King George VI

Albert Fredrick Arthur George was born on December 14, 1895 to the future King George V and Queen Mary who was born a Princess of Teck. It was the anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria's husband Albert the Prince Consort, his great-grandfather, so it was obvious that his name would start with Albert. He had a nervous stammer, possibly because his father made him write with his right hand when he was a lefty. His great-grandson seams to have inherited his left-handedness. In 1923 he was created Duke of York, and married The Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore. In 1926 they had their first child, a daughter named Elizabeth, and four years later another daughter named Margaret. Albert's father died in January 1936, making his brother King Edward VIII. He abdicated in December 1936 to marry a twice-divorced American woman, putting England in a crisis. Albert then became King George VI, after his father, and his wife became Queen Elizabeth. His first act as King was to make his brother the Duke of Windsor. A few years later World War II broke out, but the royal family stayed in Buckingham Palace even after it was bombed. A lifelong heavy smoker, the King died in 1952: at the time there was no connection between smoking and the lung cancer that caused his death. Of his six grandchildren, only two had been born before his death, Charles - Prince of Wales and Anne - the Princess Royal. His elder daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen Elizabeth II and his wife became the Queen Mother. Show less «