King George V’s Children: Scandalous Siblings

[Music] king george v children part two scandalous siblings many of you have been asking me to continue my series on queen victoria's descendants with videos on her great grandchildren well here's a start king george v two eldest sons both took their turns as king the first edward viii abdicated amid scandal because he wanted to marry a divorced woman wallace simpson and because he never really wanted to be king anyway he nearly toppled the british monarchy in the process his younger brother picked up the pieces and became king george vi he was a shy man with a stutter but he and his admirable wife elizabeth tirelessly boosted morale during world war ii and became heroes to their people i went into detail about the two brother kings in last week's video but today let's meet their four younger siblings who never wore crowns but got into plenty of miss jeff they were a princess who dedicated herself to improving the lives of women and three princes a stoic war hero an artistic bisexual tomcat and a lonely boy who died tragically young let's meet them mary princess royal was named victoria alexandra alice mary after her great-grandmother queen victoria her grandmother queen alexandra of denmark her great-aunt alice duchess of hesse and by ryan with whom she shared a birthday and her mother mary of tech she was educated at home alongside her older brothers and was especially close to david as the only sister among five boys mary took to athleticism rather than dressing up she became fluent in german and french and developed a great love of horses and racing during world war one the teenage princess visited wounded soldiers with her mother at 21 mary enrolled in a nursing course she began the princess mary's christmas gift fund which provided two and a half million boxes filled with cigarettes lighters and candy for everyone in the king's uniform on christmas day she took an active role in promoting the girl guides the voluntary aid detachment and the land girls organizations which provided girls and women the opportunities to work and support the war effort she was shy and overprotected her playboy brother david worried that their parents would never let her out long enough for a man to fall in love with her and that his favorite sister would end up a spinster at 24 mary became engaged to 39 year old henry lassels heir to the earldom of harewood their courtship happened rather quickly and it was speculated that the marriage was arranged by her parents to prove how british the family was there were rumors that henry only proposed because he lost a bet at his gentlemen's club david was glad that mary was getting out of buckhouse prison but thought her groom was too old and ugly for her but he's rich he added i hope to god he'll make her happy their wedding at westminster abbey was the first to be covered by fashion magazines including vogue the newlyweds appearance on the balcony of buckingham palace attracted a massive crowd girls and women in the british empire called mary marie may miriam and the like formed the mary's of the empire and raised money towards a wedding gift the princess gave this fund and 10 000 pounds of her own money to the girl guides for the purchase of fox lease estate which remains the girl guide's retreat to this day mary and henry had two sons george and gerald they had a london mansion and a country estate in yorkshire on which mary enjoyed a more private life and practicing her hobbies of interior design and landscaping many noted henry's brusqueness and there have been rumors that the marriage was less than happy as portrayed by the downton abbey movie but their son george refuted these claims writing that his parents got unwell together and had lots of friends and interests in common our mother was never so happy as when she and my father were embarked on some scheme together in 1929 henry inherited the earldom of harwood mary thrived while managing the family's farming interests and became an expert in cattle breeding the same year her father created her princess royal the title given to the monarch's eldest daughter she was the sixth princess royal since 1631 when the title was created for charles the first daughter princess mary she supported her brother david through the abdication crisis and went to visit him while the rest of the family shunned him she did not attend her niece princess elizabeth's wedding claiming ill health but really she was upset that david was not invited during world war ii mary was appointed the chief controller of the auxiliary territorial service the women's branch of the british army all non-medical women in uniform were part of the ats and they did a variety of jobs in support of the war effort including cooking clerking and communications they received two-thirds of the pay of male soldiers mary traveled the country extensively to boost morale and visit units of the ats including the unit of her niece princess elizabeth who served as a truck driver and mechanic she was appointed air chief commander of princess mary's royal air force nursing service and received the honorary rank of general in the british army henry died in 1947 and mary lived at harewood house with her son now the seventh earl of harewood and helped raise her grandchildren she represented queen elizabeth at the independence celebrations of trinidad and tobago in 1962 and zambia in 1964. in 1965 while out walking with her son and grandchildren mary suffered a fatal heart attack and died at the age of 67. she was buried on the harewood house estate with her husband prince henry was a small child and suffered from frequent illnesses his temperament was much like his brother birdies and he also suffered several even more serious speech disorders and had knock knees and had to wear painful leg splints on the advice of the family's tutor his parents agreed to send him to school to spend time with other children he was the first british royal to attend school and he thrived there he was not especially bright but he had an aptitude for math and sport he joined the football team and wrote his mother long detailed letters about his matches he moved on to eaton college where he was a classmate of future king leopold iii of belgium and to cambridge university where he excelled socially though not in academics by this time he had outgrown all of his brothers in height and build and enjoyed excellent health and improved speech unlike his sailor family henry joined the army and attended sandhurst military academy he thrived in the army as well his ambition was to command a regiment and spend as much time and service as possible his parents were exceptionally proud and created him duke of gloucester at 28 henry accompanied his brother david on a big game hunting trip in nairobi there he met english kenyan aviatrix adventurer horse race trainer and author barrel markham barrel was married but she and the prince began a love affair when he returned to london she came with him he rented her rooms in grosvenor hotel close to buckingham palace and he openly hosted parties with her queen mary was shocked and prince david was delighted that for once her blue-eyed boy was in trouble and not him king george thought keeping his son busy with royal duties would distract him from the scandalous love affair and he sent him on diplomatic visits to japan australia and new zealand and to ethiopia for the coronation of haile selassie the lovers did break up and beryl's husband threatened to publish the prince's love letters so his solicitors paid the couple an annual allowance until beryl's death in 1985. the 29 year old prince decided to settle down so he mumbled a proposal to his best friend's younger sister lady alice montague douglas scott daughter of the duke of beckley a grand wedding at westminster abbey was planned but alice's father died a fortnight before so a quiet family ceremony was held at buckingham palace instead despite the reduced occasion and the november chill over a million people came out to see the bride wrapped in an urban stole and she was known as the winter princess from then on henry was appointed personal aid to camp to his father and then to his elder brothers when they took their turns on the throne the abdication greatly affected henry who had been living a quiet anonymous life with his wife and the army but once george vi became king he asked his brothers princes henry and george to take on more royal duties to support him the king came to rely most on henry with whom he had always been closest henry never complained and supported his brother and niece dutifully for the rest of his life he did not eschew a glass of whiskey or the occasional blasphemous oath in fact he liked whiskey so much that upon a visit to his family his mother suggested that he had better bring his own supply henry spent the entire first year of world war ii in france supporting the troops boosting morale and reporting valuable information back to london he wrote to his wife motoring about is not nice as many villages are being bombed but he didn't tell her that he was nearly killed twice he risked his life to drive to belgium where he secretly met his old school chum king leopold iii and encouraged him not to surrender to the nazis but to no avail henry was steadfast in his service but was often depressed at the end of leaves when he had to bid alice farewell and return to the front alice suffered two miscarriages and then gave birth to their first child william in 1941. months after becoming a father henry was sent on a dangerous diplomatic mission to the middle east india and east africa the king promised to act as guardian to his son if anything should happen to him he returned home safely but after younger brother george was killed in a plane crash it was decided that henry should be kept out of harm's way in 1944 henry and alice welcomed a second son richard and henry was appointed governor general of australia he was a popular leader and he and his wife traveled extensively through the country in henry's own plane they returned home in 1947 and continued to serve king george vi and elizabeth ii with public appearances and tours in 1965 while driving home from winston churchill's funeral henry suffered a stroke and crashed his car other strokes followed and he required a wheelchair and lost the ability to speak in 1972 his son william died in a plane crash while flying in a competition alice didn't tell her husband who was too ill to understand he died in 1974 age 74 the last of his siblings he was buried with several of them at frogmore alice died in 2004 age 102. and holds the record for the longest living british royal prince george was the most intelligent and attractive of his siblings and the black sheep of the family he played piano spoke french and italian fluently and had a strong artistic streak he followed his elder brother henry to preparatory school and then to naval college he suffered seasickness and hated the navy by the time he came of age world war 1 was over but he served as a naval officer in the 1920s and earned his pilot's license george served briefly in the foreign and home offices the first british royal to work in the civil service in 1931 he accompanied his brother david on a tour of south america despite their eight-year age gap the brothers were cut from the same dapper gin soaked cloth and were very close they often hit the town together and shared a circle of friends there were strong rumors that george was bisexual and had affairs with musical star jesse matthews writer cecil roberts cabaret star florence mills socialites poppy bearing and ethel wiggham and novelist barbara cartland he had a 19-year on-off affair with playwright noel coward the pair once walked through the streets of london in drag and were arrested on suspicion of prostitution in 1932 george married his cousin princess marina of greece and denmark granddaughter of both king george the first of greece and tsar alexander ii of russia the wedding was the first to be broadcast by wireless and the recording control room was placed underneath the unknown warriors tomb in westminster abbey the anglican wedding was followed by a private greek orthodox service in the chapel at buckingham palace george was created duke of kent the couple got on very well he liked her independent spirit and the fact that she did not complain when he drove his sports car too fast the attractive and chic prince and princess were the toast of london and surrounded themselves with artists and interesting people george's family hoped that marriage might settle him down but instead he partied harder he had a menage a trois relationship with jorge ferreira son of the argentine ambassador and american heiress kiki preston kiki was known in upper class circles as the girl with the silver syringe she introduced the prince to cocaine morphine and other drugs prince david got his brother clean and kept him away from kiki he later wrote that he believed george had fathered several illegitimate children including a son by kiki michael canfield who was adopted by an american couple and went on to marry caroline lee bovier jackie kennedy's younger sister when george v died prince george and his three older brothers stood around their father's coffin creating a ceremony known as the vigil of the princes this rite was repeated at the state funeral of the queen mother elizabeth beau's lion and will be part of the laying and state of queen elizabeth ii when the time comes george was appointed personal aid to camp to his brother when he became king edward viii following the abdication he served as george vi de camp as well at the outbreak of world war ii the prince returned to active service as a rear admiral in the royal air force he was kept out of harm's way but worked to boost morale in 1942 prince george and 14 others took off in an raf flying boat from scotland heading to iceland the plane crashed on a rock off the coast and all but one aboard were killed all of the papers relating to the mission mysteriously vanished leading to several conspiracy theories including that the prince was on a secret mission to sweden to negotiate peace with the nazis and that he was intentionally murdered by the british government because of his nazi sympathies george was the first british prince in 450 years to be killed in military service he was buried in queen victoria's mausoleum at frogmore his six-year-old son edward succeeded him as duke of kent alexandra was just five and michael only seven weeks old when they lost their father prince john was the baby of the family he was named john despite its unlucky association with the royal family the only king with that name had been back in the 12th century king john was a cruel and terrible ruler and was forced to sign the magna carta by his disgruntled people he also lost the crown jewels in the sea the future edward vii named his youngest son alexander john in 1871 but the baby was born premature and died at just one day old this prince john called johnny was everyone's darling king george once told us president theodore roosevelt that all of his children were obedient except john by the age of four he began showing developmental delays and he was likely on the autism spectrum he also suffered epileptic seizures at age six he was not allowed to attend his parents coronation for fear that he might have a seizure or behave in some other way that would embarrass the family as he grew older he was allowed to appear more in public with his family despite his continuing behavioral difficulties he was educated by tutors with his siblings at the sandringham estate when john was seven his last sibling george three years older went away to boarding school but their parents didn't believe that john was capable of attending school two years later world war one broke out and with increased demands on their time the king and queen were not able to see their youngest child often john was left alone with his nanny charlotte bill they moved into wood farm a farmhouse on the sandringham estate his grandmother queen alexandra of denmark visited him often and the two kept a garden together which was one of john's greatest pleasures in life after his 11th birthday john was not seen in public again he was declining physically and mentally and his doctors did not believe he would live to adulthood his tutors were dismissed and his formal education was stopped the prince was proud of his house and garden but was lonely so his mother broke with royal protocol and invited local children to the estate to play with him which he enjoyed very much his siblings visited as well but john's frequent intense seizures distressed them in 1918 the family spent a happy christmas together at sandringham john died in his sleep january 18th 1919 age 13. his mother wrote to a friend i cannot say how grateful we feel to god for having taken him in such a peaceful way he just sleeped quietly into his heavenly home no pain no struggle just peace for the poor little troubled spirit no member of the royal family has been given the name john since if you enjoyed this video please like subscribe comment your thoughts and check out my other royal history videos if you really want to help please consider supporting me on patreon a link is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 1,242,646

Keywords: history, documentary, royal family, royalty, the crown, european royalty, wallis simpson, edward viii, abdication crisis, george vi, elizabeth bowes lyon, wwii history, royal family scandal, queen victoria great grandchildren, queen elizabeth ii, american royals, bisexual history, lgbtq history, lgbtq royals, Mary Princess Royal, princess mary, prince george duke of kent, Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester, girl guides history, prince john, king george v's children

Id: kUG2yYqB-Vk

Length: 21min 47sec (1307 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 21 2021