpson – or the government would resign. By December 1936, King Edward had made his decision.

He used his power to expedite Wallis’ divorce from Ernest Simpson [divorces took years back then] then, declared to his kingdom – the United Kingdom, Canada, and India – that it was impossible to carry out his duties “without the help and support of the woman I love,” and gave up the throne. Edward became the only monarch in the history of Great Britain to voluntarily abdicate. Edward’s younger brother, King George VI, then ascended the throne. Edward did marry Wallis and they became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, settling in France until World War II began. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon [pictured] was Wallis’ sister-in-law. She was married to King George VI, the Duke of Windsor’s younger brother who ascended the throne following his 1936 abdication. Elizabeth was known as “The Queen Mum” in later years, after King George VI died in 1952 and their daughter, “Lilibet,” became Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth II’s mother – also called Queen Elizabeth when she was queen – died in 2002 at the age of 101.

The Queen Mum hated Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor, and was determined that Wallis would never reenter British society after causing the abdication crisis. She also blamed the Duke and Wallis for the premature death of her husband George VI in 1952 upon the stress of his reign as king – again, because of her brother-in-law’s abdication to marry Wallis. Wallis wasn’t so happy with the Queen herself and returned her hostile sentiments, ridiculing the Queen’s fussy style of confectionary dress by nicknaming her “Cake.” Wallis had never forgotten the snub that King George VI gave her – at his wife Queen Elizabeth’s insistence – of refusing to allow Wallis to be referred to as “Her Royal Highness.” The abdication and the subsequent exile to France of the newly titled Duke and Duchess of Windsor turned out to be a gigantic blessing for the UK, because, by September of 1939, Great Britain would declare war on Nazi Germany. It was a good thing King Edward VIII had been replaced with the level-headed King George VI and his queen, Queen Elizabeth (known later as the Queen Mum).

They had the good sense to see the threat a Nazi Germany presented and the courage to lead the British people through the terrible bombings of Great Britain by the Nazis. King George VI began his reign as a reluctant king. He was a nervous man with a pronounced stutter who never wanted to rule. But, with Queen Elizabeth by his side, they were able to summon the strength from God and selves to help the British people endure the war and oppose the Nazi regime. “When war broke out in 1939, George VI and his wife resolved to stay in London and not flee to Canada, as had been suggested. The King and Queen officially stayed in Buckingham Palace throughout the war, although they usually spent nights at Windsor Castle to avoid bombing raids. George VI and Queen Elizabeth narrowly avoided death when two German bombs exploded in a courtyard at Buckingham Palace while they were there.” So, as history would have it, Great Britain owes an enormous debt to Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor, for spiriting the Duke away before he could do any real harm. At the time, it seemed a great sadness for the Duke to have to give up the throne because convention wouldn’t allow for him to be married to the Duchess.

But now we know that it would have been a disaster for him to be King during World War II. Because, as it turned out, both he and the Duchess were Nazi sympathizers. They held their wedding ceremony at the Chateau de Cande in Mont, France, the home of Nazi collaborator Charles Bedaux. Within months, Bedaux had arranged for them to travel to Germany to dine with Adolf Hitler. It was widely believed that Hitler planned to install the Duke back on the British throne after the Germans had conquered England. The Duke was desperate for a kingdom and made no secret of his fondness for fascism. Fortunately,the Duke’s brother, the King, got wind of his brother’s nefarious activities and schemes and, at the start of the War, whisked him and the Duchess off to a British island [the Bahamas] far out in the Caribbean. Had Edward been the British monarch during WWII, not George VI, we might today to looking at a frighteningly different world order. King George V, the Duke of Windsor’s father, never thought much of his son David. He was disgusted by his son’s playboy ways and inability to grow up and settle down.

The King [George V] was reluctant to see Edward inherit the Crown, and was quoted as saying of Edward [the Duke of Windsor]:”After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in 12 months.” George V knew his son well. King Edward VIII…or “David,” the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Windsor, – he had so many names, it can be so confusing – was self-indulgent to the point of self-destruction. King Edward VIII’s reign as monarch was one of the shortest in British history, lasting only 325 days, or about 11 months, one month less than his father had so sagely predicted. Edward never did have a coronation ceremony. He was never crowned king.

Readers, for more on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor on this blog: Edward VIII | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Wallis Simpson Signature Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later the Duke of Windsor ; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India , from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December 1936. Edward was the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday. As a young man, he served in the British Armed Forces during the First World War and undertook several foreign tours on behalf of his father. Edward became king when his father died in early 1936. He showed impatience with court protocol, and politicians were concerned by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, he caused a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American socialite Wallis Simpson , who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second.

The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing that the people would never accept a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands as queen. Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as the titular head of the Church of England, which opposed the remarriage of divorced people if their former spouses were still alive. Edward knew that the government led by prime minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would ruin his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Choosing not to end his relationship with Simpson, Edward abdicated . He was succeeded by his younger brother Albert, who chose the regnal name George VI . With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British and Commonwealth history. He was never crowned . After his abdication, he was given the title Duke of Windsor . He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Germany.

During the Second World War , he was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France but, after private accusations that he held Nazi sympathies, he was assigned to the Bahamas as the islands' Governor . After the war, he was never given another official appointment and spent the remainder of his life in retirement in France. Contents Edit Little David, photographed by his grandmother Queen Alexandra Edward VIII was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park , on the outskirts of London, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria . [1] He was the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary). His father was the son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra ). His mother was the eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck ( Francis and Mary Adelaide ). As a great-grandson of the monarch in the male line, Edward was styled His Highness Prince Edward of York at birth. He was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894 by Edward White Benson , Archbishop of Canterbury.

[N 1] [2] The names were chosen in honour of Edward's late uncle , who was known to his family as "Eddy" or Edward, and his great-grandfather King Christian IX of Denmark . The name Albert was included at the behest of Queen Victoria, and his last four names – George , Andrew , Patrick and David – came from the Patron Saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He was always known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David. Like other upper-class children of the time, Edward and his younger siblings were brought up by nannies rather than directly by their parents. One of his early nannies abused Edward by pinching him before he was due to be presented to his parents. His subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send Edward and the nanny away. [3] The nanny was subsequently discharged. Edward's father, though a harsh disciplinarian, [4] was demonstrably affectionate, [5] and his mother displayed a frolicsome side with her children that belied her austere public image. She was amused by the children making tadpoles on toast for their French master, [6] and encouraged them to confide in her.

[7] Education Edit Initially Edward was tutored at home by Helen Bricka. When his parents travelled the British Empire for almost nine months following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, young Edward and his siblings stayed in Britain with their grandparents, Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII, who showered their grandchildren with affection. Upon his parents' return, Edward was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who virtually brought up Edward and his brothers and sister for their remaining nursery years. [8] Edward was kept under the strict tutorship of Hansell until nearly 13; Hansell had wanted Edward to enter school earlier, but his father disagreed. Edward took the examination to enter Osborne Naval College , and began there in 1907. [9] Following two years at Osborne College, which he did not enjoy, Edward moved on to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. A course of two years followed by entry into the Royal Navy was planned. A bout of mumps may have left him sterile .

When his father ascended the throne on 6 May 1910 following the death of Edward VII, Edward automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay and he was created Prince of Wales a month later on 23 June 1910, his 16th birthday. Preparations began in earnest for his future duties as king. He was withdrawn from his naval course before his formal graduation, served as midshipman for three months aboard the battleship Hindustan , then immediately entered Magdalen College, Oxford , for which, in the opinion of his biographers, he was underprepared intellectually. A keen horseman, he learned how to play polo with the university club . [10] He left Oxford after eight terms without any academic qualifications. [11] Prince of Wales File:Edward Albert Prince of Wales Investiture Medallion 1911.jpg Edward during the First World War Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a special ceremony at Caernarvon Castle on 13 July 1911.

[12] The investiture took place in Wales, at the instigation of the Welsh politician David Lloyd George , Constable of the Castle and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government. [13] Lloyd George invented a rather fanciful ceremony in the style of a Welsh pageant, and coached Edward to speak a few words in Welsh. When the First World War broke out, Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and was keen to participate. [14] He had joined the Grenadier Guards in June 1914, and although Edward was willing to serve on the front lines, Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener refused to allow it, citing the immense harm that would occur if the heir to the throne were captured by the enemy. [15] Despite this, Edward witnessed trench warfare first-hand and attempted to visit the front line as often as he could, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in 1916. His role in the war, although limited, made him popular among veterans of the conflict. [16] Edward undertook his first military flight in 1918 and later gained a pilot's licence.

[17] Throughout the 1920s Edward, as Prince of Wales, represented his father, King George V, at home and abroad on many occasions. He took a particular interest in visiting the poverty stricken areas of the country, [18] and undertook 16 tours to various parts of the Empire between 1919 and 1935. During a tour of Canada in 1919, he acquired the Bedingfield ranch, near Pekisko, Alberta , [19] and in 1924 he donated the Prince of Wales Trophy to the National Hockey League. [20] His rank, travels, good looks, and unmarried status gained him much public attention, and at the height of his popularity, he was the most photographed celebrity of his time. [21] His attitudes towards many of the Empire's subjects and various foreign peoples, both during his time as Prince of Wales and later as Duke of Windsor, were little commented upon at the time but have soured his reputation subsequently. [22] He once wrote of Indigenous Australians , "they are the most revolting form of living creatures I've ever seen!!

They are the lowest known form of human beings & are the nearest thing to monkeys." [23] Romances Edit Edward in 1932 Edward's womanising and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Baldwin, King George V, and those close to the prince. Alan Lascelles , Edward's private secretary for eight years during this period, believed that "for some hereditary or physiological reason his normal mental development stopped dead when he reached adolescence". [24] George V was disappointed by Edward's failure to settle down in life, disgusted by his affairs with married women, and was reluctant to see him inherit the Crown. "After I am dead," George said, "the boy will ruin himself in 12 months." [25] In 1929, Time magazine magazine reported that Edward teased his sister-in-law, Elizabeth, the wife of his younger brother Albert , by calling her "Queen Elizabeth". The magazine asked if "she did not sometimes wonder how much truth there is in the story that he once said he would renounce his rights upon the death of George V – which would make her nickname come true".

[26] Edward grew older and remained unmarried, but his brother and sister-in-law had two children, including Princess Elizabeth . George V favoured his son Albert ("Bertie"), and granddaughter Elizabeth ("Lilibet"), and told a courtier, "I pray to God that my eldest son [Edward] will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." [27] In 1930, George V gave Edward a home, Fort Belvedere , in Windsor Great Park . [28] There, Edward had relationships with a series of married women including textile heiress Freda Dudley Ward , and Lady Furness , the American wife of a British peer, who introduced the prince to her friend and fellow American Wallis Simpson . Simpson had divorced her first husband in 1927, and her second husband, Ernest Simpson , was a British-American businessman. Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, it is generally accepted, became lovers while Lady Furness travelled abroad, though Edward adamantly insisted to his father that he was not intimate with her and that it was not appropriate to describe her as his mistress.

[29] Edward's relationship with Simpson further weakened his poor relationship with his father. Although King George V and Queen Mary met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935, [30] they later refused to receive her. [31] Edward's affair with an American divorcee led to such grave concern that the couple were followed by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch , who examined in secret the nature of their relationship. An undated report detailed a visit by the couple to an antique shop, where the proprietor later noted "that the lady seemed to have POW [Prince of Wales] completely under her thumb." [32] The prospect of having an American divorcee with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety among government and establishment figures. Reign Edward VIII surrounded by heralds of the College of Arms prior to his only State Opening of Parliament , 3 November 1936 King George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. The next day, he broke royal protocol by watching the proclamation of his own accession from a window of St James's Palace in the company of the then still-married Simpson.

[33] Edward became the first monarch of the British Empire to fly in an aircraft when he flew from Sandringham to London for his Accession Council . [34] Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. His comment during a tour of depressed villages in South Wales that "something must be done" [34] for the unemployed coal miners was seen as directly critical of the Government, though it has never been clear whether Edward had anything in particular in mind. Government ministers were reluctant to send confidential documents and state papers to Fort Belvedere because it was clear that Edward was paying little attention to them and there was a lack of confidence in his discretion in constitutional and political matters. It was feared that Simpson and other house guests might see state papers and that confidential information in them might be improperly or inadvertently disclosed in ways that could be detrimental to the country's national interests. [35] Edward's unorthodox approach to his role also extended to the currency which bore his image. He broke with the tradition that on coinage each successive monarch faced in the opposite direction to his or her predecessor.

Edward insisted that he face left (as his father had done), [36] to show the parting in his hair. [37] Only a handful of test coins were struck before the abdication, and when George VI succeeded to the throne he also faced left, to maintain the tradition by suggesting that had any coins been minted featuring Edward's portrait, they would have shown him facing right. [38] Left-facing currency portrait of Edward VIII On 16 July 1936, an Irish fraudster called Jerome Bannigan , alias George Andrew McMahon, produced a loaded revolver as Edward rode on horseback at Constitution Hill , near Buckingham Palace. Police spotted the gun and pounced on him; he was quickly arrested. At Bannigan's trial, he alleged that "a foreign power" had approached him to kill Edward, that he had informed MI5 of the plan, and that he was merely seeing the plan through to help MI5 catch the real culprits. The court rejected the claims and sent him to jail for a year for "intent to alarm".

[39] It is now thought that Bannigan had indeed been in contact with MI5 but the veracity of the remainder of his claims remains open. [40] In August and September, Edward and Simpson cruised the Eastern Mediterranean on the steam yacht Nahlin . By October it was becoming clear that the new king planned to marry Simpson, especially when divorce proceedings between the Simpsons were brought at Ipswich Assizes . [41] Preparations for all contingencies were made, including the prospect of the coronation of King Edward and Queen Wallis. Because of the religious implications of any marriage, plans were made to hold a secular coronation ceremony not in the traditional religious location, Westminster Abbey, but in the Banqueting House in Whitehall. [42] Although gossip about his affair was widespread in the United States, the British media was voluntarily silent and the public knew nothing until early December. Abdication Main article: Edward VIII abdication crisis Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson on their Mediterranean holiday, 1936 On 16 November 1936, Edward invited British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Wallis Simpson when she became free to re-marry.

Baldwin informed him that his subjects would deem the marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people would not tolerate Wallis as queen. [43] As king, Edward was the titular head of the Church of England , and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings. Edward proposed an alternative solution of a morganatic marriage , in which he would remain king but Wallis would not become queen. She would enjoy some lesser title instead, and any children they might have would not inherit the throne.

This too was rejected by the [44] as well as other Dominion governments, [45] whose views were sought pursuant to the Statute of Westminster 1931 , which provided in part that "any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom." [46] The Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada and South Africa made clear their opposition to the king marrying a divorcee; [47] their Irish counterpart expressed indifference and detachment, while the Prime Minister of New Zealand, having never heard of Simpson before, vacillated in disbelief. [48] Faced with this opposition, Edward at first responded that there were "not many people in Australia" and their opinion did not matter. [49] Edward informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Simpson. Baldwin then presented Edward with three choices: give up the idea of marriage; marry against his ministers' wishes; or abdicate.

[50] It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Simpson, and he knew that if he married against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the government to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis. [51] He chose to abdicate. [52] Edward duly signed the instruments [N 2] of abdication at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936 in the presence of his younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York , next in line for the throne; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester ; and Prince George, Duke of Kent . [53] The next day, the last act of his reign was the royal assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 . As required by the Statute of Westminster, all the Dominions consented to the abdication, [54] though the Irish Free State did not pass the External Relations Act , which included the abdication in its schedule, until 12 December. On the night of 11 December 1936, Edward, now reverted to a prince, made a broadcast to the nation and the Empire, explaining his decision to abdicate.

He famously said, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love." [55] After the broadcast, Edward departed Britain for Austria; he was unable to join Simpson until her divorce became absolute, several months later. [56] His brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York, succeeded to the throne as George VI. George VI's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth , became first in the line of succession, as heiress presumptive. Duke of Windsor Edit On 12 December 1936, at the accession meeting of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, George VI announced he was to make his brother "His Royal Highness The Duke of Windsor". [57] He wanted this to be the first act of his reign, although the formal documents were not signed until 8 March the following year. During the interim, Edward was universally known as the Duke of Windsor. George VI's decision to create Edward a royal duke ensured that he could neither stand for election to the House of Commons nor speak on political subjects in the House of Lords.

[58] Letters Patent dated 27 May 1937 re-conferred the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness" upon the Duke of Windsor, but specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute". Some British ministers advised that the reconfirmation was unnecessary since Edward had retained the style automatically, and further that Simpson would automatically obtain the rank of wife of a prince with the style Her Royal Highness; others maintained that he had lost all royal rank and should no longer carry any royal title or style as an abdicated king, and be referred to simply as "Mr Edward Windsor". On 14 April 1937, Attorney General Sir Donald Somervell submitted to Home Secretary Sir John Simon a memorandum summarising the views of Lord Advocate T. M. Cooper , Parliamentary Counsel Sir Granville Ram, and himself: We incline to the view that on his abdication the Duke of Windsor could not have claimed the right to be described as a Royal Highness.

In other words, no reasonable objection could have been taken if the King had decided that his exclusion from the lineal succession excluded him from the right to this title as conferred by the existing Letters Patent. The question however has to be considered on the basis of the fact that, for reasons which are readily understandable, he with the express approval of His Majesty enjoys this title and has been referred to as a Royal Highness on a formal occasion and in formal documents. In the light of precedent it seems clear that the wife of a Royal Highness enjoys the same title unless some appropriate express step can be and is taken to deprive her of it. We came to the conclusion that the wife could not claim this right on any legal basis. The right to use this style or title, in our view, is within the prerogative of His Majesty and he has the power to regulate it by Letters Patent generally or in particular circumstances. [59] Château de Candé , the Windsors' wedding venue The Duke of Windsor married Simpson, who had changed her name by deed poll to Wallis Warfield, in a private ceremony on 3 June 1937, at Château de Candé , near Tours, France.

When the Church of England refused to sanction the union, a County Durham clergyman, the Reverend Robert Anderson Jardine (Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington), offered to perform the ceremony, and the Duke accepted. The new king, George VI, forbade members of the Royal Family to attend [60] to the lasting resentment of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Edward had particularly wanted his brothers the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent and his second cousin Louis Mountbatten to be there. [61] The denial of the style Her Royal Highness to the Duchess of Windsor caused further conflict, as did the financial settlement – the Government declined to include the Duke or Duchess on the Civil List , and the Duke's allowance was paid personally by George VI. The Duke compromised his position with his brother by concealing the extent of his financial worth when they informally agreed on the amount of the allowance. Edward's wealth had accumulated from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall paid to him as Prince of Wales and ordinarily at the disposal of an incoming king.

George VI also paid Edward for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle , which were Edward's personal property, inherited from his father, George V, and thus did not automatically pass to George VI on his accession. [62] Relations between the Duke of Windsor and the rest of the Royal Family were strained for decades. Edward became embittered against his mother, Queen Mary, writing to her in 1939: "[your last letter] [N 3] destroy[ed] the last vestige of feeling I had left for you ... [and has] made further normal correspondence between us impossible." [63] In the early days of George VI's reign the Duke telephoned daily, importuning for money and urging that the Duchess be granted the style of Royal Highness, until the harassed king ordered that the calls not be put through. [64] The Duke had assumed that he would settle in Britain after a year or two of exile in France. King George VI (with the support of Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth) threatened to cut off Edward's allowance if he returned to Britain without an invitation.

[62] Second World War File:Duke and Duchess of Windsor meet Adolf Hitler 1937.jpg Edward reviewing a squad of SS with Robert Ley , 1937 In October 1937, the Duke and Duchess visited Germany, against the advice of the British government, and met Adolf Hitler at his Obersalzberg retreat. The visit was much publicised by the German media. During the visit the Duke gave full Nazi salutes . [65] The former Austrian ambassador, Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein , who was also a second cousin once removed and friend of George V, believed that Edward favoured German fascism as a bulwark against communism, and even that he initially favoured an alliance with Germany. [66] Edward's experience of "the unending scenes of horror" [67] during the First World War led him to support appeasement. Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Nazi Germany and thought that Anglo-German relations could have been improved through Edward if it were not for the abdication. Fellow Nazi Albert Speer quoted Hitler directly: "I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved.

If he had stayed, everything would have been different. His abdication was a severe loss for us." [68] The Duke and Duchess settled in France. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, they were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten on board HMS Kelly , and the Duke, although an honorary field marshal , was made a major-general attached to the British Military Mission in France. [34] In February 1940, the German Minister in The Hague, Count Julius von Zech-Burkersroda , claimed that the Duke had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium. [69] When Germany invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz , then in June to Spain. In July the pair moved to Lisbon, Portugal, where they lived at first in the home of Ricardo de Espírito Santo , a Portuguese banker with both British and German contacts. [70] Nazi agents plotted unsuccessfully to persuade the Duke to support the German effort and wrote up plans to kidnap him.

Lord Caldecote wrote a warning to Winston Churchill: "[the Duke] is well-known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue." [71] A "defeatist" interview with the Duke that was widely distributed may have served as the last straw for the British government: Prime Minister Winston Churchill threatened the Duke with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil. [72] In August, a British warship dispatched the Duke and Duchess to the Bahamas, where, in the view of Churchill, they could do the least damage to the British war effort. The Duke was installed as Governor of the Bahamas . He did not enjoy the position, and referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony". [73] The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when the Duke and Duchess planned to tour aboard a yacht belonging to a Swedish magnate, Axel Wenner-Gren , whom American intelligence wrongly believed to be a close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring . [74] The Duke was praised, however, for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands, although he was as contemptuous of the Bahamians as he was of most non-white peoples of the Empire.

He said of Étienne Dupuch , the editor of the Nassau Daily Tribune: "It must be remembered that Dupuch is more than half Negro, and due to the peculiar mentality of this Race, they seem unable to rise to prominence without losing their equilibrium." [22] He was praised, even by Dupuch, for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in 1942, even though he blamed the trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft". [75] He resigned the post on 16 March 1945. [34] The Duke in 1945 Many historians have suggested that Hitler was prepared to reinstate Edward as king in the hope of establishing a fascist Britain. [76] It is widely believed that the Duke and Duchess sympathised with fascism before and during World War II, and were moved to the Bahamas to minimise their opportunities to act on those feelings. In 1940 he said: "In the past 10 years Germany has totally reorganised the order of its society ...

Countries which were unwilling to accept such a reorganisation of society and its concomitant sacrifices should direct their policies accordingly." [77] During the occupation of France, the Duke asked the German forces to place guards at his Paris and Riviera homes: they did so. [78] The Allies became sufficiently disturbed by German plots that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1941. Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg (then a monk in an American monastery) had told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the Duchess had slept with the German ambassador in London, Joachim von Ribbentrop , in 1936, had remained in constant contact with him, and had continued to leak secrets. [79] Some authors have claimed that Anthony Blunt , an MI5 agent, acting on orders from the British Royal Family, made a successful secret trip to Schloss Friedrichshof in Germany towards the end of the war to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis.

[80] What is certain is that George VI sent the Royal Librarian , Owen Morshead , accompanied by Blunt, then working part-time in the Royal Library as well as for British intelligence, to Friedrichshof in March 1945 to secure papers relating to the German Empress Victoria , the eldest child of Queen Victoria. Looters had stolen part of the castle's archive, including surviving letters between daughter and mother, as well as other valuables, some of which were only later recovered in Chicago after the war. The papers rescued by Morshead and Blunt, and those returned by the American authorities from Chicago, were deposited in the Royal Archives . [81] After the war, the Duke admitted in his memoirs that he admired the Germans, but he denied being pro-Nazi.

Of Hitler he wrote: "[the] Führer struck me as a somewhat ridiculous figure, with his theatrical posturings and his bombastic pretensions." [82] However, during the 1960s he said privately to a friend, Lord Kinross , "I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap." [83] In the 1950s, journalist Frank Giles heard the Duke blame British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden for helping to "precipitate the war through his treatment of Mussolini ... that's what he did, he helped to bring on the war ... and of course Roosevelt and the Jews". [84] Later life Edit The couple returned to France and spent the remainder of their lives essentially in retirement as the Duke never occupied another official role after his wartime governorship of the Bahamas. The Duke's allowance was supplemented by government favours and illegal currency trading. [34] [85] [86] The City of Paris provided the Duke with a house at 4 Route du Champ d'Entraînement , on the Neuilly-sur-Seine side of the Bois de Boulogne , for a nominal rent.

[87] The French government exempted him from paying income tax, [85] [88] and the couple were able to buy goods duty-free through the British embassy and the military commissary. [88] In 1951, the Duke produced a ghost-written memoir, A King's Story, in which he expresses disagreement with liberal politics. [13] The royalties from the book added to their income. [85] Nine years later, he penned a relatively unknown book, A Family Album, chiefly about the fashion and habits of the Royal Family throughout his life, from the time of Queen Victoria to that of his grandfather and father, and his own tastes. U.S. President Richard Nixon and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1970 The Duke and Duchess effectively took on the role of celebrities and were regarded as part of café society in the 1950s and 1960s. They hosted parties and shuttled between Paris and New York; Gore Vidal , who met the Windsors socially, reported on the vacuity of the Duke's conversation. [89] The couple doted on the pug dogs they kept.

[90] In June 1953, instead of attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London, the Duke and Duchess watched the ceremony on television in Paris. The Duke said that it was contrary to precedent for a Sovereign or former Sovereign to attend any coronation of another. The Duke was paid to write articles on the ceremony for the Sunday Express and Women's Home Companion, as well as a short book, The Crown and the People, 1902–1953. [91] In 1955, they visited President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House. The couple appeared on Edward R. Murrow 's television interview show Person to Person in 1956, [92] and a 50-minute BBC television interview in 1970. That year, they were invited as guests of honour to a dinner at the White House by President Richard Nixon . [93] The Royal Family never fully accepted the Duchess. Queen Mary refused to receive her formally. However, the Duke sometimes met his mother and brother George VI, and attended George's 1952 funeral.

Queen Mary remained angry with Edward and indignant over his marriage to Wallis: "To give up all this for that", she said. [94] In 1965, the Duke and Duchess returned to London. They were visited by Elizabeth II, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent , and Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood . A week later, the Princess Royal died, and they attended her memorial service. In 1967, they joined the Royal Family for the centenary of Queen Mary's birth. The last royal ceremony the Duke attended was the funeral of Princess Marina in 1968. [95] He declined an invitation from Elizabeth II to attend the Investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969, replying that Prince Charles would not want his "aged great-uncle" there. [96] In the 1960s, the Duke's health deteriorated. In December 1964, he was operated on by Michael E. DeBakey in Houston for an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta , and in February 1965 a detached retina in his left eye was treated by Sir Stewart Duke-Elder .

In late 1971, the Duke, who was a smoker from an early age, was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent cobalt therapy . Queen Elizabeth II visited the Windsors in 1972 while on a state visit to France; however, only the Duchess appeared with the royal party for a photocall. Death and legacy Edit On 28 May 1972, the Duke died at his home in Paris, less than a month before his 78th birthday. His body was returned to Britain, lying in state at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle . The funeral service was held in the chapel on 5 June in the presence of the Queen, the Royal Family, and the Duchess of Windsor, who stayed at Buckingham Palace during her visit. The coffin was buried in the Royal Burial Ground behind the Royal Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Frogmore . [97] Until a 1965 agreement with Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke and Duchess had previously planned for a burial in a purchased cemetery plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, where the father of the Duchess was interred.

[98] Frail, and suffering increasingly from senile dementia, the Duchess died 14 years later, and was buried alongside her husband as "Wallis, Duchess of Windsor". [99] In the view of historians such as Professor Philip Williamson, the popular perception that the abdication was driven by politics rather than religious morality is false, and arises because divorce today is much more common and socially acceptable, so the religious restrictions that prevented Edward continuing as king while married to Simpson "seem, wrongly, to provide insufficient explanation" for his abdication.

[100] Titles, styles, honours and arms 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1898: His Highness Prince Edward of York 28 May 1898 – 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Edward of York [101] 22 January 1901 – 9 November 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Edward of Cornwall and York 9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Royal Highness Prince Edward of Wales 6 May 1910 – 23 June 1910: His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall 23 June 1910 – 20 January 1936: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in Scotland: 1910–1936: His Royal Highness The Prince Edward, Duke of Rothesay 20 January 1936 – 11 December 1936: His Majesty The King and, occasionally, outside the United Kingdom, and with regard to India: His Imperial Majesty The King-Em

peror 11 December 1936 – 8 March 1937: His Royal Highness The Prince Edward 8 March 1937 – 28 May 1972: His Royal Highness The Duke of Windsor Edward began use of the title immediately upon abdication, in accordance with George VI's declaration to his Accession Council, but several months passed before the title was formalised by Letters Patent.

His full style as king was "His Majesty, Edward the Eighth, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India". Honours ↑ His twelve godparents were: Queen Victoria (his paternal great-grandmother); the King and Queen of Denmark (his paternal great-grandparents, for whom his maternal uncle Prince Adolphus of Teck and his paternal aunt the Duchess of Fife stood proxy); the King of Württemberg (his mother's distant cousin, for whom his granduncle the Duke of Connaught stood proxy); the Queen of Greece (his grandaunt, for whom his paternal aunt Princess Victoria of Wales stood proxy); the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his granduncle, for whom Prince Louis of Battenberg stood proxy); the Prince and Princess of Wales (his paternal grandparents); the Tsarevich (his father's cousin); the Duke of Cambridge (his maternal granduncle and Queen Victoria's cousin); and the Duke and Duchess of Teck (his maternal grandparents).

↑ There were fifteen separate copies – one for each Dominion, the Irish Free State, India, the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Prime Minister, among others. ↑ She had asked Alec Hardinge to write to the Duke explaining that he could not be invited to his father's memorial. References Donaldson, Frances (1974). Edward VIII. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-76787-9 . Godfrey, Rupert (editor) (1998). Letters From a Prince: Edward to Mrs Freda Dudley Ward 1918–1921. Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-7515-2590-1 . Parker, John (1988). King of Fools. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-02598-X . Roberts, Andrew; edited by Antonia Fraser (2000). The House of Windsor. London: Cassell and Co. ISBN 0-304-35406-6 . Williams, Susan (2003).

The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9573-2 . Windsor, HRH The Duke of (1951). A King's Story. London: Cassell and Co. Ziegler, Philip (1991). King Edward VIII: The official biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57730-2 .

External links King George V | Britroyals Full Name: George Frederick Ernest Albert Born: June 3, 1865 at Marlborough House, London Parents: Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark Relation to Elizabeth II: grandfather House of: Windsor Ascended to the throne: May 6, 1910 aged 44 years Crowned: June 22, 1911 at Westminster Abbey Married: Mary, the daughter of the Duke of Teck Children: Five sons including Edward VIII and George VI, and one daughter Died: January 20, 1936 at Sandringham, Norfolk, aged 70 years, 7 months, and 16 days Buried at: Windsor Reigned for: 25 years, 8 months, and 15 days Succeeded by: his son Edward VIII George V was the second son of Edward VII. His mother was Alexandra of Denmark, sister of Empress Marie of Russia. He joined the Royal Navy aged 12 and served until 1892 when he became heir to the throne on the death of his elder brother Albert, Duke of Clarence, who died of pneumonia.

In 1893, he married Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (known as �May� to her family) who had previously been engaged to his brother. They became Duke and Duchess of York and lived on the Sandringham Estate, in Norfolk. The marriage was a success and George unlike his father never took a mistress. They had 6 children Edward, Albert, Mary, Henry, George and John. The youngest Prince John suffered from epilepsy and died aged 13. He became King George V on the death of his father Edward VII in 1910, and Mary became Queen consort. They toured India in 1911 as Emperor and Empress of India. During World War I he made several visits to the front, and Mary visited wounded serviceman in hospital. She was staunch supporter of her husband during difficult times that included not only the war with Germany, but also the Russian revolution and murder of George�s cousin Princess Alix who was Tsarina Alexandra wife of Tsar Nicholas II, civil unrest including the General Strike in England, the rise of socialism, and Irish and Indian nationalism.

George V has been criticised for not rescuing the Russian Royal family but at the time there was serious concern that it would incite a similar revolution in the UK. He sent a ship in 1922 to rescue the Greek Royal family including 1 year old Prince Philip now the Duke of Edinburgh. In 1917 with anti-German sentiment running high, he changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (popularly known as Brunswick or Hanover) to Windsor, and he relinquished all German titles and family connections. George V enjoyed stamp collecting and although considered dull by biographers he became by his Silver Jubilee in 1935 a much loved King. In 1932 he started the tradition of the Royal Christmas broadcast which has continued ever since. His relationship deteriorated with this eldest son Edward (later Edward VIII) when he failed to settle down and had affairs with married women, but he was fond of his second son Albert (�Bertie� later George VI) and his granddaughter Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) whom he called �Lilibet�. She called him �Grandpa England�. He died of pleurisy in January 1936.

King George V's Signature Quotes: �After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months� � George V (about his son Edward who became Edward VIII) �Try living on their wages before you judge them� � George V (taking exception to the suggestion that workers involved in the General Strike were revolutionaries) �I cannot understand it, after all I am only a very ordinary sort of fellow� � George V (on adulation from cheering crowds at his Silver Jubilee) Timeline for King George V Year British Monarchy - Edward VIII | HistoryOnTheNet British Monarchy British Monarchy - Edward VIII Last Updated: 08/06/2014 - 18:42 Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David was born on the 23rd June 1894. He was the eldest son of George V and Mary of Teck. His father became King George V on 6th May 1910 and Edward, generally called David by the family, became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothsay. He was invested as Prince of Wales on 23rd June 1910.

Edward served in the Grenadier Guards during World War One but was not allowed to fight on the front line due to his being heir to the throne. After World War One he took up royal duties both at home and abroad. He was very popular and his photographs appeared worldwide. During the 1930s he gained a playboy reputation and had several liaisons with married women. During this period he was introduced to Mrs Wallis Simpson. The two became close and Edward fell in love with her. George V made no secret of his disapproval of his eldest son's way of life and Edward's refusal to give up Wallis Simpson deepened the rift between father and son. Edward became King on 20th January 1936. Wallis Simpson remained his close companion and when divorce proceedings between her and her husband began it became apparent that he meant to marry her. However, the Church of England did not allow the remarriage of divorced people where their former spouse was still living. As the monarch is constitutionally head of the Church of England, Edward could not marry Wallis Simpson without a change in the constitution.

Not wishing to cause a constitutional crisis, Edward abdicated the throne on 11th December 1936 and his brother Albert became King George VI. Edward was given the title Duke of Windsor by his brother. Edward and Wallis Simpson were married in France on 3rd June 1937. King George VI would not allow any members of the royal family to attend the wedding. The new Duke and Duchess were not allowed to return to the United Kingdom without invitation and settled in France. During World War Two the Windsors, as Edward and Wallis Simpson became known, returned to Britain but moved to the Iberian peninsular when the Germans invaded Northern France. Edward's attitude towards the Germans gave rise to accusations of sympathising with the Nazi party. In 1943 Churchill sent Edward to the Bahamas as Governor and he remained in post until the end of the war. After the war Edward and Wallis returned to France where they lived in relative seclusion because the royal family refused to accept the duchess. During the 1960's the Duke's health began to deteriorate.

He had been a heavy smoker from an early age and died from cancer of the throat on 28th May 1972. A funeral service was held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle and he was buried in the Royal Burial Ground. Quiz: George V | Royal Family Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia 29 January 1936 St George's Chapel, Windsor George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 - 20 January 1936) was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, as a result of his creating it from the British branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As well as being King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1927, split into King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and King of Ireland) and the Commonwealth Realms, George was also the Emperor of India. George reigned from 6 May 1910 through World War I (1914-1918) until his death in 1936.

King George V is remembered for his role in World War I, during which he relinquished all German titles and styles on behalf of his relatives who were British subjects; and changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. Another significant event in his reign was the passing of the Statute of Westminster which separated the crown so that George ruled the dominions as separate kingdoms. Contents Edit George was born on 3 June 1865, at Marlborough House, London. His father was The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His mother was The Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra), the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. As a grandson of Queen Victoria in the male line, George was styled His Royal Highness Prince George of Wales at birth. He was baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 and his godparents were the King of Hanover, the Queen and Crown Prince of Denmark, the Prince of Leiningen, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Alice and the Duke of Cambridge.

[1] As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was no expectation that George would become King as his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, was second in line to the throne after their father. Education Edit Given that George was born only fifteen months after his brother Prince Albert Victor, it was decided to educate both royal princes together. The Prince of Wales appointed John Neale Dalton as their tutor, although neither excelled intellectually. In September 1877 both brothers joined the training ship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth. [2] For three years from 1879 the royal brothers served as midshipmen on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the British Empire, visiting Norfolk, Virginia, the colonies in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, as well as the Mediterranean, South America, the Far East and Egypt. Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. [3] Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton records a sighting of the Flying Dutchman (see entry for full account of sighting). When they returned to the UK, the brothers were parted with Albert Victor attending Trinity College, Cambridge and George continuing in the Royal Navy.

He travelled the world and visited many areas of the British Empire, serving actively in the navy until his last command in 1891. From then on his naval rank was largely honorary. [4] Marriage Edit As a young man destined to serve in the Navy, Prince George served for many years under the command of his uncle, Prince Alfred, who was stationed in Malta. There, he grew close to and fell in love with his uncle's daughter, his first cousin, Marie of Edinburgh. His grandmother, his father and his uncle all approved the match, but the mothers, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh both opposed it. When George proposed, Marie refused, guided by her mother. She later became Queen of Romania. [5] In 1891, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence became engaged to his second cousin once removed, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (always called "May"), the only daughter of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge. However, Albert Victor died of pneumonia six weeks later, leaving George second in line to the throne and likely to succeed after his father. [6] This effectively ended George's naval career.

Queen Victoria still favoured Princess May as a suitable candidate to marry a future king, so she persuaded George to propose to May. George duly proposed, and May accepted. This arranged marriage was a success, and unlike his father, George reportedly did not take a mistress. [6] Throughout their lives the couple exchanged notes of endearment and loving letters. The marriage of George and May took place on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace in London. It was claimed that at the wedding, the crowd were confused as to who was the Duke of York (later George V) and who was the Tsarevitch (later Nicholas II) of Russia, because their beards and dress made them look alike superficially. [7] However, their remaining facial features were quite different. [8] Duke of York Edit In 1892, Queen Victoria created George, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. After George's marriage to Mary, she was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York.

The Duke and Duchess of York lived mainly at York Cottage [9] , Sandringham, Norfolk a relatively small house where their way of life mirrored that of a comfortable middle-class family rather than grand royalty. George preferred the simple, almost quiet, life in marked contrast to his parents. Even his official biographer dispaired of George's time as Duke of York, writing: "He may be all right as a young midshipman and a wise old king, but when he was Duke of York...he did nothing at all but shoot animals and stick in stamps." [10] It has been claimed that George was a very strict father, to the extent that his children were terrified of him, and he is said to have remarked, "My father was frightened of his mother, I was frightened of my father, and I am damned well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me." In reality there is no direct source for the quote and it is likely that his parenting style was little different to that adopted by most people at the time. [11] As Duke and Duchess of York, George and May carried out a wide variety of public duties.

In 1901, they toured the British Empire, visiting Australia, where the Duke opened the first session of the Australian Parliament upon the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia. Their tour also included South Africa, Canada, and New Zealand, where (as they were now the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York) Cornwall Park in Auckland was named in their honour by its donor, John Logan Campbell, then Mayor of Auckland. Prince of Wales Edit On 22 January, 1901, Queen Victoria died, and George's father, Albert Edward, ascended the throne as King Edward VII. At that point George inherited the titles of Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. For the rest of that year, George was styled His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall and York, until 9 November 1901 when he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. King Edward VII wished his son to have more preparation and experience prior to his future role. In contrast with Queen Victoria, who excluded Edward from state affairs, George was given wide access to state documents and papers. He often read over the papers with his wife, whose intellect was considerably broader than his. May often helped write her husband's speeches.

King Edit In 1911, the King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar on December 12, where they were presented to an assembled audience of Indian dignitaries and princes, as the Emperor and Empress of India. George wore the newly-created Imperial Crown of India at the ceremony. Later, the Emperor and Empress travelled throughout India, visiting their new subjects. George took the opportunity to indulge in hunting tigers, shooting 36. [12] Also during one season in Sandringham he shot 1,209 pheasants. World War I Edit As King and Queen, George and Mary saw Britain through World War I, a difficult time for the Royal Family, as they had many German relatives. Although a female-line great granddaughter of King George III, Queen Mary was the daughter of the Duke of Teck, a morganatic section of the Royal House of Württemberg. King George's paternal grandfather was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; the King and his children bore the titles Prince and Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke and Duchess of Saxony.

The German Emperor Wilhelm II, who for the British public came to symbolise all the horrors of the war, was the king's first cousin, "Willy." The King had brothers-in-law and cousins who were British subjects but who bore German titles such as Duke and Duchess of Teck, Prince and Princess of Battenberg, Prince and Princess of Hesse and by Rhine, and Prince and Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Augustenberg. Writer H G Wells wrote about Britain's "alien and uninspiring court", and George famously replied: "I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm alien." [13] ) On 7 July 1917, George V issued an Order in Council that changed the name of the British Royal House from the German-sounding House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor, to appease British nationalist feelings. He specifically adopted Windsor as the surname for all descendants of Queen Victoria then living in the United Kingdom, excluding females who married into other families and their descendants.

[14] Finally, on behalf of his various relatives who were British subjects he relinquished the use of all German titles and styles, and adopted British-sounding surnames. George compensated several of his male relatives by creating them British peers. Thus, overnight his cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, became Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while his brother-in-law, the Duke of Teck, became Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge. Others, such as Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein , simply stopped using their territorial designations. In Letters Patent gazetted on 11 December 1917, the King restricted the style "His (or Her) Royal Highness" and the titular dignity of "Prince (or Princess) of Great Britain and Ireland" to the children of the Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign, and the eldest living son of the eldest living son of a Prince of Wales.

[15] The Letters Patent also stated that "the titles of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness, and the titular dignity of Prince and Princess shall cease except those titles already granted and remaining unrevoked." Relatives of the British Royal Family who fought on the German side, such as Prince Ernst August of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale (the senior male-line great grandson of George III) and Prince Carl Eduard, Duke of Albany and the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (a male line grandson of Queen Victoria), were simply cut off; their British peerages were suspended by a 1919 Order in Council under the provisions of the Titles Deprivation Act 1917. George also removed their garter flags from St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle under pressure from his mother, Queen Alexandra.

When Tsar Nicholas II of Russia , a first cousin of George through his mother, Queen Alexandra (Nicholas II's mother was Queen Alexandra's sister) was overthrown in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the British Government offered asylum to the Tsar and his family but worsening conditions for the British people, and fears that revolution might come to the British Isles, led George to think that the presence of the Romanovs might seem inappropriate under the circumstances. [16] Despite the later claims of Lord Mountbatten of Burma that Lloyd George, the great Liberal, was opposed to the rescue of the Romanovs, records of the King's private secretary, Lord Stamfordham , suggest that George V opposed the rescue against the advice of Lloyd George. Advanced planning for a rescue was undertaken by MI1, a branch of the British secret service, [17] but possibly because of a strengthening of the Bolshevik guard, the plan was never put into operation. The Tsar and his immediate family thus remained in Russia and were murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries in Yekaterinburg in 1918. Later life Edit During and after World War I, many of the monarchies which had ruled most European countries fell.

In addition to Russia, the monarchies of Austria, Germany, Greece, and Spain also fell to revolution and war, although the Greek monarchy was restored again shortly before George's death. Most of these countries were ruled by relatives of George. In 1922, a Royal Navy ship was sent to Greece to rescue his cousins, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg and their children, including Prince Philip , who would later marry George's granddaughter, Elizabeth II . George also took an interest in the political turmoil in Ireland, expressing his horror at government-sanctioned killings and reprisals to Prime Minister Lloyd George. [18] During the General Strike of 1926 the King took exception to suggestions that the strikers were 'revolutionaries' saying, "Try living on their wages before you judge them." [19] He also advised the Government against taking inflammatory action. [20] In 1932 George agreed to deliver a Royal Christmas speech on the radio, an event which was to become an annual event. He wasn't in favour of the innovation originally but was persuaded by the argument that it was what his people wanted.

[21] By the silver jubilee of his reign in 1935, he had become a well-loved king, saying in response to the crowd's adulation, "I cannot understand it, after all I am only a very ordinary sort of fellow." [22] But George's relationship with his heir, Prince Edward deteriorated in these later years. George was disappointed in Edward's failure to settle down in life and disgusted by his many affairs with married women. He was reluctant to see Edward inherit the crown. In contrast, he was fond of his second eldest son, Prince Albert (later George VI) and doted on his eldest granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth ; he nicknamed her "Lilibet", and she affectionately called him "Grandpa England". George was quoted as saying about his son Edward: "After I am dead the boy will ruin himself in 12 months," and later about Albert and Lilibet: "I pray to God that my eldest son Edward will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." [23] Death Edit World War I took its toll on George's health, which began to deteriorate.

He had always had a weak chest, a weakness exacerbated by heavy smoking. A bout of illness saw him retire to the sea, by Bognor Regis in West Sussex. [24] A myth later grew that the King's last words, upon being told that he would soon be well enough to revisit Bognor Regis, were "bugger Bognor!" [25] [26] George never fully recovered his health. In the evening of 15 January 1936, the King took to his bedroom at Sandringham House complaining of a cold, he would never leave the room alive. [27] The King became gradually weaker, drifting in and out of consciousness. The diary of his physician, Lord Dawson of Penn , reveals that the King’s last words, a mumbled "God damn you!", were addressed to his nurse when she gave him a sedative on the night of the 20 January. When the King was already comatose and close to death, Dawson hastened the King’s end by giving him a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine, both to prevent further strain on the family and so that the news of his death could be announced in the morning edition of The Times newspaper.

[28] [29] He died between 11.45 p.m. and 12.10 a.m., and is buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. At the King's lying in state in Westminster Hall, his four surviving sons, King Edward VIII , the Duke of York , the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent , mounted the guard at the catafalque on the night of 28 January, the day before the funeral as a mark of respect to their father. At the procession to George’s Lying in State, as the cortege turned into New Palace Yard, the Maltese Cross had fallen from the Imperial Crown and landed in the gutter. The new King, Edward VIII , saw it fall and wondered whether this was a bad omen. [30] [31] He would abdicate before the year was out. Titles, styles, honours and arms

Question: British monarchs George V, Edward VIII and George VI all reigned during which year?
Answer: 1936