KING GEORGE'S SECOND SON
PRINCE ALBERT FREDERICK ARTHUR GEORGE, Duke of York, on whom the eyes of all the Empire have been set in these last days, has in common with his father the fact that he is a second son and reached manhood without the prospect of his one day becoming king being ever anything but remote. Latterly, of course, it has hung on the possibility of his surviving a brother who is only eighteen months older than himself.
Like King George V, therefore, he grew to manhood without the shadow of prosiiective goirereiglity over- hanging him, and made his own place according to his own bent, so far as the demands of public duty permitted, in that field of public service in which all King George's sons have so selflessly laboured. Like his father again, he was trained for the .navy, at Osborne and Dartmouth, and served as a sub- lieutenant at the battle of Jutland. Later he took to the air, qualified as a pilot and became wing-commander.
A period of study at Trinity College, Cambridge, com- pleted what may be regarded as preparation for life, as distinct from the sterner business of life itself.
Of that life one feature is of special relevance at this moment. The greatest of all the services King George V rendered to his people was his unfailing maintenance of the traditions of family life as this country has known it at its best. Here again King George's second son, taking the bride of his choice (once more like his father) from one of the oldest of Scottish houses, built up in an .unpretentious house in Piccadilly a home remin- iscent in spirit of that in which his own boyhood was most fortunately spent. Outside his home he has developed two main interests, a study of the industrial life of this country, and the annual seaside camp, bearing his name, where boys from public schools and-poor homes meet on equal terms.
The interest of members of the Royal Family in the details of industry is too much taken for granted. In fact it by- no means always existed. The part played by the Prince Consort in organising the Great Exhibition of 1851 was something quite different. Actually records show that in the first four years of King George V's reign not more than twenty factories were visited in the course of formal industrial tours by mem- bers of -the Royal Family. Now hardly a week passes without a visit to some factory or mine or dock by the King or one of - his brothers. Public interest in the structure and management of industry has been aroused, and the life and labour of the working population lifted into a position of dignity and importance. It cannot be denied that this change of view and the growing interest shown are due largely to the influence of the Duke of York in associating himself with all those questions which relate to industrial relationship and the well-being of the industrial worker.
Some of those who had been occupied during the War at the Ministry of Munitions in dealing with matters affecting the health and welfare of the munition workers, were struck by the absence of recognition given to industry by members of the Royal House. King George, of course, had constantly visited munition-factories and shipyards during the War, but these visits were of necessity of a somewhat formal nature. When towards the end of the War a voluntary body, the Industrial Welfare Society, was formed for the purpose of carrying on the work then begun, Prince Albert was invited, and readily. consented, to become its President and expressed a keen desire to study industry at first hand without any show or formality. It was this deep personal interest in the ordinary man and woman that decided him shortly afterwards, when he went to Cambridge, to study economics, and in those early days he was often referred to as "the Industrial Prince," a title to which he could lay good claim. Since then he has never faltered in his application to the task to which he set his hand, and, having regard to the numerous works he has visited, of every kind and in every part of the country, it may be questioned -whether there* is any other man in any rank or office who has had so unusual an opportunity of investigating at first hand so many manufacturing processes and the conditions under which they are carried on. He has descended coal mines ; clambered up scaffolding ; driven locomotives as well as petrol runabouts—once it was a tramcar, through the crowded Gallowgate in Glasgow, to the consternation of those who were responsible for his safety ; poured molten metal from crucibles ; blasted, by pressing a button, several hundreds of thousands of tons of rock—all in a desire to learn at first hand how things are done and how the working man's days are spent.
He possesses an uncanny gift of sensing the staged effect, and it is no ordinary employer who can deceive him by exhibiting a false picture of his relationship with his workpeople or conditions prevailing in his factory. Often the Duke will disturb the tour as planned by expressing a wish to see the rest-rooms, the canteens, the first-aid rooms, or some shop not included in the official itinerary. Sometimes he will get absorbed in the details of the canteen service and settle down to discuss the menu and prices with the cook, or cross- examine the nurse in the ambulance-room about her cases, the risks and hazards to which the workers are exposed and methods of dealing with them. Once, when visiting a soap works, he learned that associated with the plant was a glue department, at best a somewhat noisome place. When he wanted to see it he was told that the process was disgusting and the smell unbearable. He retorted that if the place was good enough for the people who worked there, it was good enough for him to see, and into the glue-works he went.
Any vicissitudes expected or unexpected—once he got to a factory ten minutes too soon and was kept waiting on the pavement by an inexorable gate-man, who had been instructed to let no strangers in—he takes in complete good humour, and here again discloses personal traits not always appreciated by those who have only had opportunities of seeing him on more formal occasions. His lack of the more superficial, spectacular gifts merely serves to emphasise the qualities, valuable and firm-based, that are part of his essential make-up. On any kind of occasion, and particularly at his now famous camp, whenever he forms one of a little group of persons gathered together to discuss some topic of interest, he casts off his seeming diffi- dence and shyness and reveals himself in a way that often creates surprise. As one of the camp boys with whom he had been chatting once observed, "He is just like one of us." If there is any fun or mild ragging on foot and he is within range, he can be counted on to take a part. None the less, if occasion arises, he can maintain his dignity to the discomfiture of anyone who attempts to take advantage of this free and easy attitude. A gesture or quiet retort, softened by a disarming smile, is usually enough to check the im- patience of a speaker who misunderstands. Always he is ready to discuss affairs with all and sundry, though like most people he prefers a serious talk to a hurried interchange.
His tastes are simple, but when he has turned his attention to a hobby or recreation he is intent on mastering its technique, which largely accounts for the legends that have gained currency, much to his own amusement, about the wonderful workshop he maintains. His simple and delightful home life, already referred to, has played a great part in his development and constitutes his abiding background. Overshadowed throughout his life by two or three outstanding personalities, he has had few opportunities of revealing his depth of character to any but those who have- been brought into intimate and continuous contact with him, but given new responsibilities, and a greater freedom to go his way, there is no doubt that his quiet dignity and his deep sense of duty will enable him to face whatever may await him without faltering or failing, and steadily establish an enduring hold on the respect and regard of his people both at home and throughout the
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