King George the Fifth

[SiegeGunner]

Prince George was an active naval officer until the death of his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, propelled him into the role of heir apparent. I doubt whether Henry V or Richard III, let alone George V, would have wanted to lead the troops into battle on the Western Front, but I suspect he would have given his eye teeth to be on the bridge of a dreadnought at Jutland - at which time he was only 50, six years younger than Admiral Jellicoe.

[PhilB]

Although Prince Charles` naval career carried on despite being PoW?

[michaeldr]

for further details of KGV's naval service go to Vol. XXIII, No.2, pages 232 etc of The Naval Review

to be seen here http://www.naval-review.org/issues/1935-2.pdf

[Michael]

He actually served in the IWT section of the RE - I thought Mr TR might have known that

[Michael]

and here is his entry in the 1914/15 star roll

Mick

[PhilB]

Must be a rare picture of him in his RE private`s uniform!

[Alan Tucker]

King's Visit to Birmingham 1915...From Brazier and Sandford 'Birmingham and the Great War'. Published 1919

THE KING'S VISIT.

How much was accomplished towards the middle of 1915

may be seen from the reports of the King's visit to the city

on July 22nd and 23rd. It was nominally a " secret " visit,

and, in fact, the secret was well kept until practically the last

moment, when, of course, the unusual preparations at the

arrival station attracted the attention of the passers-by.

The visit was in no sense a civic function. True, the Lord Mayor

of the time (Sir "William Bowater) and the then Town Clerk

(Mr. E. V. Hiley) were present at New Street Station when the

King arrived in the afternoon from Coventry, but that was

the full extent of the municipality's official connection

with the visit. King George came, primarily, to visit munition

works. Before doing this, however, he called at the First

Southern General Hospital, where he visited many of the

wards and spoke to numbers of the patients. The remainder

of the afternoon was spent at the works of the King's Norton

Metal Company, where a number of the workshops were

inspected, work being in full swing at the time.

That night the King slept in his train in the neighbourhood

of Shenstone. Next day he came by train to Gravelly Hill,

and from there set out on a larger programme of visits. First

came Kynoch's works at Witton, and though it was obviously

impossible to see the whole of the works, which covered 50

acres, His Majesty went into a number of departments selected

with the object of giving him an idea of the various stages of

manufacture and organisation of the factory, which even at that

early stage of the war had resulted in the output being increased

600 per cent. It is indicative of the object of the visit to the

munitions works of the city that here, as at other places, not

only were the principal officials presented to the King, but

many departmental managers and old servants of the various

companies. In this way it was sought to show to the many

thousand munition workers of the city that their efforts were of

inestimable value to the nation and that they were appreciated

at their real worth. From Witton to the Birmingham Small

Arms works at Small Heath, the King and his suite passed

through the centre of the city, where crowds of spectators

cheered His Majesty. It was a very informal progress, divested

of all the usual surroundings of a Royal visit, such as

barricaded and decorated streets.

The next visit was to the works of the Metropolitan Carriage

Wagon and Finance Company, Limited, at Saltley, where the

King had luncheon with the Directors, and the Birmingham

Munitions Committee. To the latter the King delivered a

short address, in which he expressed the pleasure he had had.

in visiting the munition works. " He did not come to criticise,

but to show his interest in the country's efforts to meet the

heavy demands for the means of carrying on the war. He

greatly appreciated the evident zeal and cheerfulness with

which all hands were working, not only to maintain the

present output but to increase it. He was confident that this

would be done and that there would be but one certain result—

victory." After luncheon, there was a tour of some of the

shops. From Saltley the party went to the works of the

Birmingham Metal and Munitions Company, Limited, at

Adderley Park, where also the principal departments were

visited. The final call was at the works of the Wolseley Motors,

Limited, where the programme of inspection, on the lines

that had become familiar during the day, was repeated.

There was encouragement in the things seen as well as in

the words said by His Majesty.

[truthergw]

...........

Not the logic, and not the agreement.

I'll try to explain myself. The Armed services are nominally HM Services. An officer receives his commision from the reigning monarch. In a similar manner, the government of the day and the official opposition, are designated HM Government, HM Opposition. This does not make the reigning monarch a soldier or a functioning member of the government. The Queen is not likely to turn up one morning ready to go out on a walk to deliver letters even though this task is undertaken by the Royal Mail. To describe King George V as a soldier is as misleading as it would be to describe Queen Elizabeth II as a sailor. I am aware that as a young woman she served as an ambulance driver along with her sister.

[NigelS]

A slight wander off topic to the next generation:

Yesterday's Daily Telegraph published an article comparing Prince Harry's Military career with that of his Grandmother's Uncle, Prince (later,before abdication, King) Edward, who was prevented from going to the front because of worries that:

"he might be captured", a fate thought to be worse than death in battle.

with Lord Kitchener saying:

If I were sure you would be killed, I do not know if I should be right to restrain you, (!)

The article gives details from a 1916 letter from the Royal Archives, written when the prince was a Staff Captain behind the lines, to his father George V describing how he had watched trials of Land submarines and includes a sketch making the the comment:

I enclose a rough sketch of these 'tanks'as they are called for secrecy. The Huns have no doubt by now produced a superior article!!, Personally I think they are nice toys and worth trying; but not to be in any way relied on for success.

As would be expected, with details & sketches of tanks included, the prince's letters home, unlike those of lesser mortals, obviously weren't subjected to the censor's pencil. The article concludes by mentioning that the prince took a test drive in a tank and that his father had also done so previously but disguised as Russian general!

see http://tinyurl.com/2vw8eg for the online text which, unfortunately, does not include the prince's sketch which featured - albeit in miniature form - in the printed version of the story.

Prince Edward's MIC makes slightly more interesting reading than his father's

[NigelS]

and the back

Seem like an odd comment though

[PhilB]

Edward is listed as Lt Grenadier Gds dated 18th Nov 1914. He doesn`t appear to be in the Aug 1914 Old Contemptible Army list. Was he commissioned as 2/Lt or straight to Lt? Presumably he must have had some service before his 16/11/14 entry into France?

[truthergw]

...

Prince (later,before abdication, King) Edward, who was prevented from going to the front because of worries that:

....

"he might be captured", a fate thought to be worse than death in battle.

......

The reason he was not exposed to capture is because he would have been a hostage of inestimable value to the Germans, quite apart from the propaganda value. Dead, he would have been another hero to avenge like his brother's brother in law. If he had been in captivity at the end of the war, the Kaiser may not have been exiled to Holland. He certainly would have used him as a guarantee against prosecution for war crimes.