George VI Timeline

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon rejected Albert's proposal twice, in 1921 and 1922, reportedly because she was reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary to become a member of the royal family. She eventually accepted his third proposal.

Image source: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

Albert and Elizabeth were married on 26 April 1923 at Westminster Abbey. Their marriage proved happy and stable, and they went on to have two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret.

Image source: Wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

From December 1924 to April 1925, Albert and Elizabeth toured Kenya, Uganda, and the Sudan, travelling via the Suez Canal and Aden on their journey through Africa.

Albert and Elizabeth had two children. Their first daughter, Elizabeth — called "Lilibet" by the family — was born in 1926 and later became Queen Elizabeth II.

Image source: Elizabeth II

Albert and Elizabeth's second daughter, Margaret, was born in 1930. The family of four lived relatively privately while Albert was Duke of York.

Image source: Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

King George V died on 20 January 1936 and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. The late King had severe reservations about Edward, saying "After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months."

Less than a year into his reign, on 11 December 1936, Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite. In the words of MP George Hardie, the crisis did "more for republicanism than fifty years of propaganda."

Image source: Abdication of Edward VIII

Upon his brother's abdication, Albert became King George VI on 11 December 1936, reigning over the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and becoming Emperor of India until 1947.

George VI's coronation took place on 12 May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward VIII's coronation, in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey alongside Queen Elizabeth.

Image source: Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth

When the King and Queen greeted Neville Chamberlain on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement in 1938, they invited him onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Historian John Grigg called this "the most unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century."

Image source: Munich Agreement

In May and June 1939, the King and Queen toured Canada and the United States — the first visit of a reigning British monarch to North America. They visited the 1939 New York World's Fair and stayed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Image source: 1939 royal tour of Canada

Following the German invasion of Poland, the British Empire and most Commonwealth countries — but not Ireland — declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1940 and 1941 respectively.

Image source: Declaration of war by the United States

The King visited military forces abroad in France in December 1939, beginning a wartime pattern of morale-boosting visits to troops overseas throughout the conflict.

In 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister, though personally the King would have preferred to appoint Lord Halifax. The two men developed a close working relationship.

Image source: Winston Churchill

Every Tuesday for four and a half years from September 1940, the King and Churchill met privately for lunch to discuss the war in secret and with frankness, forging a strong partnership during the war.

The first night of the Blitz on London, on 7 September 1940, killed about one thousand civilians, mostly in the East End. The royal family famously chose to remain in London during the bombing.

Image source: The Blitz

In August 1942, the King's brother, the Duke of Kent, was killed on active service, a personal tragedy for the royal family during the war years.

Image source: Prince George, Duke of Kent

The King bestowed the George Cross on the entire "island fortress of Malta" in 1943, honouring its heroic resistance during intense Axis bombing campaigns in the Second World War.

Image source: George Cross

The King visited military forces abroad in North Africa and Malta in June 1943, continuing his wartime tours to raise morale among British and Allied troops.

The King visited Normandy in June 1944, shortly after the D-Day landings, and later toured southern Italy in July 1944 and the Low Countries in October 1944 to support the troops.

Image source: Normandy landings

Britain and its allies were victorious in 1945. During the Victory in Europe Day celebrations, crowds shouted "We want the King!" in front of Buckingham Palace, and the royal family appeared on the balcony to cheering throngs.

Image source: Victory in Europe Day

In January 1946, George VI addressed the United Nations at its first assembly, held in London, reaffirming "our faith in the equal rights of men and women and of nations great and small."

Image source: United Nations General Assembly

During Clement Attlee's ministry, British India became the two independent Dominions of India and Pakistan in August 1947. Burma left in January 1948, Palestine in May 1948, and Ireland in 1949.

Image source: Indian independence movement

The King relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948 and instead adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth, marking the end of the British monarchy's imperial role in India.

Image source: Emperor of India

In late April 1949, Commonwealth leaders issued the London Declaration, which laid the foundation of the modern Commonwealth and recognised the King as Head of the Commonwealth, allowing republics to remain members.

Image source: London Declaration

In January 1950, George VI ceased to be King of India when it became a republic, though it remained within the Commonwealth as recognised by the London Declaration.

Image source: Republic Day (India)

A planned tour of Australia and New Zealand was postponed after the King developed an arterial blockage in his right leg, which threatened loss of the limb and was treated with a right lumbar sympathectomy in March 1949.

George VI was well enough to open the Festival of Britain in May 1951, but on 4 June it was announced that he would need immediate and complete rest for the next four weeks, despite the arrival of Haakon VII of Norway for an official visit.

Image source: Festival of Britain

On 23 September 1951, the King's left lung was removed in a surgical operation performed by Clement Price Thomas after a malignant tumour was found. His health declined significantly thereafter.

Image source: Clement Price Thomas

In October 1951, Princess Elizabeth and Philip undertook a month-long tour of Canada; the trip had been delayed for a week because of the King's illness, as Elizabeth increasingly assumed royal duties.

Image source: Wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones

The King's Christmas broadcast of 1951 was recorded in sections and then edited together, as his declining health made delivering the address live impossible.

Image source: Royal Christmas message

On 31 January 1952, against the advice of those close to him, the King travelled to London Airport to see Elizabeth and Philip depart for their tour of Australia via Kenya. It was the last time he saw his daughter.

George VI died on 6 February 1952 at Sandringham, aged 56. His daughter Elizabeth succeeded him as Queen Elizabeth II while she was in Kenya, ending his reign that began in December 1936.

The King was interred initially in the Royal Vault of St George's Chapel, Windsor, and was transferred to the King George VI Memorial Chapel inside St George's on 26 March 1969.

Image source: St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

He was posthumously awarded the Order of Liberation by the French government in 1960, one of only two people — the other being Churchill in 1958 — to receive the medal after 1946.

Image source: Order of Liberation

Fifty years after his death, the remains of his widow, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the ashes of his younger daughter, Princess Margaret — both of whom died that year — were interred in the chapel alongside him.

Colin Firth won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as George VI in the 2010 film The King's Speech, which dramatised the King's struggle with his stammer and relationship with Lionel Logue.

Image source: The King's Speech