George vi

George VI

Now, I’m going to talk you about George VI. George was the second son of George V and Mary of Teck. George VI was born on the anniversary of the death of his great-grandfatherPrince Albert on April (the) fourteenth, 1895, and mainly to mollify his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, he was called Albert Frederick Arthur George. Bertie, as he was known by his family, developedinto a sickly and nervous child with a pronounced stammer, and he was starved of affection by his over-strict parents and was put in the shade by his more outgoing, glamorous elder brother David, thefuture Edward VIII.

As an adolescent George trained as a naval cadet at Dartmouth Naval College, showing himself as an intelligent if not brilliant student. He began to serve in the Navyproper in 1913, and was present in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval engagement of the First World War; he later qualified as a pilot with the Royal Naval Air Service. The next year, andbecause of his chronic gastric troubles that resulted in a duodenal ulcer he lay seriously ill in Buckingham Palace. The doctor who was attending him was surprised to receive a visit from George’s fatherand mother in the middle of the night saying that they couldn’t sleep because they were very worried about their son. Later, the doctor revealed how angry he had been with these cold parents, whowouldn’t show their son how much they cared for him.

After the war, George spent a year as an undergraduate at Cambridge University, and in 1920 was made duke of York, the traditional titlegiven to the monarch’s second son. As he was not expected to succeed to the throne, he was not required to marry into royalty. Bertie fell deeply in love with Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the daughter ofthe earl of Strathmore. Initially, she rejected his proposals of marriage, but they eventually wed in April 1923. It was a successful marriage because His wife brought him the love and security that...