Heir and Spare - Edward and George (2023)

[Music] heavy is the heads that wears the crown but heavier is the burden of being next in line the British royal family is built on the traditional duty until death for every heir to the throne there is a spare I think that if you were if you're the heir to the Monarch there's always a sense of preparation to become a king or queen Well Albert who later became George VI was very close to Edward as a younger man and of course so it would have the nickname of David which all his family gave him I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Albert hero worshiped his elder brother George VI was the complete opposite of his brother Edward he was reserved he was anxious he was shy he was dutiful was to many British people like a movie star he was somebody who was seen as this incredibly exciting figure and George VI was not even a you know Rep Theater star he was somebody who was seen as lacking any kind of Glamor so he knew this he knew he wasn't like his brother but as a character he was a much less likely King than Edward ever was Edward and George two brothers both would become king but one was never crowned the spare became the heir and I think that's very difficult because in these Regal and aristocratic families the air is really conditioned and expected to become king and grows up with a sense of their Destiny and all that entails and the brother never really thinks that they are going to become king George VI approached his role as Monarch seriously with a sense of Duty and diligence he he sought to emulate the best qualities of his father's reign he upheld a sense of responsibility he completely committed to his duty especially when he suddenly had to become king they were both princes but only one was destined to be king I mean there's no way that um George can have been prepared for his role to be king George VI when he became king knew exactly what his duty was he hated it but he would never have dreamed from shirking it [Music] the house of Windsor was erected in 1917 during the rule of King George V King George V was the Second Son of Albert Edwards VII Prince of Wales the eldest son of Queen Victoria [Music] King George V rose to the throne when his father passed away on the 6th of May 1910 and was coronated the following year at Westminster Abbey in June 1911. he served the nation for 26 years and fathered six children two of whom were the future kings Prince Edward and Prince Albert the brothers quarreled growing up and further tensions continued to grow later on [Music] so of his four Sons the two Elders later at the open George VI had a very difficult relationship with him because he was this cold figure and his wife Mary was cold as well and it's very much a sense that everyone was brought up in a way to understand Duty and the idea of Duty as the central tenet of what you were suspected to do as a royal Prince assuming that he labored home intensively and if we looked at it now we almost forgot it as abusive because we look at the idea that these children were being treated in ways that were not Humane and were not kind while we can say that George V was definitely a good King we cannot say that he was a good father and George and Mary were incredibly old-fashioned Edwardian parents believing that children should be seen even rarely and not heard apparently Freda Dudley Ward said of Edward that he had always said that he hated his father and his father was horrible to him and while he loved his mother his mother wouldn't let him love her and that she always sided with the king so it was an incredibly authoritarian disciplined cold emotionally unrewarding childhood it's really interesting that Edward said of his childhood that Christmas was Dickens in a Cartier setting and I think that really sums it up that while they had the trappings of wealth and incredible luxury there was tremendous neglect and even when the family had no visitors in the evening they would dress for dinner in full regalia in Tiaras in diamonds but there was no emotional warmth the children were educated by pretty mediocre governesses and tutors Edward later said that he had a curious type of loneliness Prince Albert was born in the winter of 1895. the second Elder son to King George V and Mary of tech born six years before the death of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria the shy Prince known as Bertie to his family grew up in the shadow of his elder brother Prince Edward George VI was quiet as a child he had a good relationship with his other siblings but he wasn't as excitable as his older brother Edward Albert was a more withdrawn figure closer to his father than his other brothers and in keeping with his father's interests and he enjoyed the quiet life away in the countryside out of the public eye George VI was the opposite of his brother Edward growing up he was Albert he was known as Bertie he was shy he was retiring while his brother was outgoing he wasn't as good looking as Edward he wasn't as well dressed he wasn't as charismatic he didn't have his own success with women Edward's relationship with his younger brother Bertie was very warm when they were younger boys there was very very little the between them in terms of their age and they grew up best of friends however as the the two men Grew Older uh life became a bit more difficult George had a very specific way that he wanted to live he was much more of a kind of private figure he was more withdrawn in terms of his Public Image he didn't have the the sort of the Charisma and the glamor that was possessed uh by his older brother Edward he didn't have a great deal of confidence and the reason why he didn't have a great deal of confidence was because he had a stammer now psychologists have have sought to try and explain um the the stammer in relation to the the fraught relationship that the Royal children had had with with the king with their father George V growing up and that uh the Young The Young birdie growing up had been almost terrified by his by his father and the expectations that his father had imposed on him he didn't have a great deal of confidence he wasn't as outgoing as as other members of his family and a bit more withdrawn I think in that respect we can understand why later on he would be a more reluctant figure when it came to becoming King as a character he was a much less likely King than Edward ever was because he was somebody who didn't seem to be very comfortable around people Edward VII is quite a difficult man to really pin down at the end of writing my book about the Windsors I was still conflicted about him because in many ways he was very spoiled he was very endulled he was the opposite of his father who had Duty in bread in every poor whereas with Edward Duty was drilled into him which he really resented so he wanted to be more spontaneous he definitely was more modern he was he went against the grain of his upbringing The Establishment his background he was a product of his upbringing he was both spoiled and neglected but in terms of what he was like he was quite amicable as a young man because he was somebody who enjoyed going to nightclubs he enjoyed Jazz he enjoyed drinking so he definitely was a rule breaker push against the extension he he followed his heart over his head he was the antithesis of the emotionally contained Royal dutiful king or Heir Apparent he was definitely a Dandy Edward I mean he it was extraordinary given who his parents were and they're rigidly conformist um rather dull style of dress that suddenly here was this character who championed the Prince of Wales Czech who wore Knickerbockers who wore flamboyant clothes [Music] I mean if you look at photographs of him as a young man he's he knows what to do with a camera I mean he's got this star quality which you simply cannot fake and that's I think is why he was somebody who was so beloved by so many people because he was good looking and he was glamorous he was excited by change and Innovation as a man he engaged in lots of Outdoor Pursuits things like flying golf skiing swimming he was a real sort of show man in that respect [Music] Edward was the soldier Prince he was expected given his age to set an example to other young men of his Generation by going to the Western Front as a symbol of British manhood of what other young men should be doing unfortunately when he got there he wasn't actually allowed to fight and he found this very frustrating he was kept away from the front line um he wanted to be on the front line he wanted an opportunity to test his manhood to test his masculinity like other people of his class and it was completely devastating for him when they said that because of who he was he couldn't risk going to the front and when he was later awarded the military cross he said that he felt a complete fraud he didn't deserve it he had a feeling of self-loathing that he had these positions but he didn't feel worthy of them like a lot of young privileged men he saw the first world war or the great Wars it was called as a simple Battle of good against evil and of course he saw himself as being very much on the side of good but what it did do miss I think became crucial in his later life was it also gave him a great respect for the Germans because his family had German Heritage and he was like a lot of his men fighting against people who didn't think were actually bad he didn't think the Kaiser was bad he just thought it was something that it was an unfortunate territorial War oh in January of 1936 King George V died suddenly at home in Sandringham house his son Edward VII became king and Prince Albert became the spare and by all accounts he was happy with his role as spare content with the life in the shadows however Edward's kingship wouldn't last long though the young and fashionable King was much beloved by the public both Palace and Parliament were in agreement that he was not well suited to the job there was a great deal of affection for him among the British public because he had this this special intimate relationship with them this continued when he was King however in terms of the the business of government he was he was less dutiful he wasn't as exacting as his father he wasn't as committed to going through the through government papers to signing those off often courtiers would come home and find government documents covered in sort of stains from wine glasses and that sort of thing he didn't take that work as seriously as he should have done Prince Edward who later became Edward VII was quite possibly of most unsuitable man who ever became king everything about his character was entirely unsuited to the role of a monarchy but this could be seen even as a young man because from his university days at Morton College Oxford onwards he was somebody who escaped from his rather chafing boundary that he found himself under because his parents had essentially told him all of his young life you are going to be this dutiful Prince you are going to be king you were going to do this you're going to do that by the time that Edward was of age he had a simple answer this no I'm not and I suppose it was just tension between his upbringing and the values that had been instilled in him by governesses by his parents by courtiers by all those around him and his own inclinations but later spelled disaster both for him and nearly for the country Edward was in love with a woman who was not suitable for the king of the country Wallace Simpson an American socialite who had already been married and divorced prior to their relationship but at the time the rules were very clear remarriage after divorce was forbidden if a former spouse was still alive it was hoped that the relationship would fizzle out however Edward's infatuation was far too strong to be broken by naysayers I think the sense that you get is that Edward is sort of in awe of a woman who refuses to placate him Edward really liked the fact that Wallace was sharp tongued uh quick-witted she had a great sense of humor and she didn't suffer fools always spoke to him as an equal she didn't treat him as a kind of Superior and I think he liked the fact she would hold into account it was well known in high society that this affair between Wallace and Edward had been going on over the course of 1936 the British government also increasingly came to learn about the relationship however it was hidden from the British public and this is because the great press Barons Lord Beaver Brook and Lord rothermeer had conspired together to basically say to other Fleet Street editors of newspapers that they mustn't publish the story about Wallace and Edward that this must be kept a closely started secret this was because there was real concern about what the public response would be and ultimately they were very successful Beaver Brook and Rotherham in keeping this eclectically guarded secret right through until the end of 1936. one of the cruelest aspects of history in this respect is that everybody in um the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson Circle who met Mrs Simpson really liked her and really admired her and could see what a good influence she was on the king however it was the Unholy Trinity as I call them of Palace Parliament and church who did not want Edward on the throne and in my opinion uh Mrs Simpson became the suitable scapegoat for that [Music] Edward was faced with a choice in addition to Rising tensions between him the government and his controversial political views he was faced with a dilemma of love the King was given two options put an end to his relationship with Wallace Simpson and find another Suitor or abdicate the throne and pursue his lover [Music] 1936 the year that changed everything Edwards VII ultimately followed his heart and abdicated the British throne in order to marry the woman he loved leading the nation as king for only 325 days and becoming the first Monarch in British history to abdicate the throne he had chosen love over Duty the event triggered a constitutional crisis across the British Empire Edward's decision upended his younger brother's life as the shy Prince Albert became King George VI and his two young daughters Elizabeth and Margaret became next in line to the throne George VI was desperate not to become king he was absolutely terrified by responsibilities of what would happen but when he became king he accepted it he accepted it was his responsibility that it was saying he would have to deal with but in the abconishment absolutely fine and the thing was was that Churchill was watching it with his wife Clementine and he said after he'd seen the king crowned you're quite right it could never have been the other one and I think the idea of George is the rightful King and Edward's reign as being a kind of strange anomaly was proved to many people by the fact that coronation was a success it's extraordinary when you think about it that one year Saw Three Kings of England George V Edward VII and George VI but I think what's very interesting also it's very completely different kinds of people George V was the last of the victorians he was this Stern unbending old-fashioned route Edward was the first modern Monarch he's somebody who probably Bears more relation to monarchy today than he did to his own time he was somebody who prized personal happiness personal fulfillment and what he wanted to do over any concept of Duty any concept of conventional kingship he was somebody who was completely ill-equipped for the job but she never thought he'd have to do he was somebody who was terrified by the responsibilities that came along with it but what he had which served him exceptionally well later was first of all his father's sense of Duty and his father's sense of the monarchy is something sacred but he also had the ability to listen to people which his brother never did and that was what was so crucial this started a rivalry between Elizabeth and her sister Margaret who had later become herself the spare to the air this was a highly controversial time as George VI spent his entire life believing that his brother would become king and he could live a quiet life with his wife and two daughters out of the monarchy Limelight George VI was never supposed to be king he was destined to live out his life as the spare Heir supporting and representing his older brother the rightful heir but from the 11th of December 1936 this all took a turn when it became clear that Edward was thinking about abdicating the throne in order to marry Wallace Simpson there was an enormously mixed reaction you could essentially summarize it like this the middle classes were horrified and disgusted because they saw that the king having this relationship with a married woman and a divorced woman so it was completely unacceptable for working classes didn't think anything of this they thought it was absolutely fair enough that they loved the king but once seemed to be happy and they were very very keen that he remained on the throne Edward made a speech immediately after he abdicated to the British people via the BBC Radio Airwaves and now we all have the new king I wish him and you his people happiness and prosperity with all my heart God bless you all God Save the King Edward always knew that abdication was a possibility if we go and look at the Diaries of his friends and Associates earlier on in 1936 when they're talking about the affair before it's become public news we know that Edward was already considering this idea that he might have to abdicate in order to marry the woman he loved however this was not plan a he would have preferred to stay as king this was a role he cared about deeply that he wanted to play and he wanted to marry the woman he loved ultimately he was pushed towards option b which was ultimately giving up the throne in order to marry Wallace in one sense it wasn't a difficult decision at all because the thing that he was most clear about was that he could not be an effective king without the support of the woman he loved and that this relationship meant more to him than anything however for a man like that who'd been brought up uh in that household obviously to abdicate was the most seismic devastating event and I think he genuinely felt terrible at letting the people who loved him down I don't think it was a question of uh he felt guilt at betraying the palace or Parliament because I think he felt they had betrayed him actually Wallace did not want Edward to abdicate for a very simple reason that Wallace was terrified of what was going to happen to her she enjoyed being the mistress for Prince of Wales she enjoyed the financial advantages that gave her the social advantages gave her the gifts that were lavished upon her that she could live in the life and the style that she'd always been accustomed to as it was rain went on she began to get more and more frightened because she was the subject of personal abuse for how she was living in in Regents Park had its Windows smashed there was the constant worry of it she was going to be attacked or worse and she began to feel by the time of the application crisis that she did not want to be embroiled in this so she actually fled to France when it was at its peak and she tried very very hard to give Edward up but Edward would not give her up and in fact we've seen some of the um letters and the telegrams that exchanged and it's utterly terrifying because he was so obsessed by her but at one point he said of course you can go anywhere you want you can go to China you can go to Newfoundland but wherever you will go I will follow you when she tried to escape him prior to the abdication and say look you know please don't do this she from afar You Can Be an Effective King and just prior to the abdication one of his courtiers said he was exalted to the point of Madness and at this point was sleeping with a loaded pistol under his pillow and he he literally emotionally blackmailed Wallace and said if you leave me I shall kill myself and there was a really real possibility of that he was so unhinged at this stage and she she just couldn't risk that King George VI potentially had one of the most stressful experiences as king his first year as king saw the death of one and the abdication of another before his unexpected and unprepared shift to the spotlight George vixt or Bertie as he was known was absolutely terrified of the idea of becoming King it was something he'd never wanted he had a debilitating stammer which meant for any kind of public speaking was nearly impossible for him and it was with complete fear that he watched the rise of the abdication crisis because he did not want to be king he wanted to have a quiet blameless Life as a husband a father somebody who was a royal Prince who's stammered his way through speeches he had to give they never ever wanted responsibility of actually ruling and so he was looking at his brother and begging him not to abdicate but Ed wasn't interested because his attitude was very Bluff it was to Pat his brother on the back and say never mind old man he'll do this much better than I ever did so when he became king it was with an almost impossible set of expectations how on Earth do you follow somebody who has not just been this popular Trend setting figure but she was given up a friend abdicated I mean how do you follow that and when he made his abdication speech from Windsor Castle on the evening of 11th December 1936. there was people were listening to it all over the country they were weeping it was a huge national moment because no King had ever abdicated before and the fact that he was doing so For Love or at least what appeared to be love made people feel this was a great sentimental passion we know that Bertie is as Edward's younger brother was very anxious about becoming King he wasn't a public figure on the same level as his brother had been he wasn't very good in front of the cameras he struggled to make speeches he was a reluctant Monarch in that respect and he knew that the coming king would mean that he had to put his home life his family on the back burner that he had to embrace Duty responsibility now first and foremost in the one sense when because he was so heart-led it wasn't a difficult decision because his heart led the way but I think in his head obviously there must have been conflict and he loved his brother and he knew the strain he was then going to be putting on to his brother but as he said Bertie was a better mold of King he was going to be more dutiful he had a more stoic traditional wife in Elizabeth Bose Lion in fact Edward didn't cause collapse in the country it was better for the country that he wasn't king it was decided that Edward could not remain in Britain any longer because it was felt that having an ex-king in his own country created the situation that was both right with constitutional issues but it was also difficult from a perspective of how he would be regarded because there was always a fear of Edward having a kind of rival court because there was such public sympathy towards him after the abdication Edward left Britain for Europe he traveled to Austria he had to wait six months to be reunited with Wallace and that was because Wallace's divorce had to be finalized eventually in May 1937 Edward and Wallace are finally reunited in France the British press go wild they've they followed this story they've they've waited for this moment of of reunion and really it was it was seen as a as a moment where that story the scandal of the abdication had finally come to a happy end when Edward Wallace were reunited at the Chateau khande in France um it's really very moving I mean he just rushed up the steps to be with her and they were they were so tender at that stage because it really was them against the world I mean we have to remember that the time of the abdication Wallace was getting death threats in the terms of letters on her breakfast tray and she actually said you know every morning when I received these letters I know that the world has turned against me that the world hates me she had become the most hated woman in the world well Edward became obsessed after the abdication with Wallace being referred to as her Royal Highness and this was a real bug bear of his he would bring it up constantly in letters to his brother to his brother George for six he brings up in letters to the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain he'd bring it up every conceivable opportunity but the problem was was that in British Society there was such contempt and disdain for Wallace but nobody wants to give her any kind of honorific title and Edward was absolutely incensed by this because he saw it correctly but it was a snub both to his wife and to him but nobody else would have been given this treatment and you can see that his relationship with George VI immediately after the abdication crisis was reasonably civil but before he got married the relationship had more or less broken down between the brothers and the letters of exchanged open animosity on Edward's part open anger and increasingly on George's part you can see this resignation mixed with a sense of why didn't you do what you're told when Prince Albert Rose to power he adopted one of his other names George and became King George VI during the reign of Queen Victoria she stated she never wanted a king to rule with the name Albert she didn't want her own beloved Albert to be overshadowed by the reign of another so out of respect Prince Albert adopted his new name by 1920 the 25 year old Prince Albert would start looking for a wife and would find her in his longtime friend Lady Elizabeth boseline the couple were married on the 26th of April 1923 in Westminster Abbey and became the Duke and Duchess of York Bertie found his closest Confidant and greatest supporter in his in his wife Elizabeth after a number of unsuccessful attempts to woo her and and propose marriage to her she eventually consented and agreed to agree to marry him there was some talk at the time about whether she was in fact more interested in his older brother Edward Prince of Wales and that was one of the reasons why she originally turned Bertie down nevertheless she would get married to Bertie they would embodied everything that was best about the monarchy in this period in that they they presented themselves as very beautiful figures they they went out into public life and they toured towns and cities they opened hospitals they did all that was expected of Royals of their generation his relationship with his his wife Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth was well there's not to sentimentalize these things but it was a very happy relationship with two of them for many years very very much in love it was a very conventional match there was no question that there was get married they got married and had two daughters and essentially it gave him a stability and a happiness he'd always want it I suppose these days we call it anxiety that he suffered from which led to the stammer and she knew that he had this and she thought the best way of dealing with it was to deal essentially by removing him from situations he wasn't comfortable at she believed that he should be if you like wrapped up in a kind of cotton wool but she was also somebody who loved him and was Keen that he'd be kept away from the more taxing aspects of Royal life George forsost when he was a younger man was devoted to his wife Elizabeth the queen and to their children in Elizabeth and Margaret he was not somebody who was seeking the Limelight he was not somebody who wanted to have his his name up in lights he was somebody who would have much preferred a quiet simple family life and I think you can see that he was a he he served in World War one he was somebody he was the first member of his own family to have done so to have served on active service he had a great respect for the armed forces and you can see but if he never had become king he would have been one of those figures within the royal family who was always well liked whose debilitating stammer meant that public speaking was a nightmare for him but in private life he was absolutely fine he wasn't somebody who was affected by it to the extent that he was publicly 1936 was the year of three kings it was a year that greatly unsettled the British Monarchy given how popular Edward had been after he left there was a great sense of disappointment and a cloud uh hanged heavy over the British Monarchy and and actually George VI the new king he was really overshadowed by his brother now titled the Duke of Windsor through the the early years of his Reign he had to do much to win back the loyalty and affection of the greater British public the public didn't really want George VI as king because they were largely enamored with his brother George VI approached his role as Monarch seriously with a sense of Duty and diligence he he sought to emulate the best qualities of his father's Reign notably emphasizing how he was putting his life um and his his sense of Duty ahead of all else that he was a public servant uh that he would continue in the vein of his father uh trying to support Britain and the empire and this image of him was of course in direct contrast with his brother who had put personal fulfillment uh ahead of national Duty Bertie had suffered from a stammer from childhood but it was massively worse and exacerbated by his responsibilities when he reached adulthood because he would have to give speeches and he hated it he hated it because he felt completely ill-equipped to do so and he would actively try and avoid opportunities of doing so because he felt embarrassed the problem is is that what he realized especially when his father was alive was that you can't duck these responsibilities and so he had these horrendously embarrassing experiences that he would go into address for kind of low-grade events you needed a member of a royal family to be at and he'd often find himself making noise rather than a conventional speech which is why he needed to have a speech therapist who could actually help him so the speech therapist but he hires or rather was hired for him by his wife was this man called lion or Logue who was not Australian and locals were unconventional because he didn't believe of a way of dealing with speech therapy was to be formal about it he dealt with with the king who he called Bertie informally as if they were friends as if he worked on the same level and the film a King's Speech offered a fiction those account of it and it's it's broadly accurate in what it suggests that there was of his friendship but there arose between them would that be agreeable of course yes and that would be the full extent of your services shall I see you next week I shall see you every day [Music] bounce [Music] the speech therapy was very effective for Bertie in that he did gaining confidence notably the the impediment would never fully go away but he would continue to stammer but nevertheless he became a much more confident and and competent public speaker than he had been before Kennard long be separated it did well that we have in one of the world capital a visible reminder of so great a truth without freedom there can be no enduring Thief and without teeth no endearing freedom but when he became king he accepted it he accepted it it was his responsibility that it was something he would have to deal with and although there are people who sneered at him such as the virus chips channel for lacking glamor for not being a charismatic figure for his stutter he was somebody who was trying his very best and I think that's what you can see the king as being somebody who was trying to be like his father not like his brother finally executed it's fortunate also in the position it occupied on the morning of the 3rd of September 1939 Great Britain and the British Empire declared war on Nazi Germany only three years into his sudden Ascent to the throne George she was still seeking to gain the favor of his people would now face a second world war this time as king this marks the start of World War II for Britain and the first major global conflict of George VI's reign King George served in the Royal Navy during the first world war he had War experience but now he was at the Forefront of decision making as the highest military power within the empire the day that war was declared against Germany was a great moment of sadness and concern for the British public they understood why this point had been reached that Hitler had time and again broken promises and as a result uh Chamberlain and Chamberlain's government had been forced to declare war on Germany in this moment of Crisis the British public I think were looking for for leadership not just from the government but also from the British royal family they were looking for reassurance that everything would be okay and that the nation would get through this moment of peril in this grave Allah perhaps the most faithful in our history I said to every household of my people both at home and overseas [Music] [Applause] the Duke of Windsor as both Prince of Wales and then as as King Edward VII had taken a real interest in in anglo-german relations he took a particular interest in the Nazi regime because he saw Hitler as a dynamic charismatic leader much like himself when he'd been Prince of Wales and then King he'd also been very impressed with what the Nazi party had done in resolving Germany's unemployment crisis in the mid-1930s some historians and biographers have gone us so fast to suggest that Edward was a fascist sympathizer notably His official biographer never went as far as to suggest that but it was certainly the case that Edward was very interested in what the Nazis had achieved in Germany and where they were taking the nation Edward felt this tremendous seam of guilt that he had promised Wallace in a way the world and had been able to deliver very little of it so he couldn't give her the title I mean I'm convinced that one of the reasons he bought her so many lavish Jewels was to compensate for the fact that she couldn't have the real crown jewels he wanted to treat her like his Queen and in fact in all his Royal houses everybody had to address her as hrh they had to Bow and curtsy to her so when the Germans cleverly seeing how weak he was said will you come on a tour and Edward said will you treat this like a royal tour will you give my wife the Pomp and pageantry she deserves and they said yes so of course he went thinking at last he could show Wallace what it would be like to be a royal Queen a consort on a royal tour completely I think naively and unaware to the Optics but I do not think that this meant he was a Nazi sympathizer the other historians I've spoken to don't think that I I think he was too politically and intellectually stupid to adhere to any ideological or political Creed I genuinely do all he wanted was recognition for his wife and the status that she deserved sure I am this yay now we are the masters of our faith [Music] after May 1940 and the defeat of France Edward and Wallace Flee for first of all Spain and then Portugal whilst they're there again a sort of conspiracy seems to encircle them about whether Edward would in fact like Germany to defeat Britain by bombing it into submission and then put him back in charge of the the British Monarchy so there are all these plot conspiracies rumors involving Edward possibly returning to Britain as a kind of puppet monarch and the bombing of Buckingham Palace in that respect represented an opportunity to demonstrate that royalty that crown and people were suffering together foreign Palace was born in several occasions in World War II the most spectacular one came relatively early in in the war when bombs landed sufficiently close to George VI and to Queen Elizabeth and their private secretary Alex Hardy but if it hadn't been for a couple of minor bits of chance we almost certainly would have been killed and it's very interesting to see this because whoever bombed Buckingham Palace knew exactly what they were doing we knew exactly which parts of the palace the king queen would have been in and you exactly where to hit it so there was clearly somebody working off some kind of intelligence which was not intelligence for the general public would have had there's certainly not intelligence for Nazi Germany would have had a question we have to ask is how would you have got that intelligence or were it not for fact there was somebody who was at loose who would have been able to tell people exactly if you wanted to bomb Buckingham Palace and kill my family this is how you do it and of course the question is did Edward actually want to see George VI and queen Kilt I don't know is the answer to that because on the one hand he didn't like his brother he was angry with his brother but was he actually a traitor it's decided by George VI his private secretary and Winston Churchill now a British prime minister that Edward needs to be sent away that he needs to be out of the public eye and they decide that he would be best place as governor of the Bahamas across the the Atlantic Sea where he can do no harm Edward felt very slighted to have been given this role of governor of the Bahamas I mean you can absolutely understand that you have been King of England King Emperor you know you've ruled over this Empire of 500 million people and you're now going to this tiny island in the Bahamas to be the governor he felt insulted because after the abdication he always wanted to have a suitable role a job within England and he really did fight for that but you know that was not going to be granted by the Queen Mother and Tommy lassells what's really interesting I think about his time in the Bahamas is of course you know the Press said Wallace was too extravagant at doing up Governor's house and spending all this money but I spoke to people whose children whose parents knew the Windsors in the Bahamas and they were incredibly liked they did a lot for local people for Charities they really threw themselves into the role and I think it's really telling that when Edward came back to Britain for his mother's funeral that the crowds 5 000 people turned up and they all called out to him and said you know sir and off their caps so that shows the respect of the not really the respect the love of the people for this man would you like to have gone on and had another job after that sir as I offered my services if they were required never gotten it would you like the Duke to have had a job yes very much very much in those days that's that's 25 years or so I think he could have done something why didn't you get a job do you think have to ask after the palace was born we're both absolutely terrified the king wrote in his diary that he couldn't quite believe what had happened and he was very very lucky to have escaped but Days Later he's he's still writing I look outside I can't forget seeing the bomb it's quite clear but it had a kind of traumatic effect on both of them there was a real sense of the traditional bounds coming down a real sense that they were all in it together so George was aware that in addition to being his country's King he was also acting as a kind of global Ambassador and somebody who was not a naturally outgoing figure it was a very difficult experience for him but in fact as the war went on he found himself taking on an active role in terms of making decisions and liaising with people at a very highest levels and he found himself becoming almost a military leader in and of his own right [Applause] the enemy who drove all the other into war has been finally overcome I think for what he understood was that despite being King he'd come to understand for daily lives for subjects sufficiently well and making this speech he was able to acknowledge they were going to be hard times ahead and so while you look up a speech now and you think that's not entirely what you'd expect from somebody who's just won the war you understand it far better than he was at his character and the kind of things that somebody would do in that situation when the E day finally happened George and his family were in the palace and this great cry went up we want the king we want the king and I think for although he was overruled by it in a very obviously being an actually shy and retiring man it was a lot for him to take on it was still a recognition but over the course of the second world war he had gone from being this figure who had been regarded with a sense of Suspicion a sense of distrust almost by the public who would preferred his brother to being this lauded figure along with church or who was there on the balcony with him but the two men were seen as absolutely indistinguishable in terms of their contribution to the war effort in terms of importance for the British national character and I think he ended for war an exceptionally popular monarch [Music] after the war had ended King George developed a heavy smoking habit which is believed to have caused him to develop lung cancer he later died in his sleep at the age of 56 in 1952. the King's funeral was held at Saint George's Chapel Windsor where he lies buried I think it's fair to say that the two things that destroyed George's health and led him to an early death first for his becoming King at all and secondly for sheer stress of what he had to do in World War II because if a war had never happened if a piece had been sought with Hitler that had then been agreed he may have lived longer but he was faced with the most horrendous stress and pressure you can understand why if you're being faced with that level of trauma it's not going to be something you can walk away from very easily there was a real sense of shock when George VI died not least because he was still such a young man only in his 50s the king had not started off as a very popular figure when he came to the throne in late 1936 but nevertheless he was associated with the war effort he had demonstrated that he was dutiful that he was diligent and and through that he had earned their loyalty and affection [Music] unlike his own father George was a dedicated Family Man and doted on his children referring often to his family unit as us for his family was what kept Him grounded throughout his life knowing that she would someday be Queen George VI taught his daughter Elizabeth everything she needed to know about being Monarch and the head of the Armed Forces but when the young princess embarked on a tour of Kenya with her husband in 1952 she never expected to return as Queen it was an enormous shock for Elizabeth I mean she hadn't expected to die if you don't sentimentalize these things because you don't want to make him look as if it's you know a heartbroken Queen but she was a relatively young woman recently recently married and she lost her father and in addition to personal loss she knew she was gonna have to become Queen I think that was a incredible moment because you know about stage that you've got to change your entire life but you'll never have your own life again and it was felt also that his death was in a sense it was as if Churchill had died it was as if this great hero this person who led from proof of War has gone and I think there was a sense of uncertainties as to who Elizabeth would be as to what kind of queen she'd be this young woman who her the highest profile thing she'd done beating having been to get married and to make a few speeches but she wasn't a known quantity I think again as at the end of 1936 there was a real sense of what happens next what happens now oh see throughout Georgia six train there's a pattern there's this incredibly difficult thing which has to be overcome George was not felt to be up to it and then for a combination of strength of character listening to people and sometimes just luck it always was overcome and that was a fascinating run of luck if you like I think that for Grace's Legacy of King George VI is actually his daughter I think that she has always she's always reigned very much as her father's daughter she's reigned to somebody who has prized constancy stability good humor and ability to connect with people in a way that they've always found reassuring and also a sense that monarchy has to be something of a continuation the queen has never been somebody who has seen the monarchy as an opportunity to show about unlike her uncle she'll see monarchy as a duty and I think that's very much her father's influence he was faced with most horrendous situation that anybody has faced with in 20th century and he was a successful king during it and despite his ill health despite his stammer despite his shyness by his character he was able to instill in his children especially his eldest daughter a sense that this is how you conduct yourself this is how the royal family has to behave and we see his influence every day today Edward VII died on March 28 1972. in his will he left everything to his beloved Wallace and the British royal family when Edward VII died the public reaction was one of tremendous grief even though he had been in Exile and even though he had as British people saw it forsaken them such was the strength of his popularity and Charisma that there was still an affection for him so of course his death was was a terribly sad time for the country those that remembered him remembered him with affection all the Spite and all the blame was unfairly meted out to Mrs Simpson and he was still The Golden Boy the Legacy was love that his legacy was he gave up everything for the woman that he loved and that's what we remember him most for the early life of The Quiet Prince Albert was overshadowed by his gregarious elder brother and heir to the throne Edward and his life was shaped by the trauma of a decision that was never his own his brother's abdication he instilled this sense of Duty to both his family and Country into his daughter who would become Queen Elizabeth II the longest reigning monarch in British history at King George VI been alive to see Elizabeth and Margaret grow up to lead independent yet close lives his feelings would only grow for his daughters the now fraught relationship between princes William and Harry has Echoes stretching back more than 100 years now it is the conscientious and dedicated George VI we remember for steering Britain through the dark days of the second world war defying a debilitating stammer to do so and it was Edward the one with the good looks athleticism and confidence who was cast out into ignominious exile from the start George and Edwards seemed born for their respective roles of the air and the spare but the air was never crowned and the one who was not born to rule was destined to reign I think that the legacy of King George is so strong precisely because it's contrasted against the legacy of his brother so Edward is seen as somebody who jettisoned the Throne of England and George is seen as somebody who didn't want it who sat on it and did his very best on it and brought great stability to the country and also had this secure tight family that played out so well with the British people and but to his credit Edward did have a sense of that and did allude to that in his abdication speech that they were in very safe hands with his brother who had the love of um a dutiful and warm wife and had this sense of family and would be a better King as a result [Music] thank you

Channel: Royalty TV

Views: 274,065

Keywords: diana, princess diana, prince harry, prince william, king charles, charles and diana, kristin stewart, princess of wales, people's princess, royal family, british royal family, history, british history, queen elizabeth ii, queen elizabeth, king charles iii, camilla, queen camilla, duke of sussex, duchess of sussex, meghan markle, duchess meghan, prince andrew, sarah ferguson, prince edward, kate middleton, princess kate, prince of wales, princess margaret, the crown

Id: OsppHo8VOVw

Length: 55min 34sec (3334 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 01 2023