Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

to record and broadcast the event on radio, but the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Thomas Davidson, vetoed the idea because
"men in public houses may listen to the ceremony with their hats on". Lady Elizabeth was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess
of York after their marriage. [2]
The Duke and Duchess of York had two children:
• Elizabeth II (born April 21, 1926)
• Princess Margaret (August 21, 1930 — February 9, 2002).
Reluctant king
The Duke and Duchess lived a relatively sheltered life at their London residence, 145 Piccadilly; one of the few stirs was when
George V proposed that the Duke become Governor General of Canada in 1931 — a proposal which the government rejected. [3]
On January 20, 1936, King George V died and Prince Edward ascended the throne as Edward VIII. As he had no children, Albert
was now the heir presumptive to the throne until the unmarried Edward VIII had any legitimate children. However, Edward VIII
abdicated the throne on December 11, 1936, in order to marry his love, Wallis Warfield Simpson. Thus Prince Albert, Duke of York,
was now king, a position he was reluctant to accept, and due to his nervous disposition, there was some discussion to bypass him
and have his brother Prince George, Duke of Kent succeed instead. The day before the abdication, he went to London to see his
mother Queen Mary. He wrote in his diary 'When I told her what had happened, I broke down and sobbed like a child.' [4]
Upon the abdication, on 11 December 1936, the Duke was proclaimed Sovereign, assuming the style and title King George VI to
emphasise continuity with his father and restore confidence in the monarchy. His first act was to confer upon his brother the title
HRH The Duke of Windsor. Three days after his accession he invested the Queen with the Order of the Garter. [5]
George VI's coronation took place on 12 May 1937—the intended date of Edward's coronation. In a break with tradition, Queen
Mary attended the coronation as a show of support for her son. There was no durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred
for his father, as the cost would have been a burden to the government of India in the depths of the Depression. Rising Indian
nationalism made the welcome which the royal couple would have received likely to be muted at best, and a prolonged absence
from Britain would have been undesirable in the tense period before World War II without the strategic advantages of the North
American tour which in the event was undertaken in 1939.
Reign
The beginning of George VI's reign was taken up by questions surrounding his predecessor and brother, who presumably had
reverted to his previous title of Prince Edward. George VI decided to create Edward the Duke of Windsor. The Letters Patent
creating the dukedom entitled Edward to be styled His Royal Highness, but prevented any wife and children from being similarly
styled. George VI was also forced to buy the royal houses of Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House from Prince Edward, as
these were private properties and did not pass to George VI on his accession. [6]
The growing likelihood of war erupting in Europe would dominate the reign of King George VI. Initially the King and Queen took an
appeasement stance against Adolf Hitler, supporting the policy of Neville Chamberlain. The King and Queen greeted Chamberlain
on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement in 1938, and invited him to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with
them, sparking anger among anti-appeasement MPs including Winston Churchill. One historian went as far as to declare this "the
most unconstitutional act" by a British monarch in the 20th century for its allegedly blatant partisanship. It has been theorised that
the King and Queen intended to avoid war with Nazi Germany because they thought it would act as a counterweight against
Russian communism. [7]
In 1939, the King and Queen undertook an extensive tour of Canada from which they made a shorter visit to the United States of
America. George was the first reigning monarch to visit either of these countries. The royal couple were accompanied throughout
the trip to the United States by Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, and not a British minister, meaning they were present as
King and Queen of Canada. [8] However, the aim of the tour was mainly political, to shore up Atlantic support for Britain in any
upcoming war. The King and Queen were extremely enthusiastically received by the Canadian public and the spectre of Edward
VIII's charisma was comprehensively dispelled; they were also warmly received by the American people, visiting the 1939 New York
World's Fair and staying at the White House with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and at his private estate at Hyde Park, New York.
[9]
When war broke out in 1939, George VI with his wife resolved to stay in London and not flee to Canada, as had been suggested.
The King and Queen officially stayed in Buckingham Palace throughout the war, although they often escaped to Windsor Castle to
avoid bombing raids. George VI and Queen Elizabeth narrowly avoided death when a lone German bomber despatched to bomb
Buckingham Palace attacked. The bomb exploded in the courtyard, shattering windows in the palace. [10]
Throughout the war, the King and Queen provided morale-boosting visits throughout the UK, visiting bomb sites and munition
factories. [11] It has been alleged that, contrary to how they portrayed themselves, the royal family ignored wartime rations (although
their servants domiciled in the Palace were subject to them). [12]
It has been suggested (see Will Swift, The Roosevelts and the Royals: Franklin and Eleanor, the King and Queen of England, and
the Friendship that Changed History (John Wiley & Sons, 2004)) that a strong bond of friendship was forged between the King and
Queen and President and Mrs Roosevelt during the 1939 Royal Tour, which had major significance in the relations between the
United States and Great Britain through the war years. There may be a marginal element of validity in this view but it is largely
fanciful: it has never credibly been suggested that the King took any strategic role in the War; his frequent letters to the President
were mostly unanswered and it was, of course Roosevelt's relationship with Churchill that was critical. Eleanor Roosevelt took a wry
view of the utility of kings and queens and the substance of George and Elizabeth ("a little self-consciously regal," was her verdict
on Elizabeth).
Illness
The war had taken its toll on the King's health. This was exacerbated by his heavy smoking and subsequent development of lung
cancer. [13] Increasingly his daughter Princess Elizabeth, the heiress presumptive to the throne, would take on more of the royal
duties as her father's health deteriorated.
On 6 February 1952, George VI died aged 56 in his sleep at Sandringham House in Norfolk. [13] He was the only British monarch of
modern times whose death was not observed and whose precise moment of death was not recorded. His funeral took place on
February 15, and he was buried in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. In 2002, the body of his wife Elizabeth and the ashes of
his daughter Princess Margaret were interred in a tomb alongside him.
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