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Biography

George V (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) Windsor KG is a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

George V (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) Windsor KG is a member of the House of Windsor.

King George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910, until his death on 20 January 1936.

Born 3 June 1865, as the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra, George Frederick Ernest Albert would one day become George V, King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India. His father Albert was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, while his mother was the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel.

As George was a younger son and third in line to the throne, there was little expectation that he would ever become King. George and his elder brother, Albert Victor, were educated together though neither excelled intellectually. Their father Albert thought that the very best training for any boy was the navy so in the fall of 1877, George and his brother Albert joined the cadet training ship HMS Britannia. For three years they served together, touring the Colonies of the British Empire, Norfolk, Virginia, South America, Egypt, the Mediterranean, and East Asia. While in Japan, George got a blue and red dragon tattooed on his arm.

Queen Victoria became displeased that neither of her grandsons could speak French or German so they spent six months at Lausanne attempting unsuccessful, again, to learn another language. After their stint at Lausanne, the boys were separated, with Albert going to study at Trinity College in Cambridge and George continuing in the Royal Navy where he travelled the world and commanded Torpedo Boat 79.

During his service, George spent many years under the command of his uncle, Prince Alfred, and soon fell in love with Alfred's daughter, Marie of Edinburgh. The match was approved of by his grandmother, father, and uncle but the mothers disapproved. The Princess of Wales thought the family was too pro-German and the Duchess of Edinburgh did not like England. At her mother's urging, Marie refused George's proposal.

In November 1891, George's brother Albert became engaged to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, known within the family as May. On 14 January 1892, six weeks after the formal engagement, Albert died of pneumonia, leaving George next in line for the throne after his father. George and May grew close during their shared period of mourning and a year after Albert's death, George proposed, May accepted and they were wed on 6 July 1893. They remained devoted to one another throughout their lives and though George admitted that he was unable to easily express his feelings with speech, the couple often shared loving letters.

The death of Albert Victor ended George's naval career as he was now second in line for the throne. He and May mainly lived at York Cottage, George preferring a quiet life, unlike his socialite father. May and George had six children, five sons, and a daughter.

When his grandmother Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, George's father ascended to the throne as King Edward VII and George inherited the titles of Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. Unlike Queen Victoria, who excluded Edward from state affairs, the King wanted his son to prepare for his future role as king, and as such George was given wide access to state documents.

On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died and George became King. He wrote in his diary that he had lost his best friend and the best of fathers.

George inherited the throne during a time when the world was in political turmoil. During his reign, the world saw the rise of fascism, Irish republicanism, and communism. During that time of World War I, to appease the feelings of British nationalists, King George changed the name of the British royal house from the German-sounding House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more British sounding House of Windsor, on July 17, 1917. He and his British relatives gave up their German styles and titles and instead took on ones that sounded more British.

In later years, King George's relationship with his eldest son deteriorated as George was disappointed with Edward's ability to settle down and horrified by his many affairs with married women. George was quite fond, however, of his second son Prince Albert, and doted on his granddaughter Elizabeth. He called her "Lilibet" and she called him "Grandpa England".

King George was unwell for most of the remainder of his reign, suffering from a serious injury when he was thrown from a horse in 1915, breathing problems due to his heavy smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other illnesses. During his final year, he was occasionally administered oxygen.

Death

On the evening of 15 January 1936, King George took to his bedroom and would not leave it again alive. He grew weaker and weaker, drifting in and out of consciousness. His physicianDawson recorded in his diary that the King's final words were "God damn you!" to the nurse who gave him a sedative the night of January 20th. Dawson, who was a member of the Eugenics Society,^[1]also wrote that he hastened the King's death with a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine, indicating that he did so to preserve the King's dignity, remove the strain placed on the Royal family and so the King's death at 11:55 pm could be announced in the morning papers rather than the evening journals.^[2]

Though George preferred to be at home pursuing hobbies of stamp collecting and game shooting, he was a hard-working monarch, well admired by the people of Britain and the Empire and he was earnestly devoted to Britain and its Commonwealth.

Sources

1. ↑ Wellcome Collection. Lord Dawson of Penn(1921-1938)., Reference: SA/EUG/C.88. Retrieved from the WC(Here;) Accessed 24 Sept 2023.
2. ↑ The Murder of King George V, 1936. Retrieved from YouTube(Here;) Accessed 3 Jan 2022.

• H. C. G. Matthew, ‘George V (1865–1936)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2013accessed 10 April 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free of charge to readers of British libraries provided their library subscribes.
• Wikipedia:George_V
• The Peerage: George V
• George V on Find A Grave:Memorial #1986 retrieved 20 sep 2016
• Wikidata:Item Q269412