- George VI
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1895-1952, king of England 1936-1952 (second son of George V; brother of Edward VIII).
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orig. Albert Frederick Arthur Georgeborn Dec. 14, 1895, Sandringham, Norfolk, Eng.died Feb. 6, 1952, SandringhamKing of the United Kingdom (1936–52).The second son of George V, he was proclaimed king following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII. He was an important symbolic leader of the British people during World War II, supporting the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill and visiting his armies on several battlefronts. In 1949 he was formally recognized as head of the Commonwealth by its member states. He earned the respect of his people by scrupulously observing the responsibilities of a constitutional monarch and by overcoming the handicap of a severe stammer. He was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.
George VI.Keystone* * *
▪ king of United Kingdomalso called (1920–36) Prince Albert, duke of York , in full Albert Frederick Arthur Georgeborn Dec. 14, 1895, Sandringham, Norfolk, Eng.died Feb. 6, 1952, Sandringhamking of the United Kingdom from 1936 to 1952.The second son of the future king George V, the prince served in the Royal Navy (1913–17), the Royal Naval Air Service (1917–19), and the Royal Air Force (1919) and then attended Trinity College, Cambridge (1919–20). On June 3, 1920, he was created duke of York. He sponsored the annual Duke of York's Camp (1921–39), at which equal numbers of public (private) school boys and boys from industrial areas spent a week together as his guests. On April 26, 1923, he married Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (Elizabeth), youngest daughter of the 14th earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. They had two children: Princess Elizabeth (afterward Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret (later countess of Snowdon).The duke of York assumed the throne on Dec. 11, 1936, following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII; he was officially proclaimed king the following day. He took the name of George VI and was crowned on May 12, 1937. Before the outbreak of World War II, the king affirmed Anglo-French solidarity and formed a close friendship with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but he supported Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's “appeasement” policy toward Germany and Italy. In May 1940, when the House of Commons forced Chamberlain to resign, the king wished to appoint Edward Halifax (later 1st earl of Halifax) to the premiership but was induced to select Winston Churchill, whose wartime leadership he then supported unreservedly. During the war he visited his armies on several battle fronts.Although King George had ceased to be emperor of India when India and Pakistan became separate independent countries, he was formally recognized, on April 27, 1949, as head of the Commonwealth of Nations by the governments of its member states. From 1948 on, the king's health deteriorated, and he died a few months after undergoing an operation for lung cancer.Although he was an important symbolic leader of the British people during World War II, his reign was perhaps most important for the accelerating evolution of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations and the postwar transformation of Great Britain into a welfare state. He earned respect by scrupulously observing the responsibilities and limitations of a constitutional monarch and by overcoming the handicap of a severe stammer.Additional ReadingDenis Judd, King George VI, 1895–1952 (1982); and Patrick Howarth, George VI (1987), study his private life and political influence.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
