KING GEORGE’S RELIGION

Evening Star, Issue 20129, 20 March 1929, Page 10

KING GEORGE’S RELIGION

King George, at whose bedside the world watched and 1 waited during Ids recent fight for life against illness, sets an example in simple devotion and piety, we rend, worthy of emulation among the millions who pay him homage, says the ‘ Literary Digest.’ Many who viewed his illness with syrnpathy may have wondered whether ho was a Christian in fact, or merely put on the cloak of religion in conformity with his exalted position and certain legal requirements. A close-up view of the man as he is in this respect is given ns by P. W. Wilson, a British journalist resident in the United States, and a frequent contributor to the magazines and newspapers. Writing in the ‘Christian Herald’ (New York), Mr Wilson tolls ns;— “That King George was well brought tip goes without saying. Archbishops baptised him, confirmed Jam. married him, anuointod him. Of course he goes io church. Of course he risks his life by standing bareheaded before the Cenotaph in Whitehall. As a, mark of consideration for the many millions of his Roman Catholic subjects. he lias been received in audience by the Pope. With Queen Mary he is not less attentive to the Salvation Army.

“ How can a, king be sincere when his faith is imposed upon him? By his accession oath, King George has solemnly to swear that he is a ‘faithful Protestant,’ and until, he swears, he does not receive the crown. Indeed, the law docs nob end there. Separated by the River Tweed, England and Scotland have each an established church. The law requires that north ot the Tweed the King be officially a. Presbyterian, while south of the Tweed he is officially an Episcopalian. His belief in bishops thus depends upon whether he happens ca be residing at Windsor or Balmoral. “For some, years this quiet monarch was overshadowed, first by his lather and then by his son. In their resistance to jazz, to bobbed hair, and to absurdities of dress, and in their rigid boycott of divorce and scandal, the King and Queen were unpopular with the smart set and a subject of smiles among others. It was said that Queen Mary had no conversation, and that King George was under her tutelage. The Court was humdrum. It was the Prince ol AVales and later the Duchess of York in whom the world was interested.

“ Jjui, gradually a somewhat different estimate of the sovereigns began to pervade Ihe nation and the world. The King was confronted by an extraordinary series of crises. Yet through all these difficulties and dangers, the King and Queen continued their throne, sympathetic, assiduous, tactful, and imperturbable. They began to be trusted, and confidence developed into affection.

“ Of the millions of words published about King George, 1 cannot pretend to have seen everything. Nor lias anybody else. But J have a fairly full record of his career, and I. seem to find one positive hint alone, at any rate in print, of the due to his immense personal influence. Some years ago he allowed it to be stated that, as a boy, he had promised his mother to read the Bible every day. and that he had kept the promise. That is the source of wisdom which has never iailed him. “If King George, V. had been a Bourbon, living at Versailles, every courtier would have witnessed these devotions. But in London (here is a home within the Palace which is as private as any other Englishman s castle. It is in that home where the King and Queen breakfast alone that the Bible is road. It is Ho who secs in secret that rewards openly. “ If King George V, has retained his joy in service, his smile, his tenderness to children, and. in a word, his character, it is because day by' day the world around him was excluded from a realm within him over which there has reigned Another than he.'’