| The London Times Thursday, 7 February 1952 |
| "In grieving at the death of King George VI, the center of so many hopes and the object of so much gratitude, the people mourn not only a good and dutiful king, but a good and wise man. A natural shyness which was in no sense aloofness or due to lack of inner confidence tended, especially in his younger days, to conceal the depth of his character and the activity of his mind.... "He brought to all his royal tasks the determination and perseverance that enabled him, in his personal life, to overcome disability and affliction.... "In nothing in all his life and reign did the late King ever fail the peoples over whom he came to rule.... "As a fallible human being, he is surrounded by innumerable pitfalls. King George VI, his eyes fixed on a high and single purpose, passed them by unfalteringly.... "His mixed camps for public school and working boys were entirely his own idea, and their immense success was due to his enthusiasm, energy, and knowledge of human nature.... "The fact that the throne emerged unshaken [by the abdication] was due in very great degree to the character and record of the Prince to whom the succession passed--not automatically, but by deliberate acceptance of a burden from which, on all personal grounds, he was disposed to recoil.... "The unaffected dignity, simplicity, and kindness of the King created an immense impression [on the US and Canada].... "His training in the navy and Royal Air Force, together with his long association with the army, made him more than the titular head of his armed forces, and a wide knowledge of industrial conditions and a real feel for the working classes deepened his intimacy with his people and their life. He spared himself nothing.... "He managed to be wherever he was needed.... "He fulfilled the highest duty of a British Monarch--namely, to be the continuous and stabilizing factor, not merely in the political constitution, but in the many sided life of his people, and the guardian of their interests.... "The King was in all things a devoted son, husband, and father. "His marriage was...as all the world knows, ideally happy." *********** |