George V (1865–1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through World War I until his death in 1936. He was the first British monarch of the House of Windsor, which he created from the British branch of the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. From the age of twelve George served in the Royal Navy, but upon the unexpected death of his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, he became heir to the throne and married his brother's fiancée, Mary of Teck. Although they occasionally toured the British Empire, George preferred to stay at home with his stamp collection and lived what later biographers would consider a dull life because of its conventionality. George became King-Emperor in 1910 on the death of his father, King Edward VII. During World War I he relinquished all German titles and styles on behalf of his relatives who were British subjects, and changed the name of the royal house from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor. During his reign, the Statute of Westminster separated the crown so that George ruled the dominions as separate kingdoms, preparing the way for the future development of the Commonwealth of Nations. His reign also witnessed the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, and the first Labour ministry.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_V_of_the_United_Kingdom> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1863: American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia, led by Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, scored a Confederate victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville near Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville> 1882: The United States Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, implementing a ban on Chinese immigration to the United States that eventually lasted for over 60 years until the 1943 Magnuson Act. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act> 1937: The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while trying to land at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, killing over 30 people on board. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg> 1994: The Channel Tunnel, a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) undersea rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover connecting Folkestone, Kent, England to Coquelles, France, officially opened. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: umpteenth (num): (informal) Occurring in a relatively large but unspecified position in a sequence <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/umpteenth> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: When true simplicity is gain'd To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd, To turn, turn will be our delight 'Till by turning, turning we come round right. --Joseph Brackett <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Brackett> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
