George V of the United Kingdom

First years

George is born on June 3rd, 1865, with the Marlborough House, London. His/her father is the Prince de Galles, the future king Edouard VII, oldest son of the queen Victoria and the prince Albert of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha. His/her mother is the princess of Wales Alexandra of Denmark, oldest daughter of Christian IX of Denmark.

As young person wire of prince de Galles, George has few chances to reach the throne. His/her older brother, Albert, are the second in the order of succession after his father. Children, the two boys are very close and are sent together to the naval university in order to perfect their education, but their characters are very different. Elder the, known one in the family like Eddy, is unstable - even probably mentally delayed - whereas George inherited the regular and conscientious provision of her grandmother, the queen Victoria.

George serves in the navy until in 1891. He travels throughout the world and visits many areas of the British Empire. He is also made tattoo with many recoveries, and brings back of one of his voyages a Perroquet which passed the remainder of its existence in the princely apartments then royal to the the United Kingdom.

Marriage

In 1891, his/her Albert brother becomes engaged to his cousin, the princess Victoria Marie de Teck, known as “Princess May”, the only girl of prince Francois, duke of Teak and the princess Marie Adelaide, duchess of Teak. However, Albert died of a Pneumonie six weeks later and its George junior became the heir as a second then heir to the throne with died to the Victoria queen followed by the accession to the throne to Edouard VII.

The Victoria queen regarding “Princess May” as a suitable party for a future king, it thus got busy to convince her grandson and the young girl, “widow” before even being married, of convoler in “right weddings”. Although it acted in the beginning of an arranged marriage, one noted soon a deep affection between the two husbands, of which can in particular testify the fact that one did not know any mistress with George, and the fact that, at the time of his absences, the prince wrote with his wife the every day.

Their marriage took place the July 6th 1893 with the Royal Chapelle of the Palais of Saint James to London. The couple had six children.

Duke of York

In 1892, the Victoria queen granted her George grandson the titles of duke of York, Count d' Inverness and baron Killarney.

The duke and the duchess of York lived mainly with the Thatched cottage of York, in the park of the Château of Sandringham in the county of Norfolk, a relatively small house where them lifestyle was almost that of an ordinary family. With the difference of her parents, George preferred to carry out a simple life. He was also a very strict father, who terrified his children.

As a duke and a duchess of York, George and May carried out a large variety of public duties. In 1900, they travelled in the British Empire, visiting the Australia, where the duke opened the first meeting of the Australian Parlement after the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Prince de Galles

The January 22nd, 1901, the queen Victoria died, and the father of George, Albert Edward assembled the throne under the name of Edouard VII. As of this moment, George inherited her titles Duc of Cornouailles and Duc of Rothesay. There remained Duc of Cornouailles and York until the November 9th 1901 where he became Prince de Galles and Count de Chester.

The king Edouard VII wished that his/her son have more preparation and of experiment for its future role. By contrast with the attitude of the Victoria queen, who had excluded Edouard from the businesses of the State, George lives himself to allow a broad access to the documents and official papers which he often traversed with his wife, the May Princess, who had much more intelligence than him. May also helped to write the speeches of her husband.

King

The May 6th 1910, the king Edouard VII dies, and the prince and the princess of Wales go up on the throne. George was now the king George V and May chooses the royal name of Marie queen, respecting the wish of the Victoria Queen whom no British Queen is named Victoria after it. Their crowning took place with the Abbaye of Westminster the June 22nd 1911.

The December 11th 1911, the king and the queen went in India for the Delhi Durbar, where they were presented at an assembly of dignitaries and to the Indian princes as a Empereur and the Impératrice of the Indies. George carried the Imperial Crown of India recently created for the ceremony. Later, the Emperor and the Empress travelled through India, visiting their new subjects. George seizes the occasion to devote himself to hunting for the tiger.

If they were particularly popular like sovereigns, George V and Mary could not show attention with regard to their children: George was looked by her entourage like a “bulldog in uniform”, Mary like a “dragon with feathers” and their authoritarianism attracted the enmity of their familiar to them.

The reign of George V remains entâché by her attitude towards the imperial family of Russia: in 1917, whereas Kerenski insisted near the British government so that the tsar Nicolas II and his family can take refuge in England in order to escape the Bolsheviks, George V was opposed to the arrival of the imperial family. To the repeated attempts of the Prime Minister Lloyd George and of the Foreign Minister Balfour to persuade it to accommodate the imperial family, the King opposed an end not-to receive final.

Died

The king George V died the January 20th 1936, with the Castle of Sandringham and it was buried with the Chapelle Saint George Château of Windsor. Its fine appears it was hastened by its doctor, Lord Dawson, who gave him an lethal injection of Cocaïne and Morphine. Perhaps the courtier wanted to finish the sufferings of the dying King and hoped that the monarch would die before midnight so that its death can be announced in the morning by the '' Times '' rather than in the less prestigious newspapers of the afternoon.

Although officially the last words of George V were “How is the Empire? ”, The legend is that they were in fact “Bugger Bognor” ( I insane of Bognor , its vacation resort).

To the funeral procession of George, as the funeral procession turned in New Palace Yard, the Maltese cross fell from the crown and lands in the gutter. This was regarded as ill omen for the next king, Edouard VIII of the United Kingdom, which will abdicate before the year is not finished.

Philately

George V was a famous collector of postage stamps. He is in particular president of the Royal Philatelic Society London of 1896 to 1910. He is the first British sovereign to have constituted the royal philatelic Collection, sometimes at the price of expensive acquisitions. In 1904, it buys anonymously and for 1.450 pounds sterling a specimen of the 2 pence blue of Maurice

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