GEORGE V. (1865-1936) King of Great Britain and Em peror of India was born at Marlborough House, London on June 3, 1865. He was a grandson of Queen Victoria and the sec ond son of Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, afterwards Ed ward VII. and of Alexandra, a Princess of Denmark and sister of the Empress Marie of Russia. King George was thus first cousin of the illfated Czar Nicholas II. whom he resembled in face and form especially in early life. Also he was first cousin of the Em peror William II. of Germany, Queen Victoria of Spain, Queen Marie of Rumania, King Constantine and Queen Sophie of Greece.
When 62 years old, he and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, two years his senior, were placed under the tutorship of John Neale Dalton, then curate of Sandringham. In 1877 the two princes became naval cadets on the "Britannia" at Spithead, where they passed through the ordinary curriculum, and in they joined H.M.S. "Bacchante" under the command of Captain Lord Charles Scott, making a voyage to the West Indies, in the course of which they were rated midshipmen. After a month at home in 1880 they visited South America, South Africa, Aus tralia, the Fiji Islands, Japan, Ceylon, Egypt, Palestine and Greece. A narrative of this voyage, The Cruise of H.M.S. "Bacchante," compiled from the letters, diaries and notebooks of the princes, was published in 1886. At the close of this tour in 1882 the brothers separated. Prince George, who remained in the naval service, was appointed to H.M.S. "Canada," on the North American and West Indian station, and was promoted sub lieutenant. He passed through the Royal Naval college at Green wich and the gunnery and torpedo schools, being promoted lieutenant in 1885. He served successively in H.M.S. "Thunderer," "Dreadnought" and "Alexandra" of the Mediterranean squadron and H.M.S. "Northumberland" of the Channel Squadron. In 1890 he commanded the gunboat "Thrush" on the North American and West Indian Station, and in 1891, promoted commander, he com missioned the "Melampus." He was promoted captain in rear-admiral in 1901 and vice-admiral in 1903 nor was there any doubt as to his aptitude for seamanship. Throughout his life, he was a familiar figure at Cowes where his yacht, the "Britannia"— a winner, it is stated, of 36o prizes in all—was frequently sailed by him in person. Among his friends was John Masefield, the seaman who became poet laureate. George's punctuality, sense of order, vigorous vocabulary—even his famous parrot—suggested the sailor. His collection of stamps is the most complete in existence and, in later years, he was devoted to the radio and motion picture.
In January 1892, his elder brother the duke of Clarence died and as heir to the throne, George had to relinquish his active career in the navy. He was created duke of York, earl of Inver ness and Baron Killarney in 1892, and on July 6, 1893 he married Princess Victoria Mary (born May 26, 1867), daughter of Francis, duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide, duchess of Teck, daughter of Adolphus Frederick, duke of Cambridge. Popu larly she was beloved as the Princess Mary. Their eldest son, Prince Edward Albert, was born at White Lodge, Richmond, on June 23, 1894; Prince Albert Frederick George, duke of York, was born at Sandringham on December 14, 1895 ; Princess Vic toria Alexandra Alice Mary on April 25, 1897; Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, duke of Gloucester, on March 31, 1900; Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund, duke of Kent, on December 20, 1902; and Prince John Charles Francis on July 12, 1905 (died January 18, 1919). For eighteen years, George and Mary, spending much of their time at York Cottage, near Sandringham, were overshadowed by the prestige of Queen Victoria and by the magnificent urbanity of King Edward VII. They visited Ireland in 1899 and it had been arranged before the death of Queen Victoria that they should make a tour in the colonies. On the accession of King Edward VII. (190 i) this plan was confirmed. They sailed in the "Ophir" on March 16, 1901, travelling by the ordinary route, and landed at Melbourne in May, when they opened the first parliament of the Common wealth. They then proceeded to New Zealand, returning by way of South Africa and Canada. In November 1901 the duke was created prince of Wales.
On May 6, 1910, King Edward VII. died. Since the new Prince of Wales was under 16, Queen Mary was nominated regent in the event of the demise of the Crown while the heir to the throne was under age. Parliament granted a civil list of £470,000 a year.
The domestic tastes of the King were a contrast to the social brilliance of his father and from the first, he appealed to the quiet solidities of the nation. The bitter quarrel between Edward and the Kaiser had no place in George's conception of duty. His only policy was conciliation and he began with the accession declaration which had contained words that were needlessly of fensive to Roman Catholics. Acting under George's insistence, Parliament substituted the formula : I do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God, profess, testify and declare, that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will accord ing to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne of my Realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my power according to law.
A constitutional crisis was raging. The House of Lords re jected a budget passed by the House of Commons and the Com mons replied by carrying a Parliament Bill that limited the powers of the Lords. After two elections had been won by the Liberal government in power, George—following the precedent of the Reform Bill of 2832—agreed to create peers in order to secure the passage of the measure which indication of the preroga tive was sufficient for the purpose. Over Home Rule for Ireland, the crisis continued and the arming of Ulster, with a mu tiny of British troops at the Curragh near Dublin, led the King to invite leaders of all parties-in 1914-to a confer ence at Buckingham Palace where, however, no settlement was reached.
It was soon apparent that King George-however simple his private life-intended to continue and even to outshine the cere monial splendors of the Edwardian era. The coronation at West minster Abbey, on June 22, 1911, was attended by representatives from all parts of the Empire and other countries and, in order to complete the public assumption of royal authority throughout the United Kingdom, the King and Queen, with the prince of Wales and Princess Mary, made State visits to Ireland, Wales and Scotland during July. At the opening of Parliament, the King wore his crown and, amid some misgivings on the part of his advisers, he proceeded with Queen Mary to India, where a coro nation durbar was held at Delhi (December 12, ). The con stitutional functions of the King in Great Britain were entrusted to a Council of State.
King George exerted little influence over events in Europe that led up to the World War. During that prolonged ordeal, he ap peared in uniform when opening Parliament and on other public occasions. The Court, like the nation, was mobilized for active service. Royal visits were paid to important factories and work shops at the munition centres throughout Great Britain, as well as to shipbuilding yards, hospitals and other institutions engaged in war-work. Periodical visits were made by him to the Grand Fleet. In 1917 Queen Mary accompanied the King to France. The King made frequent visits to the French and Belgian fronts. Finally, after the Armistice, the King made another visit to Paris and to the battle-fields, Nov. 27-Dec. 1 o, 1918, and had an en thusiastic reception in the French capital (Nov. 28-30).
The long record of royal attendances at notable ceremonies included the funeral services at St. Paul's for Lord Roberts (Nov. 19, 1914) and Lord Kitchener (June 13, 1916) ; the commemora tion service there on the entry of the United States into the war (April 20, 1917) ; the Albert Hall commemoration of the first Seven Divisions (Dec. 15, 191 7) ; the thanksgiving at St, Paul's on Their Majesties' silver wedding (July 6, 191 8) ; the presenta tion to the King at Buckingham Palace by the special Japanese mission of the sword and badge of a Japanese field-marshal (Oct. 29, 1918) ; and other events. On the occasion of Their Majesties' silver wedding, the King and Queen were received at the Guildhall (July 6, 1918) and were presented with a cheque for £53,000, subscribed by the citizens of London, to be devoted to charities according to Their Majesties' wish, together with a silver tankard once owned by Charles II.
On July 17, 1917 it was announced that King George had abandoned all German titles for himself and his family. At the same time a proclamation was issued to the effect that henceforth the royal house of Great Britain and Ireland would be known, not as the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, or popularly as the house of Hanover or Brunswick, but as the house of Windsor. It had previously been announced (June 20, 1917) that the King had decided that those princes of his family who were British sub jects but bore German titles should relinquish those titles in favour of British names.
After the war, the world was faced by a dramatic paradox. The great autocracies of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary had collapsed in revolution. The British throne was unshaken. Im mediately after the Armistice in 1918, the King and Queen on successive days made popular progresses through London and re ceived general ovations. There were carriage drives through the city (Nov. II) to a special thanksgiving at St. Paul's (Nov. 12), through the East End (Nov. 13), the south (Nov. 14), the north (Nov. 15), the north-west (Nov. 18) and the south-west (Nov. 22). On Dec. 27 a banquet was given in honour of President Wil son at Buckingham Palace, where he and Mrs. Wilson were stay ing with the King and Queen.
On June 21-22, 1921, the King and Queen visited Belfast, where His Majesty inaugurated the new parliament of Northern Ireland. The King made an appeal to all Irishmen to pause and stretch out the hand of forbearance, to forgive and forget and to make for the land they loved a new era of peace, contentment and good-will. When, in the following December, an agreement was at last reached with the Irish Free State, the King in his telegram of congratulation to Mr. Lloyd George, ventured to hope that his own speech at Belfast might have contributed to bring it about.
The policy of cultivating pageantry was developed further when, on February 28, 1922, the King's only daughter, Princess Mary, was married to Viscount Lascelles (q.v.) not in the com parative seclusion of a royal chapel but in Westminster Abbey. An astonishing response by the people encouraged the King to arrange that the Abbey should be the scene of other weddings in his family-the duke of York to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on April 26, 1923 and the duke of Kent to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark on November which was broad cast throughout the world. Owing to the death of the bride's father, the duke of Buccleuch, the duke of Gloucester was married quietly on Nov. 6, 1935 to Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott.
In 1922, the King and Queen paid a state visit to Belgium and in 1923 they visited Italy. They were guests of King Vittoria Emanuele III. but it was arranged that, on May 9, they should be received by the Pope. The appearance of the King and Queen at great functions-the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924, the dedication of Liverpool Cathedral and the opening of the Mersey Tunnel are typical of these occasions-demonstrated the evergrowing affection which surrounded them on every side. Occasionally, a Socialist would raise his voice in not very con vincing dissent. But the failure of the General Strike of 1926 proved that Great Britain, however hard hit, wanted no Com munism. In 1928, the grave illness of the King aroused sympathy throughout the world and during the concluding years of an amazing reign, his prestige could hardly have been greater. His Christmas broadcasts, relayed from continent to continent, were irresistible in their dignified and intimate goodwill.
In May 1935, 25 years after accession, King George celebrated a Silver Jubilee which was marked by unforgettably enthusi astic expressions of affectionate loyalty of his subjects. Despite medical advice, King George insisted on wintering in England and on January 20, 1936 he succumbed at Sandringham to a chill. He was buried, with his parents in St. George's Chapel, Windsor and six kings attended the obsequies-Great Britain, Rumania, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria and Belgium. His coffin was made by the village carpenter at Sandringham. At his funeral, the crowds were greater than any that ever gathered in the streets of London.