List of titles and honours of George VI
King George VI received numerous decorations and honorary appointments, both during and before his time as monarch of the United Kingdom and the dominions. Of those listed below; where two dates are shown, the first indicates the date of receiving the award or title, and the second indicates the date of its loss or renunciation.
Titles, styles, and honours
Styles of George VI | |
---|---|
Reference style | His Majesty |
Spoken style | Your Majesty |
Titles and styles
George VI was from birth a Prince of the United Kingdom, and was subsequently created a royal duke. It was as a duke that he succeeded his brother, King Edward VIII, to the throne.
- 14 December 1895 – 28 May 1898: His Highness Prince Albert of York[citation needed]
- 28 May 1898 – 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York[citation needed]
- 22 January 1901 – 9 November 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Cornwall and York[citation needed]
- 9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Wales[citation needed]
- 6 May 1910 – 3 June 1920: His Royal Highness The Prince Albert[citation needed]
- 3 June 1920 – 11 December 1936: His Royal Highness The Duke of York[1]
- Subsidiary titles: Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney
- 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King[citation needed]
- 11 December 1936 – 14 August 1947: His Imperial Majesty The King, Emperor of India[2]
Titles vested in the Crown
Certain titles are borne and held by the reigning sovereign.
- 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King, Lord of Mann[3][4][5]
- 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England[6][7][8][a]
Other titles traditionally attributed to the reigning sovereign are Duke of Lancaster, to reflect that the Duchy of Lancaster is a private estate of the sovereign,[9][b] and Duke of Normandy in the sovereign’s capacity as head of state of the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.[3][c]
Titles held personally
George VI has held certain titles in a personal capacity, either by virtue of birth, or otherwise.
- Commonwealth of Nations
- 28 April 1949 – 6 February 1952: Head of the Commonwealth[18][19]
Title in the dominions and India
The dominions were self-governing entities which had the British sovereign as their head of state.[20][21] These dominions typically used the style and title of the sovereign as proclaimed in the United Kingdom, which, from the reign of Edward VII came to include the phrase, “and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas” [e], signifying their reign over the said dominions.[23] However, the sovereign ruled these dominions in a capacity independent from their position as monarch of the United Kingdom, similar in meaning and usage to, but not the same as modern-day Commonwealth realms, in that they lacked a separate title for each dominion, until the reign of Elizabeth II. George VI’s reign in the dominions does not completely match his reign in the United Kingdom, and his role as monarch in the Irish Free State is debated.[24]
Per the terms of the Indian Independence Act, the imperial title was to be abolished, the consent for which was duly granted by Parliament in the said Act.[25] However, George VI issued a royal proclamation for that purpose and to that effect only on 22 June 1948, effectively reigning as king in the newly-created dominions of India and Pakistan, whilst still bearing the imperial title for himself and his consort.[26]
The title of Kaisar-i-Hind was coined in 1876 by the orientalist G.W. Leitner as the imperial title for the sovereign[27] and was also employed in an official capacity, most notably to denote Crown property in India.[28] This title continues to persist as a placeholder to the modern day in official records dating to the British era, despite the prohibition and deprecation of the use of the said title and all its variants for any and all purposes.[29] Its usage is to be so understood as to denote the Government of India per the relevant provisions of the Government Grants Act[30] read alongside and in the context of the Transfer of Property Act[31] and the Repealing and Amending (Second) Act.[32]
Heraldry
As Duke of York, George VI bore the royal arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a label of three points argent, the centre point bearing an anchor azure—a difference earlier awarded to his father, George V, when he was Duke of York, and then later awarded to his grandson Prince Andrew, Duke of York. As king, he bore the royal arms undifferenced[33] and as king of India, his heraldic badge was an imperial crown upon the Ashoka Chakra.
Coat of arms as Duke of York | Coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom (except Scotland) | Coat of arms in Scotland | Coat of arms in Canada | Badge as king of India |
Military ranks
- 15 May 1916 – 1918: Sub-Lieutenant, Royal Navy[34]
- 29 December 1918 – 1919:Temporary Captain and Staff Officer (3rd Class, Air), Royal Air Force[35]
- 3 June 1919: Personal Aide-de-Camp to the King[36]
- 1 August – 1 November 1919: Flight Lieutenant, Royal Air Force[37]
- 1 November 1919 – 1 June 1920: Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force[38]
- 31 December 1920 – 1925: Commander, Royal Navy[39]
- 1 June 1920 – 30 June 1921: Wing Commander, Royal Air Force[40]
- 30 June 1921 – 3 June 1932: Group Captain, Royal Air Force[41]
- 3 June 1932 – 1 January 1936: Rear-Admiral, Royal Navy[42]
- 3 June 1932 – 1 January 1936: Major-General, British Army[42]
- 3 June 1932 – 1 January 1936: Air Vice-Marshal, Royal Air Force[42]
- 1 January – 21 January 1936: Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy[43]
- 1 January – 21 January 1936: Lieutenant-General, British Army[43]
- 1 January – 21 January 1936: Air Marshal, Royal Air Force[43]
- 21 January – 11 December 1936: Admiral, Royal Navy[44]
- 21 January – 11 December 1936: General, British Army[44]
- 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy[45]
- 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: Marshal of the Royal Air Force[46]
- 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: Field Marshal, British Army[46]
Foreign honours
- Appointments
Country | Date | Appointment | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|
Yugoslavia | 1918 – 2 December 1945 | Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle[47] | |
Denmark | 30 November 1920 – 6 February 1952 | Knight of the Order of the Elephant[48] | RE |
San Marino | 20 February 1937 – 6 February 1952 | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of San Marino[49] | |
Sweden | 10 May 1937 – 6 February 1952 | Knight of the Order of the Seraphim[50] | RSerafO |
Thailand | 2 February 1938 – 6 February 1952 | Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri[51] | MCK |
Portugal | 2 May 1939 – 6 February 1952 | Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders[52] | BTO |
Yugoslavia | 19 July 1939 – 2 December 1945 | Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Kara George[53] | |
France | 2 April 1960 (posthumous) | Member of the Ordre de la Libération[54] |
Freedom of the City
- Commonwealth realms
- 28 October 1919: London.[55][56]
- 1924: Derry.[57]
- 26 October 1926: Glasgow.[58]
- 29 August 1928: Stirling.[59][60]
- 1929: Ilford.[61]
- 10 August 1935: Perth.[62]
Honorific eponyms
A number of geographical features, roads, and institutions are named after George VI. These include King George Hospital in London; King George VI Reservoir in Surrey, United Kingdom; King George VI Highway and King George Boulevard in Surrey, British Columbia; Kingsway in Edmonton; George VI Sound in Antarctica; and the King George VI Chase, a horse race in the United Kingdom.
The fourth future Dreadnought-class submarine will be named as HMS King George VI.[63]
See also
- Style of the British Sovereign
- Title and style of the Canadian monarch
- List of titles and honours of Queen Elizabeth II
- List of titles and honours of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- List of titles and honours of Charles, Prince of Wales
- List of titles and honours of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
- List of titles and honours of Mary of Teck
- List of titles and honours of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Notes
- ^ The role and position are “Supreme Governor of the Church of England” as opposed to “Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England”, which is the title held.
- ^ The legal basis for the sovereign’s use of the title has been disputed. George VI’s father, George V was given legal advice that it was “extremely unlikely” that he was, in fact, the Duke of Lancaster.[10]
- ^ There is no basis in law for the title[11] and the legal basis of the monarch’s sovereignty is as successor to the Dukes of Normandy.[12] Jersey and Guernsey and the other Channel Islands were part of the Duchy of Normandy when the Duke of Normandy was also the king of England.[3] Under the Treaty of Paris (1259) the king of England renounced his claims to the Duchy but retained possession of the islands.[13]
- ^ George VI held his German titles by virtue of being a descendant of the Prince Consort. All German degrees, styles, dignities, titles, honors, and appellations were renounced on 17 July 1917 by George V for himself, his descendants, and all other descendants of Queen Victoria. An amendment to the House laws of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha barred any descendant of a member of the ducal house who was in 1917 a national of a country which waged war against the German Empire from succeeding to the ducal throne, effectively removing any remote succession rights that the British royalty still held by virtue of the partial renunciation by Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales.[17]
- ^ Later dropped in its entirety in favour of “and of Her other Realms and Territories” during the reign of Elizabeth II.[22]
References
- ^ "No. 31931". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 4 June 1920. p. 6313.
- ^ "The Gazette of India – Extraordinary" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2017.
- ^ a b c "Crown Dependencies". The Royal Family. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ^ "Tynwald - Parliament of the Isle of Man – The Stanleys as Lords of Man". www.tynwald.org.im. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "The Queen, Lord of Mann :: isleofman.com". www.isleofman.com. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ The Monarchy Today > Queen and State > Queen and Church > Queen and Church of England Cached at the Internet Archive.
- ^ Kirsty.Oram (7 January 2016). "The Queen, the Church and other faiths". The Royal Family. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "Leadership and Governance". The Church of England. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "Duchy of Lancaster". Lancaster Castle. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ^ Hibbert, Christopher; Weinreb, Ben; Keay, John; Keay, Julia (9 September 2011). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd Edition). Pan Macmillan. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-230-73878-2.
- ^ Matthews, Paul (June 1999). "Lé Rouai, Nouot' Duc". Jersey Legal Information Board. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011.
- ^ Alder, John (2013). Constitutional and Administrative Law. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-137-05000-7.
- ^ Patourel, John F. Le (1984). Feudal Empires. A&C Black. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-8264-3810-2.
- ^ "SCG – UNITED KINGDOM". Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ Archives, The National (17 July 2017). "The National Archives – Wettin to Windsor: changing the royal name". The National Archives blog. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ^ Susan (16 July 2017). "July 17, 1917: The Birth of the House of Windsor". Unofficial Royalty. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ^ "House laws of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha". www.heraldica.org. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ London Declaration (PDF), Commonwealth Secretariat, 1949, archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2012, retrieved 29 July 2013
- ^ "How we are run". The Commonwealth. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
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- ^ Statute of Westminster, 1931 (PDF). England: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. pp. 1–3.
- ^ "Page 3023 | Supplement 39873, 26 May 1953 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ "Page 7137 | Issue 27372, 5 November 1901 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ McMahon, Deirdre (1984). Republicans and imperialists : Anglo-Irish relations in the 1930s. Internet Archive. New Haven : Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-03071-6.
- ^ "Page:Indian Independence Act 1947.djvu/7 - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ "Page 153 | Issue 1408, 18 June 1948 | Belfast Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ^ B.S. Cohn, "Representing Authority in Victorian India", in E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition (1983), 165–209, esp. 201-2.
- ^ "Naresh Kumar vs The State Of Jharkhand on 8 December, 2020". Indian Kanoon. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
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- ^ "The Government Grants Act, 1895" (PDF).
{{cite web}}
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "The Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017".
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Velde, François (19 April 2008), Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family, Heraldica, retrieved 22 April 2009
- ^ "No. 29583". The London Gazette. 16 May 1916. p. 4852.
- ^ "No. 31131". The London Gazette. 17 January 1919. p. 906.
- ^ "No. 13453". The London Gazette. 5 June 1919. p. 1823.
- ^ "No. 31486". The London Gazette. 1 August 1919. p. 9867.
- ^ "No. 31663". The London Gazette. 28 November 1919. p. 14703.
- ^ "No. 32178". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1921. p. 10.
- ^ "No. 31929". The London Gazette. 4 June 1920. p. 6189.
- ^ "No. 32376". The London Gazette. 1 July 1921. p. 5245.
- ^ a b c "No. 33831". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1932. p. 3582.
- ^ a b c "No. 34238". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1935. p. 15.
- ^ a b "No. 34256". The London Gazette. 18 February 1936. p. 1057.
- ^ "No. 34351". The London Gazette. 18 December 1936. p. 8186.
- ^ a b "No. 34351". The London Gazette. 18 December 1936. p. 8187.
- ^ Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 595.
- ^ Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1944) [1st pub.:1801]. Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1944 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1944] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. p. 17. Retrieved 16 September 2019 – via da:DIS Danmark.
- ^ "The Equestrian Order of San Marino". Consulate of the Republic of San Marino to the UK. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), vol. 2, 1940, p. 8, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org
- ^ Royal Thai Government Gazette (21 February 1937). "ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง ถวายเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์แด่พระบาทสมเด็จพระมหากษัตริย์แห่งอังกฤษ" (PDF) (in Thai). Retrieved 8 May 2019.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ "Banda da Grã-Cruz das Três Ordens: Jorge VI (Rei do Reino Unido, da Grã-Bretanha, Irlanda e dos Territórios Britânicos e Imperador das Índias)" (in Portuguese), Arquivo Histórico da Presidência da República. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ^ Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 364.
- ^ "George Vi".
- ^ Denis, Judd (8 March 2012). George VI. I.B.Tauris. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-85773-041-1.
- ^ British Pathé (23 August 2021). "Prince Albert receives freedom to the city (1919)" – via YouTube.
- ^ "Freedom of city was last granted in 1963".
- ^ "Freedom of the City Recipients". Glasgow City Council. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
- ^ "The Calgary Daily Herald – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ British Pathé (23 August 2021). "Duke And Duchess Of York (1928)" – via YouTube.
- ^ British Pathé (23 August 2021). "ROYAL: Duke of York receives Freedom of Borough of Ilford (1929)" – via YouTube.
- ^ "The Glasgow Herald – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ "Defence Secretary praises 50 years of nuclear service as new submarine is named". Retrieved 4 May 2019.