HRH Prince Albert, Duke of York (1895-1952)
Son of King George V
His Royal Highness The Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George, 1st Duke of York, 1st Earl of Inverness and 1st Baron Killarney, KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO

The man who will in 1936, much to his surprise, become King George VI is currently known only as Prince Bertie, the second son of the king. Educated by tutors and then at the Royal Naval Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth, he joined the Royal Navy in 1909 and served throughout the Great War, being present at the Battle of Jutland. In 1917, he joined the Royal Naval Air Service and later transferred to the Royal Air Force, where, despite a dislike of flying, he qualified as a pilot and reached the rank of squadron leader.

In 1919, Albert left the RAF and with his younger brother Prince Henry spends a year at Trinity College, Cambridge (although he does not actually live in college), studying history, economics and civics. In June 1920, he is named Duke of York, the traditional title of the second son of the sovereign. Always passionately interested in the working man’s lot and in physical training, he takes his role of president of the Industrial Welfare Society very seriously, visiting many factories, and in 1921 institutes the Duke of York’s Camps for Boys, in which boys from all classes mix. He represents his father on a visit to Brussels in 1921, on two visits to the Balkans in 1922 and another in 1923, and in Northern Ireland in 1924. He then makes a tour of East Africa and the Sudan, where he goes big game hunting, in the winter of 1924/25, and presides over the second year of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. On 26 April 1923, he marries Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in Westminster Abbey, a grand occasion. Extremely happy, the couple reside at the White Lodge, Richmond upon Thames until 1927 when they move to 145 Piccadilly, in Central London. Their first child, the Princess Elizabeth, is born on 21 April 1926. The Duke and Duchess leave for a tour of New Zealand and Australia in 1927, opening the new Commonwealth Parliament at Canberra on 9 May. During his father’s illness in 1928-1929, he serves as one of the counsellors of state. In May 1929, he represents his father as lord high commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Handsome and athletic, a superb shot and horseman and a noted tennis player (he wins the RAF tennis doubles with his comptroller and friend Louis Greig in 1920 and loses to Greig in the singles semi-finals), Albert is a popular man. A committed family man after 1923, he is notable for his down-to-earth common sense and sense of humour. He is intelligent, though by no means brilliant, observant and determined. He is also, like many of the men of his family, an enthusiastic Freemason, sometimes to the point of fanaticism. He is not a good speaker, suffering from a severe stutter, although this improves after 1926 when he begins to pay regular visits to a speech therapist. KG since 1916, his father names him KT on his wedding day in 1923, and he also becomes GCVO in 1921 and GCMG in 1926. He is sworn of the Privy Council in 1925.