King George VI (1895-1952)


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George VI: His Empire Exhibition speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1TubkzxPFY

Denville said:
When did the Sailor suits for littlte boys and girls come in? I Like them.
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Queen Victoria decided to dress her son Prince Albert Edward, when he was four, in a sailor suit of the British Royal Navy. The Prince of Wales wore the sailor suit when his family visited the Channel Islands in 1846. British boys began wearing sailor suits in the 1860s.
 
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Denville said:
I think that all male children wore petticoats till a certain age... until mid or late Victorain times
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Yes, but 1860's/70's fashions for small children of both sexes were particularly foul, off the shoulder numbers for special occasions, made from silks and satins, and hair for little boys as well as girls sometimes twisted into ringlets. In the early 1860's there were even mini-crinolines for both sexes. By the 1890's all that had gone and although very little boys tended to be put into smocks over a petticoat or two you could usually see they were males!
 
When did the Sailor suits for littlte boys and girls come in? I Like them.
 
 
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I believe Kate, having taken over the Wimbledon tennis patronage this year will attend today's opening centre court match. Hardly a chore! But it will count in the engagement tally! [Kate: "I rather love my job!"] :lol:
 
George VI would have loved Andrew and Edward

Had George VI lived on, he'd love Princes Andrew and Edward of Edinburgh.

I could see Andrew and George VI getting along more than Charles and Anne.
 
The King wasn't a blustering, quite overbearing individual with a rather boisterous sense of humour, like Andrew is reported to be, so I'm not so sure that he would have got on better with George than his other grandchildren. George VI seems to have been a rather gentle and self-effacing person, not qualities especially associated with Andrew, IMO.

In fact Charles is believed to have reminded the QM very much of her dead husband, which was one of the reasons supposedly that they had a special bond. The King would have course have loved all his grandchildren, including Princess Margaret's offspring.
 
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Curryong said:
The King wasn't a blustering, quite overbearing individual with a rather boisterous sense of humour, like Andrew is reported to be, so I'm not so sure that he would have got on better with George than his other grandchildren. George VI seems to have been a rather gentle and self-effacing person, not qualities especially associated with Andrew, IMO.

In fact Charles is believed to have reminded the QM very much of her dead husband, which was one of the reasons supposedly that they had a special bond. The King would have course have loved all his grandchildren, including Princess Margaret's offspring.
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I know George VI would have teared up at his granddaughter's 1973 wedding. It would have reminded him of his daughters wedding in 1947 and 1960.
 
Westfield Bakery said:
Had George VI lived on, he'd love Princes Andrew and Edward of Edinburgh.

I could see Andrew and George VI getting along more than Charles and Anne.
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Au contraire Pierre.

I think he'd have been close to all of them. Gosh, he was ALREADY close to Charles and Anne, he was there for them. They were tiny, but he got to know them.

Now, sure, he'd like Edward, but Andrew, with his pranks and winning smile, I think King George VI would have liked him very much. Andrew is a crack shot and generous host, qualities George VI would like.

Mountbatten really focused on Charles, him the heir. He might not have been able to do that if King George VI was around in the 1970's.
 
Westfield Bakery said:
Had George VI lived on, he'd love Princes Andrew and Edward of Edinburgh.

I could see Andrew and George VI getting along more than Charles and Anne.
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WHy? As Curry has said, the QM seems to have felt that Charles was very like her husband, quiet and shy and self doubting. Andrew is not bad natured but he is arrogant, selfish, and overly boisterous and vulgar at times. I think he would be much less likely to be the favourite grandson, than Charles.. (same with Anne problaby)
 
If George VI had lived on, its very possible that the gap between Anne and Andrew wouldn't have been so long. A different "Andrew" may have even come into the picture earlier and the same with Edward. Maybe even more siblings after Edward even.

That's one thing about doing a "what if" with historical fact. One change may have effects on a whole bunch of different things. :D
 
God I hope the queen wouldn't have produced more than the 4 kids she had. or she might have stuck with 2 because she would have had more time to spend with her 2 older ones. or maybe not. I don't tink, that as a young woman, she was super maternal.
 
Just surmising that it would have been possible that she would have had all four children closer together if her life hadn't changed when it did and she became the monarch in 1952. We'll never know.
 
George VI loved both of his daughters dearly but he doted on Margaret so I don't think it is a given that he would have favored a grandchild whose temperament was similar to his.
 
Margaret had a witty and entertaining personality, though, which her governess remarked on and was apparently very much part of her charm. I don't think you could necessarily say that about Andrew. I'm sure the King would have doted on all his grandchildren and taken their different personalities into account. However he was very close to his wife and the fact that she had a special bond with Charles might have been an influence, as was the fact that Charles would one day assume his role.
 
Charles, himself, could also have grown up very differently had his mother been Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh for more of his childhood. With the Queen Mum more "on the job" with George VI, perhaps Charles wouldn't have spent so much time with her in his early years as he did when his mother was Queen and her job as a monarch took her away from her family when both Charles and Anne were still quite small. We do know that the Queen Mum had an extraordinary influence on Charles but basically that came about as the Queen Mum was available to spend a lot of time with him.

For all we know, Philip, Elizabeth, Charles and Anne could have been able to live a Royal Navy life with the family even being based in Malta or wherever Philip had been stationed as time went on. Philip most likely wouldn't have had to end his Navy career so soon.
 
I don't see the queen (I mean ELiz II) bringing the children to Malta. She watned to be with Philip, and left Anne and Chalres mostly in London.
 
I agree, Denville. Charles and Anne would have continued to be left in London with their grandparents. They likely would have spent more time with them (and less with their parents) had George VI lived longer.
 
I think Philip's naval career would definitely have lasted probably another fifteen to twenty years longer than it did, if the King had remained a hale and hearty individual until his nineties. As her parents passed into their seventies Elizabeth and Philip would have undoubtedly taken on more and more royal duties. I do think though that the loss of his naval career is one of the big unspoken regrets of Prince Philip's life.
 
I think so too. Along these lines, its quite possible that should Philip's naval career be extended 15-20 years, its quite possible that his influence over Charles would have maybe been quite different. If Philip was away at sea more, Charles may have had more freedom to be the person he was than to be molded into the image of man that Philip thought he should be.

Wow. Who'd a thunk that all these ideas on "what could have been" could arise from the "what if" George VI had lived to a ripe old age eh? :D
 
While all this is starting IMO to get far too speculative (how can one really make any kind of guesses about such a huge event ) I don't believe that Charles was "moulded" into the person Philp want him to be. I think that he is very different to Philip, and always would have been. and so there would have always been problems between them.
 
QEQM, to me, doted on and spoiled Charles to the nth degree, was it because he was the first born and a son, the heir? I don't know and I certainly don't want to speculate. I've always wondered if that would have occurred had King George not died at such an early age. The photos I've seen of HM with his grandchildren appeared to show that he was just as thrilled and taken with Anne as with Charles. It's just speculation on my part.
OT: Andrew is a pompous and spoiled and I've read that he's the Queen's favorite child, but other sources have written that Edward is the favorite so, again, no one knows the truth and it comes out as speculation.
 
I doubt it. I think she loved Charles just because she loved him as we all do. (I Do think that Andy is the queen's favourite indeed, and perhaps Edward is next as he's the youngest).
but Charles IS shy and queite and easily cast down, and has an irritable temper when depressed.. very like George VI. so esp as Eliz II was busy with being a wife and with her early accession to the throne, it seems to me that the QM did then fuss over Charles a and try to make up to him for his parents being different and distant.
 
Katrianna said:
QEQM, to me, doted on and spoiled Charles to the nth degree, was it because he was the first born and a son, the heir? I don't know and I certainly don't want to speculate. I've always wondered if that would have occurred had King George not died at such an early age. The photos I've seen of HM with his grandchildren appeared to show that he was just as thrilled and taken with Anne as with Charles. It's just speculation on my part.
OT: Andrew is a pompous and spoiled and I've read that he's the Queen's favorite child, but other sources have written that Edward is the favorite so, again, no one knows the truth and it comes out as speculation.
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Regarding the 'favourites'. As I understand it The Queen favours Andrew, Philip favours Anne but collectively they favour Edward and neither favours Charles.
 
books on royal family

I have begun reading biographies about the British Royal family. I read "Diana: Her True Story" by Andrew Morton, the authorized biography of the Queen Mother by Shawcross, another book on the Queen Mother, by Lady Colin Campbell, and I am almost done reading the authorized biography on King Edward VIII. There are two books I want to read on Queen Mary, the consort to King George V. I was reading some reviews on Amazon and one person said to definitely read the authorized biography by James Pope-Hennessey as well as "Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor" in tandem. Is there an authorized biography on King George VI and maybe another good book about him? Also, what about books on George V? I seem to be working my way backwards. :blink: It is interesting to me to see the same events from the perspective of the different people involved. Also, is there a good book King George V's family? It would be interesting to read about all of them in one book and about their family life and how it affected their ultimate choices in addition to reading about them one at the time. Thanks.
 
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I just began reading "The Reluctant King" by Sarah Bradford. I have made it to the part where Prince Albert (King George VI) and Elizabeth have decorated The Royal Lodge. It discussed how he decorated his bedroom and how she decorated her bedroom. At this point in their marriage they are still a young couple, married about 10 years. I have a question that is probably naive: why separate bedrooms?
 
Still common in upper classes at that time, and they changed even slower.

The Queen and PP still do this to some extent.
 
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My working class grandparents started sleeping in separate bedrooms after about 30 years of marriage and did so until my grandfather died 5 years ago. The reason they gave was that she snored and he liked to watch TV in bed.
 
duchessrachel said:
I just began reading "The Reluctant King" by Sarah Bradford. I have made it to the part where Prince Albert (King George VI) and Elizabeth have decorated The Royal Lodge. It discussed how he decorated his bedroom and how she decorated her bedroom. At this point in their marriage they are still a young couple, married about 10 years. I have a question that is probably naive: why separate bedrooms?
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Not only was it very common among the upper class, apparently Cookie wasn't very fond of "certain aspects of married life".
 
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