ICO = 00 100 :LD = 00 CD "CO KING GEORGE AND THE ROYAL FAMILY KING GEORGK V Bust by Alfred Drury, K.A. &y permission of the sculptor KING GEORGE j* K AND THE ROYAL FAMILY y ;' ,* % j&i ?**? BY EDWARD LEGGE AUTHOR OF 'KING EDWARD IN HIS TRUE COLOURS' VOLUME I LONDON GRANT RICHARDS LTD. ST. MARTIN'S STREET MCMXVIII " . tjg. _^j_ $r .ffft* - i ' JO^ > ' < DA V.I PRINTED IN OBEAT BRITAIN AT THE COMPLETE PRESS WEST NORWOOD LONDON CONTENTS CHAP. PAQB I. THE KING'S CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES : HIS ACCESSION AND " DECLARATION " 9 II. THE QUEEN 55 " III. THE KING BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP SEA" 77 IV. THE INTENDED COERCION OF ULSTER 99 V. THE KING FALSELY ACCUSED OF " INTER- VENTION " 118 VI. THE MANTLE OF EDWARD VII INHERITED BY GEORGE V 122 VII. KING GEORGE AND QUEEN MARY IN PARIS (1914) 138 VIII. THE KING'S GREAT ADVENTURE (1914) 172 IX. THE MISHAP TO THE KING IN FRANCE, 1915 180 X. THE KING'S OWN WORDS 192 XI. WHY THE SOVEREIGNS ARE POPULAR 254 XII. THE KING ABOLISHES GERMAN TITLES, AND FOUNDS THE ROYAL HOUSE AND FAMILY OF WINDSOR 286 " XIII. " LE ROY LE VEULT 816 XIV. KING GEORGE, THE KAISER, HENRY THE SPY, AND MR. GERARD : THE KING'S TELE- GRAMS, AND OTHERS 827 f 6 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XV. KING GEORGE'S PARENTS IN PARIS 841 XVI. THE GREATEST OF THE GREAT GARDEN PARTIES 347 XVII. THE KING'S ACTIVITIES OUTLINED : 1910-1917 356 XVIII. THE CORONATION 372 ILLUSTRATIONS To face page KING GEORGE V Frontispiece His LATE MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII 40 PORTRAIT OF THE LATE PRINCESS MARY OF CAMBRIDGE 56 THE CHILDREN OF THE ROYAL FAMILY 74 THE KING AND QUEEN AT THE AMERICAN OFFICERS' CLUB, MAYFAIR 122 THE KING AND PRESIDENT POINCARE 138 THE QUEEN AND MADAME POINCARE 158 " HAPPY," THE KING'S DOG 176 A LUNCHEON PARTY AT SANDRINGHAM 190 His MAJESTY KING GEORGE V IN BRITISH FIELD-MARSHAL'S UNIFORM 226 FACSIMILES OF CHRISTMAS CARDS 268 H.R.H. PRINCESS MARY 282 " " LONG LIVE THE HOUSE OF WINDSOR ! 294 PRINCE HENRY OF PRUSSIA 332 PRINCE CHARLES OF SWEDEN AND HIS CONSORT 352 THE LATE LEOPOLD I, KING OF THE BELGIANS 372 CHAPTER I THE KING'S CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES: HIS ACCESSION AND "DECLARATION"* King George has not been long upon the throne ; but he too has played a part in which we older folk see an assurance that he will hand down to his suc- cessors untarnished and undimmed the lustre of the glory of which he is the heir. LORD REDESDALE, GC.V.O., K.C.B., 1915. OUR Sovereign's parents, the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, were married at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on March 10, 1863, the issue of the union being three sons (the youngest of whom died on April 6, 1871, the day after his birth) and three daughters. The latter are Princess Louise, Princess Royal, born in 1867, widow of the Duke of Fife ; Princess Victoria, born in 1868 ; and Princess Maud, born in 1869, and married in 1896 to her cousin, Prince Christian (second son of Frederick VIII, King of Denmark), who in 1905 ascended the throne of Norway as King Haakon VII. Prince George, who was born at Marlborough House, London, on June 3, 1865, was christened * The Crowning of the King and Queen is described in vol. ii. 9 10 KING GEORGE in the private chapel at Windsor Castle on July 7. By the death of his only brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, on January 14, 1892, Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert became Heir Apparent. King George's illustrious grandmother, Queen Victoria, although descended from our Norman and Plantagenet kings, had in her the blood of no later Stuart Sovereign than James I. Although of Guelphic and Brunswick descent, the lines of our Saxon Sovereigns and of the ancient kings of Scotland centred in her, so that she had, and her descendants have, every claim to the Throne that birth can give. The King and his elder brother were brought up in very simple fashion. Prince George was destined for the Navy. As a first start in life the two boys underwent a salutary two years' training on the Britannia, at Dartmouth. In August, 1879, they joined the Bacchante, in which they made a voyage round the world, lasting from 1879 until 1882. I had a friend on that ship, and he wrote fully to me at intervals, so that I was enabled to give the public the first original account of the voyage of the Princes. Four years later the official history " appeared, dedicated to Queen Victoria by Her Majesty's affectionate and dutiful grandsons, Albert Victor C. Edward, George Frederick E. Albert." * Canon Dalton was their tutor on the voyage, and the commander of the ship was Lord Charles Scott. After the cruise Prince George was sent on the * " The Cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante." London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1886. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY 11 Continent for instruction in French and German, in which he ultimately became fairly proficient, although he has never become his father's equal in his knowledge of languages. In 1884 we find Prince George a sub-lieutenant on board the Canada, and next passing some months in training at Greenwich. In the following year he served in the Mediterranean on the Dreadnought, and later on the Alexandra, the Duke of Edinburgh's flagship. He commanded the Thrush before he was twenty-five, and represented Queen Victoria at the opening of the Jamaica Exhibition. In 1898 he commanded the Crescent during the naval manoeuvres. It was not until 1901, the year of his grandmother's death, that he was appointed Rear- Admiral. In 1903 he became a Vice-Admiral, in 1907 an Admiral, and in 1910 an Admiral of the Fleet. On the death of his brother in January, 1892, Prince George became Heir Apparent, and shortly afterwards took his seat in the House of Lords as Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. His actual work at sea was now over, but he has remained a devotee of the Navy to this day. One of the many episodes of the voyage on the Bacchante was an interview of the Princes with the Mikado at Tokio, at which the Empress of Japan was present. The Diary of the two Princes during their cruise of nearly three years in the Bacchante was written by the boys themselves and edited by Canon Dalton, who tells us that not the slightest difference was made between them and their gunroom messmates. 12 KING GEORGE One of their most notable experiences was their visit to Cetywayo, whom we had deposed from the Zulu throne. He was a prisoner near Cape Town when they saw him in 1881. With him were his four wives, who (the Princes noted) each weighed between sixteen and seventeen stone. The ex- King was wearing European clothes, but he gave his visitors a photograph of himself in his native "get-up." He seemed very anxious to be free, " if only to make an end of the Boers. Let " me go," he said, and I will walk through the Boers." Canon Dalton, who was in charge of the two " " " " young Princes, Eddie and George (known " " " to their messmates as Sprat and Herring "), " " gave Mr. J. E. Vincent a clear impression of the lines on which the early education of the boys was " planned : The father insisted that modern lan- guages, history, and mathematics were more impor- tant than English classics. Mr. Dalton did not disagree with him, but he made it clear that the act of learning Latin has an educational value apart from the result secured, and he carried his point. Among the Latin books which they read was the Vulgate, from which, in their letters home during the Bacchante cruise, both boys were in the habit of quoting." It would be a great national service were a cheap, "popular" edition of "The Cruise of H.M.S. " Bacchante issued, and copies placed in every school throughout the Empire and in all public (free) libraries, but more especially in the schools. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY 13 THE ACCESSION THE NEW SOVEREIGN PROCLAIMED HIS FIRST PRIVY COUNCIL Official. From a Supplement Extraordinary to the "London Gazette" issued on Saturday, May 7, 1910. WHITEHALL, May 7, 1910. On Friday night the sixth of May instant, at a quarter to twelve o'clock, our late Most Gracious Sovereign King Edward the Seventh expired at Buckingham Palace in the sixty-ninth year of His age, and the tenth of His Reign. This event has caused one universal feeling of regret and sorrow to His late Majesty's faithful and attached subjects, to whom He was endeared by the deep interest in their welfare which He invariably manifested, as well as by the eminent and impressive virtues which illustrated and adorned His character. Upon the intimation of this distressing event, the Lords of the Privy Council assembled this day at St. James's Palace, and gave orders for pro- claiming His present Majesty, Who made a most Gracious Declaration to them, and caused all the Lords and others of the late King's Privy Council, who were then present, to be sworn of His Majesty's Privy Council. Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy our late Sovereign Lord King Edward the Seventh, of Blessed and Glorious Memory, by whose Decease the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Prince 14 KING GEORGE George Frederick Ernest Albert : We, therefore, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of this Realm, being here assisted with these of His late Majesty's Privy Council, with Numbers of other Principal Gentlemen of Quality, with the Lord Mayor, Alder- men, and Citizens of London, do now hereby, with one Voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart, pub- lish and proclaim, That the High and Mighty Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert is now, by the Death of our late Sovereign of Happy Memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lord, George the Fifth by the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Defender of the of India To we do Faith, Emperor ; whom acknowledge all Faith and constant Obedience, with all Affection hearty and humble ; beseeching God, by whom Kings and Queens do reign, to bless the Royal Prince George the Fifth with long and happy years to reign over Us.