THE KING AT 46

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4528, 26 January 1942, Page 3

THE KING AT 46

QUALIFIED AIR PILOT SECRET OF HIS POPULARITY (By P.C.8.) To King George VI. belongs the position of honour of being the first qualified air pilot to be crowned King of the British Empire. When the Wright brothers made the “first free flight through the air in a power-driven machine,” he was eight years old. Although the popular mind associates him with naval service, his interest has lain more with the Royal Air Force. The decree of George V. limiting him to ground work was subsequently relaxed, partly because he was “only a second son.” To seek for princely glamor in the story of George Vl.’s childhood is to be disappointed, for not only did he lack the forcefulness of his elder brother, but he had also few of the privileges that came to that superior station. Unhaunted by the shade of monarchy, his character matured while Edward’s personality flowered. In an age when the spirit of democracy was rejecting the traditional idea of monarchial superiority, Prince Albert was being trained for national service on a plane below the one accorded to an heir-apparent. But when, at the turn of Fortune’s wheel, the throne was offered him, he was found to have been well prepared and well equipped for one of the most difficult tasks in the world. Always perfectly “at .home” among the people, he is welcomed everywhere as the people’s own leader. He is now 46. For the greater part of the first 42 years of his life he lived in small houses. The change to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle found him sufficiently poised in Empire outlook to accept those grander surroundings merely as providing necessary accommodation. for an extended service.

KINGLY CHARACTER It is interesting to recall that when the King was seven years of age the quarterly “Horoscope” had this amazing paragraph:—“This boy will be extraordinary lucky, with a tendency to be specially favoured with fortune. His planet, Jupiter, will bring him more wealth and material success than falls to the lot of the average mortal, and will raise him to a higher sphere than that to which he was born.” But it was more than “extraordinary luck” that gave him the throne. If, when Edward abdicated, George VI. was the natural choice of the people, it was because they realised how admirably he had developed a kingly character, in which courage, patience and leadership born of personal obedience played no small part. During his cadet days an old sailor said of him: “His courage is amazing,” and another: “One knew instinctively that he would never let you down.” His quiet patience and steady diligence have never perhaps been manifest to better advantage than when applied to his studies. During a Mediterranean cruise an officer, expressed the opinion: “I have watched many young people grow, but I have never seen a young man assimiliate experience more readily and use it in his mind ... he was a natural learner.” Someone else has written of him that “he brought an average mind to bear on an average task,” but it is true to say that because of his persistent and tenacious application he has attained a royal degree of distinction. .WELFARE WORKER This was particularly apparent in his industrial welfare work as Duke of York. He laid the foundation for that work by special studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. Building up .a small but comprehensive library with special reference to post-war problems, he studied education, employment, the abolition of slums, wages, the condition of working people, economics and the like. He is credited with having said that what matters most is not a man’s polities, but whether or not he realises that all men are members of one great brotherhood. On the occasion of his visit as King to Canada, at a luncheon given by the Government of British Columbia, he said:—“Some day the peoples of the world will come to realise that prosperity lies in co-operation, and r.ot in conflict.” It was the same spirit, fortified and equipped by his keen studies, that won for him the confidence of industrialists and workers when he was appointed president of the Industrial Welfare Society. When he accepted the position he said:—“l will do it, but I don’t want any red carpet.” Mostly, his wish was respected. Sometimes a factory manager could not resist the temptation to “make arrangements,” but usually the Duke had his way, even if it meant altering his plans, at a moment’s notice. On one occasion, when visiting a Welsh coal mine, he emerged at the pit head covered with coal dust. His appearance was the signal for the band to play God Save the King, but the assembled miners drowned the

strains of the anthem as they sang in chorus, For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow. FAMILY LIFE What is the secret by which he has won pride of place in the loyal hearts of the Empire? Briefly, it lies in his conformity to the British tradition of family life. Careless moral habits, short-lived marriages, easy divorce disturb the equanimity of the British people. They prefer the fireside at the close of the day; the cosy slippers, the family circle. They do not ask for a scholarly king, a witty king, nor even a popular king. What they ask is a monarch who shall be typical of the people, and whose domestic life shall conform to their traditional standard. George VI. fulfils this condition. The days have forever gone when a monarch can hold sway by the sword, or penalise people by selfish laws; but the day will never’come when we shall fail to honor a king’ whose home life, like that for his greatgrandfather and great-grandmother, is that of “ a couple joined in love and unanimity.” Not as a mere lip service, but as the spontaneous prayer of a deep affection, the Empire unites to-day in the cry—- “ God Save the King.”