Book about the English Royal family during WW2 26/9/22
1865-1936 King George V and 1867-1953 Queen Mary
1894-1972 Edward VIII abdicated1937 and became Duke of Windsor
1895-1952 George VI King from 1937 and 1900- 2001 Queen Elizabeth 1897 -1965 Mary Countess of Harewood 1900-1974 Henry Gloucester
1902-1942 George of Kent died in military airplane crash.
1905-1919Prince John died of epileptic seizures.
The author grew up in South Africa and remembered the 3 month visit of the King George , Queen and 2 daughters.
Churchill - this war has drawn the Throne and people together.
1940-1946 Earl of Athlone was uncle to George VI and Governor General of Canada, before that he was Governor General of South Africa1924-1930 With his wife Princess Alice acted as very capable vice-real couple. Canada had vast numbers of volunteers fighting including the French speakers. When Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands fled her daughter the crown princess Juliana stayed in Canada where Alice was her aunt. A German POW in Canada Prince Fredrich of Prussia and grandson of the Kaiser was taken to visit his cousins the Athlone's who both spoke German.
George VI wife Queen Elisabeth established herself as the most popular woman in the world.
Duke of Windsor had visited Hitler at Berchtesgaden after he abdicated , he was also proud to show pictures with Hitler. He disapproved of Churchills government. He became a security risk by setting up a Peace Movement and only left England when threated by income tax if he remained. Wallis Simpson had had an affair with the German Ambassador to London Joachim von Ribbentrop. The Nazis planned to restore the Duke of Winsor to his throne. Churchill had championed Edward VIII during the abdication crises. With the fall of France the Duke and Duchess of Winsor fled to Spain and Lisbon , to get him out of Europe he was made Governor of the Bahamas where they till associated with the fascists.. He still broadcast his defeatist views on radio to America. Once Wallace had failed to become queen the royal family thought she would drop her 3rd husband.
1940 9th April with the German invasion of Denmark and Norway Chamberlain resigned. He had been given the Kings full support for the shameful sacrifice of Czechoslovakia.
1940 May King Leopold of Belgium surrendered. He should have fled to England and was known as the Traitor King.
Suggestion to send the 2 princesses to Canada, but this was rejected, but a contingency was drawn up if England was occupied as the Royal family must not fall into enemy hands.
WW1 the King had fought in the naval Battle of Jutland. The King and Queen were everywhere visiting the bombed out London. Especially the London East end badly bombed as it was by the ports. They were able to mingle freely with the population and pictures of the royals amongst the debris appeared all over the world. Not only were the poor bombed but Buckingham Palace was bombed 9 times. The George Cross and George Medal were designed by the king and awarded to brave civilians.
1934 The Duke of Kent. He was bisexual and had been a Noel Coward lover, was a play boy and a drug taker, and perfume user. He married Princess Marina of Greece and they established themselves as a highly fashionable couple. Went back into naval uniform to be seen contributing to the effort. In 1940 headed a British delegation to the 800 anniversary of Portuguese independence and assured the dictator there Dr. Antonio Salazar that Britain was not a spent force. Duke of Winsor had agreed to Salazar request to remain in Madrid till Kent's visit was over.
Churchill's coalition had Conservative , Labour and Liberal members, but it was with Churchill that the King had a good relationship. Australia had adopted the slogan " One King, one flag , one cause"
1941 March Prince Paul was forced to sign a pact with the Axis by which German troops could cross Yugoslavia on their way to attack Greece.
1941 July 4th Kent on a US visit asked Roosevelt to be his 3rd sons godfather and named the kid Franklin.
1941 Spring, Germany invaded Yugoslavia, Greece and Russia. The British evacuated Greece and Crete.
On the death of the British ambassador in Washington Lord Halifax replaced him and John G. Winant was appointed to London and the King went to meet him at the station the first time ever. Winant replaced Joseph Kennedy who had predicted that Britain would be occupied. The Queen broadcast to America thanking the population for the war bundles they sent.
1941 August Roosevelt an Churchill met Roosevelt in Newfoundland. This resulted in the Atlantic Charter.
1941 April Duke of Gloucester visited Belfast coinciding with the first bombing of he is city.
1942 August Duke of Kent at 39 killed in a plane crash on duty leaving a wife who made an effort to fulfil his role. I942 was the worst year for the British with fall of Singapore, Malaya , Burma and Tobruk surrendered. By late July the Eighth Army took up defensive positions in El Alamein was only 60 miles from Alexandria.
The Baedeker Raids the Luftwaffe attacked strategically unimportant tourist cities like Exeter, Bath Norwich and York.
The Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue had worked on shell shocked cases in WW1 and was around to help the king deal with his stutter. Certain words in kings speeches were changed to avoid difficult sounds. The king and queen were a partnership and she was the only person he really trusted. The Queen read Mein Kampf and advised Halifax not to read it - that she had read it is surprising that Halifax did not is astonishing. The king was one of a few to know the wartime casualties.
Kenneth Clark was the Royal pictures Surveyor appointed by George V the queen knew him well and surprised him of her knowledge of art. He sent the painting for safe keeping to Wales.
Princess Mary the kings only sister had been a nurse for 2 years at the Great Ormond Street hospital for sick children.
1942 Oct Eleanor Roosevelt was a guest at Buckingham Palace. She had been invited by the queen to study the part played by British women in the war effort.
Windsor Castle estates were turned into cereal crops, Sandringham also.. The 2 princesses remained there for 5 years. 1940 during Children's hour 14 year old Elizabeth made her first public speech of 5 minutes. The Queen broadcast several time to the women of Britain France and the US.
1942 Nov Montgomery defeated the German and Italian forces in El Alemein.
1943 Combined Anglo American N. African campaign. The king visited north Africa and Malta which survived the war only 60 miles from Sicily.
American planes were ferried across the Bering sea to Russia by Russian pilots who came to fetch the planes.
1943 Quebec conferences launched the joint Anglo - American invasion of Western Europe , Operation Overlord. Smuts was a favorite of the Royal Family and wanted the Mediterranean front expanded to cut off Russia advances..
1943 Sir Alexander Harding was the Kings private secretary and had served George, Edward VII and George VI, He was against Chamberlains appeasement. He was replaced by Sir Alan Lascelles to modernize the monarchy. Retired Queen Mary gave soldiers rides in her Bentley and Americans were frank with her lacked reverence and did not know who she was.
Saint Paul's school secret conference with Chief of Staffs and 150 Commanders land, sea and air to plan D- Day landings, the king attended. The king landed at Normandy 10 days after the invasion.
1943 Sept Italy , Mussolini was deposed and Italy capitulated, by mid 1944 Southern Italy was firmly in Allies hand and the king made formal inspections of British and commonwealth and US, French and Polish troops.
London was full of crowned heads including Wilamina of Netherland , Harkon VII of Norway George II of Hellenes, King Zog and Geraldine of Albania ,Queen Marie of Yugoslavia her son Peter II was studying in Cambridge
1944 June, VI missiles began falling in England.
1945 March . Lord and Lady Athlone invited to a state visit at the Whitehouse. Lester Pearson was the Canadian ambassador to US.1945 April Roosevelt died.
1945 Spring Princess Elizabeth went to ATS training for drivers at Camberley, Surrey and was taught to drive, strip and service engines and change wheels. Viscount Lascelles and John Winant the US ambassador's son and some Polish Generals were prisoners in Colditz Castle kept for a hostage exchange they were taken to Austria where a German officer said the war is nearly over cross to the American lines (He was supposed to kill them)
1945 May7th General Jodi at Rheims signed the instrument of unconditional surrender. Two weeks later Churchill lost the election.
The king was never allowed to go to India as events there were moving too fast. Peter Townsend was selected from the air force to be a temporary equerry in the Palace and stayed there 10 years and love affair with Princess Margaret.
1945 Duke of Gloucester sent to be Governor General in Australia but PM John Curtin realized that Australia had to turn to America for protection after the war.
The Duke of Windsor was never allowed to live in England, he liked the idea of American but would have to pay taxes.
1945 15th August VJ day
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