George V (3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India from 6 May 1910 to 20 January 1936, succeeding Edward VII and preceding Edward VIII.
Biography[]
George V was born in London, England in 1865, the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra of Denmark. He served in the Royal Navy from 1877 to 1892, and he became King upon his father's death in 1910. George V was faced with the reform of the House of Lords through the Parliament Bill, whose passage he assisted after H.H. Asquith had received an electoral mandate on the issue in 1910.
He chose Stanley Baldwin as Bonar Law's successor, and encouraged Ramsay MacDonald to form a national government in 1931. Despite his fierce patriotism, he found himself compelled to change the family's name from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. He discovered the use of radio and initiated Christmas radio broadcasts so the nation and empire. His public popularity surfaced during the celebrations of his Silver Jubilee in 1935. George's lifelong smoking addiction led to his death in 1936 at the age of 70.