BOOKS OF THE WEEK
The Monarchy Transformed
King George the Fifth : His Life and Reign. By Harold Nicolson. (Constable. 42s.) _j King George the Fifth : His Life and Reign. By Harold Nicolson. (Constable. 42s.) _j GEORGE V has been fortunate in his biographers. Sir Owen Morshead wrote a little masterpiece in the D.N.B. Mr. John Gore gave a discriminating account of the more private side of the -King's life. And now Mr. Nicolson has produced an official biography so well proportioned and composed that it will surely rank as a classic of its kind. His industry, skill and imagination would not have had full play, however, had there not existed at Windsor a wealth of ordered and classified material of which full use has been made. No other Royal House has opened its private papers to inspection so freely as that of Windsor; none other, indeed, has such a rich store in its posses- sion, and in no other country could such a frank, if sympathetic, record have been published. George V kept for nearly fifty-six years a diary typical of himself, matter-of-fact, candid and direct. He was careful, also, to demand written statements from his Ministers when they advised him on critical points, and often wrote himself an account of their interviews with him. His private secretaries, models of circumspection and foresight, recorded their own share in these transactions. The corres- pondence that came from many diverse sources all over the world was filed and classified.
The richness of this material was in itself a problem of great magnitude. Mr. Nicolson has distilled the essence into one volume in such a manner that the reader feels that he has been told the whole story. It would have been easy for him with such a theme to have displayed the delicate irony of which he is a master or indulged in the personal reminiscence in which he has often shown consummate artistry. He has risen above such temptations. His literary skill has been used to portray faithfully the character and achievements of a king who transformed our conception of monarchy. He has not concealed his own opinions of men and events, but these are recorded, if in more vivid and arresting language, with the same frankness and charity that the King himself employed. Very occasion- ally, perhaps, the charity is almost excessive, and -he is, curiously enough, least successful in dealing with foreign affairs. But George V was less interested in foreign affairs than his father, though he often judged them more wisely than his Ministers.
This book shows how the transformation of the monarchy came about. It was, of course, the product of events outside the control of the King or anybody else. But the manner in which the King adapted himself to the rapidly changing circumstances of his reign was a triumph of character. His work had three main aspects, conciliation in domestic and constitutional crises, new duties as head of the Commonwealth and new contacts with his peoples. At the very outset of his reign he had to make a difficult decision as to the creation of peers for which there was only one doubtful precedent. For much of the rest of it, government was in the hands of coalitions, and coalition Governments invariably raise difficult problems for the monarch. And, in addition to the special crises of the war, there were the recurring crises concerning Ireland and those of the general strike and the great depression. In all these the King played the role of a conciliator, never ceasing to urge his Ministers to sacrifice personal or party advantage to the national interest. Occasionally, Perhaps, he carried the role of a conciliator too far.
From his early years the King had specialised in imperial questions. 'sren on the postage stamps of the Empire he was a recognised expert.
No British monarch," writes Mr. Nicolson," has ever acquired so extensive a knowledge of the principles and details of Empire." As Duke of York he had opened the new Federal Parliament of Australia; was by his own wish, reluctantly accepted by his Ministers, that he held the brilliantly successful Coronation Durbar at Delhi. The creation of the Commonwealth much increased his labours and his anxieties. His problems were all the more difficult since it gradually became apparent that in many of them it would be unconstitutional to turn for advice to his Ministers in the United Kingdom. Mr. Nicolson teats these complicated questions with great judgement, Makes their wider implications apparent, and shows by apposite quotation, much of it unpublished, the great contribution that the King himself made to one of the most extraordinary evolutions in history. In addition the King, by repeated visits to hospitals, factories, Oorkshops, mines and every form of social activity; made himself known to his people as no other monarch had done. This special activity began in the First World War, partly at the demand of his Ministers. It never ceased, and the catalogue of duties done, that Mr. Nicolson records from time to time, is frightening.- The response that it won was shown in the attitude of his peoples during his long illness and at his silver jubilee. Some of the more selfish and preten- tious coteries that grew up in the 'twenties might call the Court dull, and endow the Edwardian age with qualities that it never possessed. But these were the mere froth of society. The real aristocracy and the mass of the people felt for the King and Queen an affection and respect which were personal to themselves and not merely due to their position. Mr. Nicolson also gives some striking examples of how the King tried to protect the peerage from prostitution to party politics. In these heavy labours the King had two indispensable supports, a happy family-life and an effective and devoted secretariat. As to the first Mr. Nicolson adds much intimate detail to the account Mr. Gore has already given of the King's education and upbringing and of his relations with his family. When the King's sons were young they were intimidated by the too hearty banter with which their father treated them. But as they grew older and married, they and their wives became his intimate friends. With only one, the heir apparent, " dear David," in his father's diary, who remained unmarried, were relations unsatisfactory. The present Queen, "sweet little Lilibet," as the King called her, was the solace of his declining years, especially during his prolonged convalescence. As to the second, Lord Stamfordham was for thirty years a tower of strength to the King. The correspondence shows how idle was the gossip that was sometimes heard of Court influence directed against the rising tide of democracy. No one in the higher part of the State accepted democracy and all its implications more sincerely than the King and his most intimate advisers. When at the end of his reign the King could talk to his subjects over the air, he was ably to use the language of one who understood their problems and could speak to them as a friend as well as a monarch. His son and grand-daughter have sustained and strengthened the ties between the Crown and its peoples. The only danger to royalty is lest indiscriminate interest and affection should place too great a burden on the sense of duty
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