May 15, 2025
Just Bertie, handsoming up the place...
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Just Bertie, handsoming up the place...
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.
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.
I remember the good-will trip of the King and Queen of England to the United States [in 1939], and the famous hot-dog picnic at Hyde Park. I was invited by President and Mrs. Roosevelt, and King George and Queen Elizabeth were extremely kind to me on that occasion. I had seen him often at parties in London since the period right after the war, when he had been known simply as Prince Albert. Alice and I had dined with the Yorks in our London days and seen them often at parties. But now it was ten years since I’d had the pleasure of seeing them. Showing his amazing memory for people, he came right up and buttonholed me at that picnic. We talked fondly about the old times. I was delighted by his and the Queen’s happiness - they both literally radiated. He was truly a happy monarch, with a wonderful family life, despite the many shattering demands that he was daily forced to face - a remarkable fellow, quiet but unswerving, and filled with courage. I remember thinking ‘God bless him’, as he moved away. I never saw him again.
SERGE OBOLENSKY
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Top Cottage, Hyde Park, NY, June 11, 1939
George VI samples an unusual beverage during his visit to the USA (1939):
[the King and Queen] boarded the U.S. destroyer Warrington for the short sea journey to New York City. The U.S. Navy still being ‘dry’, the King was served a strange, reddish-brown beverage. Hugh Keenleyside happened to be close by when His Majesty “turned to an aide and asked quietly if not surreptitiously what was in his glass. ‘That, Sir, is known as Coca-Cola; it is the folk-drink of the lower orders in America.’”
DAYLIGHT UPON MAGIC by Tom MacDonnell (1989)
Revisiting the King & Queen's stay in Hyde Park, NY
I very much enjoyed seeing the bedroom that Bertie slept in when he visited the Roosevelts at their home Springwood in Hyde Park NY in 1939. Hope he was comfy there!
This was Elizabeth's room. (Their rooms were connected through a bathroom)
...and the library where the King and FDR stayed up late discussing the fate of Europe on the eve of war.
... the Music Room that FDR's mother Sarah redecorated for the King and Queen's visit. Notice some familiar faces?
The famous front porch, then and now. (and yes I stood right in the spot where the King was sitting for this photo op. 😉)
The specially adapted car that FDR drove himself with hand controls. He gave the King & Queen a spin around the estate and apparently was quite a reckless driver!
I love how Bertie is holding onto his hat in the back seat in the first photo. LOL. Hang onto your hat, Your Majesty!
In the second, he looks a bit overcome by the heat, poor Bertie! It was unusually hot and humid while the royals were in the US and it was a little too much for him at times.
Luckily FDR had a pool on the property and so the King had a private swim with the President and his sons. I'm sure it refreshed him
Their Majesties and the Roosevelts attended services at St.James Episcopal Church on Sunday morning prior to the famous Hot Dog picnic. The church still stands and I was surprised how small it is.
And finally, the Hyde Park train station where the Roosevelts waved goodbye to Bertie & Elizabeth as they left on the Royal Train, is still standing, though no longer an active station. An Amtrak train sped by on the tracks along the Hudson while I walked around, but nothing stops there anymore.
Just me, I guess!
The station definitely feels a little haunted to me - but not in a bad way. Haunted with history. And a little bit of time travel.
I'll leave you with this lovely photo of Bertie & Franklin. It's not from Hyde Park - it's from their more formal time together in Washington DC, but Bertie's irrepressible smile is just too adorable not to share
Cover of the children's book Hot Dog! Eleanor Roosevelt Throws a Picnic by Leslie Kimmelman and Victor Juhasz
😂
"FDR was satisfied and all went well. I like them both but what a life! They are happy together and that must make a difference even in the life they have to lead."
Eleanor Roosevelt in a letter to a friend
King George VI & Queen Elizabeth traveling in NJ and NY, 1939
Queen Elizabeth and King George VI wave from the Canadian Pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1939. Here's a little about their journey on that jam-packed day:
On June 10, 1939, the King & Queen arrived in Red Bank, NJ via special train. From there they traveled a few miles by open car to Fort Hancock at Sandy Hook, where they boarded the US destroyer Warrington for the trip across the harbor to Battery Park in lower Manhattan. (This is video of Warrington crossing the harbor. You can see how hazy it was that day.)
Bertie & Elizabeth were excited to see the New York skyline come into view, and when the ship passed the Statue of Liberty, they stood up from their deck chairs to get a better look.
These places are well known to me, and I always get a little bit of a fangirl thrill knowing I could be walking in Bertie's footsteps. 😊
The Sandy Hook ferry terminal today - most likely this was area where Warrington embarked from back in the day.
Fort Hancock is defunct now, but much of the old buildings and fortifications remain through preservation efforts, like these Officers' Quarters, which always make interesting pictures.
At the start of this very long day, the King & Queen first arrived at the train station in Red Bank, NJ, traveling from Washington DC. Here, they are disembarking the Royal Train and meeting with dignitaries. (photos from NPS and some fun first-hand recollections.)
The Red Bank train station today.
USS Warrington arriving at its ultimate destination - Battery Park in NYC. An enormous crowd awaited the royal couple, greeting them with thunderous cheers. Then they were whisked away again in cars for a high speed journey up the West Side Highway to visit the World's Fair in Queens.
Battery Park isn't the easiest spot to photograph right now because there is a lot of construction in the area. But this is opposite side view of the Pier One building where they would have docked. (you can see just the edge of it all the way on the right in the gif above of the ship arriving.) I'm standing at about the point where they would have gotten onto the West Side Highway.
Reports from the scene by WNYC reporters and police dispatches leading the royal entourage through New York City.
Adding this last bit for fun, though I've shared it before. This is the breathless commentary of reporters and police dispatchers leading the royal entourage as they progressed from the USS Warrington to Pier One at the Battery, onto the West Side Highway and Grand Central Parkway, all the way to the 1939 World's Fair.
It was very unique reportage because this was the first time something like this was attempted on scene; going live to different reporters dispersed throughout the route, in cooperation with the NYPD and using their radios. It was considered a very challenging undertaking and cutting edge for it's day.
The recording is rather long (dispersed with regal marches when they had nothing to talk about!) but it is a very fun listen if you are interested in this sort of historical thing; especially when the crusty New-York-accented reporters get swept away with Royal Fever - "oh he's handsome!" and "oh she's lovely!" 😂