| Prince George | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke of Kent (more) | |||||
 George in 1934 | |||||
| Born | Prince George of Wales (1902-12-20)20 December 1902 York Cottage,Sandringham, Norfolk, England | ||||
| Died | 25 August 1942(1942-08-25) (aged 39) Morven, Caithness, Scotland | ||||
| Cause of death | Dunbeath air crash | ||||
| Burial | 29 August 1942 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House |
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| Father | George V | ||||
| Mother | Mary of Teck | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
| Education | |||||
| Military career | |||||
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom | ||||
| Branch | |||||
| Years of active service | 1916–1942 | ||||
| Rank |
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| Battles / wars | |||||
Prince George, Duke of Kent (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942), was a member of theBritish royal family, the fourth son of KingGeorge V andQueen Mary. He was a younger brother of kingsEdward VIII andGeorge VI. George served in theRoyal Navy in the 1920s and then briefly as a civil servant. He becameDuke of Kent in 1934. In the late 1930s he served as aRoyal Air Force officer, initially as a staff officer atRAF Training Command and then, from July 1941, as a staff officer in the Welfare Section of the RAF Inspector General's Staff. He died in theDunbeath air crash in Scotland on 25 August 1942, in which fourteen of the fifteen crew and passengers were killed.
George was born on 20 December 1902 atYork Cottage on theSandringham Estate in Norfolk, England.[1] His father was the Prince of Wales (later KingGeorge V), the only surviving son of KingEdward VII andQueen Alexandra.
His mother was the Princess of Wales, laterQueen Mary, the only daughter and eldest child of theDuke andDuchess of Teck. At the time of his birth, he was fifth in theline of succession to the throne, behind his father and three older brothers:Edward,Albert andHenry.
George was baptised in the Private Chapel atWindsor Castle on 26 January 1903 byFrancis Paget,Bishop of Oxford. His godparents were KingEdward VII (his paternal grandfather),Prince Valdemar of Denmark (his paternal granduncle, represented byPrince Carl of Denmark, his paternal uncle),Prince Louis of Battenberg (husband of his father's cousin),Queen Alexandra (his paternal grandmother),Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna (his paternal grandaunt, represented byPrincess Victoria of the United Kingdom, his paternal aunt), andPrincess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (his paternal grandaunt).[2]
George received his early education from a tutor and then followed his elder brother,Henry, toSt Peter's Court, a preparatory school atBroadstairs, Kent. At the age of 13, like his brothers, the Prince of Wales, later KingEdward VIII and Albert, later KingGeorge VI, before him, he went to naval college, first atOsborne and later, atDartmouth.[1] He was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 15 February 1924,[3] and was promoted to lieutenant on 15 February 1926.[4] He remained on active service in the Royal Navy until March 1929, serving onHMS Iron Duke and later on the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet (renamed theHome Fleet in 1932),HMS Nelson.[1] He served on the latter as a lieutenant on the admiral's staff before transferring in 1928 toHMS Durban on theAmerica and West Indies Station, based at theRoyal Naval Dockyard atBermuda. His father had previously served at Bermuda onHMS Canada andHMS Thrush, as a watch-keeping lieutenant.[5]
After leaving the navy, he briefly held posts at the Foreign Office and later the Home Office, becoming the first member of the royal family to work as a civil servant.[1] He continued to receive promotions after leaving active service: to commander on 15 February 1934[6] and to captain on 1 January 1937.[7]
From January to April 1931, George and his elder brother the Prince of Wales travelled 18,000 miles on a tour of South America. Their outward voyage was on the ocean linerOropesa.[8] In Buenos Aires they opened a British Empire Exhibition.[9] They continued from Río de la Plata to Rio de Janeiro on the linerAlcantara and returned from Brazil to Europe on the linerArlanza, landing atLisbon.[10] The princes returned via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight fromParis–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.[11][12]
On 23 June 1936, George was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to his eldest brother, the new king, Edward VIII.[13] Following theabdication of Edward VIII, he was appointed a personal naval aide-de-camp to his elder brother, now George VI.[14] On 12 March 1937, he was commissioned as a colonel in the British Army and in the equivalent rank of group captain in the Royal Air Force (RAF).[15] He was also appointed as the Colonel-in-Chief of theRoyal Fusiliers from the same date.[16]
In October 1938 George was appointedGovernor-General of Australia in succession toLord Gowrie with effect from November 1939.[17][18] On 11 September 1939 it was announced that, owing to the outbreak of the Second World War, the appointment was postponed.[19]
On 8 June 1939, George was promoted to the ranks ofrear admiral in the Royal Navy,major-general in the British Army andair vice-marshal in the Royal Air Force.[20] At the start of the Second World War, George returned to active naval service with the rank of rear admiral, briefly serving in theIntelligence Division of theAdmiralty.
He was patron of theSociety for Nautical Research between 1926 and 1942.[21]
On 9 October 1934, in anticipation of his forthcoming marriage to his second cousin,Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he was createdDuke of Kent,Earl of St Andrews, andBaron Downpatrick.[22] The couplemarried on 29 November 1934 atWestminster Abbey.[23] This was followed by a Greek ceremony in the private chapel atBuckingham Palace, which was converted into an Orthodox chapel for the liturgy.[24] They had three children:
George was rumoured to have affairs with musical starJessie Matthews,[25] writerCecil Roberts,[26] andNoël Coward,[27] a relationship which Coward's long-term partner,Graham Payn, denied.[28] While married, he was also rumoured to have had an affair with Margaret Whigham, later known asMargaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll,[29] though there is no solid foundation to this rumour.[30]
George's first major affair was with Gladys Jean Combe, younger daughter of Captain Christian Combe, of theRoyal Horse Guards, and his wife Lady Jane, daughter ofGeorge Conyngham, 3rd Marquess Conyngham.[30] He had met her as a sub-lieutenant onHMSMackay on one of his trips ashore.[30] He was rumoured to have been addicted to drugs, especiallymorphine andcocaine, an allegation which reputedly originated from his friendship withKiki Preston (née Alice Gwynne, 1898–1946), whom he first met in the mid-1920s.[31][32][33] Known as "the girl with the silver syringe" due to her addiction toheroin, Preston – a cousin of railroad heiressGloria Vanderbilt – was married first to Horace R. B. Allen and then, in 1925, to banker Jerome Preston.[34] She died after jumping out of a window of theStanhope Hotel in New York City.[35] His other alleged sexual liaisons include aménage à trois with Preston andJosé Uriburu, bisexual son ofArgentine ambassador to the UKJosé Uriburu Tezanos.[36] In addition to his legitimate children, he was said to have had a son by Kiki Preston.[37] According to the memoirs of a friend,Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, George's brotherEdward VIII believed that the son wasMichael Temple Canfield (1926–1969), the adopted son of American publisherCass Canfield – and the first husband ofLee Radziwill, sister ofFirst LadyJacqueline Kennedy Onassis (wife of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy).[38]
After he was sent by the King to the Far East, George began a relationship in Singapore in 1926 with Leila Devitt, a hostess and wife of a commodities czar, 10 years his senior.[30] He had several other lovers and mistresses throughout his life, includingPoppy Baring (whom the King and Queen deemed unsuitable as a royal bride),Lois Sturt,Paula Gellibrand, Audrey Coats, Edythe d'Erlanger, Myrtle Farquharson,Florence Mills, andAdelaide Hall.[30]
As a young man the Duke came to the opinion that the future lay in aviation. It became his passion, and in 1929, the Duke earned his pilot's licence. He was the first of the royal family to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air. Before his flying days, he entered the Royal Navy, and was trained in intelligence work while stationed atRosyth.[39]
In March 1937, he was granted a commission in the Royal Air Force as agroup captain.[40] He was also made theHonorary Air Commodore ofNo. 500 (County of Kent) SquadronAuxiliary Air Force in August 1938.[41][42] He was promoted to air vice-marshal in June 1939, along with promotions to flag and general officer rank in the other two services.[20]
In 1939 he returned to active service as a rear admiral in the Royal Navy, but in April 1940, transferred to the Royal Air Force. He temporarily relinquished his rank as an air officer to assume the post of staff officer atRAF Training Command in the rank of group captain,[43] so that he would not be senior to more experienced officers. On 28 July 1941, he assumed the rank ofair commodore in the Welfare Section of the RAF Inspector General's Staff.[44] In this role, he went on official visits to RAF bases to help boost wartime morale.[45]
George was initiated intofreemasonry on 12 April 1928 in Navy Lodge No. 2612. He subsequently served as master of Navy Lodge in 1931, and was also a member of Prince of Wales's Lodge No. 259, and Royal Alpha Lodge No. 16, of which he served as master in 1940. He was appointed senior grand warden of theUnited Grand Lodge of England in 1933, and served as provincial grand master of Wiltshire from 1934, until he was electedgrand master of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1939; a position he held until his death in 1942.[46]
On 25 August 1942, George and 14 others took off in a RAFShort Sunderlandflying boat W4026 fromInvergordon,Ross and Cromarty, to fly toIceland on non-operational duties. The aircraft crashed on Eagle's Rock, a hillside nearDunbeath,Caithness, Scotland. George and all but one of those on board were killed. He was 39 years old.[47]
Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince wrote about the crash in their bookDouble Standards, which was criticised for its "implausible inaccuracy".[48]They alleged that Kent had a briefcase full of 100Swedish krona notes, worthless in Iceland, handcuffed to his wrist, leading to speculation the flight was a military mission to Sweden, the only place where Swedish notes were of value.[49]
His death in RAF service marked the first time in more than 450 years that a member of the royal family died on active service.[50] George's body was transferred initially toSt George's Chapel, Windsor, and he was buried in theRoyal Burial Ground, Frogmore, directly behindQueen Victoria's mausoleum.[51] His elder son, six-year-oldEdward, succeeded him as Duke of Kent. Marina, his wife, had given birth to their third child,Michael, only seven weeks before George's death. His will was sealed inLlandudno in 1943. His estate was valued at £157,735 (or £8.3 million in 2023 when adjusted for inflation).[52]
One RAF crew member survived the crash: Flight Sergeant Andrew Jack, the Sunderland's rear gunner.[53] Flight Sergeant Jack's niece has claimed that Jack told his brother that the Duke had been at the controls of the plane; that Jack had dragged him from the pilot's seat after the crash; and that there was an additional person on board the plane whose identity has never been revealed.[54]
The Duke's early life is dramatised inStephen Poliakoff's television serialThe Lost Prince (2003), a biography of the life ofthe Duke's younger brother John. In the film, the teenage Prince 'Georgie' is portrayed as sensitive, intelligent, artistic and almost uniquely sympathetic to his brother's plight. He is shown as detesting his time at the Royal Naval College and as having a difficult relationship with his austere father.
In May 2008, the BBC aired its Radio 4 comedyHut 33, Series 2, Episode 1, titled "The Royal Visit". The main guest character for this episode was Duke of Kent, played by Michael Fenton-Stevens. The show is set atBletchley Park with a team of code breakers. The Duke has been chosen to make an impromptu visit, and the code breakers have been told to hide all evidence of their real work and invent a story. "On no account should the Duke be told what really happens at Bletchley because he is a Nazi spy." He is also portrayed as promiscuous and bisexual, as he tries to gain sexual favours from one of the male staff, and one of the female characters recalls a previous liaison with the Duke.[55]
Much of George's later life was outlined in the documentary filmThe Queen's Lost Uncle.[56] He is a recurring character in the revival ofUpstairs, Downstairs (2010/2012), played byBlake Ritson.[57] He is portrayed as a caring brother, terrified of the mistakes that his family is making; later, he is portrayed as an appeaser of the German regime, but also as a supportive friend of Hallam Holland.[57]
George and his eldest brother the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, are shown inStephen Poliakoff's BBC television serialDancing on the Edge (2013), in which they are portrayed as supporters of jazz and encouragers of Louis Lester's Jazz Band. A sexual attraction to Louis on George's part is also insinuated.[58]
| Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1923 | Royal Knight Companion ofOrder of the Garter | .svg) | KG | [59] formally invested in 1924 |
| 1935 | Extra Knight of theOrder of the Thistle |  | KT | ||
| 1934 | Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of St Michael and St George |  | GCMG | [60] | |
| 1924 | Knight Grand Cross of theRoyal Victorian Order |  | GCVO | [61] | |
| 1936 | Recipient of theRoyal Victorian Chain | [62] | |||
| 23 June 1936 | Personal aide-de-camp | ADC | [63] | ||
 Denmark | 20 September 1922 | Knight of theOrder of the Elephant |  | [64] | |
 Norway | 20 December 1924 | Grand Cross with Collar of theOrder of St. Olav |  | [65] | |
 Sweden | 1 October 1932 | Knight of theOrder of the Seraphim |  | [66] | |
 Chile | Knight Grand Cross of theChilean Order of Merit |  | [67] | ||
 France | March 1939 | Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour | .svg) | [68] |
Colonel-in-Chief,The Essex and Kent Scottish (1937 – 1942)[69]
Colonel-in-Chief,Corps of New Zealand Engineers (1938)[70]
Colonel-in-Chief,Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (1935)[71] Colonel-in-Chief,Royal Fusiliers (1937)[16]
Honorary Air Commodore,No. 500 (County of Kent) SquadronAuxiliary Air Force (1938)[42]Around the time of his elder brother Prince Henry's twenty-first birthday, Prince George was granted the use of the Royal Arms, differenced by a label argent of three points, each bearing an anchor azure.
 |  | .svg) |
|---|---|---|
Prince George'scoat of arms | George's banner of arms | George's personal banner of arms in Scotland |
... probably the strangest book ever written on the Hess affair isDouble Standards... The thesis ofDouble Standards is thatRudolf Hess ... died in the plane crash in northern Scotland in August 1942 which also killed the Duke of Kent ... Hess was being transported to neutral Sweden (not Iceland, given in the official story as the plane's destination) to be handed over to the Germans as the first step in a settlement of the war between Britain and Germany. ...Double Standards seems breathtaking in its implausible inaccuracy.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Prince George, Duke of Kent Cadet branch of theHouse of Wettin Born: 20 December 1902 Died: 25 August 1942 | ||
| Masonic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Grand Master of theUnited Grand Lodge of England 1939–1942 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New title | Duke of Kent 1934–1942 | Succeeded by |
Generations are numbered by their descent fromGeorge V andMary of Teck | ||
| 1st generation |  | |
| 2nd generation | ||
| 3rd generation | ||
| 4th generation | ||
| 5th generation | ||
*Descendant ofElizabeth II and therefore use the surnameMountbatten-Windsor, but officially considered members of the House of Windsor | ||