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.
Born during the reign of his grandmother
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
, George was the second son of
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and was third in the line of
succession to the British throne
Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, gender, legitimacy and religion. Under common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and simil ...
behind his father and his elder brother,
Prince Albert Victor. From 1877 to 1892, George served in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
, until the unexpected death of his elder brother in early 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. On Victoria's death 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
Communism (from Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around ...
,
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
,
Irish republicanism, and the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Benga ...
, all of which radically changed the political landscape of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as th ...
, 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
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of ...
. As a result of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in ...
(1914–1918), the empires of his first cousins
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pol ...
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 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 throughout much of 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 the regnal name
George VI
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 ...
.
Early life and education
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
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
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 the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Co ...
,
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 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 royal brothers served on , accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as th ...
in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
, South Africa and Australia, and visited
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and th ...
, as well as South America, the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surf ...
, 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
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a ...
and
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian con ...
, 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, the brothers were separated; Albert Victor attended
Trinity College, Cambridge, while George continued in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire. During his naval career he commanded ''Torpedo Boat 79'' in home waters, then 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.
Marriage

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
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin
...
. 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 both his own mother and Marie's mother (the Princess of Wales and
Maria Alexandrovna, Duchess of Edinburgh respectively) opposed it. The Princess of Wales thought the family was too pro-German, and the Duchess of Edinburgh disliked England. The Duchess, the only daughter of
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Fin ...
, resented the fact that, as the wife of a younger son of the British sovereign, she had to yield precedence to George's mother, the Princess of Wales, 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, the future
King of Romania, in 1893.

In November 1891, George's elder brother, Albert Victor, became engaged to his
second cousin once removed Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, known as "May" within 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
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The seve ...
during an
influenza pandemic, leaving George second in line to 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 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.
Duke of York

The death of his elder brother effectively ended George's naval career, as he was now second in line to the throne, after his father.
[ Matthew, H. C. G. (September 2004; online edition May 2009]
"George V (1865–1936)"
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, , retrieved 1 May 2010 (Subscription required) 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 the
Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the e ...
: "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,
Prince Henry going as far as to describe him as 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 a young midshipman and a wise old king, but when he was Duke of York ... he did nothing at all but kill
'i.e.'' shootanimals 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 the request of his father, "out of respect for poor dear Uncle Sasha's memory", George joined his parents in St 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
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth ...
, 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.
Prince of Wales
As Duke of York, George carried out 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
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as th ...
. Their tour included Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said,
Aden, Ceylon,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of ...
, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, South Africa, Canada, and 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 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, the Duke opened the first session of the
Australian Parliament upon 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 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
urbrethren 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 was created
Prince of Wales and
Earl of Chester. King Edward wished to prepare his son 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 her husband's speeches. As Prince of Wales, he supported reforms in naval training, including cadets being enrolled at 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
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region ...
, where he was disgusted by racial discrimination and campaigned for greater involvement of Indians in the government of the country. The tour was almost immediately followed by a trip to Spain for the wedding of
King Alfonso XIII to
Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a first cousin of George, at which the bride and groom
narrowly avoided assassination. A week after returning to Britain, George and May travelled to
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and ...
for the
coronation of
King Haakon VII, George's cousin and brother-in-law, and
Queen Maud, George's sister.
Reign

On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died, and George became king. He wrote in his diary,
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 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 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
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
on 22 June 1911,
and was celebrated by the
Festival of Empire in London. In July, the King and Queen visited
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
for five days; they received a warm welcome, with thousands of people lining the route of their procession to cheer.
Later in 1911, 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
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, ...
. He was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar.
As he and Mary travelled throughout 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
pheasant
Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity
Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language be ...
s in six hours (about one bird every 20 seconds) while visiting the home of
Lord Burnham. Even George had to acknowledge that "we went a little too far" that day.
National politics
George inherited the throne at a politically turbulent time.
Lloyd George's
People's Budget had been rejected the previous year by the
Conservative
Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in r ...
and
Unionist-dominated
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of ...
, 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 force the budget through the House. 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 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 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.][Rose, pp. 120, 141] Like his father, George reluctantly agreed to 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. The King later came to feel that Knollys had withheld information from him about 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 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 the issue of Irish Home Rule was suspended for the duration of the war.
First World War
On 4 August 1914, the King 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
The German Empire (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditar ...
. The German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who for the British public came to symbolise all the horrors of the war, was the King's first cousin. The King'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, a descendant of the German Dukes of Württemberg. The King had brothers-in-law and cousins who were British subjects but who bore German titles such as Duke and Duchess of Teck, Prince and Princess of Battenberg, 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 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 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
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch
A monarch is a head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is th ...
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 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 a 1919 Order in Council under the provisions of the Titles Deprivation Act 1917. Under pressure from his mother, Queen Alexandra, the King 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 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
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...
was opposed to the rescue of the Russian imperial family, the letters of Lord Stamfordham suggest that it was George V who opposed 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
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
revolutionaries and wider difficulties with the conduct of the war, the plan was never put into operation. The Tsar and his immediate family remained in Russia, where they were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. George wrote in his diary: "It 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
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not ...
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 was informed of his death by Queen Mary, who wrote, " ohnhad 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, the King toured Belgium and northern France, visiting the First World War cemeteries and memorials being constructed by the Imperial War Graves Commission. The event was described in a poem, '' The King's Pilgrimage'' by Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much o ...
. 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.
Post-war reign
Before the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in ...
, 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 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
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
ship was sent to Greece to rescue his cousins, Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistor ...
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 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
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
was established, and Lloyd George was out of office.
The King 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 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 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 the King advised the government of Conservative
Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in r ...
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the Interwar Britain, United Kingdom between the world wars, serv ...
against taking inflammatory action, and took exception to suggestions that 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
The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose ...
formalised 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 a world financial crisis, the King encouraged the formation of a National Government in 1931 led by MacDonald and Baldwin,[Rose, pp. 373–379]
and volunteered to reduce the civil list to help balance the budget. He was concerned by the rise to power in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and the Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
. In 1934, the King bluntly told the German ambassador Leopold von Hoesch that Germany was now the peril of the world, and that there 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 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
Edward is an English given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the oth ...
, 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 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 the throne."
Declining health and death
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
Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...
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 the war, and his last. In November 1928, he fell seriously ill with septicaemia, and 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 the seaside resort of Bognor, Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken ...
. 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, upon 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 the evening of 15 January 1936, the King 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 Baldwin later said:
By 20 January, he 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 the King's last words, 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:
Dawson wrote that he acted to preserve the King's dignity, to prevent further strain on the family, and so that the King's death at 11:55 pm could be announced in the morning edition of ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'' newspaper rather than "less appropriate ... evening journals".[ (Subscription required)] Neither Queen Mary, who was intensely religious and might not have sanctioned euthanasia, nor the Prince of Wales was 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 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".
The German composer Paul Hindemith went to a BBC studio on the morning after the King's death and in six hours wrote '' Trauermusik'' ("Mourning Music"), for viola and orchestra. It was performed that same evening in a live broadcast by the BBC, with Adrian Boult conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
and the composer as soloist.
At the procession to George's lying in state in Westminster Hall, the cross surmounting the Imperial State Crown atop George's coffin fell off and landed in the gutter as the cortège turned into New Palace Yard. The new king, George's eldest son Edward, saw it fall and wondered whether it was a bad omen for his new reign. As a mark of respect to their father, George's four surviving sons – Edward, Albert, Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
* Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portu ...
, and George – mounted the guard, known as the Vigil of the Princes, at the catafalque on the night before the funeral
A funeral is a ceremony
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia' ...
. The vigil was not repeated until the death of George's daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of Ki ...
, in 2002. George V was interred at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 28 January 1936. Edward abdicated before the year was out, leaving Albert to ascend the throne as George VI.
Legacy
George V disliked sitting for portraits and despised modern art; he was so displeased by one portrait by Charles Sims that he ordered it to be burned. He did admire sculptor Bertram Mackennal, who created statues of George for display in Madras and Delhi, and William Reid Dick, whose statue of George V stands outside Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
, London.
Although he and his wife occasionally toured the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as th ...
, George preferred to stay at home pursuing his hobbies of stamp collecting and game shooting and lived a life that later biographers would consider dull because of its conventionality. He was not an intellectual: on returning from one evening at the opera he wrote, "Went to Covent Garden and saw ''Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, ...
'' and damned dull it was." He was earnestly devoted to Britain and its Empire. He explained, "it has always been my dream to identify myself with the great idea of Empire." He appeared hard-working and became widely admired by the people of Britain and the Empire, as well as " the Establishment". In the words of historian David Cannadine, King George V and Queen Mary were an "inseparably devoted couple" who upheld "character" and "family values".
George established a standard of conduct for British royalty that reflected the values and virtues of the upper middle-class rather than upper-class lifestyles or vices. Acting within his constitutional bounds, he dealt skilfully with a succession of crises: Ireland, the First World War, and the first socialist minority government in Britain. He was by temperament a traditionalist who never fully appreciated or approved the revolutionary changes under way in British society. Nevertheless, he invariably wielded his influence as a force of neutrality and moderation, seeing his role as mediator rather than final decision maker.
Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles
* 3 June 1865 – 24 May 1892: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince George of Wales
* 24 May 1892 – 22 January 1901: ''His Royal Highness'' The Duke of York
* 22 January – 9 November 1901: ''His Royal Highness'' The Duke of Cornwall and York
* 9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: ''His Royal Highness'' The Prince of Wales
* 6 May 1910 – 20 January 1936: ''His Majesty'' The King
His full style as king was "George V, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India" until the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, when it changed to "George V, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India".
British honours
* KG: Royal Knight of the Garter, ''4 August 1884''[White, Geoffrey H.; Lea, R. S. (eds.) (1959) '']Complete Peerage
''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK ...
'', London: St Catherine's Press, vol. XII, pp. 924–925
* ADC: Personal aide-de-camp, ''21 June 1887''
* KT: Knight of the Thistle, ''5 July 1893''[
* Sub-Prior of the Venerable Order of St. John, ''1893'']
* PC: Privy Counsellor, ''18 July 1894''[
** Privy Counsellor (Ireland), ''20 August 1897''][
* GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, ''30 June 1897''][
* KP: Knight of St Patrick, ''20 August 1897''][
* GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George, ''9 March 1901''][
* Royal Victorian Chain, ''9 August 1902''][Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) ''The Knights of England'', I, London]
p. 416
/ref>
* ISO: Companion of the Imperial Service Order, ''31 March 1903''[
* GCSI: Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India, ''28 September 1905''][
* GCIE: Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire, ''28 September 1905''][
* Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Medal, with 1897 bar][
On 4 June 1917, he founded the ]Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
.
Military appointments
Military ranks and naval appointments
* ''September 1877'': Cadet, HMS ''Britannia''
* ''8 January 1880'': Midshipman, and the corvette HMS ''Canada''[
* ''3 June 1884'': Sub-Lieutenant, Royal Navy][
* ''8 October 1885'': Lieutenant, ; ; ; ][
* ''July 1889'' I/C HMS Torpedo Boat 79
* ''By May 1890'' I/C the gunboat
* ''24 August 1891'': Commander, I/C HMS ''Melampus''][
* ''2 January 1893'': ]Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, Royal Navy[
* ''1 January 1901'': Rear-Admiral, Royal Navy][
* ''26 June 1903'': Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy][
* ''1 March 1907'': Admiral, Royal Navy]
* ''1910'': Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy[
* ''1910'': Field Marshal, British Army]
* ''1919'': Chief of the Royal Air Force (title not rank)
Honorary military appointments
* ''18 July 1900'': Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
* ''1 January 1901'': Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Marine Forces
* ''25 February 1901'': Personal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King
* ''29 November 1901'': Honorary Colonel of the 4th County of London Yeomanry Regiment (King's Colonials)
* ''21 December 1901'': Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers
* ''12 November 1902'': Colonel-in-Chief of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
* ''8 March 1912'': Colonel-in-Chief of the 3rd (Auckland) Mounted Rifles
* ''8 March 1912'': Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st (Canterbury) Regiment
* ''April 1917'': Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Flying Corps ( Naval and Military Wings)
Foreign honours
Honorary foreign military appointments
* ''1 February 1901'': À la suite of the Imperial German Navy
* ''26 January 1902'': Colonel-in-Chief of the Rhenish Cuirassier Regiment "Count Geßler" No. 8 (Prussia)
* ''24 May 1910'': Admiral of the Royal Danish Navy
* Honorary Colonel of the Infantry Regiment "Zamora" No. 8 (Spain)
* ''29 October 1918:'' Gensui of the Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
* ''1923'': Honorary Admiral of the Swedish Navy
The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps ().
In Swedish, vessel ...
Honorary degrees and offices
* ''8 June 1893'': Royal Fellow of the Royal Society,[ installed ''6 February 1902''
* ''1899'': Doctor of Laws (LLD), University of the Cape of Good Hope][Boucher, Maurice (1973) ''Spes in Arduis: a history of the University of South Africa'', Pretoria: UNISA, pp. 74 and 114]
* ''1901'': Doctor of Laws (LLD), University of Sydney
* ''1901'': Doctor of Laws (LLD), University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population ...
* ''1901'': Doctor of Civil Law (DCL), Queen's University, Ontario
* ''1902'': Doctor of Laws (LLD), University of Wales[''The Times'' (London), Monday, 5 May 1902, p. 10]
* ''1901'': Chancellor of the University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa
South Africa, officiall ...
* ''1901–1912'': Chancellor of the University of the Cape of Good Hope[
* ''1902–1910'': Chancellor of the University of Wales]
Arms
As Duke of York, George's arms were the royal arms, with an inescutcheon of the arms of Saxony, all differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre point bearing an anchor azure. The anchor was removed from his coat of arms as the Prince of Wales. As King, he bore the royal arms. In 1917, he removed, by warrant, the Saxony inescutcheon from the arms of all male-line descendants of the Prince Consort domiciled in the United Kingdom (although the royal arms themselves had never borne the shield).[Velde, François (19 April 2008)]
"Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family"
, Heraldica, retrieved 1 May 2010.
Issue
Ancestry
See also
* Cultural depictions of George V
* Household of George V and Mary
* Interwar Britain
* List of covers of Time magazine (1920s), (1930s)
Notes
References
Works cited
*
*
* Matthew, H. C. G. (September 2004; online edition May 2009
"George V (1865–1936)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, , retrieved 1 May 2010 (Subscription required)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Cannadine, David (2014), ''George V: The Unexpected King''
*
* Ridley, Jane (2022), ''George V: Never a Dull Moment'
excerpt
* wide-ranging political, social and economic coverage, 1910–35
*
External links
of the Illustrated London News covering King George V's death
Newsreel footage
of King George V's coronation
Sound recording
of King George V's Silver Jubilee speech
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:George 05 of the United Kingdom
1865 births
1936 deaths
19th-century British people
20th-century British Army personnel
20th-century British monarchs
House of Windsor
Kings of the Irish Free State
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
20th-century Royal Marines personnel
20th-century Royal Navy personnel
Articles containing video clips
British field marshals
British people of Danish descent
British people of German descent
British philatelists
British Protestants
Burials at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Chancellors of the University of Cape Town
Deaths by euthanasia
Drug-related deaths in England
Dukes of Cornwall
Dukes of Rothesay
Dukes of York
Earls of Inverness
Emperors of India
Heads of state of Canada
Heads of state of New Zealand
Heirs to the British throne
High Stewards of Scotland
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (United Kingdom)
English hunters
Fellows of the Royal Society
Field marshals of the German Empire
Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports
Marshals of the Royal Air Force
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Monarchs of Australia
Monarchs of South Africa
Monarchs of the Isle of Man
Monarchs of the United Kingdom
Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria
People associated with the University of Wales
People from Westminster
People of the Victorian era
Presidents of the Royal Philatelic Society London
Princes of the United Kingdom
Princes of Wales
Protestant monarchs
Royal Danish Navy admirals
Royal Marines officers
Royal Navy admirals of the fleet
Royal Welch Fusiliers officers
British princes
Sons of emperors
Knights of the Garter
Knights of the Thistle
Knights of St Patrick
Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Companions of the Imperial Service Order
Recipients of the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog
Grand Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog
Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain
3
3
3
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia)
Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class
Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 1st class
Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree
Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Children of Edward VII
Sons of kings