Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (59 page)

George (Albert or Bertie to his family)
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only realised that the crown might be coming his way three weeks before his brother’s abdication, and it was something he did not want.

He had grown up in the shadow of his older brother. More sensitive and more often chastised by his disciplinarian father, George was a nervous child, and by the age of eight he had become burdened with a serious stammer. It did not help that as a left-hander (as was Queen Victoria and as are Prince Charles and Prince William), on his father’s instructions he was forced to write with his right hand.

Yet George did not lack determination. Despite being judged the most nervous candidate the examiners had ever seen, George passed the entry examination to naval college at the age of thirteen. But it was just too much for him. In his first year-end examinations, he finished sixty-eighth out of sixtyeight. He did at least excel at sport, particularly as he was allowed to play tennis left-handed.

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Bizarrely, most recent sovereigns have not adopted as their regnal name the name by which they were known within their family. Victoria was Alexandrina, Edward VII was Bertie, his original heir Albert Victor was Eddie, Edward VIII was David, and George VI was Albert.

The following year, George’s examination results improved; he moved up six places. He ploughed on, and in 1913 he became a midshipman and went to sea. George performed his lowly duties manfully, despite suffering from sea-sickness. In the First World War he saw action as a Sub-Lieutenant at the Battle of Jutland. Then, after surgery for a duodenal ulcer, in 1917 George joined the Royal Naval Air Service, which in 1918 became part of the newly-formed RAF. He was stationed in France, although he did not qualify as a pilot until 1919 and was therefore not involved in combat.

Taking up tennis again after the war, George became the RAF doubles champion in 1920, and he played in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon six years later, losing in the first round to former champions.

In April 1923, accepted at the third proposal, George married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the ninth child of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore, whom George had met at a dance (coincidentally, her uncle was a former winner of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon).

However, despite being the daughter of an earl, Elizabeth was technically a commoner and the marriage was seen as a modernising move
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. She convinced her husband to consult an Australian speech specialist who did much to reduce George’s stuttering through breathing exercises, although it would never be completely cured.

Two daughters were born; Elizabeth in 1926 and Margaret in 1930. Now George was everything his older brother was not: conventional, diligent and humble, a family man. There was a further difference – George had not been brought up to be king. With his weak constitution and his lack of self-confidence, the crown would be a great burden.

His fear showed in his remarks to his cousin, Lord Mountbatten, “… this is absolutely terrible. I never wanted this to happen, I’m quite unprepared for it. David has been trained for this all his life. I’ve never even seen a state paper. I’m only a naval officer, it’s the only thing I know about.” It might have helped if he had known that of the 44 prior English and British monarchs, arguably only fifteen had been brought up to be the sovereign.
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49 The previous marriages of a sovereign to a commoner (Edward IV to Elizabeth Woodville – although her grandfather was a count; James II to Anne Hyde – although her father was an earl; and Edward VIII to Wallis Simpson) had each been followed by the removal of a king.

The coronation went ahead on the previously arranged date, but with a different king. Albert Frederick Arthur George, known by his first forename took his last forename as his title, unlike his brother who was known by his last forename (David) and had taken his first forename (Edward) as his title. George VI became monarch while his predecessor was still alive, just like eight earlier English sovereigns – it was the same for Edward III, Henry IV, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III, Mary and William & Mary.

Prime Minister Baldwin helped to ease George into his position, and he continued to help even after he was succeeded as Prime Minister by Neville Chamberlain in May 1937.

The problems with the monarchy having been resolved, more serious matters needed to be addressed. The evergrowing aggression of Germany was a menace that all could see, but few wished to admit, far less to confront. Anyway, it was thought only fair to allow Germany to rearm.

In the 1930s, it had become accepted that it was not humans but the possession of weapons that was the main cause of war, so disarmament became a policy of all three political parties. When he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Chamberlain followed that policy, providing smaller and smaller funds for the forces as Prime Minister Baldwin constantly gave out figures understating the extent of Germany’s re-armament and overstating British numbers.

against communist Russia where Stalin had started his purge of opponents, officers, intellectuals and peasants, with hundreds of thousands being killed and others sent to labour camps, followed by the murder or deportation of ethnic groups and the starvation of millions. On the other hand, many saw communist Russia as the only hope to stop fascists in Germany and Italy, who were supporting Franco’s fascists fighting the left-wing Spanish government, then bombing Guernica so as to test the German plan of conquest by terror.

Winston Churchill had been wary of Germany’s military ambitions since 1932. Every year saw his warnings get louder. In 1934 he proclaimed that “only a few hours away by air there dwells a nation of nearly 70 million … who are being taught from childhood to think of war and conquest as a glorious exercise … a nation which has abandoned all its liberties in order to augment its collective might.” However, even in England, it was Churchill not Hitler who was denounced in Parliament and in the press.

Eventually, Chamberlain realised that things had gone too far, and he started to increase spending on the forces to vociferous opposition from the Labour and Liberal parties, who called it disgraceful.

By May 1936, Italy had completed its conquest of Ethiopia after a war in which Italian forces with 595 aircraft and 795 tanks defeated Ethiopian forces with 3 biplanes and 3 tanks, spraying the country with poison gas and murdering over 760,000 people. The conquest was accepted for fear that Italy might otherwise side with Germany. On the other side of the world, Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China.

Then, in March 1938, Germany occupied and annexed Austria, where there was huge support for the Nazis. Within days 70,000 people had been sent to concentration camps. In London, The Times said that it did not differ much from Scotland joining England 200 years earlier.

Nearer home, to Churchill’s fury, Chamberlain restored to Ireland three ports over which Britain had retained sovereignty for the use of the navy in order to protect Atlantic shipping, an arrangement that Churchill had negotiated in 1921. Chamberlain accepted Irish Prime Minister de Valera’s promise that in the event of war, the British Navy would have access to the ports. Even with the establishment of the Irish state, there was still massive resentment, even hatred, of the English after centuries of conflict. The parliament of Northern Ireland had opted to remain part of the United Kingdom. However, in the south, the Irish were determined that the six Ulster counties should be part of their state. On 28th July 1937, King George and Queen Elizabeth visited Belfast. While they were attending a reception party, a bomb went off in a nearby street. Presumably it had been planted by the Irish Republican Army. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

There is also a story that film star Errol Flynn (born in Australia to parents of mixed Irish/English/Scottish descent) provided most of the $200,000 finance for a joint Nazi/IRA plot to plant a bomb and assassinate the King and Queen as they crossed the Canada/US border on their way from Ontario to Detroit. Although there is no evidence of Flynn financing the plot, he was certainly on friendly terms with a senior Nazi agent to whom he had written, “I do wish we could bring Hitler over here to teach these Isaacs a thing or two.” But the FBI bugged the room where the IRA and Nazi operatives were meeting. The IRA operative was arrested and for some reason was charged only with an immigration offence. However, that ended the murder plot.

Back in England, Churchill had few supporters in Parliament as he complained endlessly about Germany’s mounting aggression and the inadequacy of British forces. Churchill could be ignored as a maverick, but Chamberlain would not tolerate any opposition to his policies in the Cabinet, and that led to the resignation of the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden. He was replaced by Lord Halifax, the man who said in 1936 that the Nazi regime was “absolutely fantastic”.
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In 1937, Halifax was invited to go shooting in Germany by Hermann Goring. On arriving at a reception, as the superaristocratic Halifax left the car, without diverting his gaze he held out his coat to the first person on the pavement assuming that he was a footman. A German officer whispered to him: “Der Fuhrer”. Hitler was not amused. Halifax recovered the lost ground, commending Hitler for his policies and for keeping communism out of Germany – the communist and socialist leaders had been sent to concentration camps. Perhaps Halifax would have become less effusive about Germany’s treatment of those it did not like if (having been born with a withered left arm with the hand missing) he had known of the event some months later when Hitler was told of a disabled baby girl called Sofia Knauer. Hitler ordered his personal physician to kill the child. In January 1939, Hitler extended the order to all disabled infants and then to all disabled adults.

Chamberlain visited Germany three times. The first time, he agreed to Germany’s demand to annex the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia, where most of the people were of German origin, on condition that the Germans negotiated the terms of the annexation with the Czechs. On the second visit, Hitler announced that what had been agreed at the first meeting would not do any more, and that the Sudetenland must be annexed immediately. Chamberlain said it was a matter for Germany and Czechoslovakia.

Next, Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Daladier went to meet Hitler and Mussolini in Munich on 29th September 1938. The Czechs, having no choice, agreed to transfer the Sudetenland, and Chamberlain presented Hitler with a threeparagraph document confirming the desire of Germany and Britain never to go to war again. Both signed. Chamberlain was delighted, announcing: “I’ve got it!”. When Ribbentrop complained, Hitler said, “That piece of paper is of no further significance whatsoever.”

51 In an unsavoury set of connections, Halifax’s mistress and confidante Alexandra (daughter of former Viceroy of India Lord Curzon) was married to Edward VIII’s best friend and equerry Edward Metcalfe (a fascist supporter), and she was also the sister-in-law and mistress of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, and for a time the mistress of Mussolini’s ambassador in London.

The security of the rest of Czechoslovakia was guaranteed by Britain and France. Returning to England with his piece of paper, Chamberlain said that it guaranteed “peace for our time”. He also reported Hitler‘s promise that the Sudetenland was his last territorial demand in Europe. In Parliament, Churchill told Chamberlain, “You were offered the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.” Alfred Duff Cooper resigned as First Lord of the Admiralty. In the vote, only Churchill, Eden, Duff Cooper, Macmillan and about 20 other Conservatives abstained. It was a great success for Chamberlain, and the nation celebrated.

Despite the piece of paper, to vociferous opposition from the Labour and Liberal parties who accused Chamberlain of militarism, efforts were made to re-arm and enlarge the forces, and limited conscription was introduced.

In March 1939, Germany invaded and seized most of the rest of Czechoslovakia. Even now, there was no need to annoy Hitler; as Chancellor of the Exchequer John Simon said of Czechoslovakia, it was impossible to fulfil a guarantee to a country that had ceased to exist. However, Chamberlain and the British people could now see that Munich had been a fraud and that Hitler had been lying all the time.

Of course, Hitler had not finished; in fact, he had barely started. He demanded that Poland hand over the city of Danzig on the Baltic coast together with a coastal strip connecting it with Germany. Chamberlain considered that this was one of Germany’s most justified demands; after all, the majority of the people in Danzig were ethnically German. Halifax urged the Poles to transfer the city. As if to underline the way things were going, Franco’s fascists won the Spanish Civil War and Mussolini’s fascists invaded Albania.

Next, Britain gave guarantees against German aggression to Greece, Romania, the Netherlands and Denmark. Poland had been happy to seize a piece of Czechoslovakia when the opportunity arose; nevertheless, Britain guaranteed Poland as well, fearing that they might otherwise side with Germany.

Then the great blow came. News arrived that on 24th August the Russians had signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, each promising to remain neutral if the other was at war; and there was also a secret provision agreeing to split Poland between them. Now the Germans could take half of Poland and then turn west to deal with France and Britain – all without having to worry about Russia to the east. It changed the mood in Britain; right-wingers saw that Hitler was not confronting the communists, and left-wingers saw that Russia was not the answer to the fascists.

With Danzig and western Poland the next targets, Hitler wanted to create some justification for the invasion. He decided that it would be in response to Polish aggression. Hitler said of his plan, “Its credibility does not matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth.”