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| King George VI with Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, the Commander of the 21st Army Group, on the King's arrival in Holland. On the right is Air Vice Marshal H Broadhurst of the 2nd Tactical Air Force. (Imperial War Museum TR 2400) |
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895
– 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the
British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also
the last Emperor of India from 1936 until the British Raj was dissolved in
August 1947, and the first Head of the Commonwealth following the London
Declaration of 1949.
The future George VI was born during the reign of his
great-grandmother Queen Victoria; he was named Albert at birth after his
great-grandfather Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and was known as
"Bertie" to his family and close friends. His father ascended the
throne as George V in 1910. As the second son of the king, Albert was not
expected to inherit the throne. He spent his early life in the shadow of his
elder brother, Edward, the heir apparent. Albert attended naval college as a
teenager and served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during the First
World War. In 1920, he was made Duke of York. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret. In the mid-1920s,
he engaged speech therapist Lionel Logue to treat his stutter, which he learned
to manage to some degree. His elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII
after their father died in 1936, but Edward abdicated later that year to marry
the twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. As heir presumptive to
Edward VIII, Albert became king, taking the regnal name George VI.
In September 1939, the British Empire and most Commonwealth
countries—but not Ireland—declared war on Nazi Germany, following the invasion
of Poland. War with the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan followed in
1940 and 1941, respectively. George VI was seen as sharing the hardships of the
common people and his popularity soared. Buckingham Palace was bombed during
the Blitz while the King and Queen were there, and his younger brother the Duke
of Kent was killed on active service. George became known as a symbol of
British determination to win the war. Britain and its allies were victorious in
1945, but the British Empire declined. Ireland had largely broken away,
followed by the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. George relinquished
the title of Emperor of India in June 1948 and instead adopted the new title of
Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by smoking-related health problems in
the later years of his reign and died at Sandringham House, aged 56, of a
coronary thrombosis. He was succeeded by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II.
Early Life
Albert was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate
in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His
father was Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second and
only surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII
and Queen Alexandra). His mother, the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), was
the eldest child and only daughter of Francis, Duke of Teck, and Princess Mary
Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. His birthday, 14 December 1895, was the 34th
anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort.
Uncertain of how the Prince Consort's widow, Queen Victoria, would take the
news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen
had been "rather distressed". Two days later, he wrote again: "I
really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to
her."
The Queen was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby
Albert, and wrote to the Duchess of York: "I am all impatience to see the
new one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me, especially as he
will be called by that dear name which is a byword for all that is great and
good." Consequently, he was baptized "Albert Frederick Arthur
George" at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham on 17 February 1896.
Formally he was His Highness Prince Albert of York; within the royal family he
was known informally as "Bertie". The Duchess of Teck did not like
the first name her grandson had been given, and she wrote prophetically that
she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favored one". Albert
was fourth in line to the throne at birth, after his grandfather, father and
elder brother, Edward.
Albert was ill often and was described as "easily frightened
and somewhat prone to tears". His parents were generally removed from
their children's day-to-day upbringing, as was the norm in aristocratic
families of that era. He had a stutter that lasted for many years. Although
naturally left-handed, he was forced to write with his right hand, as was
common practice at the time. He had chronic stomach problems as well as knock
knees, for which he was forced to wear painful corrective splints.
Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, and the Prince of
Wales succeeded her as King Edward VII. Prince Albert moved up to third in line
to the throne, after his father and elder brother.
Military Career and Education
Beginning in 1909, Albert attended the Royal Naval College,
Osborne, as a naval cadet. In 1911 he came bottom of the class in the final
examination, but despite this he progressed to the Royal Naval College,
Dartmouth. When his grandfather Edward VII died in 1910, his father became King
George V. Prince Edward became Prince of Wales, with Albert second in line to
the throne.
Albert spent the first six months of 1913 on the training
ship HMS Cumberland in the West Indies and on the east coast of Canada. He was
rated as a midshipman aboard HMS Collingwood on 15 September 1913. He spent three
months in the Mediterranean, but never overcame his seasickness. Three weeks
after the outbreak of World War I he was medically evacuated from the ship to
Aberdeen, where his appendix was removed by John Marnoch. He was mentioned in
dispatches for his actions as a turret officer aboard Collingwood in the Battle
of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916), the great naval battle of the war. He did
not see further combat, largely because of ill health caused by a duodenal
ulcer, for which he had an operation in November 1917.
In February 1918 Albert was appointed Officer in Charge of
Boys at the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment at Cranwell. With
the establishment of the Royal Air Force Albert transferred from the Royal Navy
to the Royal Air Force. He served as Officer Commanding Number 4 Squadron of
the Boys' Wing at Cranwell until August 1918, before reporting for duty on the
staff of the RAF's Cadet Brigade at St Leonards-on-Sea and then at Shorncliffe.
He completed a fortnight's training and took command of a squadron on the Cadet
Wing. He was the first member of the British royal family to be certified as a
fully qualified pilot.
Albert wanted to serve on the Continent while the war was
still in progress and welcomed a posting to General Trenchard's staff in
France. On 23 October, he flew across the Channel to Autigny. For the closing
weeks of the war, he served on the staff of the RAF's Independent Air Force at
its headquarters in Nancy, France. Following the disbanding of the Independent
Air Force in November 1918, he remained on the Continent for two months as an
RAF staff officer until posted back to Britain. He accompanied King Albert I of
Belgium on his triumphal re-entry into Brussels on 22 November. The prince
qualified as an RAF pilot on 31 July 1919 and was promoted to squadron leader
the following day.
In October 1919, Albert attended Trinity College, Cambridge,
where he studied history, economics and civics for a year, with the historian R.
V. Laurence as his "official mentor". On 4 June 1920 his father
created him Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. He began to
take on more royal duties. He represented his father and toured coal mines,
factories, and railyards. Through such visits he acquired the nickname of the
"Industrial Prince". His stutter, and his embarrassment over it,
together with a tendency to shyness, caused him to appear less confident in
public than his older brother, Edward. However, he was physically active and
enjoyed playing tennis. He played at Wimbledon in the Men's Doubles with Louis
Greig in 1926, losing in the first round. He developed an interest in working
conditions, and was president of the Industrial Welfare Society. His series of
annual summer camps for boys between 1921 and 1939 brought together boys from
different social backgrounds.
Marriage
In a time when royalty were expected to marry fellow
royalty, it was unusual that Albert had a great deal of freedom in choosing a
prospective wife. The King brought his son's infatuation with the
already-married Australian socialite Lady Loughborough to an end in April 1920
by persuading him to stop seeing her, with the promise of the dukedom of York.
That year, Albert met for the first time since childhood Lady Elizabeth
Bowes-Lyon, the youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. He
became determined to marry her. Elizabeth rejected his proposal twice, in 1921
and 1922, reportedly because she was reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary
to become a member of the royal family. In the words of Lady Strathmore, Albert
would be "made or marred" by his choice of wife. After a protracted
courtship, Elizabeth agreed to marry him.
Albert and Elizabeth were married on 26 April 1923 in
Westminster Abbey. Albert's marriage to someone not of royal birth was
considered a modernizing gesture. The newly formed British Broadcasting Company
wished to record and broadcast the event on radio, but the Abbey Chapter vetoed
the idea (although the Dean, Herbert Edward Ryle, was in favor).
From December 1924 to April 1925, the Duke and Duchess
toured Kenya, Uganda, and the Sudan, traveling via the Suez Canal and Aden.
During the trip, they both went big-game hunting.
Because of his stutter, Albert dreaded public speaking.
After his closing speech at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley on 31
October 1925, one which was an ordeal for both him and his listeners, he began
to see Lionel Logue, an Australian-born speech therapist. The Duke and Logue practiced
breathing exercises, and the Duchess rehearsed with him patiently.
Subsequently, he was able to speak with less hesitation. With his delivery
improved, Albert opened the new Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, during
a tour of the empire with his wife in 1927. Their journey by sea to Australia,
New Zealand and Fiji took them via Jamaica, where Albert played doubles tennis
partnered with a black man, Bertrand Clark, which was unusual at the time and
taken locally as a display of equality between races.
The Duke and Duchess had two children, Elizabeth (called
"Lilibet" by the family, later Elizabeth II) in 1926 and Margaret in
1930. The family lived at White Lodge, Richmond Park, and then at 145
Piccadilly, rather than one of the royal palaces. In 1931, the Canadian prime
minister, R. B. Bennett, considered Albert for Governor General of Canada—a
proposal that King George V rejected on the advice of the Secretary of State
for Dominion Affairs, J. H. Thomas.
Reign
Reluctant King
King George V had severe reservations about Prince Edward,
saying "After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months"
and "I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will
come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." On 20 January 1936,
George V died and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. In the Vigil
of the Princes, Prince Albert and his three brothers (the new king, Prince
Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Prince George, Duke of Kent) took a shift
standing guard over their father's body as it lay in state, in a closed casket,
in Westminster Hall.
As Edward was unmarried and had no children, Albert was the
heir presumptive to the throne. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936,
Edward abdicated in order to marry Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her
first husband and divorcing her second. Edward had been advised by British
prime minister Stanley Baldwin that he could not remain king and marry a
divorced woman with two living ex-husbands. He abdicated and Albert, though he
had been reluctant to accept the throne, became king. The day before the
abdication, Albert went to London to see his mother, Queen Mary. He wrote in
his diary, "When I told her what had happened, I broke down and sobbed
like a child."
On the day of Edward's abdication, the Oireachtas, the
parliament of the Irish Free State, removed all direct mention of the monarch
from the Irish constitution. The next day, it passed the External Relations
Act, which gave the monarch limited authority (strictly on the advice of the
government) to appoint diplomatic representatives for Ireland and to be
involved in the making of foreign treaties. The two acts made the Irish Free
State a republic in essence without removing its links to the Commonwealth.
Across Britain, gossip spread that Albert was physically and
psychologically incapable of being king. No evidence has been found to support
the contemporaneous rumor that the government considered bypassing him, his
children and his brother Prince Henry, in favor of their younger brother
Prince George, Duke of Kent. This seems to have been suggested on the grounds
that Prince George was at that time the only brother with a son.
Early Reign
Albert assumed the regnal name "George VI" to emphasize
continuity with his father and restore confidence in the monarchy. The
beginning of George VI's reign was taken up by questions surrounding his
predecessor and brother, whose titles, style and position were uncertain. He
had been introduced as "His Royal Highness Prince Edward" for the
abdication broadcast, but George VI felt that by abdicating and renouncing the
succession, Edward had lost the right to bear royal titles, including
"Royal Highness". In settling the issue, George's first act as king
was to confer upon Edward the title "Duke of Windsor" with the style
"Royal Highness", but the letters patent creating the dukedom
prevented any wife or children from bearing royal styles. George VI was forced
to buy from Edward the royal residences of Balmoral Castle and Sandringham
House, as these were private properties and did not pass to him automatically.
Three days after his accession, on his 41st birthday, he invested his wife, the
new queen consort, with the Order of the Garter.
George VI's coronation at Westminster Abbey took place on 12
May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward's coronation. In a break with
tradition, Queen Mary attended the ceremony in a show of support for her son.
There was no Durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred for his
father, as the cost would have been a burden to the Government of India. Rising
Indian nationalism made the welcome that the royal party would have received
likely to be muted at best, and a prolonged absence from Britain would have
been undesirable in the tense period before the Second World War. Two overseas
tours were undertaken, to France and to North America, both of which promised
greater strategic advantages in the event of war.
The growing likelihood of war in Europe dominated the early
reign of George VI. The King was constitutionally bound to support British
prime minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. When the King and
Queen greeted Chamberlain on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement
in 1938, they invited him to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with
them. This public association of the monarchy with a politician was
exceptional, as balcony appearances were traditionally restricted to the royal
family. While broadly popular among the general public, Chamberlain's policy
towards Hitler was the subject of some opposition in the House of Commons,
which led historian and politician John Grigg to describe George's behavior in
associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most
unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".
The growing likelihood of war in Europe dominated the early
reign of George VI. The King was constitutionally bound to support British
prime minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. When the King and
Queen greeted Chamberlain on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement
in 1938, they invited him to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with
them. This public association of the monarchy with a politician was
exceptional, as balcony appearances were traditionally restricted to the royal
family. While broadly popular among the general public, Chamberlain's policy
towards Hitler was the subject of some opposition in the House of Commons,
which led historian and politician John Grigg to describe George's behavior in
associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most
unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".
In May and June 1939, the King and Queen toured Canada and
the United States; it was the first visit of a reigning British monarch to
North America, although George had been to Canada prior to his accession. From
Ottawa, George and Elizabeth were accompanied by Canadian prime minister
Mackenzie King, to present themselves in North America as King and Queen of
Canada. Both Mackenzie King and the Canadian governor general, Lord Tweedsmuir,
hoped that George's presence in Canada would demonstrate the principles of the
Statute of Westminster 1931, which gave full sovereignty to the British
Dominions. On 19 May, George personally accepted and approved the letter of
credence of the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, Daniel Calhoun Roper; gave royal
assent to nine parliamentary bills; and ratified two international treaties
with the Great Seal of Canada. The official royal tour historian, Gustave
Lanctot, wrote "the Statute of Westminster had assumed full reality"
and George gave a speech emphasizing "the free and equal association of
the nations of the Commonwealth".
The trip was intended to soften the strong isolationist
tendencies among the North American public with regard to the developing
tensions in Europe. Although the aim of the tour was mainly political, to shore
up Atlantic support for the United Kingdom in any future war, the King and
Queen were enthusiastically received by the public. The fear that George would
be compared unfavorably to his predecessor was dispelled. They visited the 1939
New York World's Fair and stayed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the
White House and at his private estate at Hyde Park, New York. A strong bond of
friendship was forged between Roosevelt and the royal couple during the tour,
which had major significance in the relations between the United States and the
United Kingdom through the ensuing war years.
Second World War
Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939,
the United Kingdom and the self-governing Dominions other than Ireland declared
war on Nazi Germany. The King and Queen resolved to stay in London, despite
German bombing raids. They officially stayed in Buckingham Palace throughout
the war, although they usually spent nights at Windsor Castle. The first night
of the Blitz on London, on 7 September 1940, killed about one thousand
civilians, mostly in the East End. On 13 September, the couple narrowly avoided
death when two German bombs exploded in a courtyard at Buckingham Palace while
they were there. In defiance, the Queen declared: "I am glad we have been
bombed. It makes me feel we can look the East End in the face." The royal
family were portrayed as sharing the same dangers and deprivations as the rest
of the country. They were subject to British rationing restrictions, and the
U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt remarked on the rationed food served and the
limited bathwater that was permitted during a stay at the unheated and
boarded-up Palace. In August 1942, the King's brother, the Duke of Kent, was
killed on active service.
In 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as
prime minister, though personally George would have preferred to appoint Lord
Halifax. After the King's initial dismay over Churchill's appointment of Lord
Beaverbrook to the Cabinet, he and Churchill developed "the closest
personal relationship in modern British history between a monarch and a Prime
Minister". Every Tuesday for four and a half years from September 1940,
the two men met privately for lunch to discuss the war in secret and with
frankness. George related much of what the two discussed in his diary, which is
the only extant first-hand account of these conversations.
Throughout the war, George and Elizabeth provided
morale-boosting visits throughout the United Kingdom, visiting bomb sites,
munitions factories, and troops. George visited military forces abroad in
France in December 1939, North Africa and Malta in June 1943, Normandy in June
1944, southern Italy in July 1944, and the Low Countries in October 1944. Their
high public profile and apparently indefatigable determination secured their
place as symbols of national resistance. At a social function in 1944, the
Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Alan Brooke, revealed that
every time he met Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, he thought Montgomery was
after his job. George replied: "You should worry, when I meet him, I
always think he's after mine!"
In 1945, crowds shouted "We want the King!" in
front of Buckingham Palace during the Victory in Europe Day celebrations. In an
echo of Chamberlain's appearance, the King invited Churchill to appear with the
royal family on the balcony to public acclaim. In January 1946, George
addressed the United Nations at its first assembly, which was held in London,
and reaffirmed "our faith in the equal rights of men and women and of
nations great and small".
Empire to Commonwealth
George VI's reign saw the acceleration of the dissolution of
the British Empire. The Statute of Westminster 1931 had already acknowledged
the evolution of the Dominions into separate sovereign states. The process of
transformation from an empire to a voluntary association of independent states,
known as the Commonwealth, gathered pace after the Second World War. During the
ministry of Clement Attlee, British India became the two independent Dominions
of India and Pakistan in August 1947. George relinquished the title of Emperor
of India, and became King of India and King of Pakistan instead. In late April
1949, the Commonwealth leaders issued the London Declaration, which laid the
foundation of the modern Commonwealth and recognized George as Head of the
Commonwealth. In January 1950, he ceased to be King of India when it became a
republic. He remained King of Pakistan until his death. Other countries left
the Commonwealth, such as Burma in January 1948, Palestine (divided between
Israel and the Arab states) in May 1948 and the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
In 1947, George and his family toured southern Africa. The
prime minister of the Union of South Africa, Jan Smuts, was facing an election
and hoped to make political capital out of the visit. George was appalled,
however, when instructed by the South African government to shake hands only
with whites, and referred to his South African bodyguards as "the
Gestapo". Despite the tour, Smuts lost the election the following year,
and the new government instituted a strict policy of racial segregation.
Illness and Death
The stress of the war had taken its toll on George's health,
made worse by his heavy smoking, and subsequent development of lung cancer
among other ailments, including arteriosclerosis and Buerger's disease. A
planned tour of Australia and New Zealand was postponed after George developed
an arterial blockage in his right leg, which threatened the loss of the leg and
was treated with a right lumbar sympathectomy in March 1949. His elder daughter
and heir presumptive, Elizabeth, took on more royal duties as her father's
health deteriorated. The delayed tour was re-organized, with Princess Elizabeth
and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, taking the place of the King and
Queen.
George was well enough to open the Festival of Britain in
May 1951, but on 4 June it was announced that he would need immediate and
complete rest for the next four weeks, despite the arrival of Haakon VII of
Norway the following afternoon for an official visit. On 23 September 1951, his
left lung was removed in a surgical operation performed by Clement Price Thomas
after a malignant tumor was found. In October 1951, Elizabeth and Philip went
on a month-long tour of Canada; the trip had been delayed for a week due to
George's illness. At the State Opening of Parliament in November, the Lord
Chancellor, Lord Simonds, read the King's speech from the throne. The King's
Christmas broadcast of 1951 was recorded in sections, and then edited together.
On 31 January 1952, despite advice from those close to him,
George went to London Airport to see Elizabeth and Philip off on their tour to
Australia via Kenya. It was his last public appearance. Six days later, at 7:30
am on the morning of 6 February, he was found dead in bed at Sandringham House
in Norfolk. He had died in the night from a coronary thrombosis at the age of
56. His daughter flew back to Britain from Kenya as Queen Elizabeth II.
From 9 February George's coffin rested in St Mary Magdalene
Church, Sandringham, before lying in state at Westminster Hall from 11
February. His funeral took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 15
February. He was interred initially in the Royal Vault until he was transferred
to the King George VI Memorial Chapel inside St George's on 26 March 1969. In
2002, fifty years after his death, the remains of his widow, Queen Elizabeth
The Queen Mother, and the ashes of his younger daughter, Princess Margaret, who
both died that year, were interred in the chapel alongside him. In 2022, the
remains of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, were also
interred in the chapel.
Legacy
In the words of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) George
Hardie, the abdication crisis of 1936 did "more for republicanism than
fifty years of propaganda". George VI wrote to his brother Edward that in
the aftermath of the abdication he had reluctantly assumed "a rocking
throne" and tried "to make it steady again". He became king at a
point when public faith in the monarchy was at a low ebb. During his reign, his
people endured the hardships of war, and imperial power was eroded. However, as
a dutiful family man and by showing personal courage, he succeeded in restoring
the popularity of the monarchy.
The George Cross and the George Medal were founded at the
King's suggestion during the Second World War to recognize acts of exceptional
civilian bravery. He bestowed the George Cross on the entire "island
fortress of Malta" in 1943. He was posthumously awarded the Order of
Liberation by the French government in 1960, one of only two people (the other
being Churchill in 1958) to be awarded the medal after 1946.
Colin Firth won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his
performance as George VI in the 2010 film The King's Speech.
General Sources
Bradford, Sarah
(1989). King George VI. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Howarth,
Patrick (1987). George VI. Hutchinson.
Judd, Denis
(1982). King George VI. London: Michael Joseph.
Matthew, H. C.
G. (2004). "George VI (1895–1952)". Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
Rhodes James,
Robert (1998). A Spirit Undaunted: The Political Role of George VI. London:
Little, Brown and Co.
Shawcross,
William (2009). Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: The Official Biography.
Macmillan.
Sinclair, David
(1988). Two Georges: The Making of the Modern Monarchy. Hodder and Stoughton.
Townsend, Peter
(1975). The Last Emperor. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Vickers, Hugo
(2006). Elizabeth: The Queen Mother. Arrow Books/Random House.
Wheeler-Bennett,
Sir John (1958). King George VI: His Life and Reign. New York: St Martin's
Press.
Weir, Alison
(1996). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised Edition.
London: Random House.
Windsor, The
Duke of (1951). A King's Story. London: Cassell & Co Ltd.
Ziegler, Philip
(1990). King Edward VIII: The Official Biography. London: Collins.
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| King George VI, formal portrait, 1938. (United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID matpc.14736) |
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| King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (right) together with his son Prince George, the Prince of Wales, later George V (left), and his grandsons, Prince Edward of Wales, later Edward VIII, and Prince Albert of York, later George VI. Taken by Queen Alexandra, Edward VII’s wife. December 1908. ( Daily Telegraph’s Queen Alexandra’s Christmas Gift Book) |
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| HRH Prince Albert at the Independent Air Force Dinner on 14 July 1919 at the Savoy Hotel, London. Albert is wearing the insignia of the rank of captain. (Flight, 19 June 1919) |
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| The Roosevelts with the King and Queen of England sailing from Washington, DC to Mt. Vernon, Virginia on the USS Potomac. 9 June 1939. (United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID hec.26817) |
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| Queen Elizabeth, King George VI and Princess Elizabeth standing with a group of RAF personnel, including the Station Commander (standing on the Queen's right), during a visit to Mildenhall, Suffolk, during World War II. (Imperial War Museum CH 20901) |
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| Clement Attlee meeting with King George VI in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, following the Labour victory in the 1945 general election. 26 July 1945. (Imperial War Museum HU 59486) |
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| His Majesty King George VI of the United Kingdom, circa May 1940-1942. (United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID fsa.8e00850) |
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| Eleanor Roosevelt, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth in London, England, 23 October 1942. (US National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 195320) |
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| King George VI knights General Sir Oliver Leese in the field, Italy, 26 July 1944. (Imperial War Museum NA 17215) |
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| HM King George VI and HM Queen Elizabeth talk to a woman operating a fuse testing machine during a visit to the Royal Ordnance factory in Blackburn. Factory superintendent Stephen van Ryssen escorts them. (Imperial War Museum P 399) |
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| HM King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret joined by the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, London on VE Day. (Imperial War Museum MH 21835) |
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| King George VI and Queen Elizabeth standing with workmen, while inspecting bomb damage at Buckingham Palace. (Imperial War Museum HU 63234) |
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| General Eisenhower with Britain's King George VI. General Omar Bradley is on the steps behind them. |
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| King George VI inspecting the ship’s company on board HMS Howe. The King paid a four-day visit to the Home Fleet, 18 to 21 February 1943, Scapa Flow, wearing the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet. |
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| King George VI aboard HMS Howe, same day, a beautiful view of her bow turrets (“A” and “B”) with their unusual 4-plus-2 arrangement. |
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| King George VI aboard HMS Howe with Captain C. H. L. Woodhouse and Admiral John Tovey, Scapa Flow, Scotland, February 1943. They are nearing the aft “X” turret. |
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| King George VI with a 504th Abt Tiger I in North Africa. |
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| During a tour of the 2nd Army area, HM King George VI visited the headquarters of the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery. Field Marshal Montgomery is shown explaining his future plans to the King in his map lorry. 13 October 1944. |
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| THE VISIT OF HM KING GEORGE VI TO NO 617 SQUADRON (THE DAMBUSTERS), ROYAL AIR FORCE, SCAMPTON, LINCOLNSHIRE, 27 MAY 1943 (TR 1000). The King inspects ground crewmen lined up beneath the nose of Avro Lancaster B Mark I, ED989, DX-F, 'Frederick III', which bears a motif derived from a caricature of Wing Commander Campbell Hopcroft, the Commanding Officer of No 57 Squadron which shared Scampton with No 617 Squadron at this time. (Imperial War Museum) |
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| On 6 December 1939 King George VI, with the Duke of Gloucester and Viscount Lord Gort (Commander-in-Chief of the BEF), inspected RAF Air Component units at Lille-Seclin. Here the King greets Squadron Leader J. S. 'Johnny' Dewar, commanding No 87 Squadron, in front of a smart line-up of Hurricanes. Note original two-bladed propellers. |
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| King George VI on a U.S. battleship. |
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| King George VI, Princess Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother with Gen. Jimmy Doolittle and the crew of the B-17 "Rose of York". |
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| HM King George VI, wearing the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet, inspecting a Supermarine Walrus amphibious aircraft and its crew at the Royal Naval Air Station of Hatston during his four day visit to the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. A Fairey Albacore can be seen in the background. |
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| HRH the Princess Elizabeth; His Majesty King George VI, Marshal of the Royal Air Force; Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth; Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle, U.S. Army Air Forces, commanding Eighth Air Force, with the B-17 "Rose of York". |
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