The King’s Accession

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11930, 23 January 1936, Page 3

The King’s Accession

FIRST ADDRESS TO PRIVY COUNCIL

T 0 WORK FOR HAPPINESS AND WELFARE OF ALL CLASSES

RELIANCE ON PEOPLE’S LOYALTY

London. January 21

j, p. officially announced that the l,odv of King Gcorce will lie in state Westminster Hail Horn Thursday iH Tuesday next, when the funeral vi H take Place at St. George’s, W.ndnr aft er a full State procession from Westminster to Paddington Station. Tlie funeral train will leave Wftlverton at noon on Thursday. The coffin v , m , )e conveyed from Sandringham ,o the station, two miles and a half ■iwav, in a gun carriage of the Royal Horse Artillery- The Queen, King pYi yard and other members ot the Roval Family will follow the corte ,r c on foot. There will he no ceremonial display by troops. Two hundred members of the Norfolk police alone will line the route. Headed by the late King’s piper, Pipe-Major Forsyth, playing a lament, the body of the King was borne in darkness and in falling from StindrinshJini House to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on a hand bier, escorted by Grenadier Guards. Estate workmen in corduroy breeches and leather jackets keep watch to-night. King Edward's first public action was to order nine months of Court

a King began to toll. Stores throughout Britain are being inundated witli orders for mourning. Many shops have pulled down their blinds, and others have removed all displays, excepting blackbordered cards, in respectful sympathy. As the King died the Prince of Wales, his son, heir to the greatest Throne of the greatest Empire in the world, assumed a new dignity, heightened by the bitter blow of his and his family’s loss. King Edward VIII. immediately began consultations with the Duke of York and Lord Wigram, the late King’s private secretary.

A simple, homely act marks the beginning of the new reign. Since tlie days of Edward VII. the staff at Sandringham has worked to a timetable half an hour ahead of Greenwich mean time owing to the late King Edward’s desire to get more daylight for shooting parties. King George continued the practice. The new King conferred with his mother and decided with dawn to begin a new time and all clocks, including that on Sandringham Parish Church, were put back half an hour. World Sorrow. London, Jan. 21: Messages from all parts of the world are pouring into London in a seemingly endless stream. Next to Britain, France was probably the most devastated by the news, which came with a great shock, as it had been fervently hoped that King George’s robust constitution would again bring him to health.

mourning "from this day, for his late Most Gracious Majesty, King George V. of blessed memory. The Court is to change to half-mourning on July 21, and to go out of mourning on October 21.” Only half a dozen policemen and two Guardsmen on sentry duty saw the new King return to St. James' Palace from Sandringham. As his car drew up a policeman harried to open the door, and the King, hatless, stepped out briskly and walked to the Palace, where Sir Godfrey Thomas received him. A small group of people witnessed the King’s arrival at Hendon aerodrome. Men silently raised Their hats, and women curtsied.

‘‘Britain’s mourning is our mourning,” stated a Government spokesman. ‘‘The French nation does not forget.” The same note is sounded in the Paris Press, which declares that France considered King George almost a part of herself and recalls how he commanded his troops on the soil of France. Ministers past and present join in tributes and condolences out of respect for King George’s memory. The overthrow' of the French Government is certain to be delayed. It is expected that M. Lebrun, President, and M. Laval, Prime Minister, the greatest remaining French wmr leaders, will attend the funeral. Cabinet has proclaimed 30 days of national mourning, and Parliament will adjourn this afternoon after hearing a message from M. Lebrun, which stated: ‘‘The French people join in the sorrow of the British people. Their great Sovereign bore the highest level of qualities of loyalty and consistency, which qualities Britain and France put to the test of the hardest reality during the Great War. In your name I have expressed to the Speaker of the House of Commons the part we take in their national mourning which is also ours.” The Courts of Sweden and Denmark will observe three weeks of mourning, the Norwegian Court two months, the Greek Court three weeks, and the Italian Court 15 days. Italian broadcasting stations will cease usual programmes at eight o’clock to-night and will broadcast commemorations of King George in Italian and English. The Pope has telegraphed his condolences to King Edward and has requested Requiem Masses to the memory of the late King. M. Kalinin has telegraphed Russia’s condolences to Queen Mary. ■ London, Jan. 21

Only a few' workers on the Royal Estate saw the King and the Duke of York leave Sandringham. Both were wearing black overcoats and bowler hats, and looked very serious. The King raised his hat in acknowledgment of the greetings as he entered a car en route for the aerodrome, from which he made history as the first King of Britain to travel by air. He carried with him a draft of the plans for his father’s funeral, drawn up in consultation with Queen Mary. He will submit them to a conference of the Earl Marshal, the Lord Chtimberlain, and the chiefs of the fighting Services.

King George will eventually lie in a coffin fashioned from trees cut on Sandringham Estate and made in the estate workshop. It will be taken to London on Thursday, escorted to AVolferton Station by Grenadier Guards, a platoon of which, wearing grey overcoats with crepe bands, departed from London this morning. A battery of the Royal Horse Artillery will go to Sandringham on AVednesday with a gun carriage to bring the coffin to Loudon. It is expected that King George’s final rest-ing-place will be the Royal tomb at Windsor Castle, close to the graves of King Edward YII and Queen Alexandra. A Laud of Mourning. London, Jan. 21 . Britain, in its widest sense, has become a land of mourning. The multitude heard the dread news overnight, but countless thousands were stunned when they saw the newspaper placards in the early morning. As the day wore on black predominated in London streets. Shop windows were draped and all flags were flown at half-mast. Everywhere His Majesty’s illness, the manner of his passing and his life’s activities were discussed.

His Majesty King Edward VIII made history by being the first British monarch to fly to his capital when he hastened to London to-day to participate in the consultations and ceremonies which were essential to his accession.

It was revealed late this evening that he was able to sit in his armchair every clay uhtil the end, being helped from his bed and propped up hy pillows. This was done at the direction of his doctors, as the King was able to breathe more easily sitting than lying prone. He was actually sitting in a chair when the Privy Council was held in an adjoining room. A portable table was placed over the arms of the chair on which His Majesty signed the Order-hi-Counci! creating the Council of State.

The Privy Councillors arriving for His Majesty’s first Privy Council were headed by the Lord Mayor of London, accompanied by the sheriffs. Mr Ramsay MacDonald, as Lord President of the Council, informed the assembly of King George’s death and the accession of King Edward. The Council requested the Archbishop of Canterbury to acquaint King Edward with what had taken place in the chamber.

The King then walked fifty yards across Ambassadors Court to St. James' Palace, where the Council was being held. His Majesty wore the scarlet tunic of the Guards uniform, with all his orders. He looked tired, but his head was held high and his step assured as he strode through the guard of honour, whose crapedraped colours were now, for the first time, lowered in salute to* the new head of the Army. The doors of the Council chamber were flung open and an official announced “His Majesty the King.” The Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr Ramsay MacDonald entered, escorting King Edward by the hand. The councillors bowed low and listened attentively to the King’s speech. The King, addressing the council, said:— “The irreparable loss the British Commonwealth of Nations has sustained by the death of'His Majesty, my beloved father, has devolved upon me the duty of sovereignty. I know how much you and all my subjects with, I hope I say say, the whole world, feel for me in my sorrow and I am confident in the affectionate sympathy which will be extended to my dear mother in her overpowering grief. When my father stood here twenty-six years ago, he declared one of the objects of his life would be to uphold constitutional government. In this I am determined to follow my father’s footsteps, and work as he did throughout my life for the happiness and welfare of all classes of my subjects. I place my reliance upon the loyalty and affection of my peoples throughout the Empire, and upon the wisdom of their Parliaments to support me in this heavy talk. 1 pray God to guide me to perform it.’’

As late aS Monday morning the King summoned a high official of the ousehold for a short discussion, but after the Issue of the bulletin showthat his end was near, the Queen nud her sons had to exercise their new power, signing a large number °f State papers which had accumulated since the King’s illness began. Vithln a short while their power nutomatlcally lapsed and the new K'ng reigned. The day’s first revelation of the depth of emotion occurred at the memorial service of St. Paul’s, held 11 the lunch hour. It was attended y many 'city workers. Every head "as bowed In sorrow.

The next poignant scene was at oandringham, when, after darkness, >e body was borne to the Church St ' Ma, 'y Magdalene. Six employ--68 carr ibd the coffin from the bedroom to the waiting bier which Gren--8 ler Guards wheeled along a pathay ’. Tbs procession, guided only by e light of lanterns, moved slowly c ' er a quarter of a mile to the 8 urc b. where already the Queen and jreral members of the Royal Family a ted, Then, after a short service, ■ 6,1 Ibe estate took up a nightU S vigil. The coffin rests on a ancel draped with the Royal Stanr • 01 * w-hich lies a cross of white °ln 8 fr ° m the I)e ° l>le ot the estate. 1- ? sh ‘P s fi red a 70-gun salute, the mess age of love from the Navy, Which King George was so closeed*, ent *® ec1 ’ The Air .Ministry flashto h°- a " stat ' ons «11 over the world funh' eils ’ glls half-mast daily until Hoi I* 1 01t * ers ' The large Sebastolr brought to Windsor Castle 01 Moscow during the Crimean ar °nly rung on the death of