King George VI (1895-1952)


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Several royals were and are hot-tempered at times, including George. His tempers were referred to as 'gnashes' by his family. However, for most of the time he was quite even tempered. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his 'gnashes' were caused by frustrations over his stammer.
 
:previous: Sounds like a reasonable explanation. You are right about the family "temper" though, many have been noted as being short-tempered. I imagine living in a fishbowl even within your own home must be extremely frustrating at times.
 
Curryong said:
Several royals were and are hot-tempered at times, including George. His tempers were referred to as 'gnashes' by his family. However, for most of the time he was quite even tempered. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his 'gnashes' were caused by frustrations over his stammer.
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Margaret probably got her moody behaviour from him.
 
George was never seen as a particularly moody person. I think David could be more fairly described as that.
 
was David moody? Seems to me more like he was in a permanent moany mood.. that he was continually unhappy about his life..
I don't think that George VI was moody either ,but in the sense that he was basically a kindly very shy man.. but he had a bit of a temper and lost it at times. Like most people.
 
I think he probably lost his temper with prime ministers as well.
 
What are you implying here, Kronprinz. I'm curious. ;) In no biographies that I have read on George VI has it ever been implied that George was some sort of complete hothead who regularly lost his temper with his wife, family, court officials or politicians, or who was regarded as a person who was unstable in any way.

If you mean that he at times lost his temper with his Prime Ministers, well, he probably did. So did, occasionally, Edward VIII, George V, and Edward VII. It's documented that Queen Victoria, King William IV, King George IV and George III, did so on quite a few different occasions.
 
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I am an admirer of George VI but I do think that he had emotional frailties throughout his adulthood in addition to his physical ones, and it only got worst when he became King. But at the same time his father George V said that Bertie had more guts than the rest of his children put together and also stated that Edward VIII would screw things up within a year and hoped his eldest son would not have children so that "Bertie and Lilibet" would succeed him, I see that as George V thinking that Bertie and Lilibet would be the saviors of the monarchy after David screwed it up, which is what actually happened.

To put things in perspective, George VI's reign was fraught with difficulties, he basically went from dealing with the fallout of the abdication to World War II, where in addition to supporting the war effort he served as Churchill's confessor, to post-war austerity to losing parts of the empire.

I admire him but I also find his story rather heartbreaking because it did seem like he got physically and emotionally worn down by all the back-to-back adversities that happened during his reign, yet history has rightfully judged him to be a good, if not great, sovereign.
 
duchessrachel said:
Yes, she does. I was just saying that the writing of her book about the Queen Mother was not very nice.
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To be honest, I think it was the strong character of the Queen Mum that got George VI through a lot of what he had to deal with.

I've read one book by "Lady" Colin Campbell and it was so full of "those close to the family" and "sources high up in the palace" that it turned me off her permanently. This woman was actually married to Lord Colin Ivar Campbell from 1974-1975 which, to me, had the duration and shelf life of edible underwear and has been trading on that name ever since *alluding* to *know* things. The Daily Fail does better than she does in my book. :D
 
Osipi said:
To be honest, I think it was the strong character of the Queen Mum that got George VI through a lot of what he had to deal with.

Totally, totally agree Osipi. I think she was his backbone. Whether people like her or not, (meaning extravagance etc) the QM was a great consort for the King and his people. JMO
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Osipi said:
To be honest, I think it was the strong character of the Queen Mum that got George VI through a lot of what he had to deal with.

I've read one book by "Lady" Colin Campbell and it was so full of "those close to the family" and*know* things. The Daily Fail does better than she does in my book. :D
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she is still entitled to call herself Lady Colin.. and she problaby has got society connextions, even if she's inclined to go in for very wildly inaccurate writing.
 
Osipi said:
To be honest, I think it was the strong character of the Queen Mum that got George VI through a lot of what he had to deal with.

I've read one book by "Lady" Colin Campbell and it was so full of "those close to the family" and "sources high up in the palace" that it turned me off her permanently. This woman was actually married to Lord Colin Ivar Campbell from 1974-1975 which, to me, had the duration and shelf life of edible underwear and has been trading on that name ever since *alluding* to *know* things. The Daily Fail does better than she does in my book. :D
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I've found Lady Colin Campbell's writings on the BRF to be very sensational ... too sensational as a matter of fact and very distasteful.
 
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Scotland in September 1948 and opened the Braemar Highland Games. It was can important occasion because it marked the centenary of the Royal Family's patronage of the games.

King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on VE Day, which was May 8, 1945.
https://www.gettyimages.com/license/3330175
 
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George VI is my favorite Royal, so I’m sad to see his thread so dead.

An hour long doc called Being the Queen aired on Nat Geo network last night. I haven’t watched it yet, but I saw the very last bit. In it, Margaret Rhodes comments that HM, even now, looks to her beloved papa, as if to say “see papa? I’ve been Queen for so long, and I’ve tried to do it the way you taught me”. That made me so emotional..I really adore their bond, and it moves me how much HM loves her father...
 
Betsypaige said:
George VI is my favorite Royal, so I’m sad to see his thread so dead.

An hour long doc called Being the Queen aired on Nat Geo network last night. I haven’t watched it yet, but I saw the very last bit. In it, Margaret Rhodes comments that HM, even now, looks to her beloved papa, as if to say “see papa? I’ve been Queen for so long, and I’ve tried to do it the way you taught me”. That made me so emotional..I really adore their bond, and it moves me how much HM loves her father...
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Thank you Betsypaige for pushing George VI's thread up. I too, admire George VI not just overcoming his stammer, especially making speeches during WWII, but also a doting father. I am sure that George VI would be very proud of his daughter for her lifelong services and duties to Britain and the Commonwealth.
 
AC21091968 said:
Thank you Betsypaige for pushing George VI's thread up. I too, admire George VI not just overcoming his stammer, especially making speeches during WWII, but also a doting father. I am sure that George VI would be very proud of his daughter for her lifelong services and duties to Britain and the Commonwealth.
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Oh, glad to do it, AC ! I love his basic decency and humanity, and bravery - when we talk about Royals doing their duty, he’s right at the top of the list for if anyone didn’t want to be King, it was Bertie. He’d be so proud of his daughter, and not surprised at all.
 
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