Victoria to George VI

AFTER she died in 1901, beloved by her subjects – by then, one quarter of the world’s population – Victoria was succeeded by her son Edward VII, and he in turn by his son George V in 1910.

During the Great War against the German Empire in 1914-1918, George changed the Royal family’s name from Saxe-Coburg to Windsor, underlining his commitment to British sovereignty, regardless of family ties, in the face of another would-be European superpower.

Southern Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922, and fears for the Crown’s prestige grew when George’s son Edward VIII abdicated less than a year after his accession in 1936, to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson.

However, Edward’s brother George VI, and George’s consort Elizabeth, proved popular and strong leaders in the Second World War of 1939-1945, and victory over yet another tiresome, would-be European superstate left a sovereign nation eagerly anticipating a new ‘Elizabethan Age’ in 1952, with the accession of their daughter, Elizabeth II.