Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 271, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 January 1936 — Page 4

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GEORGE NOT A GREAT KING ' BUT A KIND AND WISE ONE, BELUVEDJJYHIS SUBJECTS Monarch’s Rule Embraced a Period That Witnessed Greatest Changes in History; W T on Respect of His Ministers. Shyness prevented King George from being one of Britain’s great kings. He lacked the ability to make friends with anyboy and everybody at a minute’s notice, a quality so largely possessed by his father King Edward, and his son, the Prince of Wales. He was schooled in the Victorian tradition that royalty is a thing apart, to be jealously secluded from the people, sel-

dom seen, a tradition, and a relic of the right and might of kings of the Middle Ages. His people knew him as a kindly gentleman. They did not know much about him. All he seemed to do was open bazars, conferences, lay corner stones, and make inspiring speeches in a voice that was so lacking in accent and ordinary that his listeners, without knowing what they expected, were surprised. They never could imagine the King as an ordinary hu-man-being. That was their royalty complex, carefully nurtured throughout the years. Never a Breath of Scandal There were none of the sometimes scandalous stories of gay doings among the bright lights that surrounded King Edward. Queen Victoria’s court was severe with all the narrow-mindedness of the ’nineties. King .George’s court was more lax. It recognized the modern trend of civilization. But there was never a breath of scandal. It could be said that until his nearly fatal illness in 1928, the king was just tne king, in capital letters, to his people. When bronchial pneumonia all but killed him at the Christmas of 1928, there was an unprecedented outburst of affection which surprised those members of the royal circle who were long accustomed to the cheering and flag-waving that always accompanied the appearances of royalty in public. Affection for King Grew This affection has been steadily, if not increasingly, apparent ever since. In his latter years the people thought of him mostly as a kindly old gentleman whose health was not so good, rather than an aloof king-emperor. Yet King George will go down to posterity. Not, like King Edward, Henry VIII, Edward the Confessor, or many another ruler since William the Conqueror, for his own personal character, but because his reign has seen more history made than probably any of his predecessors. It saw the end of the Victorian era, and the growth of the machine age; the emancipation of women; automobiles, airplanes, radio and a host of other inventions and discoveries. Often Visited at Front Its highlight was the World War. King George played a kingly part in it.. He sent his sons with a million other sons to the battlefields. He, himself, often visited the fronts and personally cheered his men. He even cut loose from his German relations, and changed his name to the homely one of Windsor. He Had Many Worries There were other worries. Ireland was a sore spot throughout his reign. It was troublesome when he mounted the throne in 1910, and the two countries were not on “speaking terms” in 1934. Actually, there is good reason for believing that the king had a bigger part in his country’s affairs during the autumn of his / life. In the fateful depression year, 1931, his ministers repeatedly sought his advice. It is said that it was his approval that decided the government to suspend the gold standard. He also was directly concerned in the formation of Ramsay MacDanold’s national government which put Britain back on fts feet. A king has died. Not a great one, but a wise and loved one. A bad cold, which had fatal results, put King George on the throne of Britain. One bleak week in January brought him from the comparative obscurity of a second son to the limelight of a potential ruler. Queen Victoria Ruled At that time—lß92—Queen Victoria w'as still on the throne with a firm grip on the reins of office despite her years; King Edward, then Prince of Wales, was next in line, and a f ter him the Duke of Clarence, his first-born. There seemed but the remotest possibility of Prince George ever becoming king. But the Dvke of Clarence caught a cold while hunting, and within a week was lead. Queen Victoria died in 1901, and George became direct heir to the throne. He ascended it May 6, 1910, when he was 45 years of age, a “sailor king,” who was better known, through his voyages to the peoples of his dominions, than to Englishmen. Actually King George’s life story may be said to have started with the death of his brother. It brought him a wife in addition to a crown. Before that little was known of him. Born June 3, 1865, | at Marlborough House, in the j heart of London, he was christened Frederick Ernest Albert George and was known to the family as “Georgie.” Weak as a Child Not over-strong, his childhood was the severe one of the times, j George and his brother and sisters, were not allowed to read or play j on Sundays. Like his father, he | was fond of the ser., and eventual- i ly went to Osborr.e College, the: Annapolis of England, and from i there entered the navy, first as a "middy,'' and later as a lieutenant. I He was absorbed wholly in his j chosen profession, and he had travelled widely, but it was not un- j til after the Duke of Clarence’s! death that the people of England J learned of the extreme affection of the dominions for the future king. He served 15 years in the navy, visited th# West Indies, learned

much of America, Fiji, Japan, Ceylon, Egypt, Palestine and Greece Everywhere he was met with a wholehearted welcome. Fired with an ambition to see as much as possible of the world, he continued his travels almost up to the time of his coronation. A Royal Love Match King Edward would not permit even Queen Victoria’s death to interfere with the cruise planned foi the opening of the first Commonwealth parliament of Australia, and the subsequent visits to New Zealand, South Africa and Canada Prince George was created Prince j of Wales on the completion of that trip. The broad facts of King George’s marriage are history. Behind them is more romantic coincidence than many a film director would dare to use. Princess Mary, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck, had been engaged for reasons of state to the Duke of Clarence, but the duke died, and when the official year of mourning had ended she married Prince George, for the best of all possible reasons, because they loved each other. They Were Poor, But Happy They were quite poor, but they were happy, although running a royal household often meant some drastic economies. Then came the children Prince Edward, now Prince of Wales, and Prince Albert, now Duke of York, to be followed at intervals of two, three and two years by Princess Mary, the Duke of Gloucester and Prince George. All of them, except George, were born while the king was still Duke of York. Then King Edward died, and George ascended the throne. He mounted it at a time of England's greatest prosperity and peace. True, Ireland was troublesome, and women suffragettes were tying themselves to the railings of parliament but these were small cares compared with the crisis that was to come. Almost without warning the world was plunged into war. Belgium was invaded; Russia mobilized; and on that fateful day, Aug. 4, 1914, Great Britain declared Avar on Germany and her allies, in support of her pledge to aid her weaker neighbors. People Turned to King It is in times like these that a country turns to its ruler, like children turn to their parents in a moment of terror. Thousands milled around Buckingham Palace during those early days and nights. And King George did not fail them then or later. He spoke of confidence and faith and the cause of right over might. He gave them example, working 15 hours a day visiting hospitals by the score, giving the lead in all works of charity. He sent his son, the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne straight from school to the theater of war. He, himself, often visited the front, and he was a source of anxiety to his generals for his lack of caution. Once a mettlesome horse he was riding reared and fell on him, and he had the narrowest escape from death. But the war ended, and King George returned to the task of restoring a weary and battle-scarred nation to normalcy. He faced it bravely, too bravely, perhaps, for it was on a raw November day in 1928, that, while standing bareheaded at the Cenotaph, he contracted the cold that nearly cost him his life. Illness Watched by World The whole world watched the fluctuations of that illness that progressed through bronchitis and pneumonia, and a crisis at Christmas time that kept his family near his bedside all night long, to the long convalescence and temporary setbacks of the following year. Always himself retiring and selfeffacing, hateful of pomp and circumstance and demonstrations of any kind, the king's appearances in public had seldom evoked an outburst of popular affection. It took his illness to show the real depth of feeling his people had for him. More history was made during the reign of King George than at any time since William the Conqueror of Normandy started in 1066 the long line of England's rulers. Great Changes Witnessed It has seen the birth of wireless transmission, the growth of electricity an automotive power to an extraordinary degree of efficiency, the development of airplanes from crazy triple-wing crates to the pres-ent-day 250 M. P. H. monoplane; an dthe general speeding-up of civilization to a point where Jules Verne's fictional fantasies have become everyday occurrences. The biggest event was undoubted- | ly the World War; unparalleled in i history, and almost a separate lifei time of four years in itself. It had j the most profound effect. It changed England from the Victorian and Edwardian era of smug respectability to the freer and | swifter hfe of modern times. It was the emancipation of woman from the tightly-corseted longskirted, sheltered, and, perhaps, more chivalrous period, to the modern miss with abbreviated clothes, lip-stick, and her own latch-key. It was also the beginning of .the democracy of Europe, with the slow disintegration of dynasties, the fall of thrones, and the gradual breaking up of that chain of royal inter-mar-riages that closely linked most of Europe with the British royal family. Empire Strongly Knit From his coronation in 1910, the king saw his empire, threatened

Death Comes for 70-Year-Old Head of British Empire

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The King and Queen Mary in their royal robes, in which they posed for an official photograph.

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1. In coronation robes. 2. With Tsar Nicholas of Russia. 3. His Queen. 1. On parade. 5. With President Wilson.

Iby desires for independence, now more firmly united than ever by I the Ottawa Conference. He had his constitutional powers over that empire curtailed, and his title changed to “King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the British territories beyond the seas, Defender of the Realm and Emperor of India.’’ He saw the advent of Britain’s first Labor government in 1924, and he mixed with policemen and laborers because of it. And he saw the succession of governments that followed it, including the national government, headed by his close friend, Ramsay MacDonald. His reign was one of swiftly passing events, or records broken, and i rebroken, of disasters, minor and ! major and of not a few triumphs. First Feace Move He saw the formation of the League of Nations, the world’s first effort for peace, and the numberless conferences that have followed to achieve and maintain peace. He, himself, opened the second naval conference in London, in 1930, and also the Round Table conferences that strove to give India some measure of independence. In 1933, he opened the World Economic Conference which hoped to cure the ills of depression. Abreast with the times he often spoke over the radio. All parts of the world heard his voice on Christmas Day in a messag& of peace and good will. He saw Britain fall into line with most countries and adopt economic protection after nearly a century of free trade; and he saw the suspension of the gold standard as a measure of urgent necessity to protect London’s reputation as the world’s banker. In his declining years he saw Britain struggle back from the slough of depression to a reasonably sure footing in gradual recovery to pre-war normalcy. Royal Weddings In his own heme he saw his family grow up, two of them, the Princess Royal and the Duke of York, to marry and make him a grandfather, and he has been perturbed by the bachelorship of his heir, the Prince of Wales. In Au-

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

gust, 1934, he announced the engagement of his youngest son, Prince George, to Princess Marina of Greece, and he attended their wedding. He has had his sorrows, principally the death of his mother, Queen Alexandra. Annually he mourns with his people at the Cenotaph for two million war-dead. King George saw his empire, representing one-quarter of the earth’s surface, expand, not in area, but in population to some 463,000,000, roughly one-quarter of the world’s people. They speak 222 different languages, and practice every religion known to man from Christianity to the voodooism of the African jungles. They are comprised of hundreds of races and tribes, from dark-skinned Indians to fairhaired Saxons. In the autumn of his life King George was the pilot who steered the British ship of state through the stormy waters of economic crisis. It w r as his hand that guided the policies of his statesmen, and his

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ln Jovial Mood

decisions that ended indecision. This is the consensus in a canvass of all shades of politicians, based on the epoch-making events since the downfall of the Labor government in 1931. Officialdom would probably deny that the king had a finger in its pie, for, constitutionally, he was neutral. But there were unmistakable evidences of the royal, withal impartial, touch. Perhaps the outstanding example of this royal wielding of power is the behind-the-scenes story of the formation of the national government. Disregarded Precedent When the Labor cabinet, in 1931, split and fell over the question of unemployment insurance, Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald at once went to Buckingham Palace and tendered his resignation. According to precedent, and on MacDonald’s advice, the king should have invited the Conservative leader, Stanley Baldwin, as leader of the opposition, or even Arthur Henderson, as head of the largest Labor faction, to form anew government. King George did neither of these things. Disregarding all precedent, he at once asked MacDonald to try to form another cabinet. Whether or not a coalition was his suggestion is hard to say, but there is no doubt that it met with his approval. King George was fully aware of the seriousness of the situation just before the suspension of the gold standard in September, 1931, when Britain's gold reserve was fast draining as foreign investors fled from the pound, threatening the economic stability of the ‘‘world’s banker.” Approved Gold Action Many were the talks he had with his close friends, including Lord Lee of Fareham, the millionaire philanthropist, and Admiral of the Fleet, Earl Jellicoe, in which he expressed his anxiety over the state of affairs. There is no doubt that he was advised of and fully approved the suspension of the gold standard, one of the few secrets of modern politics that did not leak out in some way before it happened. The king was intensely interested in the Ottaws conference, and had

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special daily reports of its proceedings besides holding lengthy conferences with Baldwin and his party on their return. He also was consulted, it is understood, when Britain took the historic step from free trade to protection, although since parliament had passed the tariff bill he was bound by the constitution to approve it. Watched India Closely At the same time, King George interested himself in, and had more than the layman’s knowledge of India’s fight for independence, the dispute with the Irish Free State, and other international problems. It is certain that he approved Britain’s foreign policy, at Geneva, the Disarmament Conference, the two naval conferences, and the World Economic Conference, although some say that as a navyman he privately felt a little tinge of regret that his great navy had been so cut down. King George probably was the most conscientious and hard-work-ing monarch Britain ever had. Yet, although well-liked and respected, he somehow missed “greatness” measured from the historian’s standard. He lacked personal magnetism, and was handicapped by shyness. His normally solemn-look-ing bearded features were another drawback, although he had a charming smile, and a hearty laugh. Shining Example Morally Morally, King George was a shining example. The British court, during his reign, attained a standard of purity never before excelled and seldom equalled. It was a broad-minded, clean, healthy standard that the king and queen set, with taboos on divorce, bobbed hair and lipstick. No breath of scandal ever blew on the private life of the royal family, and George sowed no wild oats, like King Edward did, in his youth, that might be handed down as increasingly lurid legends. In fact the king had a particularly drastic method for dealing with scandal. Once when he was serving in a warship in the Mediterranean, when he was only Prince George, a scurrilous story was broadcast by a man named Millius. It was to the effect that the king had married the daughter of a naval officer, and that this “wife” was living when he married Queen Mary. Charges Fall Flat Millius w r as prosecuted for seditious libel, and was entirely unable to substantiate his charges. But, u. satisfied by this, the king took the unprecedented step of filing through the attorney general, a sworn statement denying Millius’ allegations in the most categorical manner. The king was known to have a tendency to strong language, a relic of his seafaring days, and could on occasions give tongue to some fine double-barreled sea oaths. It has also been rumored that he had a liking for strong liquor. This may have been true in his earlier days, but for the last five or 10 years his drinking was con-

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Above is Sandringham House, on the east coast of England, the country residence of King George V, and Queen Mary, where the king died.

The “Sailor King” ivas also a devoted horseman.

fined to a weak whisky and soda on an average of three times a day. He loved animals and had a pet parrot, Charlotte, that he brought home from one of his Far-Eastern trips, and a Cairn terrier, Bob. His favorite pastime was game-shooting, but he also played a passable game of billiards and pool, and was passionately fond of the phonograph and radio. He had all the records of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas and spent hours listening to them. Horse-riding was another hobby—although more from the point of view of physical fitness. Almost until his death he was to be seen riding in Hyde Park at 7 o’clock in the morning, when few people were astir. One of his principal occupations was keeping himself informed on world events. It took hours of perusal of all the newspapers and books and conferences, but all men honored by an audience with him have exclaimed afterward on his intimate technical knowledge of their calling, whatever it might be. Was Not a Rich Man King George was not rich as he might have been. Queen Victoria, in her economical way, left him a large fortune, but it was swallowed up by the World War, and at one time he even found himself with a deficit on his annual budget. After the war his income was $2,350,000 a year, of which only about $45,000 was for his actual personal use, the rest going in household expenses and charity. Physically, the king did not come up to average. He was below medium height, and was inclined to be round-shouldered. Without his beard he would not have stood out in any company, but he had pleasant blue eyes, a fresh complexion, and his white hair and iron-grey whiskers gave him a distinguished appearance. His best asset was undoubtedly his constitution, and it was that that helped him through the only two serious illnesses of his life. The first when his horse fell on him when he was visiting the troops in France during the war, and the second and more serious, when he contracted bronchial pneumonia in 1928. niness Left Its Mark In the first case his recovery was sufficiently lengthy, but on the last occasion even the doctors were surprised that his heart withstood the illness. More than once they almost despaired. The illness left its marks on him. He w'as more prone to catch cold, and it was generally believed that w'ith his advanced years another bout of pneumonia would be the death of him. For that reason the utmost care was taken of his health, particularly during the winter months. A nurse lived at Buckingham Palace, and traveled with him w'hen he visited his other residences. His attendance at all open-air functions was subject to the weather. The slightest cold that the king might catch h:.s been news of worldwide importance since 1928. Nobody knew when it might develop into something serious, possibly fatal.

JAN. 21, 193S

Royal Hobbies George V Known Through World for Interest in Stamps, Yachting.

By United Pres London, Jan. 21. King George V was known throughout the world for two hobbies—stamp collecting and yachting. The king had one of the finest collections of British stamps in the world and spent hours poring over the many albums in which he kept his rare finds. Asa yachtsman, he attended many a regatta at Cowes and Henley, sailing in calm and rough weather aboard his yacht, the Britannia. n “I’ve a good story on you,” said King George to United States Ambassador Walter Hines Page one day during the World War. “You Americans have a queer use of the word ‘some’ to express mere bigness or emphasis. Well, an Englishman and an American W'ere riding in the same railway compartment. The American read his paper diligently—all the details of a big battle. When he finished he put the paper down and said, ‘Some fight!’ ‘And some don’t!' said the Englishman. Ha, ha, Mr. Ambassador—a good one on you!” and King George roared, slapping his knee. a ALSO during the w'ar, he visited a war hospital and remarked, “How lucky you are to have hot water. We live (at Buckingham Palace) in one corner of a room to keep warm, and only have one hot bath—once a week. The hot water business is a problem; you can’t shave with lukewarm water, can you?” a a a George was passionately fond of Gilbert and Sullivan operas and spent hours listening to them on the phonograph and radio. He also was a regular visitor to the movies, sometimes going two or three times a week. u tt tt AFTER the war, King George’s income was $2,350,000 a year, of which only about $45,000 was for his actual personal use, the rest going in household expenses and charity. But in 1931 he cut even this amount by $250,000 in the interests of national ecomony. # a The late king was a stickler for punctuality. Once the Duke of Kent was strolling in the gardens when someone reminded him he had a date with the king and queen. “Good God,” said the duke, “I must hurry or I shall never hear the last of it from my people if lam late.” He had to skip lunch to keep the royal appointment.