King George V, the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Dominions, Emperor of India, was the grandson of Queen Victoria and the grandfather of our current monarch Queen Elizabeth II.
He became a very popular monarch.
He served in the Royal Navy from 1877 to 1891 and became king on 6th May 1910 upon the death of his father King Edward VII.
He was the cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Britain's enemy during the Great War, who the British dubbed "Kaiser Bill."
As a result of the Great War, other European empires fell. However, George V's reign saw the mighty British Empire expand to its greatest-ever extent.
He was famously anti-intellectual. On returning from one evening at the opera he wrote, "Went to Covent Garden and saw Fidelio and damned dull it was." His favourite past-time was stamp collecting.
He loved his country and his Empire and understood the British Empire better than most of his ministers; as he explained, "it has always been my dream to identify myself with the great idea of Empire."
He was a very hard-working monarch and also guided the British Empire through the dark days of the Great War, which caused the people of the British Empire to admire him immensely.
He absolutely adored his wife Queen Mary (the grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II) and his wife adored him. Because of this he did a lot of good work in promoting good family values.
The Great War, though, took a toll on George V's health. He was seriously injured on 28 October 1915 when thrown by his horse at a troop review in France, and his heavy smoking exacerbated recurring breathing problems. He suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pleurisy. In 1925 he was sent by doctors on a recuperative private cruise to the Mediterranean even though he didn't want to. Since the war ended 7 years previously he had only been abroad three times, and this time would be the last.
He contacted septicaemia in 1928 and for the next two years his son Edward took over many of his duties - becoming, in effect, a partial prince regent.
When his doctors advised him to go abroad again in 1929 for the sake of his health the king angrily refused to go. Instead, he retired for three months to Craigweil House, Aldwick, in the seaside resort of Bognor, Sussex on the south coast. As a result of his stay, the town acquired the name of "Bognor Regis", which is Latin for "Royal Bognor".
One thing which did seem to raise the king's spirits and helped to partially recover his health was his young granddaughter Princess Elizabeth. He absolutely cherished her and the future queen's regular visits to her grandfather were credited in the popular press and by later biographers with raising his spirit during his serious illness in 1929 and aiding his recovery.
Princess Elizabeth aged 7, 1933. Her visits to her grandfather during his illness in 1929 was credited with raising his spirits and partially restoring his health
George never fully recovered. In his final year, 1936, he was often administered oxygen.
On the evening of 15 January 1936, the King took to his bedroom at Sandringham House complaining of a cold; he would never again leave the room alive. He became gradually weaker, drifting in and out of consciousness. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin later said,
each time he became conscious it was some kind inquiry or kind observation of someone, some words of gratitude for kindness shown. But he did say to his secretary when he sent for him: "How is the Empire?" An unusual phrase in that form, and the secretary said: "All is well, sir, with the Empire", and the King gave him a smile and relapsed once more into unconsciousness.
By 20 January, he was close to death. His physicians, led by Lord Dawson of Penn, issued a bulletin with words that became famous:
"The King's life is moving peacefully towards its close."
The king died at 11.55pm on 20th January 1936 when Dawson gave him a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine. He chose this time to do the act so that he could announce the king's death in The Times rather than the "less appropriate ... evening journals".
George V's younger brother was proclaimed King Edward VIII. He should have been king until his death in 1972, but instead he abdicated on 11th December 1936.
A statue of King George V outside Brisbane City Hall, Australia
Statues of King George V include those in Hobart, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide in Australia, and one by William Reid Dick outside Westminster Abbey, London. The King George V Playing Fields in the United Kingdom were created as a memorial. The many places named after him include King George V Park in St. John's, Newfoundland; Stade George V in Curepipe, Mauritius; major thoroughfares in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; an avenue, a hotel and an underground station in Paris; King George V School, Seremban, Malaysia; and King George V School and King George V Memorial Park in Hong Kong.
George V - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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