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94-549: The Round Table Conference officially inaugurated by His Majesty George V on November 12, 1930 in Royal Gallery House of Lords at London and chaired by the Prime Minister. Ramsay MacDonald was also chairman of a subcommittee on minority representation, while for the duration his son, Malcolm MacDonald , performed liaison tasks with Lord Sankey 's constitutional committee. One of the foremost advisers

188-587: 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

282-567: A "responsive" Indian government at central and provincial levels and a conservative legislature. The eight British political parties were represented by sixteen delegates. There were fifty-eight political leaders from British India and sixteen delegates from the princely states. In total 74 delegates from India attended the Conference. However, the Indian National Congress , along with Indian business leaders, kept away from

376-526: 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

470-795: 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

564-551: 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

658-540: 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

752-565: 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

846-497: A memo recommending a federal formula for the Government of India to "make it possible to give a semblance of responsible government and yet retain the realities and verities of British control." The idea was proposed by the princely states and other Liberal Indian leaders including Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru would welcome it. The minority Labour government hoped to win the support of Liberal and Conservative colleagues in parliament for

940-546: 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

1034-584: 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

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1128-570: 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, the brothers were separated; Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge , while George continued in

1222-593: 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

1316-621: 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

1410-528: 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,

1504-589: 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 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

1598-604: The All-India Muslim League , which was still smarting over Gandhi's majoritarianism . After lengthy negotiations, Gandhi reached an agreement with Ambedkar to have a single Hindu electorate, but there would be reserved seats for Scheduled Castes. The Poona Pact rejected any further advancement for the Untouchables but satisfied the other electorates like Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans since they would remain separate. During

1692-610: 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 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

1786-598: 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

1880-536: 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

1974-549: The First World War (1914–1918), the empires of his first cousins Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany fell, while 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

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2068-553: The Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931) under which the Congress agreed to participate in a Second Round Table Conference. Although MacDonald was still Prime Minister of Britain, he was by this time heading a coalition Government (the "National Government") with a Conservative majority, including Sir Samuel Hoare as a new Secretary of State for India. The Second Session opened on September 7, 1931. There were three major differences between

2162-539: 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 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

2256-505: The Royal Navy , until his elder brother's unexpected death in January 1892 put him directly in line for 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

2350-505: 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 was largely honorary. As a young man destined to serve in the navy, Prince George served for many years under

2444-551: 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

2538-502: 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

2632-573: 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

2726-456: 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,

2820-597: The Communal Award was supported by many among India's minority communities , most notably B. R. Ambedkar , who insisted on separate electorates for Scheduled Castes. According to Ambedkar, Gandhi was ready to award separate electorates to Muslims and Sikhs but was reluctant to give separate electorates to the Scheduled Castes. He feared division within both Congress and Hindu society from the Scheduled Castes having separate representation. The Akali Dal ,

2914-871: The Depressed Classes (now known as the Scheduled Castes ) and other minorities. The separate electorate had been introduced by the Indian Councils Act 1909 for the Muslims and extended to the Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans by the Government of India Act 1919 . The separate electorate was now available to the Muslims , Sikhs , Indian Christians , Anglo-Indians , Europeans and Depressed Classes (now known as

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3008-596: 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

3102-633: 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

3196-541: 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". Communal Award The Communal Award was created by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on 16 August 1932. Also known as the MacDonald Award, it was announced after the Round Table Conference (1930–1932) and extended the separate electorate to

3290-556: 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

3384-825: 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

3478-793: The Scheduled Castes) etc. The principle of weightage was also applied. Sir Samuel Hoare asked for clarification of the ninth and last paragraph, which applied directly to the Depressed Classes. The award favoured the minorities over the Hindus, which caused consternation and elicited anger from Mahatma Gandhi . From the fastness of Yervada Jail he made contact with the Cabinet in London declaring in September 1932 an open fast until death.   The reason behind introduction of Communal Award

3572-657: The Secretary of State for India, Sir Samuel Hoare , the proposed reforms took the form reflected in the Government of India Act 1935 . Similar to the first two Round Table Conferences, the Third Round Table Conference did not turn out to be fruitful or inclusive. A Joint Committee was set up and had to present the recommendations as a Bill, which was eventually enacted as the Government of India Act 1935 . George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936)

3666-591: 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

3760-399: 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

3854-556: 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

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3948-608: 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

4042-578: 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 the family was too pro-German, and the Duchess of Edinburgh disliked England. The Duchess,

4136-487: The conference of All-India Depressed Classes had specifically 'denounced the claim made by Gandhi.' The third and last session assembled on November 17, 1932. Only forty-six delegates attended since most of the main political figures of India were not present. The Labour Party from Britain and the Indian National Congress refused to attend. From September 1931 until March 1933, under the supervision of

4230-568: The conference. Many of them, including Gandhi, were in jail for their participation in Civil Disobedience Movement . Their boycott doomed the conference to failure. Lord Irwin made a controversial statement declaring that India should be eventually granted Dominionship. The Conservatives were disgusted: "the whole conference was manipulated and manoeuvred by the Socialist Party, said Sir Winston Churchill, "to achieve

4324-492: 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

4418-515: 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

4512-456: 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

4606-416: 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

4700-501: The federation as it had always been opposed to a strong Centre. The British agreed that representative government should be introduced on provincial level. After the failure of the First Round Table Conference, the British recognized they needed the participation of the Indian National Congress. On January 26, 1931, Gandhi and other Congress leaders were freed from prison. The resulting discussions culminated in

4794-489: 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

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4888-438: The first and second Round Table Conferences. By the second: At the end of the conference Ramsay MacDonald undertook to produce a Communal Award for minority representation, with the provision that any free agreement between the parties could be substituted for his award. Gandhi took particular exception to the suggeston of untouchables as a minority separate from the rest of the Hindu community. Other important discussions were

4982-399: 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

5076-454: 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

5170-449: 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

5264-427: 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

5358-536: 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

5452-455: 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, 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,

5546-562: 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

5640-405: 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

5734-425: 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

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5828-407: 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 was the eldest daughter of King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark . He was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by

5922-437: The reports of the sub-committees on Federal Structure, Provincial Constitution, Minorities, Burma , North West Frontier Province , Franchise, Defense services and Sindh . These were followed by 2 more plenary meetings and a final concluding session. It was difficult for progress to be made in the absence of the Indian National Congress but some advances were made. The Prime Minister wrote his diary "India has not considered. It

6016-428: The representative body of the Sikhs, was also highly critical of the Award since only 19% was reserved to the Sikhs in Punjab , as opposed to 51% for the Muslims and 30% for the Hindus. Gandhi concurred with the revival of Swaraj , which became policy in May 1934 on ratification by the All-India Congress Committee. The government reluctantly agreed to lift the ban on Congress and in return received anxious support from

6110-480: 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

6204-408: The responsibility of the executive to the legislature and a separate electorate for the Untouchables as demanded by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar . Gandhi announced that henceforth he would work only on behalf of the Harijans : he reached a compromise with the leader of depressed classes, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, over this issue; the two eventually resolved the situation with the Poona Pact of 1932. But not before

6298-464: The result they had set before themselves from the beginning, namely the conferring of responsible government at the centre upon Indians." The conference started with six plenary meetings where delegates put forward their issues nine sub-committees were formed to deal with several different matters including federal structure, provincial constitution, province of Sindh and NWFP , defense services and minorities e.t.c. These were followed by discussions on

6392-410: The rise of socialism , communism , fascism , Irish republicanism , and 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

6486-446: 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

6580-409: 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

6674-423: 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

6768-470: 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

6862-544: 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

6956-424: 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

7050-456: 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

7144-452: 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

7238-714: 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

7332-608: Was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions , and Emperor of India , from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George 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

7426-471: Was Sir Malcolm Hailey , an Indian civil servant with thirty years experience. The leading Liberal on the committee, Lord Reading was "well aware of the troubles which might arise if and when India became independent." Clement Attlee , who served on the Simon Commission , wanted an early resolution but was baulked by the Conservatives in government until 1945. Sir Samuel Hoare wrote the cabinet

7520-421: 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

7614-526: 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

7708-531: 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

7802-515: 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

7896-588: 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,

7990-406: Was communalism and proportions of reserved seats" that exposed the worst side of Indian politics. The idea of an All-India Federation was moved to the centre of discussion by Tej Bahadur Sapru . All the groups attending the conference supported this concept. The princely states agreed to the proposed federation provided that their internal sovereignty was guaranteed. The Muslim League also supported

8084-500: 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

8178-500: 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

8272-511: 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

8366-441: 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

8460-470: 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

8554-537: 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

8648-577: 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

8742-681: Was that MacDonald considered himself as 'a friend of the Indians' and thus wanted to resolve the issues in India. The Communal Award was announced after the failure of the Second of the Round Table Conferences (India) and attracted severe criticism from Gandhi. The Award was controversial as it was perceived by many Hindus to be aimed at causing social divides in India, and Gandhi feared that it would disintegrate Hindu society. However,

8836-598: 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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