by Day, Malcolm
This single act of heroism marked a threshold in the Prince’s life: he had proved to himself he was more capable than he imagined. In a letter to his brother, Bertie revealed, ‘When I was on top of the turret, I never felt any fear of shells or anything else.’
George VI never felt so at ease as when he was on duty in the navy
Becoming king
But this achievement was as nothing compared to what was asked of him in 1936 when Edward VIII abdicated, leaving the crown to Bertie. The nation drew its breath and prayed. ‘I never wanted this to happen. I’m only a naval officer, it’s the only thing I know about,’ he confided to his cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten on the first night of his reign.
Never expected to be king, the Prince of York was completely unprepared for the job, having never handled a state document in his life. Yet, the courage he summoned at Jutland he could summon again. The first thing he did was dispense with that humiliating nickname. Instead he chose his last Christian name, George, in a gesture of continuity with his father after the disastrous failure of his brother. With medical assistance the new king mastered his embarrassing stammer and within a few years of his accession had endeared the public to him.
Perhaps the greatest boon to his self-esteem came from the devotion and support of his wife Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, to whom he was married in a genuine union of love. Together they faced the challenges posed by another world war. To show moral support for their embattled subjects, the royal family remained in London during the thunderous air raids of the Blitz. Two bombs landed on Buckingham Palace, exploding just 30 metres from the King – the queen consort famously remarked to a policeman the next day, ‘I’m glad we’ve been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face’.
The King and queen restricted themselves to the same regime of rationing as their fellow citizens had to follow. Day after day during the early years of the war, when England had her back to the wall, the couple tried to keep up morale by visiting bombed out areas of the East End and evacuees sheltering in the London Underground.
Come VE Day, the outcome was a triumph for both nation and king. Alongside his people, George VI had stood the test of character, and in recognition of the many instances of civilian heroism he introduced the George Cross and Medal. The King had undoubtedly had a good war. He was fortunate too in having a good leader in Winston Churchill who could do most of the talking. But in George VI, Britain can justly claim to have had a king who got the measure of being a monarch in a modern state. Alas, poor health dogged him to the end. George died of arterial disease and lung cancer in 1952, aged 56.
Fashion Icon to Fading Star
Elizabeth II was precocious but could she mother?
Elizabeth’s first address to the nation came at the tender age of 14 when her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, asked her to broadcast to the children during the Blitz of 1940.
This propulsion of Elizabeth into the public eye at such a young age had the effect of generating a large, almost cult following. At every opportunity the Press would eagerly snap pictures of this pretty, vivacious princess who was eminently photogenic. She fast became a fashion icon. Parents copied her styles in their own daughters, and well into the 1960s girls were habitually dressed in full-skirted frocks with puffed sleeves, lace collar and a sash round the waist. In her many activities too the Princess was emulated, in sports, horse riding, and the Girl Guides. Elizabeth became the emblem of a happy, outdoor royal family life – a welcome distraction from the social and economic problems of the 1930s.
But this all changed quite quickly once her ‘Uncle David’ (Edward VIII) abdicated and her father became king in 1936. Gone was the carefree joie de vivre. Relations at home became much more formal. Elizabeth was expected to curtsy to her father every time he came into the room. Rather suddenly, at the age of ten, she was next in line to the throne, and so had to take on state responsibility. While her general education continued apace, much more of her time was now devoted to training to be queen of Britain and the empire.
Though duty came to dominate the Princess’s life, she was by all accounts a natural. From an early age Elizabeth had an imperious nature. Once, aged three, when tired of her mother’s visitor, she rang for the footman and said, ‘Kindly ring for a taxi. Our guest is leaving.’ She knew her own mind even in love. From the moment she set eyes on Prince Philip of Greece at the age of 13, she fell madly in love; only her father’s iron will persuaded her to delay the wedding until she was 21.
Rival commitments
In becoming the nation’s sovereign in 1952 Elizabeth naturally threw all her energies into monarchical duties. Far behind her were the days of being a fashion queen. She had a four-year-old son, Charles, and a two-year-old daughter, Anne. After taking a period off childbearing, she resumed with the births of Andrew and Edward in the 1960s. It has been suggested that Elizabeth may have found running the monarchy more to her liking than running a family, that she was intolerant of those who did not match up to her own high standards, and that perhaps her children did not receive as much emotional support as they needed while growing through the tender years of childhood.
Certainly, three divorces out of four marriages, including that of the heir to the throne, has not brought a happy complexion to the House of Windsor. The similarity between her own exuberant youth and that of the person who derailed the monarchy is striking. Like Elizabeth, Diana, Princess of Wales, became the glamorous photogenic captive of the paparazzi; the essential difference that Elizabeth put duty first, Diana her personal happiness.
As the monarchy’s sacrificial victim, Diana was able to exploit public sympathies in her favour. In contrast, the Queen appeared cold, frumpy and distinctly out of touch with her people – perhaps for the first time in her life. It took some time after the death of Diana before the Queen was back on good terms with her subjects. This marked a rare misjudgement in the career of an inspirational head of state whose own record is otherwise without blemish. As bearer of the royal standard, guardian of all the cherished traditions that represent the British monarchy today, Elizabeth II is said never to have made a faux pas in all the long years of her reign.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Refugee from Ancient Israel?
Bladud
Tragic Loss Regained
Who Made Britain’s First Laws?
Lud, Lover of London
Celtic Charioteers Shock Caesar
You’ve Never Had It So Good
A Charmed Life
Holy War
Did Constantine the Great have a British Grandfather?
Great Mounted Archer
The Mystery of Sutton Hoo
First Christian English King
Dyke Twice the Length of Hadrian’s Wall
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First Saxon King of England
The Mystique of Scone
The King Who Forgave his Enemies
Youngest Ever Royal Philanderer
Coronation Ceremony is Model for Europe
Dorset’s Great Royal Pilgrimage
Was Ethelred Really ‘Unready’?
Ironside on the Case
Canute Demonstrates Limits to Earthly Power
Saintly Healer of the King’s Evil
Portents of Disaster
Changed Forever
Live by the Arrow and Ye Shall Die by the Arrow
The King Never Smiled Again
Twelve Year Old Weds Holy Roman Emperor
Anarchy under Stephen
Penitent Ruler of Europe’s Largest Empire
Ransom for a King
Church Bells Fall Silent
Too Nice For His Own Good
Zealous Reformer Persecutes Minorities
Old Enemy Vanquished in a Day
Pansy Meets Grisly End
Order of the Garter is Toast of the Town
Child King Survives a Nest of Vipers
Murky Rise of House of Lancaster
French Crown Slips from Henry V’s Grasp
Architect of Eton Not Interested in Ruling
Yorkist Star Rises
Wicked Uncle or Cornered Rat?
Patron of Expansion
Canny Scot Eyes Opportunity
Visionary Supremo
King with Socialist Agenda
Lady Jane Grey Faints on Hearing News
Phantom Pregnancy Changes All
Two Cousins Who Never Met
Faerie Queen from Broken Home
Eager Scot Opens Can of Worms
So Good a Man, So Bad a King
Time of Gay Abandon Comes to Woeful End
Fleeing into Exile Disguised as a Girl
Unlikely Double Act
Anne Bears More Children Than Any Other English Queen
German Prince Beats Rivals to the Throne
Useful Conformist
Struggle for Power
The Prince Who Lost His Charm
Surprised to be King
Propping Up The Queen
Pleasure Seeker
Hanover Dropped
Eligible Bachelor Becomes Figure of Mistrust
Fearless in War, Fearful in Life
Fashion Icon to Fading Star
