Bertie

The Life & Reign of King George VI

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My secondary account: @daylight-upon-magic

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The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth), c. 1923.

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King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, with Princess Elizabeth, at Dartmouth, July 23, 1939.

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There is a great reluctance to part with anything. On the second floor of the Palace, there are cupboards and cupboards full of clothes, dating back years.

[...] The clothes of King George VI, the Queen’s father, are still there. Various valets over the years have thought of clearing them out, but it would require permission from the Queen Mother, and no one dares suggest it.

ROYAL SECRETS by STEPHEN P. BARRY (1985)

Barry served as personal valet to Prince Charles from 1970-1982

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KING GEORGE VI meets Movietone cameraman PAUL WYAND in Arezzo, Italy, July 1944.

‘His Majesty met the various war correspondents covering his Italian visit. He walked along the line with the conducting officer, and as they reached me the King pointed and said: “I know this man.”’

PAUL WYAND - USELESS IF DELAYED (1959)

Wyand had filmed the King on multiple occasions before and during the war. He later covered the Royal Tour of South Africa in 1947 and the King’s final public appearance in January 1952.

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Prince Albert (later King George VI) with Louis Greig, Hastings, Sussex, c. August 1918.

Photo by A.R. Coster

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KING GEORGE VI visits USS COLUMBUS, Portsmouth, November 8, 1949.

[FRONT L-R]: W. John Kenney (director of the Economic Cooperation Mission to Britain), Bruce Fraser (Lord Fraser), Lewis Douglas (U.S. Ambassador to U.K.), the King, Admiral R.L. Conolly, George Hall (Lord Hall), Admiral Algernon Willis (C in C Portsmouth) [STANDING L-R]: Captain E.R. McLean (Captain of USS Columbus), Rear-Admiral Bolger, U.S.N., Rear-Admiral D.S. Cornwell, U.S.N., Major-General A.M. Harper, Rear-Admiral G.R. Henderson, U.S.N., Rear-Admiral P.B.R.W. William-Powlett, Sir Harold Campbell, R.N. (King’s equerry)

FOOTAGE: British Pathé [no sound]

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Bertie’s birthday, he is 50 but does not look it.

QUEEN MARY diary excerpt - December 14, 1945, birthday of GEORGE VI

On the same day, the Countess of Southesk died, aged 52. Queen Mary relates in her diary receiving the sad news that afternoon.

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THE KING GEORGE VI AND QUEEN ELIZABETH MEMORIAL - situated between The Mall and Carlton Gardens in central London. The George VI statue by William McMillan dates back to 1955. The statue of the Queen Mother by Philip Jackson, was unveiled in 2009.

‘At long last my Grandparents are reunited in this joint symbol which, in particular, reminds us of all they stood for, and meant to so many, during the darkest days this country has ever faced.

Today we remember them both with joy mingled with sadness, but also intense gratitude for the role they performed with such consummate grace and inspiration.’

PRINCE CHARLES speaking at the unveiling of his grandmother’s statue

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King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visit the London County Council housing estate at Hackney Marsh, March 30, 1939.

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KING GEORGE VI salutes Australian troops during a march past on Salisbury Plain, England, July 4, 1940. // IWM

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On January 25 [1952], the announcement of my appointment [as Governor General of Canada] appeared in the morning papers. That evening, at the King’s invitation, I drove to Sandringham to dine and spend the night. [...] After tea I had a talk with the King in his study. He asked very earnestly how I thought he looked and I told him that he seemed much better than he had in the early spring, which was true. The conversation naturally turned largely on my appointment as his representative in Canada. In the course of our talk I said that one of the disadvantages of the post would be that I would be able to come to England less often than I had been doing. He said, with great emphasis, that I should come to England just as often while Governor-General as I had done before. ‘It’s the only way you will ever get a holiday!’

I carried away from this little talk a vivid picture of a very endearing person, his unbreakable courage, his abiding sense of duty and utter honesty of mind. I was only one of many people who sensed what can only be described as his ‘goodness’.

VINCENT MASSEY - WHAT’S PAST IS PROLOGUE (1963)

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The Duke of York (later George VI) at a Wolf Cub rally in Hyde Park, London, June 18, 1921.

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The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth), 1920s.

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King George VI and Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, June 8, 1939. The King was the first reigning British monarch to visit the United States.

Visit Original Link

ABOVE: President Roosevelt on the King’s visit. // FDR Library

Recently our Nation has had the pleasure of a visit from King George VI, as a courteous recognition of the cordiality and the good will that prevails between two great nations. Its significance lay in the fact that friendship could exist between the two countries because both nations were without fear - without fear of any act of aggression by the one against the other. To achieve that result, strength is needed: strength that comes, not from arms alone, but from restraint, from understanding and from cooperation, which, in turn, are the product of trained and disciplined minds.

Graduation Address at United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., June 12, 1939.

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King George VI depicted broadcasting at the outbreak of World War II, September 3, 1939.

Two rarer photographs from this day; differing slightly from the most frequently reproduced one, which depicted the King looking resolutely ahead.

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The Duke and Duchess of York with Princess Elizabeth, 1920s.

Photo from George VI by Hector Bolitho (1937)