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George V at War (1914-1918)

George V was not brought up to occupy the throne, to which he only acceded by the previous death of his older brother. A modest and reserved prince, who pleased the English by his profound knowledge of the navy, which had occupied his best years, he seemed to feel little interest in the great European questions where his father was a past-master. The Liberals had been in power since 1905, and had passed the Home Rule bill to put an end to Irish agitation. But this measure had not yet been put into force, because of the opposition of the Unionists, who control Ulster and formed rather numerous sporadic groups of Protestants among the autonomist Catholics of the southern and eastern counties. Thus Ireland remained a door open to German intrigues to defeat the policy of the English loyalists.

Under the diplomatic influence of Edward VII of England the irritation and estrangement which had for some time existed between France and Great Britain, largely through German meddling, were allayed and an entente cordiale was established, which under George V became practically an alliance. And at the same time France was the means of bringing Russia and Great Britain into friendly relations and into something like an entente. All this intensified the wrath of Germany against France, and the result was that when the German Emperor decided to begin his long cherished war for the conquest of the world he aimed his first blow at France.

King George was at the head of a mighty empire strong enough to defend itself, and so of course he neither suffered exile nor endured personal danger on the field of battle. But he proved himself in every way a king by fulfilling his royal duties to the utmost. France having stated in reply to a question from the British Government that she was resolved to respect the neutrality of Belgium, the German Government not only refused to give such an undertaking, but immediately invaded the country whose inviolability Germany had solemnly guaranteed. The touching appeal from the King of the Belgians to King George which followed upon this brutal disregard of treaty obligations led to an inevitable change in British policy. Forthwith the British people were compelled by every consideration of honor, self-respect, and self-preservation to use every power at their disposal to thwart the policy of Germany.

From the opening of the Great War in August 1914 the King and Queen, jointly and severally, set themselves to make the royal influence of encouragement to every form of national activity in aid of the fighting forces. The nation found in the Throne, from the moment when war started, the embodiment of its will-to-victory and of its patriotic devotion. Queen Mary herself gave a lead to the war work of women, details of which arc given elsewhere, in many notable directions. King George's own messages to the nation, during the war years and afterwards, were admirably conceived for initiating or supporting the special efforts required from the public from time to lime in the organization of the home front — notably his messages appealing for voluntary national service (Oct. 23 1915), compulsory military* service (May 25 1916), strengthening of the volunteer forces against the risk of invasion (Jan. 27 1917), general economy in food (May 2 1917), the observance of a special day of prayer on Sunday Jan. 6 1918 (Nov. 7 1917), and those on the victory itself (Nov. 10 1918), on the need for subscriptions to the victory Loan (June 12 1919), on the signing of the Peace Treaty (June 28 1910), appealing for support to the "King's National Roll" of employers who would take discharged soldiers into their employ (Aug. 18 1919), for the League of Nations (Oct. 13 1919), and for the celebration of the first anniversary' of Armistice Day, by two minutes' silence on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year (Nov. 6 1919).

A collection of the King's numerous speeches and replies to addresses, and his constant messages to the Dominions and India, to the army and the navy, or in such special connections as the repatriation of prisoners of war or the success of The Times* Red Cross fund, would make a bulky volume, and were always full of inspiration and good cheer for those who received them. The King and Queen regularly went in state to prorogue and open Parliament in successive sessions, and on frequent occasions royal visits were paid during the war to important factories and workshops at the munitions centers throughout the country, as well as to shipbuilding yards, hospitals and other institutions engaged In war-work of one kind or another. The King's inspections of provincial industrial establishments included visits to Glasgow and the Clyde (May 1915), Coventry and Birmingham (July 1915), Leeds and Sheffield (Sept. 1915), Nottingham (Dec. 1916), Liverpool, Manchester, Barrow and Gretna (May 1917), Newcastle-on-Tyne, Hull and Rosyth (June 1917), Glasgow for a third time (Sept. 1917), Bristol for a second time (Nov. 1917), Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds (May 1918).

The King was also constantly inspecting the forces at home, visiting the various camps, and holding investitures for conferring honours and decorations — indeed the total number of war decorations personally conferred by him from the outbreak of war up to the end of 1919 reached the colossal figure of 50,669. Moreover, periodical visits were made by the King to the Grand Fleet (July 8-Io 1915; June 18 1916; June 27 1917; and July 23 1918), and to the battle-front in France (Nov. 29-Dec. 5 1914; Oct. 21-Nov. I 1915; Aug. 7-Aug. 15 1916; July 3-July 14 1917; March 28-30 and Aug. 5-13 1918). It was during his visit to the front in 1915 that, on Oct. 28, King George met with a somewhat serious accident, which laid him up for some weeks, through his horse rearing and falling backwards on him, being startled by the sudden cheering of a regiment whom he was inspecting; but after being safely brought back home he made a good recovery from his injuries. On the 1917 visit Queen Mary accompanied the King to France, and returned with him, but made a separate lour while there. Finally, after the Armistice, the King made another visit to Paris and to the battle-fields, Nov. 27-Dec. 10 1918, and had an enthusiastic reception in the French capital (Nov. 28-30). On each of his last two French visits a distance of about 800 miles. was covered by motor-car.

In other directions during the war period, the King's desire to set an example of patriotic self-abnegation was illustrated by two specially notable actions — his announcement on March 30 1915 that the serving of alcoholic liquor for his own use and that of the royal family and household would be suspended (as from April 6), in order to assist in the movement for increased temperance and economy in wartime, and his spontaneous gift, on March 31 1916, of £100,000 to the Exchequer out of the Privy Purse, to be used as the Government might decide in relief of war expenditure. The long record of royal Attendances at notable ceremonies included such occasions as the funeral services at St. Paul's for Lord Roberts (Nov. 19 1914) and Lord Kitchener (June 13 1916), the commemoration service there on the entry of the United States into the war (April 20 1917), the Albert Hall commemoration of the first Seven Divisions (Dec. 15, 1917), the thanksgiving at St. Paul's on Their Majesties' silver wedding (July 6, 1918), the presentation to the King at Buckingham Palace by the special Japanese mission of the sword and badge of a Japanese field-marshal (Oct. 29, 1918), the U.S. navy and army baseball match at Stamford Bridge (July 4 1918), the Drury Lane matinee of the Shakespeare tercentenary celebration (May 2, 1916), and Their Majesties' visit to the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange (Dec. 18, 1917). On the occasion of Their Majesties' silver wedding, the King and Queen were received at the Guildhall (July 6 1918) and were presented with a cheque for £53,000, subscribed by the citizens of London, to be devoted to charities by Their Majesties' wish, together with a silver tankard once owned by Charles II.

There was a very weak but persistent republican movement in England, based less on dislike of monarchy as such than upon fear that the royal dynasty, of German origin and bound by innumerable ties of marriage with various Germanic royal families, might at some time in the future show German leanings. Several newspapers demanded that as a concession to English war feeling members of the British royal family divest themselves of all German titles and honors and cease the practice of marrying into German royal circles.

Obliterating all traces of German tradition involved even the name of the reigning royal house. On July 17 1917 it was announced that King George V had abandoned all German titles for himself and his family. At the same time a proclamation was issued to the effect thai henceforth the royal house of Great Britain and Ireland would be known, not as the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but as the house of Windsor (after the Castle of the same name). It had previously been announced (June 20) that the King had decided that those princes of his family who were British subjects but bore German titles should relinquish those titles in favor of British names. The following peerages were consequently conferred: — The Duke of Teck and Prince Alexander of Teck, brothers of Queen Mary, adopted the surname of Cambridge, in allusion to their descent from the Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of George III, and became respectively Marquess of Cambridge and Earl of Athlone; Prince Louis of Battenberg, brother of Queen Victoria's son-in-law Prince Henry of Battenberg, adopted the surname of Mountbatten, and became Marquess of Milford Haven, his eldest son assuming the courtesy title of Earl of Medina; while the sons of Princess Henry of Battenberg, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, also adopted the surname of Mountbatten, the eldest, Prince Alexander, receiving the title of Marquess of Carisbrooke. Princess Henry of Battenberg herself resumed the style of Princess Beatrice. The House of Windsor was to be the first purely English royal house since the Norman conquest, as the Plantagenets were Norman-French, the Tudors Welsh, the Stuarts Scotch, William III a Dutchman, and the Hanoverian and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha lines German.

Immediately after the Armistice in 1918, the King and Queen on successive days made popular progresses through different sections of London, and received general ovations, in carriage drives through the city (Nov. 11), to a special thanksgiving at St. Paul's (Nov. 12), through the East End (Nov. 13), the south (Nov. 14), the north (Nov. 15), the north-west (Nov. 18) and the south-west (Nov. 22). On Dec. 27 a great banquet was given in hon our of President Wilson at Buckingham Palace, where he and Mrs. Wilson were staying with the King and Queen.

During the war he worked very hard. He visited hundreds of hospitals, inspected hundreds of munition plants, reviewed two million troops and presented over twelve thousand decorations. He was one of the very few kings who survived the war and held a stronger place in the affection of his subjects than ever before.