Honestly, if you were to look at the lineage of the British monarchy, George V is usually the one people skip over. He doesn’t have the scandalous flair of his son, Edward VIII, or the cinematic endurance of his granddaughter, Elizabeth II. He was a man who preferred his stamp collection to a night on the town.
But here is the thing. Without George V, there is a very real chance the British monarchy wouldn't exist today. He didn't just inherit a throne; he basically reinvented it from the ground up during a time when kings were being toppled like dominoes across Europe.
The King Who Wasn't Supposed to Be
George V was never meant to be the King. He was the "spare."
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Born in 1865, he spent fifteen years in the Royal Navy, happily climbing the ranks and living the life of a career officer. He loved the sea. He loved the discipline. He liked things to be orderly, predictable, and punctual. His elder brother, Albert Victor (known as "Eddy"), was the heir to the throne, but Eddy died during an influenza pandemic in 1892.
Suddenly, the "Sailor King" was pulled from his ship and thrust into a world of constitutional law and state dinners. It was a massive shock to the system.
George was a man of simple tastes. While his father, Edward VII, was a legendary socialite who loved the high life of Paris, George was happiest at York Cottage—a relatively small house on the Sandringham estate that was often described as cramped and gloomy. He stayed there for 33 years, even after becoming King. He wasn't an intellectual. He reportedly read a book a week, but they were mostly adventure stories or hunting journals. He was, by most accounts, a bit of a traditionalist who found the rapidly changing world of the 20th century quite bewildering.
The Great Name Change of 1917
You’ve probably heard of the House of Windsor. It sounds quintessentially British, right?
Well, before 1917, the royal family was actually the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Very German. During World War I, this became a massive PR disaster. Britain was at war with Germany, and people were literally being attacked in the streets for having German-sounding names.
Then came the "Gotha" bomber raids on London. The fact that the planes bombing British civilians shared a name with the King’s own royal house was the final straw.
George V made a radical, brilliant move. He issued a royal proclamation on July 17, 1917, stripping away all German titles and renaming the dynasty the House of Windsor. It wasn't just a name change; it was a rebranding of the monarchy as a truly British institution. His cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II, reportedly joked that he was looking forward to seeing a performance of Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
The King didn't care about the jokes. He knew the survival of his family depended on them being seen as "one of us."
A Cousin's Fate and a Heavy Decision
One of the most controversial moments of George V’s reign was his relationship with his first cousin, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. They looked almost identical. Seriously, in photos, they look like twins.
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When the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917, the British government initially offered the Tsar and his family asylum. George V, however, pressured the government to rescind the offer.
Why? It sounds cold, but it was pure survival instinct.
He feared that bringing the Romanovs to Britain would trigger a republican uprising at home. He saw the tide of socialism and communism rising and felt that protecting his own throne meant distancing himself from the fallen autocrats of Europe. The Tsar and his family were eventually executed by the Bolsheviks. It’s a decision that haunted the royal family for generations, but it highlights George’s ruthless pragmatism when it came to the crown.
Inventing the Modern Royal
George V was the first monarch to realize that in a democratic age, the King had to be visible.
- He started the tradition of the Christmas Broadcast in 1932.
- He visited the Western Front seven times during WWI.
- He and Queen Mary made hundreds of visits to factories, hospitals, and shipyards.
He wasn't a distant figurehead. He was the "Grandfather of the Nation." When he celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 1935, he was genuinely shocked by the outpouring of love from the public. He reportedly said, "I'd no idea they felt like that about me. I'm a very ordinary fellow."
What Most People Get Wrong
People often paint him as a Dickensian, terrifying father. There’s a famous (likely apocryphal) quote: "I was frightened of my father, and I'm damn well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me."
While he was definitely a strict disciplinarian who obsessed over the correct placement of medals on a uniform, recent looks into the Royal Archives show a more complex side. He was a "hands-on" dad for the time. He actually played with his kids and was deeply concerned about their well-being, even if he didn't quite know how to handle his eldest son’s rebellious nature.
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He also had a surprising streak of empathy for the working class. During the General Strike of 1926, when some politicians were calling the strikers "revolutionaries," George V famously retorted, "Try living on their wages before you judge them."
He wasn't an elitist. He was a man of duty who felt a genuine responsibility toward all his subjects.
Actionable Insights from the Reign of George V
If you’re looking to understand why the British monarchy still exists while so many others vanished, George V is your blueprint. Here are three things we can learn from his leadership:
Adapt or Perish
George V realized that his German heritage was a liability in 1917. He didn't cling to tradition for tradition's sake; he changed the family name to Windsor to survive. In any leadership role, recognizing when your "brand" is out of touch is critical.
The Power of Presence
By visiting the front lines and starting the Christmas radio broadcasts, George V made the monarchy accessible. He moved the institution from the "palace" to the "parlor." Visibility builds trust.
Stability Over Flair
You don't need to be the most charismatic person in the room to be effective. George’s "ordinariness" was his greatest strength. In times of chaos, people don't want a firebrand; they want a steady hand. He provided that for 25 years.
George V died in 1936, but the House of Windsor he built remains the most famous family on the planet. He wasn't the King anyone expected, but he was exactly the King Britain needed to survive the 20th century.