THE KING’S LIFE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 44, 21 January 1936, Page 7

THE KING’S LIFE

SUCCESSION TO THRONE. AMBASSADOR OF EMPIRE. The second and only surviving son of the late King Edward VII and of the late Queen Alexandra, King George V was born at Marlborough House on June 3, 1865, and, as Prince of Wales, he succeeded his father, oil the latter’s death, on May C. 1910, being formally proclaimed King three days later. The Coronation took place on June 22, 1911. It was on the death of his elder brother, the Duke of Clarence, in 1892, that lie was unexpectedly placed in the direct line of succession, and, as Heir-Apparent, he married in 1-893, the Princess Victoria Mary, only daughter of Her Royal Highness tne Duchess of Teck. Of that union five sons and one daughter were born. One of the sons, Prince John, who was born in 1905, died in ’ his fourteenth year. Those living, in the order of their birth, are Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, and the King’s heir; the Duke of York; Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood; the Duke of Gloucester; and the Duke of Kent. NAVY AS SCHOOL.

his brother died, and he returned horn# !to assume responsibilities that, at 1 one time of his life, did not appear to |be more than remotely possible. In ) May, 1892, he • was created Duke j of York. Although- now applying him- | self diligently to the responsibilities of j his new station in life, he was still af- ; forded the opportunity to take occasional command and in due course he j reached the ranks of Rear-Admiral (1901), Vice-Admiral (1903). and Ad- | miral (1907).

A GOOD SHOT. King George learned to shoot under the old Duke of Cambridge at the age of eight, and soon developed his own peculiar style of holding the barrels with the left hand as far forward as the length of his arm would allow. In liis youth, well enough the famous Wolferton marshes on the Wash knew him, when the dawn broke icy cold, when the North Sea growled far out ahead, when the wind cut like a knife and the duck fled to sea like bullets overhead. When he was in India in 1911 he- bagged 21 tigers. One day he killed a couple of charging rhinoceroses with a right and a left, and later on. he dropped a tiger and a bear with a double shot. Once in England be bad four pheasants dead in the air together. Throughout his life, his affection for the sea had never waned, and the manoeuvres of the Fleet, some of which he attended, were a constant source of interest to him. His love

The death of the Duke of Clarence for yachting and his many successes at once transformed the significance of with the Britannia are almost too

life for liis brother, then Prince Gfco.ga, for tile latter’s early life had in it only a remote possibility of sue-1 cession to the Throne. j With the Navy practically as liis j public school —it was in his thirteenth ; year that lie joined the training ship j Britannia at Dartmouth —liis fondness;

tor the sea had been characteristic of • him ever since, as had been exempli-1 tied by his close association with the ■ Navy, and by his devotion, in his leisure hours, to yachting and, to yacht | racing in his famous craft, the Bri- j tanriia. Even at the early age of nine j years ho was aboard the Hildegarde, King Edward's yacht, when it won the Queen’s Cup. It was only a year or two after joining the training ship

Britannia that the King, as Prince George, visited Australia, in 1881, \v;.h uis midshipman brother, the Duke! of Clarence, in the course of a tour, i 1m Bacchante that also embraced Hi' 'West Indies, Fiji, Yokohama, Kong-Koug, and among other parts, Singapore, with a tour of the Holy Land on the return journey. > The Prince won promotion in the Navy, because of sheer merit. Promoted to commander in 1891, he assumed command'of the cruiser Melampus during the naval manoeuvres! of that year. In the following year

well known to need ..recapitulation. Perhaps it is not so generally known that the Prinec ‘started his yachting career with a little ofie-rater, which Sibbick,’ of Cowes; 1 built for him in the record time o|7;eight days. He was a keen collector of naval and

yachting pictures, aijd his knowledge of Nelson and the Victory was proverbial. He collected all possible data about the famous flagship. The walls of his private -suite at Buckingham Palace are covered with sea pictures, many by the Royal marine painter Martini. Cowes was probably the King’s greatest relaxation. for n sailor he was, and the love of the sea was bred in his bones. THE ROYAL MARRIAGE.

The marriage of the King took place on Tiuly 6, 1893. He was then Duke of York and his bride was Princess Victoria Mary (May), daughter of tne Duke and Duchess of Teck, the ceremony being performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The bride was then 26 years old, two years younger than the groom, and on June 23 of the next year, Edward Prince of Wales was born. The other children were Albert, born December 14, 1895;

HIS MAJESTY’S CAREER.

Victoria, April 25, 1897; Henry, March 31, 1900; George, December 20, 1S02; John, July 12, 1905. TRAVELS AS PRINCE. It was in 1901 that Prince George came to New Zealand. In 1908 he went to Quebec for the third centenary of the historic town of Quebec, whose predominantly French population Jiritain has welded into her Empire. The ceremony at the Monument aux Braves was an impressive one. In tnose six years during which time he had undertaken the responsibilities of the heir-apparent, he received honours commensurate with his added dignity. He ceased to be known as Prince George, and was on the birthday of the Queen, 1892, created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. In 1901 he was created Prince of Wales. Many other honours came to him from foreign nations.

The King’s Empire travels were undertaken chiefly during the period , that preceded his accession, since wheit his only Jong tour had been that to India shortly after the Coronation in 1911. His most important mission was his tour of the Empire in 1901, when, as Duke of Cornwall and York, he opened, in Melbourne, the first Commonwealth Parliament, making his second visit to Australia. It was upon his return from his historic Empire tour that the Duke of York was created Prince of Wales. Then, in 1910, came the greatest change in his life, wrought with the fatal illness of his illustrious father, and his own accession to the Throne as King-Emperor. Although King George succeeded to the Throne on May 6, 1910, it was not until June 22, 1911, that he was crowned in Westminster Abbey amid imposing and historic ceremonial. The year which marked the Coronation was a memorable one in many ways for tlie King, for it was also notable for the great Delhi Durbar and his Coronation as Emperor of India; and, incidentally, the announcement by him of far-reaching reforms in India, including the* transfer of the capital to Delhi. „ ~ , , alio King’s departure for India had mu rued tlie first time that a British Sovereign had visited his oversea Uom.uions. 1 , , , , xs.ing George has stood resplendent as a unifying figure in the British Empire, amiu the momentous changes tnut have marked his long and beneficent reign, with their impacts on the economic and social structures of civilisation. . , , . riis nobility of character; his example to the British people m their war and economic crises, and in national movements to which he has given tlie impulse ol inspiring leadership, his wide range of sympathy with all classes, and his devotion to the cause of world peace, have made his reign memorable. , mis Majesty became the first of the British Line of the oldest of the Royal Houses now reigning in Europe when, in 1917, he proclaimed that the Royal House and Family should henceforth be known as the House and .fc anxily of Windsor. A SERIOUS ILLNESS. A serious illness overtook the King at the close of 1928, and in some quarters iiis life was despaired of. A severe chill contracted at Sandringham quickly turned to pleurisy, and alter an operation the King’s condition became so serious Councillors or State were chosen and all members of the Royal Family summoned to Buckingham Palace. The struggle continued until February, 1929, nut thanks to the unremitting efforts of a band of physicians, headed by the specialist who was afterwards created Lord Dawson of Penn, the King was able to proceed to Bognor as a convalescent. His recovery was necessarily slow, and he did not resume the opening of Parliament until October 28, 1930. From time to time His Majesty had shown a susceptibility to chilis and in order to safeguard his health had reluctantly had to cancel important engagements on several occasions. His Majesty, at the bHver Jubilee of his reign and in his /Oth year of age, was a very happy man in his home life and in the assured estimation of his peoples and of the world.

lving George, before his ascent to the I krone, was, like his eldest son, a great ambassador of Empire. He had a studious school career; a period of hard naval service, and years of ■world travel, so that he had a personal knowledge of the whole Empire, but, worthily as he had fulfilled these functions, winning high official praise, it is as a man who had, by his personal qualities, embedded himself in tile affections of his people, that he will ever be remembered as a great King. Differing in many respects from King Edward VII, King George nevertheless brought to his great office no lesser sense of its profound importance and influence. In his relations with his subjects he displayed rare gifts of understanding, and revealed quiet virtues that could not fail to touch the hearts of his people. His father had already done much td establish the Throne in the hearts of the people as a central and unifying national and imperial force, distinct and aloof from sectional interests, party, or class. Under George V, a further strengthening of that conception of the functions of the Throne was steadily pursued. King George, ably assisted by the Queen and othermembers of the Royal Family, devoted himself on everv possible occasion to the task of making the influence of the Court a useful and kindly one in the life of the people. The years during which King George reigned over the British Empire were remarkable for their vicissitudes. The King came to the Throne at a time when it was becoming apparent that European discords, already intensified during diplomatic check and countercheck. would end in recourse to arms. The Great War of 1914-18 devastated Erance and ruined Central Europe. The state system was severely tested and the world is still concerned with nationalistic and economic problems raised during those years. But throughout this troubled period loyalty to the Throne has not been seriously questioned in the British Commonwealth of Nations, and it is recognised that the balance and stability which have been maintained within the Empire. as contrasted with the state of foreign affairs, have been largely due to tlie unremitting efforts and devoted care of the King.