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95-516: The five-storey hotel was renamed the Prince George Hotel in 1909 after the future monarch, George V . It was demolished in 1969 to make way for the architect Mies van der Rohe 's Toronto-Dominion Centre , with the corner being further developed in 1984 for The Standard Life Centre. While it is always difficult to define what exactly constitutes "upscale", a surviving dinner menu from Friday, April 9, 1869, with its wine list, provides

190-524: A royal proclamation issued by George V declared: Now, therefore, We, out of Our Royal Will and Authority, do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear

285-587: A world financial crisis , George encouraged the formation of a National Government in 1931 led by MacDonald and Baldwin, and volunteered to reduce the civil list to help balance the budget. He was concerned by the rise to power in Germany of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party . In 1934, George bluntly told the German ambassador Leopold von Hoesch that Germany was now the peril of the world, and that there

380-526: A "terrible father" in later years. They lived mainly at York Cottage , a relatively small house in Sandringham, Norfolk , where their way of life mirrored that of a comfortable middle-class family rather than royalty. George preferred a simple, almost quiet, life, in marked contrast to the lively social life pursued by his father. His official biographer, Harold Nicolson , later despaired of George's time as Duke of York, writing: "He may be all right as

475-795: A 1919 Order in Council under the provisions of the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 . Under pressure from his mother, George also removed the Garter flags of his German relations from St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle . When Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, George's first cousin, was overthrown in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the British government offered political asylum to the Tsar and his family, but worsening conditions for

570-468: A bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children." On 8 February 1960, some years after both the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the Queen confirmed that she and her children would continue to be known as the "House and Family of Windsor", as would any agnatic descendants (through the male line of succession, or patrilineality ) who enjoy

665-636: A branch of the House of Oldenburg . A few months before his marriage, Philip abandoned his princely titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten , which was that of his maternal uncle and mentor, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma , and had itself been adopted by Lord Mountbatten's father (Philip's maternal grandfather), Prince Louis of Battenberg , in 1917. It is the literal translation of the German Battenberg , which refers to Battenberg ,

760-551: A brief final scene. Hours of waiting just for the mechanical end when all that is really life has departed only exhausts the onlookers & keeps them so strained that they cannot avail themselves of the solace of thought, communion or prayer. I therefore decided to determine the end and injected (myself) morphia gr.3/4 [grains] and shortly afterwards cocaine gr.1 [grains] into the distended jugular vein ... In about 1/4 an hour – breathing quieter – appearance more placid – physical struggle gone. Dawson wrote that he acted to preserve

855-540: A descendant of the German Dukes of Württemberg . George 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, and Prince and Princess of Schleswig-Holstein. When H. G. Wells wrote about Britain's "alien and uninspiring court", George replied: "I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm alien." On 17 July 1917, George appeased British nationalist feelings by issuing

950-591: A household name. In the same year, on 15 March, King George's first cousin Emperor Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate , which raised the spectre of the eventual abolition of all the monarchies in Europe. The king and his family were finally persuaded to abandon all titles held under the German Crown and to change German titles and house names to anglicised versions. Hence, on 17 July 1917,

1045-565: A little too far" that day. George inherited the throne at a politically turbulent time. Lloyd George 's People's Budget had been rejected the previous year by the Conservative and Unionist -dominated House of Lords , contrary to the normal convention that the Lords did not veto money bills . Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith had asked the previous king to give an undertaking that he would create sufficient Liberal peers to allow

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1140-546: A mumbled "God damn you!", were addressed to his nurse, Catherine Black , when she gave him a sedative that night. Dawson, who supported the "gentle growth of euthanasia ", admitted in the diary that he ended the King's life: At about 11 o'clock it was evident that the last stage might endure for many hours, unknown to the Patient but little comporting with that dignity and serenity which he so richly merited and which demanded

1235-427: A royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. This she did on 9 April 1952, officially declaring it her "Will and Pleasure that I and My children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that My descendants, other than female descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor." Philip privately complained, "I am nothing but

1330-533: A royal proclamation that changed the name of the British royal house from the German-sounding House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor . He and all his British relatives relinquished their German titles and styles and adopted British-sounding surnames. George compensated his male relatives by giving them British peerages. His cousin Prince Louis of Battenberg , who earlier in

1425-450: A small town in Hesse . Soon after Elizabeth became Queen in 1952, Lord Mountbatten observed that because it was the standard practice for the wife in a marriage to adopt her husband's surname, the House of Mountbatten now reigned. When Elizabeth's grandmother, Queen Mary , heard of this comment, she informed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and he later advised the Queen to issue

1520-433: A valuable insight and is striking when it is considered that only 50 years earlier, Toronto was a muddy imperial backwater. The list includes a selection of Bordeaux " claret " wines, such as a "Barton & Gestier Château Margaux 1847" at $ 3 a bottle (approximately equivalent to $ 80 today). Champagnes included Moët et Chandon 's "Green Seal" (aka "Grand Imperial") for $ 2.50, which was considered an example of "the best of

1615-593: A wide variety of public duties. On the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901, George's father ascended the throne as King Edward VII . George inherited the title of Duke of Cornwall , and for much of the rest of that year, he was known as the Duke of Cornwall and York. In 1901, the Duke and Duchess toured the British Empire . Their tour included Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden , Ceylon, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, South Africa, Canada, and

1710-621: A young midshipman and a wise old king, but when he was Duke of York ... he did nothing at all but kill [ i.e. shoot] animals and stick in stamps." George was an avid stamp collector , which Nicolson disparaged, but George played a large role in building the Royal Philatelic Collection into the most comprehensive collection of United Kingdom and Commonwealth stamps in the world, in some cases setting record purchase prices for items. In October 1894, George's maternal uncle-by-marriage, Alexander III of Russia , died. At

1805-528: Is the Empire?" An unusual phrase in that form, and the secretary said: "All is well, sir, with the Empire", and the King gave him a smile and relapsed once more into unconsciousness. By 20 January, George was close to death. His physicians, led by Lord Dawson of Penn , issued a bulletin with the words "The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close." Dawson's private diary, unearthed after his death and made public in 1986, reveals that George's last words,

1900-598: The Colony of Newfoundland . The tour was designed by Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain with the support of Prime Minister Lord Salisbury to reward the Dominions for their participation in the South African War of 1899–1902. George presented thousands of specially designed South African War medals to colonial troops. In South Africa, the royal party met civic leaders, African leaders, and Boer prisoners, and

1995-536: The Earl of Derby : "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 quotation and it is likely that George's parenting style was little different from that adopted by most people at the time. Whether this was the case or not, his children did seem to resent his strict nature, his son Prince Henry going as far as to describe him as

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2090-713: The Emperor Meiji ; George and his brother presented Empress Haruko with two wallabies from Australia. Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante . Between Melbourne and Sydney , Dalton recorded a sighting of the Flying Dutchman , a mythical ghost ship. When they returned to Britain, the Queen complained that her grandsons could not speak French or German, and so they spent six months in Lausanne in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to learn another language. After Lausanne,

2185-582: The Indian independence movement , all of which radically changed the political landscape of the British Empire , which itself reached its territorial peak by the beginning of the 1920s. The Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords . As a result of the First World War (1914–1918), the empires of his first cousins Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany fell, while

2280-568: The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 , and the Statute of Westminster 1931 . The Windsors became recognised as the royal family of multiple independent countries, a number that shifted over the decades, as some Dominions became republics and Crown colonies became realms, republics, or monarchies under a different sovereign. Since 1949, three monarchs of the House of Windsor, George VI , Elizabeth II and Charles III , have also been Head of

2375-682: The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the House of Wettin by virtue of their descent from Albert, Prince Consort , husband of Queen Victoria , the last British monarch from the House of Hanover . High anti-German sentiment amongst the people of the British Empire during the First World War reached a peak in March 1917, when the Gotha G.IV , a heavy aircraft capable of crossing the English Channel , began bombing London directly and became

2470-551: 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." George's relationship with his eldest son and heir, Edward , deteriorated in these later years. George was disappointed in Edward's failure to settle down in life and appalled by his many affairs with married women. In contrast, he

2565-502: The coronation of King Haakon VII , George's cousin and brother-in-law, and Queen Maud , George's sister. On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died , and George became king. He wrote in his diary: I have lost my best friend and the best of fathers ... I never had a [cross] word with him in my life. I am heart-broken and overwhelmed with grief but God will help me in my responsibilities and darling May will be my comfort as she has always been. May God give me strength and guidance in

2660-804: The style of Royal Highness and the title of prince or princess. Still, Elizabeth also decreed that her agnatic descendants who do not have that style and title would bear the surname Mountbatten-Windsor . This came after some months of correspondence between the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and the constitutional expert Edward Iwi . Iwi had raised the prospect that the royal child due to be born in February 1960 would bear "the Badge of Bastardy" if it were given its mother's maiden name (Windsor) rather than its father's name (Mountbatten). Macmillan had attempted to rebuff Iwi, until

2755-521: The Bahamas , Belize , Canada , Grenada , Jamaica , New Zealand , Papua New Guinea , Saint Kitts and Nevis , Saint Lucia , Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , Solomon Islands , and Tuvalu . As well as these separate monarchies, there are also three Crown Dependencies , fourteen British Overseas Territories , two associated states of New Zealand, and one territory . In 1701, succession to

2850-737: The British Empire expanded to its greatest effective extent. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor , which he renamed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as a result of anti-German public sentiment . He appointed the first Labour ministry in 1924, and the 1931 Statute of Westminster recognised the Empire's Dominions as separate, independent states within the British Commonwealth of Nations . George suffered from smoking-related health problems during his later reign. On his death in January 1936, he

2945-573: The British people, and fears that revolution might come to the British Isles, led George to think that the presence of the Romanovs would be seen as inappropriate. Despite the later claims of Lord Mountbatten of Burma that Prime Minister David Lloyd George was opposed to the rescue of the Russian imperial family, the letters of Lord Stamfordham suggest that it was George V who opposed

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3040-456: The British public came to symbolise all the horrors of the war, was the King's first cousin. George's paternal grandfather was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ; consequently, the King and his children bore the German titles Prince and Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke and Duchess of Saxony. Queen Mary, although born in England like her mother, was the daughter of the Duke of Teck,

3135-596: The Dominions' legislative independence and established that the succession to the throne could not be changed unless all the Parliaments of the Dominions as well as the Parliament at Westminster agreed. The Statute's preamble described the monarch as "the symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations", who were "united by a common allegiance". In the wake of

3230-653: The House of Hanover to the British monarchy with the accession of King Edward VII , son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . In 1917, the name of the British royal house was changed from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor , taking its name from the royal residence in Berkshire . King Edward VII and, in turn, his son, George V , were members of

3325-562: The House of Windsor: George V , Edward VIII , George VI , Elizabeth II , and Charles III . The children and male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip also genealogically belong to the House of Oldenburg since Philip was by birth a member of the Glücksburg branch of that house. The monarch is head of state of fifteen sovereign states . These are the United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda , Australia ,

3420-633: The King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar , where they were presented to an assembled audience of Indian dignitaries and princes as the Emperor and Empress of India on 12 December 1911. George wore the newly created Imperial Crown of India at the ceremony and declared the shifting of the Indian capital from Calcutta to Delhi. He was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar. As he and Mary travelled throughout

3515-528: The King's death the following day, in which he was described as "for each one of us, more than a King, a father of a great family". House of Windsor The House of Windsor is a British royal house, and currently the reigning house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms . The royal house's name was inspired by the historic Windsor Castle estate. Since it was founded on 17 July 1917, there have been five British monarchs of

3610-609: The King's dignity, to prevent further strain on the family, and so that George's death at 11:55 pm could be announced in the morning edition of The Times newspaper rather than "less appropriate ... evening journals". Neither Queen Mary, who was intensely religious and might not have sanctioned euthanasia, nor the Prince of Wales were consulted. The royal family did not want the King to endure pain and suffering and did not want his life prolonged artificially but neither did they approve Dawson's actions. British Pathé announced

3705-772: The Parliament Act, relations between the elderly Knollys and the Conservatives became poor, and he was pushed into retirement. Desperate to avoid the prospect of civil war in Ireland between Unionists and Nationalists, George called a meeting of all parties at Buckingham Palace in July 1914 in an attempt to negotiate a settlement. After four days the conference ended without an agreement. Political developments in Britain and Ireland were overtaken by events in Europe, and

3800-436: The Queen advised Rab Butler in January 1960 that for some time she had her heart set on a change that would recognise the name, Mountbatten. She wished to make this change before the birth of her child. The issue did not affect Prince Charles or Princess Anne, as they had been born Mountbatten before the Queen's accession to the throne. Prince Andrew was born 11 days later, on 19 February 1960. Any future monarch can change

3895-591: The Upper House. A constitutional conference on the reforms broke down in November 1910 after 21 meetings. Asquith and Lord Crewe , Liberal leader in the Lords, asked George to grant a dissolution, leading to a second general election, and to promise to create sufficient Liberal peers if the Lords blocked the legislation again. If George refused, the Liberal government would otherwise resign, which would have given

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3990-399: The ages of twelve and thirteen, and receiving the same education, whatever their class and eventual assignments. The reforms were implemented by the then Second (later First) Sea Lord, Sir John Fisher . From November 1905 to March 1906, George and May toured British India , where he was disgusted by racial discrimination and campaigned for greater involvement of Indians in the government of

4085-611: The appearance that the monarch was taking sides – with "the peers against the people" – in party politics. The King's two private secretaries, the Liberal Lord Knollys and the Unionist Lord Stamfordham , gave George conflicting advice. Knollys advised George to accept the Cabinet's demands, while Stamfordham advised George to accept the resignation. Like his father, George reluctantly agreed to

4180-480: The best"; for comparison, Moët et Chandon premium Dom Pérignon Champagne retailed in 2008 for approximately $ 220 CDN. The famous 1856–57 panorama photos of Toronto by Armstrong, Beere & Hime – some of the earliest known photos of the city – were taken from the roof of the Rossin House. These photos include views of Toronto's harbour, its early railways, Osgoode Hall, its street and typical architecture of

4275-558: The brothers were separated; Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge , while George continued in the Royal Navy . He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire. During his naval career he commanded Torpedo Boat 79 in home waters, then HMS  Thrush on the North America and West Indies Station . His last active service was in command of HMS Melampus in 1891–1892. From then on, his naval rank

4370-608: The children of the Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign and the eldest living son of the eldest son of a Prince of Wales. 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". George's relatives who fought on the German side, such as Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover , and Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , had their British peerages suspended by

4465-492: The country. The tour was almost immediately followed by a trip to Spain for the wedding of King Alfonso XIII to George's cousin Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg , at which the bride and groom narrowly avoided assassination when the driver of their coach and more than a dozen spectators were killed by a bomb thrown by an anarchist, Mateu Morral . A week after returning to Britain, George and May travelled to Norway for

4560-610: The day – a must-see for those curious about Toronto's history. Josef Gungl wrote a piano piece entitled the "Rossin House Gallop". 43°38′52″N 79°22′59″W  /  43.6478°N 79.3830°W  / 43.6478; -79.3830 George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions , and Emperor of India , from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George

4655-515: The dissolution and creation of peers, although he felt his ministers had taken advantage of his inexperience to browbeat him. After the December 1910 general election , the Lords let the bill pass on hearing of the threat to swamp the house with new peers. The subsequent Parliament Act 1911 permanently removed – with a few exceptions – the power of the Lords to veto bills. George later came to feel that Knollys had withheld information from him about

4750-621: The dynastic name through a similar royal proclamation, as the royal prerogative in the United Kingdom covers it. At the creation of the House of Windsor, its head reigned over the British Empire . Following the end of the First World War, however, shifts took place that saw the emergence of the Dominions of the British Commonwealth as independent states. The shift was recognised in the Balfour Declaration of 1926 ,

4845-456: The evening of 15 January 1936, George took to his bedroom at Sandringham House complaining of a cold; he remained in the room until his death. He became gradually weaker, drifting in and out of consciousness. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin later said: ... each time he became conscious it was some kind inquiry or kind observation of someone, some words of gratitude for kindness shown. But he did say to his secretary when he sent for him: "How

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4940-708: The family was too pro-German, and the Duchess of Edinburgh disliked England. The Duchess, the only daughter of Alexander II of Russia , resented the fact that, as the wife of a younger son of the British sovereign, she had to yield precedence to George's mother, whose father had been a minor German prince before being called unexpectedly to the throne of Denmark. Guided by her mother, Marie refused George when he proposed to her. She married Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Romania , in 1893. In November 1891, George's brother, Albert Victor, became engaged to his second cousin once removed Princess Victoria Mary of Teck , known as "May" within

5035-416: The family. Her parents were Francis, Duke of Teck (a member of a morganatic , cadet branch of the House of Württemberg ), and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge , a male-line granddaughter of George III and a first cousin of Queen Victoria. On 14 January 1892, six weeks after the formal engagement, Albert Victor died of pneumonia during an influenza pandemic , leaving George second in line to

5130-552: The first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald , in the absence of a clear majority for any one of the three major parties. George's tact in appointing the first Labour government (which lasted less than a year) allayed the suspicions of the party's sympathisers that he would work against their interests. During the General Strike of 1926 , George advised the government of Conservative Stanley Baldwin against taking inflammatory action, and took exception to suggestions that

5225-532: The first session of the Australian Parliament on the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia . In New Zealand, he praised the military values, bravery, loyalty, and obedience to duty of New Zealanders, and the tour gave New Zealand a chance to show off its progress, especially in its adoption of up-to-date British standards in communications and the processing industries. The implicit goal

5320-454: The heavy task which has fallen on me. George had never liked his wife's habit of signing official documents and letters as "Victoria Mary" and insisted she drop one of those names. They both thought she should not be called Queen Victoria, and so she became Queen Mary. Later that year, a radical propagandist, Edward Mylius , published a lie that George had secretly married in Malta as a young man, and that consequently his marriage to Queen Mary

5415-449: The idea against the advice of the government. Advance planning for a rescue was undertaken by MI1 , a branch of the British secret service, but because of the strengthening position of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and wider difficulties with the conduct of the war, the plan was never put into operation. Nicholas and his immediate family remained in Russia, where they were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 . George wrote in his diary: "It

5510-427: The issue of Irish Home Rule was suspended for the duration of the war. On 4 August 1914, George wrote in his diary, "I held a council at 10:45 to declare war with Germany. It is a terrible catastrophe but it is not our fault. ... Please to God it may soon be over." From 1914 to 1918, Britain and its allies were at war with the Central Powers , led by the German Empire . German Kaiser Wilhelm II , who for

5605-536: The monarchy closer to the public and the working class—a dramatic change for the King, who was most comfortable with naval officers and landed gentry. He cultivated friendly relations with moderate Labour Party politicians and trade union officials. His abandonment of social aloofness conditioned the royal family's behaviour and enhanced its popularity during the economic crises of the 1920s and for over two generations thereafter. The years between 1922 and 1929 saw frequent changes in government. In 1924, George appointed

5700-430: The name of the Royal House and all British descendants of Victoria and Albert in the male line were to bear the name of Windsor, except for women who married into other families. In 1947, Princess Elizabeth (who would become Queen Elizabeth II ), heir presumptive to King George VI , married Philip Mountbatten (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark), a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg ,

5795-405: The opening session of the Parliament of Northern Ireland on 22 June 1921, the King appealed for conciliation in a speech part drafted by General Jan Smuts and approved by Lloyd George. A few weeks later, a truce was agreed. Negotiations between Britain and the Irish secessionists led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty . By the end of 1922, Ireland was partitioned , the Irish Free State

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5890-425: The passage of Liberal legislation. Edward had reluctantly agreed, provided the Lords rejected the budget after two successive general elections. After the January 1910 general election , the Conservative peers allowed the budget, for which the government now had an electoral mandate, to pass without a vote. Asquith attempted to curtail the power of the Lords through constitutional reforms, which were again blocked by

5985-399: The princes served on HMS  Bacchante , accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the British Empire in the Caribbean , South Africa and Australia, and visited Norfolk, Virginia , as well as South America, the Mediterranean , Egypt, and East Asia. In 1881 on a visit to Japan, George had a local artist tattoo a blue and red dragon on his arm, and was received in an audience by

6080-480: The request of his father, "out of respect for poor dear Uncle Sasha's memory", George joined his parents in Saint Petersburg for the funeral. He and his parents remained in Russia for the wedding a week later of the new Russian emperor, his maternal first cousin Nicholas II , to one of George's paternal first cousins, Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine , who had once been considered as a potential bride for George's elder brother. As Duke of York, George carried out

6175-621: The said Name of Windsor.... The name had a long association with monarchy in Britain, through the town of Windsor, Berkshire , and Windsor Castle ; the link is alluded to in the Round Tower of Windsor Castle being the basis of the badge of the House of Windsor. It was suggested by Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham . Upon hearing that his cousin had changed the name of the British royal house to Windsor and in reference to Shakespeare 's The Merry Wives of Windsor , German Emperor Wilhelm II remarked jokingly that he planned to see "The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha". George V also restricted

6270-446: The seaside resort of Bognor , Sussex. As a result of his stay, the town acquired the suffix Regis – Latin for "of the King". A myth later grew that his last words, on being told that he would soon be well enough to revisit the town, were " Bugger Bognor!" George never fully recovered. In his final year, he was occasionally administered oxygen. The death of his favourite sister, Victoria , in December 1935 depressed him deeply. On

6365-409: The strikers were "revolutionaries" saying, "Try living on their wages before you judge them." In 1926, George hosted an Imperial Conference in London at which the Balfour Declaration accepted the growth of the British Dominions into self-governing "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another". The Statute of Westminster 1931 formalised

6460-423: The subcontinent, George took the opportunity to indulge in big game hunting in Nepal , shooting 21 tigers, 8 rhinoceroses and a bear over 10 days. He was a keen and expert marksman. On a later occasion, on 18 December 1913, he shot over a thousand pheasants in six hours (about one bird every 20 seconds) while visiting the home of Lord Burnham . Even George had to acknowledge that "we went

6555-470: The throne and likely to succeed after his father. George had only just recovered from a serious illness himself, having been confined to bed for six weeks with typhoid fever , the disease that was thought to have killed his grandfather Prince Albert. Queen Victoria still regarded Princess May as a suitable match for her grandson, and George and May grew close during their shared period of mourning. A year after Albert Victor's death, George proposed to May and

6650-411: The throne was given to Sophia of Hanover , who was born into the House of Wittelsbach , married into the House of Hanover , and was a granddaughter of James VI and I of the House of Stuart . Succession was passed to her son who became George I in 1714, marking the start of a long ruling period by the Hanoverian royal house. Eventually in 1901, a line of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha succeeded

6745-428: The throne". The First World War took a toll on George's health: he was seriously injured on 28 October 1915 when thrown by his horse at a troop review in France, and his heavy smoking exacerbated recurring breathing problems. He suffered from chronic bronchitis . In 1925, on the instruction of his doctors, he was reluctantly sent on a recuperative private cruise in the Mediterranean; it was his third trip abroad since

6840-424: The throne, after his father. George was created Duke of York , Earl of Inverness , and Baron Killarney by Queen Victoria on 24 May 1892, and received lessons in constitutional history from J. R. Tanner . The Duke and Duchess of York had five sons and a daughter . Randolph Churchill claimed that George was a strict father, to the extent that his children were terrified of him, and that George had remarked to

6935-417: The throne. The next year George married his brother's former fiancée, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck , and they had six children. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, George's father ascended the throne as Edward VII, and George was created Prince of Wales . He became king-emperor on his father's death in 1910. George's reign saw the rise of socialism , communism , fascism , Irish republicanism , and

7030-473: The two princes were educated together. John Neale Dalton was appointed as their tutor in 1871. Neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually. As their father thought that the navy was "the very best possible training for any boy", in September 1877, when George was 12 years old, both brothers joined the cadet training ship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth, Devon . For three years from 1879,

7125-448: The use of British princely titles to his nearest relations, and in 1919, he stripped three of his German relations of their British titles and styles under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 . The children and male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip also genealogically belong to the House of Oldenburg since Philip was by birth a member of the Glücksburg branch of that house. The 1917 proclamation stated that

7220-456: The war had been forced to resign as First Sea Lord through anti-German feeling, became Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while Queen Mary's brothers became Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge , and Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone . In letters patent gazetted on 11 December 1917, the King restricted the style of "Royal Highness" and the titular dignity of "Prince (or Princess) of Great Britain and Ireland" to

7315-452: The war, and his last. In November 1928, he fell seriously ill with septicaemia , which localised between the base of his right lung and diaphragm in the form of an empyema that required drainage . For the next two years his son Edward took over many of his duties. In 1929, the suggestion of a further rest abroad was rejected by the King "in rather strong language". Instead, he retired for three months to Craigweil House , Aldwick, in

7410-714: The willingness of the opposition to form a government if the Liberals had resigned. The 1910 general elections had left the Liberals as a minority government dependent upon the support of the Irish Nationalist Party . As desired by the Nationalists, Asquith introduced legislation that would give Ireland Home Rule , but the Conservatives and Unionists opposed it. As tempers rose over the Home Rule Bill, which would never have been possible without

7505-421: Was a foul murder. I was devoted to Nicky, who was the kindest of men and thorough gentleman: loved his country and people." The following year, Nicholas's mother, Marie Feodorovna , and other members of the extended Russian imperial family were rescued from Crimea by a British warship. Two months after the end of the war, the King's youngest son, John , died aged 13 after a lifetime of ill health. George

7600-526: Was accepted. They married on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace , London. Throughout their lives, they remained devoted to each other. George was, on his own admission, unable to express his feelings easily in speech, but they often exchanged loving letters and notes of endearment. The death of his elder brother effectively ended George's naval career, as he was now second in line to

7695-531: Was bigamous. The lie had first surfaced in print in 1893, but George had shrugged it off as a joke. In an effort to kill off rumours, Mylius was arrested, tried and found guilty of criminal libel , and was sentenced to a year in prison. George objected to the anti-Catholic wording of the Accession Declaration that he would be required to make at the opening of his first parliament. He made it known that he would refuse to open parliament unless it

7790-445: Was born during the reign of his paternal grandmother, Queen Victoria , as the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra ). He was third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor . From 1877 to 1892, George served in the Royal Navy , until his elder brother's unexpected death in January 1892 put him directly in line for

7885-515: Was bound to be a war within ten years if Germany went on at the present rate; he warned the British ambassador in Berlin, Eric Phipps , to be suspicious of the Nazis. In 1932, George agreed to deliver a Royal Christmas speech on the radio, an event that became annual thereafter. He was not in favour of the innovation originally but was persuaded by the argument that it was what his people wanted. By

7980-641: Was changed. As a result, the Accession Declaration Act 1910 shortened the declaration and removed the most offensive phrases. George and Mary's coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911, and was celebrated by the Festival of Empire in London. In July, the King and Queen visited Ireland for five days; they received a warm welcome, with thousands of people lining the route of their procession to cheer. Later in 1911,

8075-500: Was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester . George's father wished to prepare him for his future role as king. In contrast to Edward himself, whom Queen Victoria had deliberately excluded from state affairs, George was given wide access to state documents by his father. George in turn allowed his wife access to his papers, as he valued her counsel and she often helped write his speeches. As Prince of Wales, he supported reforms in naval training, including cadets being enrolled at

8170-500: Was described in a poem, " The King's Pilgrimage " by Rudyard Kipling . The tour, and one short visit to Italy in 1923, were the only times George agreed to leave the United Kingdom on official business after the end of the war. Before the First World War , most of Europe was ruled by monarchs related to George, but during and after the war, the monarchies of Austria, Germany, Greece, and Spain, like Russia, fell to revolution and war. In March 1919, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt

8265-511: Was dispatched on the personal authority of the King to escort the former Emperor Charles I of Austria and his family to safety in Switzerland. In 1922, a Royal Navy ship was sent to Greece to rescue his cousins Prince and Princess Andrew . Political turmoil in Ireland continued as the Nationalists fought for independence ; George expressed his horror at government-sanctioned killings and reprisals to Prime Minister Lloyd George . At

8360-441: Was established, and Lloyd George was out of office. George and his advisers were concerned about the rise of socialism and the growing labour movement, which they mistakenly associated with republicanism. The socialists no longer believed in their anti-monarchical slogans and were ready to come to terms with the monarchy if it took the first step. George adopted a more democratic, inclusive stance that crossed class lines and brought

8455-470: Was fond of his second 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". In 1935, George said of his son Edward: "After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself within 12 months", and of Albert and Elizabeth: "I pray to God my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and

8550-537: Was greeted by elaborate decorations, expensive gifts, and fireworks displays. Despite this, not all residents responded favourably to the tour. Many white Cape Afrikaners resented the display and expense, the war having weakened their capacity to reconcile their Afrikaner-Dutch culture with their status as British subjects. Critics in the English-language press decried the enormous cost at a time when families faced severe hardship. In Australia, George opened

8645-512: Was informed of his death by Queen Mary, who wrote, "[John] had been a great anxiety to us for many years ... The first break in the family circle is hard to bear but people have been so kind & sympathetic & this has helped us much." In May 1922, George toured Belgium and northern France, visiting the First World War cemeteries and memorials being constructed by the Imperial War Graves Commission . The event

8740-545: Was largely honorary. As a young man destined to serve in the navy, Prince George served for many years under the command of his uncle Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh , who was stationed in Malta . There, he grew close to and fell in love with his cousin Princess Marie of Edinburgh . His grandmother, father and uncle all approved the match, but his own mother and Marie's mother opposed it. The Princess of Wales thought

8835-548: Was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII . Edward abdicated in December of that year and was succeeded by his younger brother Albert, who took the regnal name George VI . George was born on 3 June 1865, in Marlborough House , London. He was the second son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales , and Alexandra, Princess of Wales . His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert , and his mother

8930-503: Was the eldest daughter of King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark . He was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Charles Longley . As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was little expectation that George would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, Prince Albert Victor . George was only 17 months younger than Albert Victor, and

9025-598: Was to advertise New Zealand's attractiveness to tourists and potential immigrants, while avoiding news of growing social tensions, by focusing the attention of the British press on a land few knew about. On his return to Britain, in a speech at Guildhall, London , George warned of "the impression which seemed to prevail among [our] brethren across the seas, that the Old Country must wake up if she intends to maintain her old position of pre-eminence in her colonial trade against foreign competitors." On 9 November 1901, George

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