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The death of Clarence in 1892 led to George's creation as Duke of York, then to his espousal of Princess Mary of Teck one sweltering July day in 1893. They began to travel soon after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 which made them Prince & Princess of Wales. They opened Australia's first Parliament. They returned home by way of South Africa & Canada. They read the saga of their exploit in a plush-bound volume. The Web of Empire, by Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace.
In 1910, after King Edward's death. Parliament took no chances with King George's religion, passed the act requiring him and his successors to swear, "I do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify and declare that I am a faithful Protestant." Next year His Majesty was crowned as King in London June 22, as Emperor at Delhi Dec. 12.
"Pure, kindly and useful" were the adjectives under which Their Majesties entered the Wrar, but soon George V was applying the expletive "damn him!" to his first cousin Wilhelm II, and Their Majesties came naturally under the sway of Britain's top-notch fight propaganda. When the War was three years old His Majesty renounced the numerous German titles of himself & family, changed the British dynastic name from Saxe-Coburg und Gotha to Windsor and became a frequent visitor behind the Allied front in France.
On seven days after the Armistice Their Majesties drove to seven different parts of sprawling London, received tempestuous acclaim. Dec. 27. 1918 they banqueted President & Mrs. Thomas Woodrow Wilson at Buckingham Palace. Three years later they ventured into Northern Ireland—not into the Irish Free State—and King George, opening the first Parliament at Belfast, begged all Irishmen to "forbear . . . forgive . . . forget."
Since then His Majesty has only thrice attracted unusual notice: when he opened the Wembley Exposition (1924); when he nearly died of pleurisy (1928-29); and last year when he bucked up discouraged James Ramsay MacDonald, gave that Laborite & Socialist courage to turn his back on both Labor & Socialism, thus made possible the founding of the MacDonald National Government.
To this day George V prefers his original role of "The Sea Prince." According to his valet the uniform His Majesty prefers to wear is that of Admiral of the Fleet, though he is compelled to dress oftener as a Field Marshal. Like most Navy men the King reads newspapers in preference to books, drinks standard whiskey & soda almost to the exclusion of vintage wines, takes Queen Mary to more musical comedies than operas, to more variety (vaudeville) shows than dramas. ''That man, Al Trahan the American comedian," His Majesty said after shedding tears of laughter at a zany whose act consists in getting chewing gum on his fingers and the seat of his trousers while playing a piano, "made me laugh very much."